Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

[PSadlon 88]

16 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Still no results. The suspense is getting to me.

Slip a shock collar on the doc and have it give them a jolt every day they don't let you know what's going on.

Dr Brennen seems to think surgery is likely needed for the shoulder (hardly unexpected considering he is a surgeon) but would like to see the results of a shoulder MRI (yeah good luck there doc, the last two could have gone better).

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

MRIs used to be no problem until I developed a mild scoliosis after a compression fracture of one of my lower vertebrae. Now I'm not even sure I could take one, with the questionably-magnetic devices I have inside me. Even if I passed the magnet test, I wouldn't be able to keep my back still for much longer than a few minutes.

In other news, still no call from the hematologist, despite an e-mail to his patient portal. The suspense could literally be killing me.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

3 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

MRIs used to be no problem until I developed a mild scoliosis after a compression fracture of one of my lower vertebrae. Now I'm not even sure I could take one, with the questionably-magnetic devices I have inside me. Even if I passed the magnet test, I wouldn't be able to keep my back still for much longer than a few minutes.

In other news, still no call from the hematologist, despite an e-mail to his patient portal. The suspense could literally be killing me.

Yeah, waiting for news like that can be crushing. We're rooting for you, mind you, for what that is worth.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

27 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

We're rooting for you, mind you, for what that is worth.

It's worth plenty, believe me. Thank you.

[mlooney 3,417]

1 hour ago, The Old Hack said:

Yeah, waiting for news like that can be crushing. We're rooting for you, mind you, for what that is worth.

Oh yeah.  Even /me is rooting for you.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Good news from the hematologist—no leukemia! His nurse called and said what they'd found in the first test was just a glitch. Whew! Still have to see him about the high white blood cell count, but that's nothing by comparison.

Still low on my Vitamin D2 levels, though. My regular doctor called in another prescription for the heavy-duty stuff (50,000 IU).

[The Old Hack 2,448]

5 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Good news from the hematologist—no leukemia! His nurse called and said what they'd found in the first test was just a glitch. Whew! Still have to see him about the high white blood cell count, but that's nothing by comparison.

That is VERY good news! I am so happy on behalf of you, your wife and your family. Not to mention this whole board, which benefits so much from your gentle touch and your wry sense of humour.

[mlooney 3,417]

10 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Good news from the hematologist—no leukemia! His nurse called and said what they'd found in the first test was just a glitch. Whew! Still have to see him about the high white blood cell count, but that's nothing by comparison.

Still low on my Vitamin D2 levels, though. My regular doctor called in another prescription for the heavy-duty stuff (50,000 IU).

That is great news!

[PSadlon 88]

Good for you Prof.

[mlooney 3,417]

I hate being trival while Prof was worried about, you know, deadly diseases, but I have a sinus headache.  I have real pseudoephedrine, but I would like to sleep tonight, because Saturday is one of the few days I need to be functional during the day time, so taking too much pseudoephedrine is Not A Good Idea.  So I have been taking 1 pill at a time, instead of the 2 I normally take.  Sort of working, but not really. 
Bleh, etc.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

1 minute ago, mlooney said:

I hate being t rival while Prof was worried about, you know, deadly diseases, but I have a sinus headache.  I have real pseudoephedrine, but I would like to sleep tonight, because Saturday is one of the few days I need to be functional during the day time, so taking too much pseudoephedrine is Not A Good Idea.  So I have been taking 1 pill at a time, instead of the 2 I normally take.  Sort of working, but not really. 
Bleh, etc.

Remember, personal problems tend to be less trivial to the person suffering from them. There is nothing wrong with mentioning your issues here even if they are overshadowed by others at times. After all, we have at times had posters suggest good solutions to such issues and that is not to be scorned, either.

[mlooney 3,417]

1 minute ago, The Old Hack said:

Remember, personal problems tend to be less trivial to the person suffering from them. There is nothing wrong with mentioning your issues here even if they are overshadowed by others at times.

"I'm worried I might have leukemia" vs "Wahhh I have a headache".  Doesn't seem right.  Which is odd, given my mental state most of the time. I must be acting on the shallow end of the "antisocial personality disorder spectrum" this month.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

Just now, mlooney said:

"I'm worried I might have leukemia" vs "Wahhh I have a headache".  Doesn't seem right.

Well I am the moderator here so I declare that all health issues are welcome to be discussed here. So there. Also, it is not a 'versus'. This is not a competition or a one-downsmanship exercise. It is about people who want to destress themselves by sharing their concerns, giving advice to one another, expressing sympathy and occasionally venting about incompetent medical care and personnel. All of which is helpful for everyone here as it lets them let out steam.

Anyway, I hope your headache gets better soon. Take care.

[mlooney 3,417]

7 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

Anyway, I hope your headache gets better soon. Take care.

It's fine now, and odds are will be until the little red pill wears off.
Which reminds me, need to buy another box of said pills before I run out.  With the anti-meth laws in place that isn't something you can normally due after normal hours.

[Vorlonagent 442]

I feel the same way.  My poor insignificant problem. 

I was on Zoloft for 2+ years and I started feeling dead inside instead of muted emotions early this year.  I dropped the stuff cold and made it through the worst 4 weeks of withdrawl but now all my emotions tend to spike to extremes.  Better than feeling dead inside but I'm not always coping well.  I feel social anxiety anyway.  Now, my emotions take any excuse to crank it up to curl-up-in-a-ball fear or defensive anger.  I'm working through it but it is not fun right now.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

2 minutes ago, Vorlonagent said:

I feel the same way.  My poor insignificant problem. 

