Wow!

I just edited my signature. Damn! I'm on A LOT of meds! I'm surprised I can even write a sentence and am not a walking zombie. Gotta do something about all these meds! I'm a walking pharmacy.

Anyone else here a walking pharmacy?

I don't like being a walking pharmacy. The pdoc and I are going to have to have a little chat about this!

are you a diabetic? or are you taking metformin for weight issues?
I have heard that one of the diabetic meds causes weight loss. metformin, glucophage or something else?
thinking about asking my health care provider about it.I have a telemed face time with her soon.
bizi

I'm on

Valium: 5mil 3x a day
Topamax: 75 mil 2x a day
Geodon: 80 mil in the morning 100 mil at night
Prestiq: 100 mil once a day
Lamictial: 200 mil once a day
Propalanol: 20 mil once a day

Then I am on so many meds for my medical issues I can't even count how many.

I don't know if I'm on too many psych meds, but I've been on most of them for years and haven't had much of an issue with side effects or anything and my pdoc doesn't seem to mind any of them. I've been pretty stable with what I'm on.

The metformin is for weight control. I'm not diabetic. So far it's just prevented me from gaining anymore weight. I always have only a two pound weight loss in six weeks! Very sad

I've been on more psych meds and at higher doses than I'm on now, in the past. There did come a time when they just had to be trimmed down, and doing so was then possible. Some eliminations (i.e. Lithium) even improved my quality of life. Nevertheless, I'm still on a lot of meds because in addition to the ones in my signature, I also take Synthroid (Lithium ruined my thyroid), cholesterol and blood pressure meds (likely because of Seroquel) and a beta blocker (tachycardia not related to meds). I count Seroquel XR and IR as the same med. It really is all but the release difference.

I'm used to taking a lot of pills, but am aiming to eventually have my Seroquel lowered. Not now though. I was taking 800 mg Seroquel for about a week, while in the US (plus prn Ativan), but have since returned to 600 mg and stopped the Ativan. Stress reduction really helps!

My largest psych med cocktail ever (10 years ago) was 900 mg Lithium, 1,400 mg Tegretol XR, 100 mg Lamictal, 160 mg Geodon, 10 mg Thiothixine (Navane) OR 12 mg Perphenazine (Trilafon), and then 350 mg Seroquel XR, plus Synthroid, Propranolol, and Ativan. Simultaneously. I've come a long way since then.

Hi! Do you like the XR Seroquel more than the IR? I was thinking about asking my pdoc about switching to the XR Seroquel.

Yes, I do. I find it more weight neutral than IR, probably because of the release action (lower spikes and more level longer action). I also like that it is taken all at night usually, whereas IR is usually twice per day when taken for moodstabilization, as opposed to just a sleep aid. Though XR does help with sleep, I take both at night because in the last year I needed extra sleep help. IR works better and quicker to knock me out. I need to take my evening meds at 7 pm, ideally. That timing is something you'll maybe need to play with.

When I used to take only IR, years ago, it made me too tired in the daytime, sometimes. XR doesn't, once I adjusted to it. And I did. I think XR has been a good moodstabilizer for me, despite the metabolic effects. The longest time I've been mostly stable for a very long time.

Oh okay. Yeah. I'm going to talk to my pdoc about the XR. I have a love/hate relationship with seroquel lol. For awhile I was on 100mgx3 of the IR. I have to talk to my pdoc about my seroquel anyways. I don't like taking 200mg at night because it gives me an awful hangover the next day. I'd rather just take 100mg at night and 100mg in the afternoon. Sometimes it makes me sleepy. Other times it doesn't.

I take prazosin, celexa, lybalvi and I’m coming off of lamictal. I also take klonopin prn. I am taking WAY leas meds than I was when I was seeing my old Pdoc. I was on 7 meds then.

I also take a few things for physical conditions.

I just feel bad for my poor liver I'm surprised I haven't turned into a walking pill!

When my pdoc and I have our little med chat, I'm going to tell him I want off trazodone, prazosin, and Cymbalta. Trazodone doesn't even make me tired. It just makes me high feeling lol. I don't think I need prazosin. I haven't had any nightmares in awhile. And I don't think I need Cymbalta because I'm on seroquel, which helps my depression and anxiety.

I think that's a great idea. Perhaps your pdoc will not want to take you off of all three simultaneously, but at least consider starting by eliminating one and then another later. I think many people don't speak up about such things. I didn't at some points. A good pdoc will let you know their reasoning for not eliminating one or another. If they don't, I'd ask that question.

Some meds do require tapering off of. This isn't just for preventing mood episode triggering, but for withdrawal symptom prevention. Stopping more than one at a time makes knowing which does what harder.

The biggest cocktail I have been on is 4 pills and an injection. Currently I'm on two medications. My husband is approaching 20 with both health and mental health. My son is on 6 meds for mental health.

Most I've ever been on is eight meds, though that's for both physical and mental health. I'm currently on five meds long term, with lithium and Lamictal covering my mental health. The other three meds cover high blood pressure, gout prevention and bile dumping from my liver.

I've never been fond of being a walking pharmacy either, but on the mental health side at least, my PsychNP made it a point to try treat my symptoms with as few meds as possible at as low an effective dose as possible. Now, if the situation called for it, he would definitely increase the dose or add a med as needed. I appreciated that he had no interest in unnecessarily overmedicating me.

Yeah.

Does it count as being over medicated if you don't actually feel over medicated? Like I still have all of my emotions, am not a walking zombie, etc. Surprisingly enough I can still construct sentences lol.

Pdoc and I are still having a little chat however.

I thought we could start with the trazodone, as that seems to be the most useless, then do prazosin and finally Cymbalta (the big one! Cymbalta withdrawal sucks. I've gone off it before).

Personally, I'm happy with my current setup. Every med has a necessary purpose and there's no side effects. However, I've had more than a few medical professionals just throw prescriptions at my problems in hopes they'll go away and I'll stop bothering them.

I've had to have that particular chat before. I quite frankly had to make the providers in question sit down and make their case and reserve the right to stop the med if it wasn't working or if the side effects were too severe. I also added an implied "or else I'll just stop taking it on my own" if they tried to push too hard.

Good luck!

Thanks!

Luckily, I know my pdoc will listen to me, especially if I make my case. He'll be fine with the trazodone and prazosin. Probably not the Cymbalta though Last time I went off it I ended up overdosing.