I'm royally pissed. I was supposed to get a call around 9:15am for an intake call to get a new psychiatrist (and probably a therapist too since apparently everywhere needs you to have a therapist before you can see a psychiatrist despite being in therapy for years and not really seeing the need for it anymore). So it's 11:15am now and no call.
All I need is someone to keep giving me clozapine and monitoring my blood work. And I need to find that someone within a month before I run out of refills.

[Victoria'smom]

call you call them and see if they're running late?

I don't know exactly the phone number and am having difficulty finding it online since there's so many different ones listed for different locations. I had to book my intake phone call online so they could review my information before calling.

Hmm... Can you try calling one of the office numbers and maybe they can forward you to the correct number?

Most psych places suck. I blame the sh_tty front desk staff!

I have no idea if this will work, but will a hospital or urgent care center be able to give you meds if all else fails? They should be able to see your personal file and look at your history of Rx's.

They did end up calling me and I won't be able to get in until September...
I don't know if a hospital or urgent care center will be able to give me the meds. I need to have blood work done before being able to pick it up because of the stupid registry thing.
I'm considering tapering off the clozaril myself. The med has helped a lot but all the red tape is a nightmare.

[Victoria'smom]

Can you ask your GP /PCP to do the blood work and fill the script while you get a new pdoc.

[bioChE]

What registry is there for clozaril?

I don't know. The guy has never heard of clozapine and given that my previous doctors that do know what clozapine is have screwed up the blood work I don't trust him to know what he's doing either.

^^You can't pick up clozapine without having the right blood work on the files. It's a pain.

What a mess! I'm so sorry for all you are going through. I wish you the best in getting all this sorted. (((Hugs)))

[99fairies]

I'm on clozapine as well. I have a standing order requisition to get my blood work done.
I was 3 days late on getting my blood work last week and my pharmacist called me saying that the med company called him to let him know i hadn't got it done yet. i didn't know they kept such close tabs on things. If I were you I would go to a gp and get refills and an order for blood work. best of luck to you.

[Nammu]

I've heard there's severe withdrawal effects so do try to find someone to continue the med until September.

Originally Posted by Nammu

I've heard there's severe withdrawal effects so do try to find someone to continue the med until September.

My line of reasoning: Doing as much of taper as I can starting now will have much less severe withdrawals than going cold turkey in a month. Found out this place that said I could see someone in September doesn't even prescribe clozapine so I can't see them.

[lilypup]

What, September? Ya gotta be kidding!

[Unrigged64072835]

Wow, that's a long time without meds.

[~Christina]

Please consult the pharamist to find out what you have in front of you if you do indeed have to get off if for lack of anyone keeping you on it until you eventually find a Pdoc.

It sickens me how long the wait is .....

Be safe

I'm just gonna keep updating this thread instead of making new posts.

So I got turned down again by the place the last place (because I smoked weed my first year of college, years ago) recommended and was told to go to another place. I've been to that other place years ago and they're ****, but I guess I have no options left.

[bioChE]

How did they know you smoked?

They asked about substance abuse and I was stupidly somewhat honest (I didn't tell them about all the alcohol, coke, shrooms, LSD, and ecstasy).

[Wild Coyote]

So they know you've smoked weed in the past. That's all they know.
They hold that against you? Wow.


WC

[bioChE]

Wait a minute. You got turned down by a _psychiatrist_ because you smoked weed?

Exactly. I've been turned down by pdocs/pnurses of various places because of
-being on clozapine
-where I live
-weed I smoked 4 years ago
-having a bipolar diagnosis
-being hospitalized
I've called about a dozen places so far and no luck. I guess I have to settle for my area's community mental health center.* It's easier to find a job than to find a psychiatrist, and I've had a lot of difficulty getting jobs.

*I've been there before and it sucked. I had an appt in June which got cancelled and rescheduled in July, repeat several times and see them in September, wait over an hour in the waiting room, leave without seeing anyone, and get a letter in the mail saying I've been diagnosed with undifferentiated schizophrenia by a doctor I never saw.

[Nammu]

That's just utterly ridiculous! It's like they don't want to work with human beings!

[jacky8807]

wow! I thought I heard it all

are these new pdoc straight out of school? is this the "new way?"??

I don't know much about the med but from what I have gathered it's not something to mess with

I hope you resolve this soon!

[liveforsummer]

I'm shocked and totally at a loss for words!

So I went to group yesterday and explained what's going on. They said that it's patient abandonment and I should call my last pdoc's office and demand to see a psychiatrist there until I find a new one and threaten to talk to my attorney.
Ugh this is all so stressful.