I was on Zoloft for 2+ years and I started feeling dead inside instead of muted emotions early this year.  I dropped the stuff cold and made it through the worst 4 weeks of withdrawl but now all my emotions tend to spike to extremes.  Better than feeling dead inside but I'm not always coping well.  I feel social anxiety anyway.  Now, my emotions take any excuse to crank it up to curl-up-in-a-ball fear or defensive anger.  I'm working through it but it is not fun right now.

This is not an insignificant problem. Psychiatric medication can be extremely chancy at times, after all. Do you have no-one to consult with who could help find alternatives to the Zoloft? Or is it that you do not wish to resume medication after your experiences with the Zoloft?

[Vorlonagent 442]

1 minute ago, The Old Hack said:

This is not an insignificant problem. Psychiatric medication can be extremely chancy at times, after all. Do you have no-one to consult with who could help find alternatives to the Zoloft? Or is it that you do not wish to resume medication after your experiences with the Zoloft?

At this point I want to try to do for myself before returning to pharmacology.  My intention was to take some of the kick out of my emotions so I could deal with them not regulate them long term.

I don't have any professional to consult at this time.  My first psychiatrist moved on from the medical group I found her at.  Neither of her replacements at all felt on my wavelength.

[mlooney 3,417]

3 minutes ago, Vorlonagent said:

I was on Zoloft for 2+ years and I started feeling dead inside instead of muted emotions early this year.  I dropped the stuff cold and made it through the worst 4 weeks of withdrawl but now all my emotions tend to spike to extremes.  Better than feeling dead inside but I'm not always coping well.  I feel social anxiety anyway.  Now, my emotions take any excuse to crank it up to curl-up-in-a-ball fear or defensive anger.  I'm working through it but it is not fun right now.

Oddly enough, that is exactly what this thread was about on the old forum, if you change Zoloft to Cymbalta.  My shrink has what amounts a fit if I try to drop a medication with out him knowing about it.  Given that some of them can have fatal side effects if you do that, I tend to listen to him.  If I think one is having too many side effects (Effexor, I'm looking at you) I'll call for an over the phone conference and get him to make a change.¹

I understand that a lot of people don't have a doctor that is willing to do that sort of thing, but mine does, so I take advantage of it when it is needed.

¹Weekends are the exception.  Unless it's his week to be "on call" I get a random doctor from the clinic.  The one time I had an issue on a weekend was for a rash after a change in my lamictal dose.  I started with "I'm on lamictal and I have a rash", and the on call doc said "stop taking it, come in Monday morning for a dermatologist consult" before I could finish the sentence.   I later found out that saying "lamictal" and "rash" in the same breath is like saying "chest pain" when at the ER.  They don't wait to hear the rest of the sentence.

[Vorlonagent 442]

3 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Oddly enough, that is exactly what this thread was about on the old forum, if you change Zoloft to Cymbalta.  My shrink has what amounts a fit if I try to drop a medication with out him knowing about it.  Given that some of them can have fatal side effects if you do that, I tend to listen to him.  If I think one is having too many side effects (Effexor, I'm looking at you) I'll call for an over the phone conference and get him to make a change.¹

The first replacement shrink had a fit and told me that I had doomed my chances at happiness.  He quoted some statistics that I didn't bother remembering.  He seemed to love to talk instead of listen.

I dropped my replacement-replacement shrink because I couldn't get comfortable with her.  Her voice almost perfectly matched that of Nurse Diesel from High Anxiety.

My regular physician claims expertise with Zoloft.  If all I want is symptom management, I might talk to her.

[mlooney 3,417]

6 minutes ago, Vorlonagent said:

The first replacement shrink had a fit and told me that I had doomed my chances at happiness

I should have qualified "if there is going to be a bad side effect of stopping".  Having a month long withdrawal period would be a bad side effect to him.  However, he isn't going to say that changing a medication will "doom chances of happiness", there are too many options out there and he knows that not every one reacts to the same drug the same way.

[Vorlonagent 442]

3 minutes ago, mlooney said:

I should have qualified "if there is going to be a bad side effect of stopping".  Having a month long withdrawal period would be a bad side effect to him.  However, he isn't going to say that changing a medication will "doom chances of happiness", there are too many options out there and he knows that not every one reacts to the same drug the same way.

The first-replacement shrink was dismayed by my preference for thinking I'd want to try to cope on my own.  I guess "once on meds, always on meds"...

[mlooney 3,417]

1 minute ago, Vorlonagent said:

The first-replacement shrink was dismayed by my preference for thinking I'd want to try to cope on my own.  I guess "once on meds, always on meds"...

Going off meds, not 100% by design, is why I'm on disability.  I became 100% useless to me and the world.

[Vorlonagent 442]

1 minute ago, mlooney said:

Going off meds, not 100% by design, is why I'm on disability.  I became 100% useless to me and the world.

I guess I'm fortunate my dose was pretty light, 100mg, IIRC with 300mg of Wellbutrin which never really seemed to do anything.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

5 hours ago, Vorlonagent said:

I feel the same way.  My poor insignificant problem. 

I was on Zoloft for 2+ years and I started feeling dead inside instead of muted emotions early this year.  I dropped the stuff cold and made it through the worst 4 weeks of withdrawl but now all my emotions tend to spike to extremes.  Better than feeling dead inside but I'm not always coping well.  I feel social anxiety anyway.  Now, my emotions take any excuse to crank it up to curl-up-in-a-ball fear or defensive anger.  I'm working through it but it is not fun right now.

Agreed with tOH—this is not an insignificant problem. In fact, something similar led me to start the thread so long ago. I was going off of Cymbalta and onto something else, if memory serves. The transition was a real pig. I can sympathize.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

5 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Well I am the moderator here so I declare that all health issues are welcome to be discussed here. So there.

Well said. It started out as a chronicle, but has morphed into a compendium. Welcome, one and all.