So awhile back my girlfriend has perscribed zoloft for depression but she was only 14 at the time. On the front page of the zoloft webside it says for adults age 18 and up. This medicine messed her mind up and ever since then she has spells where she will get really scared, or not know where she is, and not even recognize me. She will talk with slow and slurred and get frustrated. Since then they diagnosted her with bipolar dissorder but it seems like shes more schizophrenic cuz her personality totaly changes. Shes been on so many medicines I think she should just be taken off of everything because she was depressed before but now she has so many more problems from side effects and having spells. Anyone know anything about this stuff? We've been dealing with it for a year now and its not getting any better. Serious answers please.
Did the doctor make a mistake? Any ideas what her symptoms could be? Thanks
2007-04-23 19:02:22 · 10 answers · asked by PW 3 in Health ➔ Mental Health
Four seperate links for you here.. they will show opposing perspectives on medication .. take the time to read through it all .. (yes.. it will take a couple hours)
But, I think the wellbeing of your girlfriend (and everyone around her) is definitely worth the small investment of your time.
Link #1 >> definitions and descriptions of each major mental illness.. this will give all of the diagnosis/treatment option/prognosis information
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/index.cfm
Link #2 >> Types of medications available to treat each one
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/medicate.cfm
Link #3 >> Website that will give you the exact same information for each drug that would be given to the patient when the prescription is filled.. (great reference to know what to expect with each medication)
http://www.drugs.com/drug_information.html (just type out the specific name of the medication in the box and click the 'drug search' button)
Link #4 >> A somewhat biased and jaded perspective from someone that is questioning the current treatment of mental illness from diagnosis to treatment. There is a lot of truth in this based on the reality that very little is known about the exact cause for any of the mental illnesses.
http://www.whale.to/drugs/whitaker.html
It will take a long time to sort through all of that information..
From personal experience.. some ignorant doctors seem to love to turn people into guinea pigs to try and compensate for their lack of knowledge about certain things, or their inability to properly diagnose a condition. They make the decision to take a guess.. and leave us with the consequences. The reality of the situation is that they simply do not have enough information available to them to know any better. And, that is sad.
I was once trapped in this same situation. For me, it took a couple years to get a proper diagnosis and couple more years to find the right medications. After being on as many as 4 or 5, I am now at one and doing fine. Somehow, I survived. It is a nightmare, and nothing happens overnight. Seek several medical opinions. Go with the one that makes sense.
I am certainly not a doctor. I just don't want anybody to have to live any life similar to what mine has been. No fun at all.
Edit.. That link up there is a little suspicious .. a 43 page document on Zoloft created by the manufacturer (the FDA is now majorly funded by the pharmaceutical companies) that talks people around in confusing circles while saying rates of suicide while taking Zoloft is a serious concern. 72 out of 1100 people that have overdosed - died. 524 of them had an 'unknown' result.. did they die as well? I am sure some did.
And it took 43 pages to say that? Yes, I read it.
2007-04-23 19:53:33 · answer #1 · answered by lost_but_not_hopeless 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's possible the doctor did make a mistake, or it's posible the only recently has the research and such come out that you should be over 18 to take zoloft. That's entirely possible as well because these medicines are so new. that when they first went on the market no one knew how they would affect anyone in the long run. I do agree with you though, that all the medication she has been on since is not helping the problem. It sounds like something serious, possibly schiozophrenia, or it could be borderline personality disorder, but if she is taken off all of her medication, I think that she should be in the hospital for that period where they can observe her and if anything does happen as a result of being off the mediications, she can get help almost immediately. I highly reccomend that you call her doctor and tell him what is happening and that you think something needs to be done. He won't be able to talk about her, but he should be able to listen to your concerns.
I hope you get this figured out soon, and your girlfriend is okay.
