Posted by stargazer on November 28, 2006, at 9:19:17
In reply to Re: What are the consequences of messing w/meds?, posted by med_empowered on November 28, 2006, at 1:50:41
Messing with the meds is a big NO-No if you want to get things straight. It can take a long time to do and for those of us with intolerable feelings or side effects, time is a luxury, but...at the bare minimum you should at least hold a dose for at least a few days, 1 week being ideal. You MUST call your pdoc before thinking of changing a dosage and explain why you want to do this. This is REQUIRED to have a doctor/patient relationship work well.
The only exception to staying at a prescibed dose of a med would be that the side effects are intolerable, and this warrants a phone call to discuss this. The other situation that may necessitate a med change is the emergence of suicidal or other extreme reactions (wide gamut) to the meds. Those are always considered emergencies and your pdoc should know about these situations.
But holding a drug steady is the only way to detemine effectiveness, so try and not do anything on your own. It's one thing if you have been stable for awhile and you want to experiment with a minor dose change, just to see, but that would be the extent of drug adjustments, etc.
Stargazer
poster:stargazer
thread:708088
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061123/msgs/708149.html