Posted by snarley on March 3, 2004, at 15:38:27
In reply to Prescribed New Medication - Doctor Unresponsive, posted by confetti on March 3, 2004, at 10:22:02
well, if its a new doc that you just started seeing, its understandable that he would want to start you out on as low a dose of ritalin as possible, and will probably taper it up weekly until it works. That is standard and it's a patience game on your part. They dont want to prescribe you 20 if they can find that you do ok with 15, etc. Cautiousness can be good, but if 20 is what worked for you before, he will probably raise you up to that over the next week or two and you'll be set.
ABOUT THE EFFEXOR: I've tried a ton of different antidepressant/antianxiety meds over the past 8 years or so, and they all work differently with everyone. I have been on effexor 150mg/day for the past year and it works beautifully, but there's a laundry list of other ones ive tried, with sometimes disastrous results, before i found one that worked. You shouldnt give up on finding an antidepressant with antianxiety effects, but if the effexor is making you miserable, stop taking it, tell the pdoc, and get him to give you something else to try! Paxil, prozac, etc. who knows, there's a ton to choose from.
As far as the doc being unresponsive to your calls, that's really crummy. When you finally do get him on the phone, talk to him about it. Maybe he's just been really busy, or then again maybe he's just an a-hole. But you should find out before you give up and switch doctors. He could have just been having a rough week too. However, if he -IS- just a loser, you can find waaaay better pdocs out there. I have been recently starting treatment for my ADD w/ my doc, and for the past month or so we talk on the phone at least once a week to determine dosage increases/med switches WITHOUT having to go in and make an appointment. We decided over the phone that strattera wasnt working for me, and he left a prescription for ritalin for me with his receptionist so i didnt need an appointment to pick it up. I'm still going in next friday to see him, but in the meantime we're probably going to have one more phone pow-wow to increase the ritalin again before i see him next (i'm on a TINY dose right now that isnt doing anything, like you). <-- that is a good pdoc. Find one who actually looks out for you and will help you out in between visits even if he's not getting $225 bucks for it.
Just my 2 cents...
Snar
poster:snarley
thread:319671
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040228/msgs/319800.html