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Too many med changes too quickly?
In just over 6 weeks, I've been through 7 med changes. First a one time visit with a psychiatrist at a Crisis center who upped paxil from 20mg to 30. Two weeks later, a nurse practitioner at a mental health center had me do a direct switch to 25mg sertraline for 5 days, then 50mg, and she added 5mg buspirone. It was so hard to deal with this. I found a psychiatrist who upped the sertraline to 75mg for 10 days, then to 100mg. She also upped buspirone to 10mg. I'm a mess. This is probably the last change, but I'm dealing with high anxiety, panic attacks.
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If possible, sticking with one provider and not switching around would help. That really is a lot of med changes in 6 weeks. I can see why your feeling bad.
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1 ReactionThanks. I am sticking with the psychiatrist I saw a few weeks ago. It was so hard to find help that I went with whoever could see me first. That was a one time thing, though. My PCP thought I'd be fine seeing a nurse practitioner next. After I first met with her, I decided I needed to find a psychiatrist. I've seen each provider just once, but next week I see my new psychiatrist again. She listened and seemed to care and want to help. I was lucky to find her. It's been a hard road, but I have more hope now. I appreciate your comment.
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1 Reaction@caggmb Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect! Good for you for reaching out to a crisis center when you felt the need to do that, and I commend you on that move.
Gosh, having that many medication changes in a short time would have me anxious and concerned, without any additional issues, to be sure! Our bodies need time to get used to things, and to respond to medication changes. Having a medical professional we feel comfortable with, is critical. My own opinion, would be to take this list of what you have done in the past weeks, and show her. Tell her how it has made you feel. I know for me, it has taken time for my body to respond/react to changes, and I would be concerned the movements in types of meds and prescribed amounts. Imagining it would be confusing to our brain.
Paxil is an SSRI. From Drugs.com: https://www.drugs.com/paxil.html#:~:text=Paxil%20is%20an%20antidepressant%20that,depression%2C%20including%20major%20depressive%20disorder.
Sertraline is also an SSRI From WebMD: https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-1/sertraline-oral/details
Buspirone From drugs.com also: https://www.drugs.com/buspirone.html
I am looking forward to you letting us know how your appointment goes with the new psychiatrist, her thoughts on your treatment plan and how she will support you.
Ginger
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2 ReactionsI hope you find the balance. And glad to see you get to a crisis center for guidance.
Thanks for your response and your kindness. I have not felt better, but after all the changes in meds, my brain is probably confused. When I saw the psychiatrist today, she thought the buspirone wasn't working for me, so that's discontinued. I told her the as needed 0.5mg lorazepam didn't help much. She replaced lorazepam with as needed Seroquil for now. I think she wants to up the sertraline from 100mg to 150. I don't think I want to do that, but I'll see how I feel when we meet in two weeks. I did give her a list of all the dates and med changes. She asked to keep it. My PCP hadn't included thyroid bloodwork, so I got that done today.
Thank you!
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1 ReactionHow are you doing now? Did the increase in sertraline from 100mg to 150 help you with your anxiety? What medications are you taking now? Are they helping?