Please don't self medicate...

I have been reading a lot of posts by people that say they have stopped taking medications, or taking old medication with new medication, etc.

I feel like i should let you all know how much of a really bad idea that is...

I had a patient bring me in all of her meds the other day, she had new and old all mixed together and had got mixed up and was taking all of them - the issue was that two of her medications (a newly prescribed medication which she was meant to take - and an old medication which she was meant to cease) were highly contradicted by each other and she is very very lucky she didn't die...

When taking medications it really is this important that you follow your doctors advice... Please don't self medicate, don't change your doses, don't wean yourself off or stop any medications unless advised by a physician...

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A little late, though I've certainly never mixed various prescription meds to self medicate...more drinking too much(I by no means advise this as I have learned it can make things much worse). But there can be quite dangerous interactions between contradicting medications and of course alcohol can also have dangerous interactions.

As for changing doses, first anti-depressant i had was prozac and I didn't know you should wean yourself off...but all I knew is they where making things worse so I threw it away but was on it less than a month so I was pretty much fine after a couple days. Then more recently I stopped taking a medication I took for over two weeks that was just causing nasty side effects, so I tapered off....kind of hard to get in touch with my psychiatrist besides seeing her once every 3 months and I couldn't stay on that another two months.

I think sometimes doctors/psychiatrists should do a better job of keeping up on their patients and what is going on with them...but its likely easier said than done and dealing with peoples health issues has to be rather stressful since they treat multiple people. I mean with going of the prozac like I did the psychiatrist didn't even really tell me it can be dangerous to just stop, and with klonopin I had some issues because the doctor didn't caution me about how addictive it could be or signs to look out for...or even ask if I was feeling like I needed more of it. Based on those experiences I do my best to take the doctors advice but I also like to do my own research so I can be as informed as possible.

Yes doctors very much should do a better job of keeping up on their patients medications. I know my doctor is fantastic at doing this, she makes regular appointments at the start and end of medications to keep an eye on the side effects/withdrawals. Unfortunately not everyone is that lucky.

My main point of the post tho was to signify the huge risk that you could potentially do by mixing medications without doctors advice.

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It doesn't hurt if you check out what you take too, even if a doc follows you up. I have a friend who is on 19 different meds for different mental and physical ailments and all prescribed my the same doc. I ran them through a interaction checker and got I think about 20 moderate interactions (most about the same thing, mental dulling), and one severe total no-no warning about serotonine syndrome.

Still my friend trusts his doc so he never questions a thing. I don't think complete trust is healthy either. Docs can be sloppy and miss things.

Thanks, cat, for the well-intended post. I agree with you for the most part. There are a few exceptions, though. Most of us who have been in the psych care world for a long time know what those exceptions are.

I think self-withdrawal as much as not ideal is sometimes the better option if you have a bad doctor, experience rapid detoriation and doctor is not willing to work on that with you.
But that should done only in rare instances.

Taking old scripts, someone elses meds, prescription drugs off the internet... could be downright dangerous, even if you check your interactions online.

Stop starting meds a lot if a great way to mess up your brain and psyche. I think if you ditch your meds and are ditching them regularly, you need to talk to your doctor... because clearly that stuff isn't doing it for you. One needs to be pretty assertive too when something is not working for you.

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Thanks so much for this important message! And may I also add: don't hoard medications. Dispose of any leftovers, in some safe manner, once your doctor has weaned you from them. Keeping old med's around "just in case" is a BAD idea.

Just a question, do you guys have the option to give old meds back to the pharmacy for safe destruction? Where I live it is illegal to throw away or flush meds.

Jimi - I agree check out what you are having and if you notice an interaction bring it up with your doctor, it might be that they are aware of the risk and think it's still beneficial. Everyone should be well aware of what they are taking, medication is such a scary thing if taken incorrectly.

Sister rags - what would you say the exceptions are?

Jimi - I give them back to my pharmacy.

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I don't think this doc cares about risks. My friend can walk in there and get anything, if the doc was able to prescribe heroin I'm sure that would have been done by now. Some docs are super restrictive with meds, some have no inhibitions...

ill be honest ive been through 6 shrinks in 23 yrs that ive been mentally ill and have tried only but a few drugs left out there. I know what works and what don't. I see it as if you tell your doc that a drug works and they didn't think of it first they get mad at you for it. pdocs are just script docs to me. I one time told a doc my med he gave me was working and he agreed , you know what, I wasn't even taking the drug cause I got bad sides. all my shrinks retired. they don't care what happens to you once you leave that office so don't think they do. its all about the benjamins.

An example of an exception is doing a very occasional prn with a medication to reduce extreme anxiety. For example, I'm prescribed 250mg/day Seroquel. A couple of times over the past three months I've taken an extra 50mg in the morning because I was feeling especially anxious & not able to get control of the anxiety.

I've been taking p-meds for 30+ years. It isn't unusual for a p-doc to ask me what I think will work best for me, then prescribe whatever I say. I don't have a history of abusing meds, street drugs, or alcohol...the occasional prn isn't going to do any harm for me.

^^^^^^^^^^^great post SISTER RAGS.

So funny...I was going to agree with your post ^^^

Just an aside...there are medication turn in days...ask your pharmacist for times or places to get rid of old meds that might be used by yourself accidently or by someone in your household....

Our police department has a box in the lobby in which you can drop unused meds, legal or illegal with no repercussions or investigations. It was temporarily suspended while they found a new company to dispose of them...

Personally, I think that there should be more drop off points like this since there are so many like us that have been on multiple meds etc.

I keep an excel spreadsheet with current meds, med history, list of docs, allergies etc in my wallet at all times...for when I go to see other docs...after getting the formatting done...quite easy to update and keep current..

just my thoughts..
wb

My pharmacist (and mother) suggests getting rid of medications in cat litter as the litter mixture neutralizes the meds. I still prefer to take it to the community disposal events. One should never flush or pour down the drain any medication as there is a very good chance it will end up in the water supply. In CO the pharmacies are not allowed to take your unused medicines.

Good post

your a smart guy my friend.

I think there is a difference between taking an occasional PRN ... And mixing old and new medications.

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When I was in patient we had a pharmacist give us a talk. I have almost always ignored the take with or without food warning. I always thought that was just with regard to nausea. She told us that the body can only metabolize certain meds based on this because of things like stomach acid.

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