Fun with Medication

So, had my psychiatrist appointment today.

I've said here how this Prozac doesn't seem to be doing much, I'd wanted to pressure her to switch me to something else. I've been told Effexor or Wellbutrin are better chances at helping with less side effects.

But, after talking to her, she convinced me otherwise. I thought the top end for Prozac was 40mg but she says it's 80. I'm only at 30 now, she upped to 40. That's the way they need to do it, creep it up 10mg at a time like that, 3 weeks at a time. I knew that, but since it seems to be doing nothing at all after 2 months, I thought maybe it was time to switch.

She explained nope...if you switch meds too much, it can make the symptoms that much harder to treat later. She advised me to try 40 at least and see what happens. If there is still no change at all, we'll talk about a switch.

Then we started talking about ADD - actually she brought it up herself, which I felt was perceptive of her since I wanted to talk about that anyway. Anyway, she suggested it's not the easiest thing to diagnose ADD when in the midst of an acute anxiety causing issue like this.

So, she did suggest some meds for ADD as well. This is not making me happy, turning me into a medicated Stepford wife. :) But, in for a penny in for a pound, so I might as well see what this does.

I drew the line when she mentioned Ritalin, though. LOL. No way I want any part of that kinda junk. Instead she settled on something called Concerta which doesn't seem to have too long a list of side effects, and one of them is weight loss...hah...so I don't have a problem with that.

It is a stimulant and can be addictive, so she told me to use it only lightly as needed, and skip it on weekends. It's not like the SSRI's that it has to build up or anything, it's take-as-needed.

So, thus begins my foray into the world of mental health medications.

As for ADD in general, she says it's kind of hard to do a good diagnosis at the present time, given the axiety issues and depression and everything else going on. Her advice, treat the symptoms right now, once things sort of settle down, then work on a long term diagnosis and treatment, which I can agree sounds like a plan.

She was also of the opinion that the Concerta might sort of "kick in" the Prozac as well. We shall see. I really enjoy being her chemistry experiment...


Not much else happenin'.