Posted by Abby on December 20, 1999, at 21:40:00
This post was prompted by Noa's post about her
rotten weekend and her experience at the pharmacy.
I was also reminded of someone else's post on the
stigma of lithium.
I got a psychiatrist to prescribe me a low dose of lithium because of a family history of bipolarity and some mild manic symptoms along with growing resistance to Zoloft--pr at least a lack of consistency.
When I went to pick up the prescription, the pharmacist asked me whether I had any questions etc., but he would not say lithium, even though for other customers he had not refrained from mentioning the name of their medication, and he seemed to have no problem saying Zoloft. It wasn't such a big deal, but it was a bit akward, and I tried to be veruy matter of fact about it. This particular pharmacist always struck me as fairly well-informed. He's independent and supplies a small hospital where there are several physician practice groups. He has several signs up about herbs and drug interactions, and right before he helped me he was counseling someone on herbal and vitamin approaches to coldsores. (The man's physician had only said that they flared up when you were under stress.)
The pharmacist seemed to be thinking that there must be something strange about someone who was taking lithium.
The handouts from pharmacists, based, I believe,
on what the FDA has approved the medicine for, say
only that Lithium is an anti-manic agent;
there's nothing about its role as an
antidepressant. He was not in any way
inappropriate, but almost too correct which was a
bit akward. Just wondered what others'
experiences were.Abby
poster:Abby
thread:17203
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991212/msgs/17203.html