Posted by bulldog2 on November 24, 2007, at 12:21:53
In reply to Re: linkadge, posted by linkadge on November 24, 2007, at 11:16:37
> Its not that I don't think people have a right to the most effective treatment, its just that I know a few people who get themselves into deeper problems by beliving they know which treatment is best, with a little more than a few online posts and some essentially clinically useless information about theoretical drug mechanisms.
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> I do believe it is in the patients best, long term interest, to be fully honest about symptoms and how medications are working.
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> Many bipolars, for instance, hide manic tendencies in order to avoid such a diagnosis. They may believe they will be better off with just antidepressants. This may increase rapid cycling, neurological consequences, and perhaps risk of suicide.
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> Nobody knew that the parkinsons meds that were removed from the marked were that dangerous. To say that a person should have just done their homeowork doesn't make sense.
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> Doctors may avoid the prescription of certain drugs based on his own experiences.
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> For instance, before the risk of diabeties for olanzapine was fully established, I'm sure many doctors had some experience with the drug messing with people metabolically. As such, they may stray away from the off lable prescription of the substance for good reasons, even though there are no formal FDA warnings about the issue. As such, somebody who thinks they are doing whats best for themselves, are not considering what the doctor is.
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> For instance, to me, a prescription of wellbutrin would be a good next choice, seeing as I havn't tried it before and SSRI's are making me somewhat apathetic. The doctor said no however, becuase I am a underweight, have problems sleeping, have lots of anxiety, and have a history of some EEG abnormalities.
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> Now perhaps I don't like the doctors decision, so I go in and lie about symptoms of ADHD, nicotine addiction, and or severe lack of energy, no anxiety or insomnia. Then while this may change the doctors decision, it could still be a bad choice given the truth about my actual symptoms.
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> Before it was discovered that bupropion is not really working via a dopaminergic mechanism, how many people thought, "I am dopamine deficiant, therefore wellbutrin is my best choice, and I will do anything necessary to get it".
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> Thats the problem with all this online stuff is that many times it is found out to be only partially correct, or sometimes incorrect.
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> Linkadge
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> I think you give most doctors to much credit for their knowledge of pharmcology. There are those on babble who have done more research and know more about psych meds than their p-docs. Most docs in general in the US get most of their knowledge about meds from the pharm rep and don't know much more than you or I if you can read the insert which the doc may not even bother to do.
Also i've found that docs in general tend to precribe the lastest and greatest meds out and hand samples out like candy. These meds are the newest and therefore it could take years to know what long term sides could emerge.
I know of personal instances where docs precribed meds in error where there was an interaction with another med the patient was on.
Trusting your docs knowledge of meds (often very minimal- a phram rep presentation) could give one a false sense of confidence that could cost you your health and maybe your life.
If you read the pdr for a drug thoroughly (drug interactions and precautions) you probably know more than your doc.
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poster:bulldog2
thread:796324
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20071115/msgs/796821.html