Posted by Jane D on September 11, 2001, at 2:34:44
In reply to Doc doesn't like cocktails, posted by Kathleen6674 on August 31, 2001, at 9:47:27
> I keep reading all sorts of wonderful advice and information here about how combinations of meds have helped refine everyone's responses. Have any of you had a doc who didn't like combos of meds? Mine doesn't seem especially keen on them - I've been jumping from one med to another instead of piling them on, so to speak, over the past year or so. Does anyone have any advice for working with a doctor who doesn't like to combine meds? Or should I get a new doctor or what? Are there different "schools" of psychopharmacology? I do think that part of his reluctance is that my dosage often gets adjusted, and hence he doesn't want to make more than one change at a time, i.e., if we up a dosage AND add a med, then I get bad side effects, how would we know if it's the new med or the increased amount of the old one? But I'm still curious about the one-at-a-time camp vs. the combination camp, if indeed there are competing "schools" of med management.
Kathleen,
Have any of the drugs you tried worked even a little bit? One thing I've read is that a combination is justified when the first drug is working partially. I can't remember the sites where I read this but it makes sense. This is the way I was treated. I added another drug after the first one caused some improvement but not total recovery. If the first one had done nothing we would have tried another drug instead of the combination and we had already tried raising the dosage unsuccessfully. When the combination worked we tried removing drug 1 to see if drug 2 would work by itself. When it didn't we went back to the combo.There are different schools of thought but I think the use of combinations under the right circumstances is common now. If your doctor doesn't believe in combinations in any case I'd follow Shelli's suggestion of getting a second opinion. If he just feels that this is not a good idea for you ask him to explain why. He may have reasons (the dosage changes sounds like a good one).
Hang in there. I know how frustrating it is to go from one drug to another. It seems endless but it isn't really.
Jane
poster:Jane D
thread:77066
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010907/msgs/78561.html