my husband is on so much medication that sometimes he can't remember his own name and the doctors say it is ok. am I over reacting or are these doctors over medicating?
2006-06-26 16:30:00 · 14 answers · asked by cp03 1 in Health ➔ Mental Health
hmmm, that does seem like too many to take....even in my worst phases i was only taking 4 meds a day. If you feel like that he is not acting normal, than maybe it wouldn't hurt to consider seeing a different doctor for a second opinion.
2006-06-26 16:33:38 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
That does seem to be the trend these days. I don't think it makes any sense, though. How can you know what side effects come from what medication? How can you know what is working?
When I worked in the field, they psychiatrists I worked with weren't even allowed to prescribe that many. They could prescribe a mood stabilizer, & either an anti-depressant or anti-psychotic. But not all three. And they could prescribe something for anxiety. Maybe something prn for sleep, but that was seldom. That pretty well limited them to prescribing 4 medications and all had to be from different classes of meds. And in those days anxiety medications were generally only PRN.
I've personally never taken more then 2 meds. for my bipolar symptoms that needed to be taken each once/day. What they or it was did change, but never more then 2 at any one time. Plus ativan prn (rarely, on occasion). Right now I take clonidine, which is primarily a blood pressure pill but works better then anything ever prescribed by mental health. It's atypical.
I'd questions the doctor on the necessity of all those pills. Do the research, talk to pharmacists. That's what I would do if I was your husband. The more pills you take the more side effects you're going to get, as everything has side effects. (That does remind me there may be something for side effects of anti-psychotic med. That's still no more then 5 from different clases. There aren't even 7 different classes of meds used in the mental health field, not that I can think of!)
2006-06-26 18:09:38 · answer #2 · answered by niteowl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I too have Bipolar and other mental illnesses and I take quite a bit of meds also. Some are twice a day or more! It all depends on the severity of the person's illness. He might go through MANY meds before he finds the right combination....I know I have!!!! Some docs do tend to over medicate sometimes....just get a second opinion. Good luck!
2006-06-26 19:08:12 · answer #3 · answered by celestialgal29 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That does seem like a lot. Some bipolar people us lithium carbonate and perhaps an anti depressant and a mood stabilizer. You may want to sit down with the doctor and get a complete explanation of each medication and its purpose.
You can also ask for a referral for a second opinion. Do encourage him to stay on the medication until this can be done or he will probably have to be hospitalized again,.
2006-06-26 16:35:48 · answer #4 · answered by Kenneth H 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's probally part of the preoblem, you are using the word doctor's. It would probally be better if he was to have one doctor if this is possible.
I work in home health and it is not uncommon to have our elderly patients get taken off all their medicine while they are in the hospital cause they were on way too many and taking ones to counter act other ones.
Your doctors may indeed know what they are doing but it never hurts to ask questions. You could always go to the pharmacy and ask. Doesn't walgreens have a plan now where you can bring in your list of medicines and make sure they all get along together.
I don't know how bad things were before he was put on medicine but I wouldn't be happy if my husband walked around in a daze either.
Wish you luck.
2006-06-26 16:38:18 · answer #5 · answered by gnomes31 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
easily it will be very favourite seeing that Bi-polar skill 2 poles. as quickly because it become favourite as Manic_Depressive and many get it perplexed to at present. So one med will be to stablize the mood and the different for a depressive mood. i understand and performance heard of a few taking as many as 4 or 5 meds an afternoon to assist administration the indications of this ailment. at the same time as i become very last on meds I took 3. One become for sleep which also contained a anti-depressive in it to boot. Deb
2016-11-15 07:36:07 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends.What are the names of the medications? You can look up the info. for each medication and see whats what.Maybe he has more issues going on in addition to the bi-polar.Also,there are different types of bipolar. A primary care Dr. could have started him on something for anxiety that works in concert with the mood stabilizers.
I suggest that you get him a case that organizes the pills.On Sunday sit down and load it for the week.That way it is less likely he will mess up the doses.
2006-06-26 16:44:30 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is an awful lot of medication. I don't know what the average is, but he is on almost as much medication as an AIDS patient. Something isn't right. Ask your pharmacist if there are any interactions, if it's normal to be on this much, which is the best, what is a normal cocktail, etc.
2006-06-26 16:34:55 · answer #8 · answered by The Apple Chick 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First of all I hope he gets well soon and I wish you both patience.
I heard ppl taking over 25 pills a day but those were rare cases.
You might want to get another psychiatrist's idea on your husband's case.
Good luck.
2006-06-26 16:34:41 · answer #9 · answered by virgo77 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I dont think it is right for your husband to be taking so many prescriptions. Especially if they are supposed to treat the same problem. Have him get another doctor, look around at the options of treating his problem.
2006-06-26 16:34:44 · answer #10 · answered by phatas8504 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