2007-04-23 19:12:59 · answer #2 · answered by dancerhelen2006 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When people have severe mental health problems, it takes time to get the medications adjusted. However, if neither of you are happy with what the dr. is saying, get a second and third opionin. Don't ever be afraid to question the doctors.
As far as the Zoloft website, the put that as a disclaimer, in case of side effects. That way it can be traced back to the doctor that perscribed, not the drug company.
I hope that you can get some real help for your girlfriend.
2007-04-23 19:11:50 · answer #3 · answered by kit_kat329 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your friend is in a typical medication grey area. The drug company that made Zoloft had to get approval from the FDA to sell the medication, but children under 18 and adults are treated as different people. You have to do one study on adults, and another on children to be able to market it to both. So the company, like most decided to only pay for studies on adults, and left it up the the medical community to do their own studies with children for the public good.
What this means is that even though many medications have been studied and used in people under 18, almost all medications are not approved by the FDA for use in those very people. However, just because the FDA says its okay or not okay, does not mean it IS okay or not okay to use. In fact, a doctor is able to prescribe medications for any use even if it's not FDA approved, as long as he judges it to be appropriate.
What I can tell you is that Zoloft is one of the older "new" antidepressants, and that it actually does have one of the longest track records with use in children, along with Prozac. There have been many studies on effectiveness in treating a number of conditions, so using it on people under 18 is not coming from out of the blue.
Whether the physician was correct in prescribing it is a whole other issue. While the widely publicized dangers of inducing suicidal thoughts in the media is probably vastly overhyped, it is still a real concern and a reason not to use medications just for the heck of it. There has to be some good reason to use it, and it is up to the doctor to figure out when. Obviously, I'm not going to guess at what's going on with your friend, but there are some things that don't sound like depression. If she is not satisfied with her progress, encourage her to get a second opinion. If a doctor becomes angry or upset that a patient is seeking a second opinion, they are probably not worth trusting farther than you can throw them.
best of luck!
2007-04-23 22:35:51 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Just so you know, Bipolar Disorder does involve major personality changes. When someone is manic, they can be a completely different person than when they are depressed, or even level. And believe me, because I'm speaking from experience. Schizophrenia doesn't seem quite as likely for the personality changes. Paranoia sounds about right for the fear, but that can come with Bipolar Disorder (it's a wonderful Pandora's Box of goodies).
Medications will cause all kinds of problems. My advice: get her to find a better psychiatrist.
2007-04-23 19:44:15 · answer #5 · answered by Megan Klein 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe they should switch doctors. I don't think the doctor made a mistake. The doctor wanted to give her something, but there are no drugs for children because of that very issue. Sure the same symptoms might appear in adults, but harming kids is much more damaging public relation wise.
Misdiagnoses is common in mental disorders and there are no tests. The doctor can only go by symptoms where there could be matching symptoms for 5 or 6 disorders.
2007-04-23 19:18:05 · answer #6 · answered by gregory_dittman 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I believe something like that happened to a freind of mine. Firstly, she ended up taking half the requested dosage ( I do not know if it was for zoloft so be sure to talk to doctor before doing this ) also, Taking someone off of all their medicines at once is a BAD idea. It will probobly cause withdrawls which happen when someone inadvertandly gets addicted to their medicine and needs it to function, so dont have your freind just stop taking the medicines, again, I would reccomend consulting a doctor and alerting them to the issues/etc.
2007-04-23 19:10:39 · answer #7 · answered by Mr. Bob 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They aren't studied for people under 18 but they can definitely work for kids under 18. BUT it has to be monitored VERY closely by the doctor and her parents. And people with bipolar often do go through what seem like complete personality changes
2007-04-23 20:20:13 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Some meds that are prescribed to child are for 18 and up but under proper supervision and the correct dosage she should have no problems. If she is having problems like you said she needs to tell her doctor so they can make adjustments or change the drug completely.
2007-04-23 19:10:23 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Show her parents the web site.
2007-04-23 19:09:46 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