Confused about my meds/diagnosis even?

Hi everyone I'm new and just wrote my intro post a minute ago. I'm a 20 yo female in Atlanta. I was diagnosed with clinical depression when I was 14 and tried many different antidepressants and was on them for about the next 4 years alongside taking Adderall for ADD and mainly Trazodone for sleep but had a short bout with Ambien. My junior year of high school I went off all medication because I was feeling good. Fast forward 3 years and I'm a sophomore in college. I was living in a house in a bad neighborhood with bad roommates that I couldn't stand. I started having bad anxiety daily over my roommates and school and just everything. I experienced some anxiety my freshman year too, but nothing too extraordinary. All of our cars were constantly being broken into and scary mentally unstable homeless people wandered the streets outside our house at night as well as criminals (typical for East Atlanta). I felt unsafe constantly and could never sleep well since I was constantly thinking someone was in my backyard breaking into my car. Then 2014 came around and one of my roommates had moved out and we had to find a replacement on a bind. We interviewed a girl who responded to our craigslist ad and we interviewed her and liked her. She had bipolar but it didn't bother me because who am I to cast stones, mental illness is mental illness. In march one of my closest friends of eight years dies of a heroin overdose. It was horrible to say the least.
A few weeks later I come to find that our new roommate is injecting heroin multiple times daily and has been an addict for years. I saw her strung out and pass out and act like a zombie. I was constantly afraid I would find her dead. As soon as I found out I found someone to take over my lease and I moved out. I thought moving home to my parents house would solve all my emotional problems that came from my living situation. I had experienced a panic attack and thought I was having a heart attack and even called out to my roommate for help thinking something was really wrong. Once I was moved home I began having terrible nightmares every single night about hypodermic needles, blood, drugs, and contracting HIV. The nightmares were every single night and so vivid I thought they were real. Now I was having a anxiety attacks on the regular. The depression that had been creeping up on me since the death of my friend finally hit me and I didn't want to leave the house. My anxiety pervaded every moment of my life, making it almost impossible to make it through my work shifts. I ended my 3 year relationship because I felt so overwhelmed just having to be in constant communication with someone and because I wasn't in love anymore.

I finally realized I needed to see my psychiatrist and once I called to make an appointment, the soonest she could see me was a month away. I waited the month out, and finally went in last week. She doesn't ever really say "oh you have this or that" she just writes a script and educates me on the drugs. She said she thought I was suffering from some PTSD but that sounded a little extreme.

She prescribed me Wellbutrin for the depression (which I had liked in the past).
She also gave me a 25 mg prescription for Seroquel for the nightmare/terrors which I take at night (even though I told her I didn't have sleep troubles aside from the nightmares).
She also gave me 15 .25 mg Klonopin specifically for panic attacks and didn't think I would need it after a month of treatment. She told me to call in 4 days if I wasn't feeling better. I drove to Savannah to spend the holiday weekend with family and had a horrible time because I felt so anxious and awkward and just weird feeling. I was taking the Klonopin almost everyday because I was so keyed up but it did absolutely nothing for me. So I called this morning and she told me to double the Seroquel and Klonopin and take it everyday. She said that I just let let my anxiety get really bad. She also said that the Seroquel should be helping with my anxiety during the day? I'm just a little confused by this all and wish I understood everything more. If anyone can shed some light on the Klonopin or seroquel that would be wonderful. I've heard some really bad things about seroquel and don't know if I should even be taking it.

Thank you

Cal

Hello, Cal. Your psychiatrist is the one to answer your questions. Make a list and ask her. I hope the adjustments your psychiatrist made are helpful. If not, call her to explain what is going on.

I wish you well.

I am not fan of off labelling anti-PSYCHOTICS for other issues that PSYCHOSIS... especially as a first option.

If you wanna deal with nightmares sans drugs try to explore lucid dreaming.

I take .5 mg klonopin twice a day. lately I have been scaling back to PNR (as needed) because I don't want to build tolerance and I don't think I need all the time now.

It totally wiped out the horrible anxiety I was having. Benzo's have their draw backs though and we have had many long threads and discussions here. I would educate yourself on benzodiazapines. Tolerance, addiction potential, withdrawals......

I do not know much about atypical anti psychotics. I took abilify for a year as an augmenter for depression. It didn't have any ill affect but it didn't help much either. I think I would only want an AP for severe psychosis today. I wouldn't take one for sleep which seems to be common now.

