I know this isn't a forum in which medical advice can be given, however I need to explain a couple of things about my medication. Please no anti-medication replies - thanks
I was being taken off a medication that I had been on for three years and another that I had been on for nearly ten. I was first sent for a mental state assessment, but this wasn't very well carried out and was done over the phone by a social worker. I explained that I felt my medication was helping me stay stable - I still have some episodes of irritablity but I can cope better. However I was getting into a bad depression from christmas time last year, and had been neglecting my personal hygene (hadn't taken a bath for nearly two months) and everything was getting on top of me, i wasn't getting up some days. So I had what amounted to another major depressive episode, and I am still not on top of things and still struggling with depression. I requested three times for advice on one medication whether to keep repeat ordering it every two months and was told to do so and it would be kept under observation. Nothing more was said for about two years (I spoke to a doctor once over the phone during the UK lockdown)
I am on the lowest dose of one medication which is an adjunctive. I told my doctor I wasn't coping with the six week regime of coming off it, and that the other doctor had reasons for putting me on it beside treatment for anxiety.
My doctor eventually agreed to put me down for specialist medicine review by a consultant. This should have been done before she started taking me off the meds I am on. It took a lot of remonstrating to get booked in for this. I talked also to the doctor who had prescribed these meds and he said I was sounding to him like I did when he first saw me, over ten years ago, ie. that he thought I had relapsed. The other doctor who had not put me on them didn't realise that one was not for anxiety but an atypical anti-psychotic prescribed for major depression with obsessional aspects. This all left me worried for three months wondering whether they would be replaced. A psychiatrist who never seen me decided my meds were not working. However according to the UK clinical guidelines (I checked their website) I should have been on 150 - 300mg - I was on 50mg of Quetiapine (if its the right medication.) I am experiencing another episode of depression now. But she has stopped taking me off, however she is waiting for the specialist medicine assessment that I was supposed to have been given over two months ago, before doing anything further.
I was never given any indication for three months while I was waiting for my assessment she would change me onto something else. In the end the med she said she would change me to is the same class (an SSRI). And UK clinical guidelines say there is no appreciable difference for this new med. from the one I am on. My brain is used to the other one - maybe its lost its efficacy after ten years I don't know. But the other one I was on was for psychotic episodes and dissocation. These meds have been helping me. It took nearly 15 years to get the adjunctive - even though I had had major depression several times, and several breaks with reality.
Its absolutely critical I don't have another major breakdown - the last one left me in the hands of the wrong sort of helpers which made it much worse.
Please pray I am put on the right combination of meds and dosage.
Thanks for reading.
God Bless.
I was being taken off a medication that I had been on for three years and another that I had been on for nearly ten. I was first sent for a mental state assessment, but this wasn't very well carried out and was done over the phone by a social worker. I explained that I felt my medication was helping me stay stable - I still have some episodes of irritablity but I can cope better. However I was getting into a bad depression from christmas time last year, and had been neglecting my personal hygene (hadn't taken a bath for nearly two months) and everything was getting on top of me, i wasn't getting up some days. So I had what amounted to another major depressive episode, and I am still not on top of things and still struggling with depression. I requested three times for advice on one medication whether to keep repeat ordering it every two months and was told to do so and it would be kept under observation. Nothing more was said for about two years (I spoke to a doctor once over the phone during the UK lockdown)
I am on the lowest dose of one medication which is an adjunctive. I told my doctor I wasn't coping with the six week regime of coming off it, and that the other doctor had reasons for putting me on it beside treatment for anxiety.
My doctor eventually agreed to put me down for specialist medicine review by a consultant. This should have been done before she started taking me off the meds I am on. It took a lot of remonstrating to get booked in for this. I talked also to the doctor who had prescribed these meds and he said I was sounding to him like I did when he first saw me, over ten years ago, ie. that he thought I had relapsed. The other doctor who had not put me on them didn't realise that one was not for anxiety but an atypical anti-psychotic prescribed for major depression with obsessional aspects. This all left me worried for three months wondering whether they would be replaced. A psychiatrist who never seen me decided my meds were not working. However according to the UK clinical guidelines (I checked their website) I should have been on 150 - 300mg - I was on 50mg of Quetiapine (if its the right medication.) I am experiencing another episode of depression now. But she has stopped taking me off, however she is waiting for the specialist medicine assessment that I was supposed to have been given over two months ago, before doing anything further.
I was never given any indication for three months while I was waiting for my assessment she would change me onto something else. In the end the med she said she would change me to is the same class (an SSRI). And UK clinical guidelines say there is no appreciable difference for this new med. from the one I am on. My brain is used to the other one - maybe its lost its efficacy after ten years I don't know. But the other one I was on was for psychotic episodes and dissocation. These meds have been helping me. It took nearly 15 years to get the adjunctive - even though I had had major depression several times, and several breaks with reality.
Its absolutely critical I don't have another major breakdown - the last one left me in the hands of the wrong sort of helpers which made it much worse.
Please pray I am put on the right combination of meds and dosage.
Thanks for reading.
God Bless.
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