Posted by Nickengland on June 29, 2005, at 10:23:21
..Went extreamly well :-)
Saw my psychiatrist today and had to explain I stoped taking Trileptal/Tegretol because of the kidney pains blah blah blah.. He asked the usual questions and that was that.
Then.lol.Hmmm..I told him I have been taking 900mg of Neurontin & 50mg of Topamax for the past few weeks. Without going into too much detail I didn't mention this on the board to people as I have been self prescribing this, simply due to the fact of the NHS waiting times, my GP being helpless in not being able to give me anything and these 2 meds being my only option left. I felt the risk was worth the benefits instead of waiting months upon months of waiting for something he may refuse anyway. I basically took 'drastic' action and i'm glad to say I have been responding excellently to both drugs so far..
I explained this to him in the best way possbile and even brought my mother along with me as a witness so she could confirm everything had gone alright with what I had done.
Well the expression on his face... Totally Flabbergasted!!! :-o He asked where I got them from, I explained, he then said what doses are you taking, I told him...(all the time he's writing this down) He said he has some knowlege of Gabapentin...but he has never used Topiramate before...how did I know this was used in bipolar?? - He's a Consultant Psychiatrist and I have to tell him?! I explained its more or less widely used in the US and the National Institute of Mental Health over there have been studing it for the past few years and doctors have been giving it to patients etc.. He then said what about the interaction with gabapentin..I then said from what I understand it can be safely combined and gabapentin can in fact be safely compined with most if not all anti epileptic drugs.. More questions were asked..and to my delight I was able to give the correct answers..
So to summarise, he didn't moan at me one bit for what I did at all and was understanding to some extent I think as to why I had to resort to such measures in the first place. He did try to basically say which one would you like to take, which is the best? (as in i'll prescribe 1) but I answered, well both. the gabapentin has killed my anxiety which was very bad and has been an issue from day 1. But the Gabapentin doesnt provide any mood stabilisation ~ Thats why the Topamax is needed because it appears so far to work very much like other mood stabilisers i've taken eg, like Triletpal, its keeping my moods in check with regards to preventing it going up and down..
No problem he said, I just need afew days to make sure the 2 drugs can be taken safely together, then you phone my secretary in afew days to see that its ok that they can...then you will have a letter to your G.P saying its ok to take both Topiramate and Gabapentin prescribed by him...
Quite an interesting appointment just to see the shock on his face!
Main thing is though i'm so reliefed, this combination seems to working perfectly with little side effects, its even better than when I was taking Trileptal and I thought that was great. Oh well, I know it may not last forever but I certainly feel like i've made some progress.
Nick 1 : Bipolar 0
^ I feel like I'm in control of winning this now
Thanks for taking the time to read..Kind regards
Nick
poster:Nickengland
thread:521041
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050627/msgs/521041.html