Psychiatrist appointment tomorrow- what meds to avoid?

Post Reply New Topic

Tomorrow morning I have a long awaited appointment with the psychiatrist.

My symptoms are mainly anxiety, stress and/or depression.

I know to avoid respiradol and haliperidol (he might want to pescribe those as had psychotic episodes in past) as Ive read they have bad side effects.

What other meds are good ones to refuse?

I dont want to come home with a pescription and find it is an awful drug, especially after waiting 6 months for an appointment (dont want to wait again to change it!).

Also what are good meds which have worked to help your anxiety/stress/depression?

I also want to avoid ones which make make you fat, so a heads up on any that do, would be great!!

All of them... watch this first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AazObF_pHSU

crazymeds.us has information.

unfortuneatly I dont have speakers at the moment so cant watch the video.

I do have to have some meds as Ive dropped my courses and started smoking again, Im trying hard not to drink and am at quite a risk of suicide.

I just want to avoid ones with the worst side effects and ones which might make me even fatter.

Antipsychotic meds to avoid: Abilify (If you already have a sleep issue, it is "activating"), Zyprexa (Works well but has the worst weight gain, also messes up glucose levels and can cause diabetes) and Seroquel (Often given to people with sleep issues, some do sleep well on it but many get drugged up in an unpleasant way and get daytime drowsiness, also causes weight gain and diabetes risk even if Zyprexa is worse).

Haldol of course... often has extreme akathisia tied to it, and akathisia is, well.. I can only describe as carrying around your own hell. They still use Haldol?

Antidepressants to avoid: Zoloft (Strong in downregulating receptors), Effexor and Paxil (Often terrible to come off).

Of course it's just MY PERSONAL view, based on own experience or observation.

But IMO those are the main ones to stay clear of.

what about Lexapro (escitalopram), Ive heard its a good one?

Medications are different for everyone. I had unusual side effects with just regular anti-depressants. Avoid anti-psychotics is all I can say.

lotusblossom - I haven't had a drink for more than eleven years and I am also an alcoholic. If you'd like, you can PM me about that and I'd be happy to share how I manage that. I don't do drugs either.

As for medications, I am not a doctor, but what the video is about is briefly this: she's an ex-pharmaceutical rep who reminds us that pharmaceutical companies are not in the business to cure disease or psychlogical disorders. They are in the business of managing such disorders so that people and their insurance continue to feed their profits. She gives the example that almost all clinical trials for medications are measured against a placebo (aka a sugar pill - or basically, against nothing) as opposed to other alternative therapies (she gives the example of exercise as a potential alternative therapy for depression).

Again, I am not a doctor, but I have been on psychotropic medications before and while I still suffer from extreme anxiety and some depression, in addition to mild OCD/PTSD, dissociative disorder, etc. and other things that have been said to be comorbid to AS, I personally feel that I am far better off without those medicines. Here is a short list of what I have been prescribed over my lifetime: prozac, zoloft, abilify, depakote, lexapro, risperdol, celexa... those are just the ones I can remember at this moment. I honestly feel that my ability to cope with life with AS was hindered by them.

Again, I am definitely not a doctor... just my experience.