[raspberrytorte]

Look at your med list and wonder, "Holy cow! How did I end up on so many meds?!"

I can spill the beans on this one. I'm on eight. Hoping to work with my new doctor and shrink this down a little bit.

I take:

Lamictal
Haldol
Gabapentin
Cogentin
Propranolol
Clonazepam
Cymbalta
Topamax

[HALLIEBETH87]

i take several meds but only three psych and one psych prn. i used to be on two more. its easy to happen.

[bizi]

The number of meds I take is startling, vitamins as well.
I feel more stable now then I have been in a long time.
bizi

[Victoria'smom]

Drs like to add not subtract meds even if they're not working. My husband is on a ton of meds (when he takes them) for different things. I think he's on 3 different Asthma medication plus 2 inhalers, 2 blood pressure, 3 psych meds and other medications for other things.

[Guiness187055]

I am on 6 psych meds, 3 blood pressure, 1 chlorestorl, 1 diabetes, plus 2 types of insulin

[Gabyunbound]

I take 5 psych meds and 2 for pain. I feel like it's a lot, but it's managed to keep me largely stable for 2 years. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, then adjustments are definitely necessary.

Gabapentin and Topamax are very similar medications. Are you taking one for pain (Gabapentin is also for chronic pain and Topamax is sometimes prescribed off-label for pain) or both for BP? I'm no doc, so take this with a heaping grain of salt, but I wonder if one of them can be nixed, or replaced by another? On the other hand, if you're stable, why change what works...

Sometimes I really wonder what all this stuff is doing to our brains long-term. I wonder if I'll (or all of us) will have some sort of side effects down the road (aside from short-term) that no one knows of yet. I don't think they study the very long-term effects of psych meds. But I tend to think in the short term, and I'm just so thankful that this combination has kept me stable for so long. We'll see...

[Wild Coyote]

I am on lots of meds, between psych meds, pain meds, immune-modulating meds, etc. I try to drop one whenever I see the opportunity.

It's impossible to know all of the interactions and long-term effects.


WC

[Unrigged64072835]

I have meds for bipolar, anxiety, high cholesterol, sleep aid, muscle relaxer, reflux, rosacea, and one for side effects. Plus a multivitamin, fish oil, l-methylfolate, and a couple of supplements for mood.

My husband also has a handful for various things. We just look of them, shake our heads and get a glass of water.

[~Christina]

I take 3 psych meds and far to many for all the physical shyt. smh

[Nammu]

I stopped taking the OTC stuff cause it just made too many meds and they were huge anyway. I'm on 3 for psych and 4 for physical ....seriously thinking of quitting the psych meds which might lead to not needing 3 of the psyical meds. The one I take for thyroid I'll always have to take, thanks lithium!

I used to be on 7 psych meds, 9 meds total if you add meds like Synthroid and Propranolol. I also at one point also took a number of supplements. I got rid of the supplements, including a prescription iron supplement (didn't need it anymore), with the exception of a small multivitamin.

Over time my psych cocktail shrank. Navane was removed partially because of dystonia, partially because raising my Seroquel XR allowed it. Lithium was slowly removed because of kidney damage, and my moods strangely improved a bit. Geodon was VERY slowly removed with withdrawals. My moods became unstable, but raising Seroquel XR came to the rescue again.

See, you can have it chopped down. I hope to wean off Ativan to make it prn again.

For the longest time I was on clozapine monotherapy and now I take clozapine, lithium, and pristiq daily and have Ativan and zyprexa as PRNs. I go to the pharmacy way too often. I hate that phlebotomists at the hospital and the pharmacists know me by name now.