[hopeless85]

So I had posted that my son started drinking again while on effexor. It escalated last week and made me very nervous. I called his therapist who recommended I call his family doctor since I am his mother.... So I called and told them that he was drinking and I was concerned about the medication he was on. I was told that I was not on his hippa form and therefor what I say can not be passed on to the doctor and vice versa for the doctor to say what is in my sons chart.... I then told the receptionist "well since what I say won't matter then think about this for a minute... my son is taking effexor and drinking 15 + cans of beer in a day... She then said to me... "there is nothing written in his chart about an alcohol problem" SO I proceeded to say "that is because he switched to this doctor because his last doctor knew of his alcohol issues so I assume his file wasn't transferred." She told me that what I said can not be shared but then said something about noting his chart...
NOW... A week later my son has not been drinking like that and his appointment happens to be tomorrow morning. I thought it was next week and I am pretty sure my son doesn't even realize it is tomorrow. I am worried that the doctor will say something now about my call. I am worried even if he doesn't mention me that he will mention the drinking which will send flags up. I realize what I did was most likely the right thing to do but now I worry about the what could happen... My son feels like the effexor is working so what if the doctor refuses to fill the prescription now... Will he go backwards again.

[Skeezyks]

Hello hopeless85. I'm sorry to hear of your difficulty. I have been on Effexor twice. It was a difficult med for me & I had to go off it. I'm glad it seems to be beneficial for your son. It sounds as though the receptionist you spoke with put you in this conundrum. Technically, she probably should not have talked with you about your son at all. But she sort-of half did talk. So now you have this dilemma.

My thinking, for what it's worth, would be that at this point there's not much to do but wait & see how this plays out. You could remind your son of his appointment & tell him of your call to the doctor's office. However, if your relationship with your son is difficult at the present time, this may cause uproar. On the other hand, if you wait & see what happens, & the doctor doesn't bring up drinking, then your conversation with the receptionist will probably go unnoticed. My personal experience would suggest to me that the receptionist is probably not in a position to be providing the doctor with information acquired during a phone conversation. But, of course, this is just my personal perspective & it may or may not be accurate. Under any circumstances, my best wishes to you for a successful outcome.

your doctor is bound to do nothing about your call including informing your son.

[cakeladie]

More then likely did not say anything to the doctor. A lot of times they field the calls and only tell the doctor what they think he/she needs to hear about your call.

Just wait to see how it plays out. But if he has an appointment I would remind him. Make something up like don't you remember you told me the date etc. also ask him if he is in an ok mood who he put down for emergencies and who the office can give out info to. The two go hand in hand

Good luck

I think it's good that you told the receptionist about your son's drinking. That was about as much as you could do.

If the doctor acts appropriately, he will absolutely not tell your son that you called.

There are other ways that the doctor could bring up the subject of alcohol use with your son. He could just say "Hey, I'm not sure if we talked about it before, but this particular medication does not mix well with alcohol. It would be best if you didn't drink alcohol at all with it, but if you're going to drink, keep it to no more than two drinks." (That's my totally imaginary conversation.)

The part about not being able to accept information from you was interesting to me. Where I live, I've been told by a loved one's provider that I could give them information even if I wasn't on the person's HIPAA form, but that they couldn't discuss anything with me or even acknowledge that the person was their patient.

I personally would not ask to be added to your son's HIPAA form unless you have an extremely trusting and open relationship with him. Most 21 year olds want their privacy.

It's good news that your son feels like the Effexor is helping and also that he hasn't been drinking the past week.