- Agreed, I have seen the trend of pdocs. over prescribing the new atypicals off label for almost every psych. illness or issue to a dangerous degree. That's where the money bag is right now for the pharmaceutical companies.

from: Study: Newer Antipsychotic Drugs Are Overused

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/he....html?hpw&_r=0

?Atypical? Antipsychotics Misused As ?Chemical Restraints? For Youthful Offenders | Health Beat by Maggie Mahar

Well at least she is keeping your Klonopin under 1mg and only for a month max. Remember if you ever feel confused or question your pdoc. You can always get a second opinion. It sounds from the tone in your post; that you may be doubting her use of meds. with you. IMHO
Many psychiatrist will prescribe Trazodone as first line treatment for sleep. It is a good medication for sleep and rarely causes any dangerous side effects.
It also doesn't build up a tolerance. You said you have used it before. Did it help?

The whole issue with Seroquel is something you should really sit down and talk to her about. There are many other options for sleep and nightmares. Which don't always include medication, especially an AAP. Which are very strong meds. That can cause some serious health problems. That is just my opinion. I have a post above, about studies and papers recently released.
These are two others:
the APA: APA Issues List of Common Antipsychotic Uses to Question - Drugs.com MedNews

This paper should be very helpful to you:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/737587

Also, you could probably benefit greatly from a good therapist. I don't know if you are currently seeing one or not?
Don't be worried about bringing up any issues you have with the use of medications and why with her. Remember she is your doctor. Her job is to treat you to the best of her/his abilities. That's what they get paid to do. I have gone into sessions with my pdoc with studies and research papers on mental health and/or meds. It helps get you more involved in your health care plan and can actually help the pdoc also. It is important to have a good, comfortable report with him/her and if you don't agree with their care. Again you can always get a second opinion and if you prefer another. You can fire her. Transcripts etc. will be passed along.

I forgot to mention I take Remeron/ Mirtazapine for sleep. The biggest problem with it is a lot of people get weight gain. I have not. I have taken Trazadone in the past but like Remeron better. Not sure if it would help with night mares. Very safe though I think.

Like I said I would not take an AAP for sleep issues.

Why Remeron just for sleep its a full AD , taken by many in England has there only AD, its only the weight problem that stop.s it being the number 1 AD , PLUS IT HAS NO SEXUAL SIDE EFFECTS I took it on its own and was doing great bbbbbbbbbout put a lot of weight on. ZINCO if I was you and didnt get weight probs I would ditch all your other meds and just take up to 60mg REMERON. just 1 med and also a sex life its a no brainer. why people take combos is beyond me when 1 med does the lot.

Thank you everyone so much for sharing your experiences and your advice . To answer some questions that were asked first by metamorphosis12, yes I liked the Trazodone because it was more mild but it did have some grogginess upon waking up, but not nearly as bad as the Seroquel. When I first wake up I am literally stumbling to the bathroom. I may need to ask for the Trazodone instead. I am really not wanting to be on some anti-psychotic since I am not psychotic and if it's unneeded...and if there is a better alternative I need to explore that with my pdoc. Me and my pdoc talked about the two and which one would be best at my appointment. She said that she thought the Seroquel (25mg) would help the most because it would help with my anxiety during the daytime and it would definitely stop the nightmares. I don't know exactly how that works but I haven't even remembered the dreams I've had or did not have over the past week, which is a blessing. I have some Trazodone left over from years ago and maybe I should try that one night instead of the Seroquel.

So currently, I am taking the Wellbutrin twice a day now as of today (pdoc said one 150mg once a day for a week, then double to 300mg). Klonopin 1mg a day (two .5 pills) I'm taking them both at the same time in the morning because my pdoc didn't specify when to take them on the phone and I didn't think to ask (so this could be a mistake). She also bumped my Seroquel to 50mg. She told me to call back tomorrow because by then I will have run out of the Klonopin and she will need to write a new script for either something new or I'm not sure what.

Right now after doubling the Seroquel and the Klonopin as per my pdoc's suggestion, my anxiety is slim to none but I do feel slightly overmedicated but still 100% functional. Just feel a little out of it.

Thank you guys so much again. I'm still trying to educate myself on how to use this website since I have never even been a part of a forum before so if I've made some mistakes my sincerest apologies

Cal

Glad the meds are starting to work. Why did you feel the mention of PTSD was a little extreme? Considering all you've been through, does sound like trauma and stress...

My PDoc, has mentioned, before there's a med for nightmares, if I found myself continuing to have them. Such a stigma it seems around the classification label, it appears...

Are you feeling a bit better?

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I tried Remeron alone for a long time as my only AD for depression. It didn't work. It works great for sleep. Trazadone i don't like as much. Combo's have worked alot better for me in the past. Effexor with Celexa worked the best for a long time before pooping out.