Advice needed

[PurpleQ]

First Thank everyone for being so kind. I am not feeling better with my current treatment plan. I am on Trazodone 150mg to help with sleep and 40mg Prozac to help with depression and OCD. My issues are I am truly afraid to change my medication plan. I am afraid of all possible side effects. It doesn't help that I work in the medical field. Too much info is harmful when it really should be helpful. When they ask how I am doing I say fine but fine is not better. I don't know what to truly say because I want to feel better, but I can't have it affect my work. How do you say you need more help when you are afraid to????

[LoveforAll41]

Hi PurpleQ, I am sorry that you are struggling with this. I first tried to talk to my parents by writing them a note. That was okay and easier than talking.

I think that at work HR people are usually very used to working with mental health, I would bet that whoever prescribes your medication might have some ideas as well. Know that you are not alone and mental health needs to be seen the same as physical, if you have a broken limb you are going to go get help. How would you treat a friend that was in your shoes?

I think it is a big mountain to climb, reaching out for help, but is immensely freeing to do. I would assure others (apart from doctors), that all you need them to do is listen, then they don't have pressure when you tell them that you are struggling. I hope that you can be honest with yourself and those around you. I wish you peace, hope, and strength.☮️

[PurpleQ in reply to LoveforAll41]

Thank you so much. I did tend to write how I feel better than to speak on it. I think before I meet with my psychiatrist. I will send her an email.

[Craigliving4Jane]

Hey PQ. Boy can I relate to this one. For years I was not finding any help or relief. Admittedly I was pretty ignorant and clueless to the world of mental health. So when I did finally find somewhat relief with different meds. It was very scary to want to have better , to want to have more for myself. The change of the meds could affect how im feeling to make it worse. And awful again. side effect possibilities are scary and can be very tough to take. But what it came down to for me was I couldn’t take it anymore . I was feeling not only very ill from my mental health challenges, but from a family who just would not help me to try to find answers, and so between those two, I became sicker and sicker and sicker so I went into a hospital . And I came out a new man. They did the full battery of tests on both my body and my mind and change quite a few things and reduce my anxiety to 80 to 90% and my depression has been nil for over a year. so I get it. It is frightening , but at what point is it better to try for a better life.

That is each individuals difficult choice. There is obviously no guarantees of the results I had.

I obviously lament not being more aggressive sooner

But I was scared

I pray for your strength and God’s direction to better health

Much love

Craig

[litethatnevergoesout]

write down what you want to say to your doctor and have them read it.

I started trazodone a month ago 50mg my neurologist bumped me up to 100mg and said that’s the highest legally allowed, how did you get to 150mg?

[PurpleQ in reply to litethatnevergoesout]

Maybe because it was prescribed by. Neurologists. Mine was provided by a psychiatrist. She started me on 100mg, than increased it to 150mg because I still couldn't sleep. Maybe it is state regulated. Some medications are.

[litethatnevergoesout in reply to PurpleQ]

400mg is the highest prescription allowed for trazodone. my wacky neurologist.

[rksn]

Purple Q - I was on trazodone 50/100mg (along with other medicines) for 6 months, for anxiety/agitation associated with depression and sleep. In the beginning it appeared to be helping for sleep, but later on it was actually aggravating my symptoms including sleep disruption. I kept giving feedback to my psychiatrist, every month, in writing, by email/whatsApp just before our monthly review & also gave oral feedback during the review. But he still continued trazodone. So i changed my psychiatrist and continued with the same practice of giving the same kind of feedback. Simultaneously i also did some digging into the net, to understand the side effects of trazodone and got convinced that trazodone was aggravating my symptoms as it does for some people. Then i gave stronger feedback but politely. He then agreed to gradually taper it, which was done over a period of 8 weeks. Hope this helps.

[Bekindtoyou]

Writing things down helps. My daughter has autism, when she gets stressed about going to the doctors she writes things down, then when we get there she hands over the paper to the gp to read. That usually helps.

[Rocknrollmom]

I hear you about being afraid to change medications. I have resisted doing so on many occasions. In addition to being afraid of side effects that might go along with changes, I think my anxiety kept me from making needed changes, definitely a trust issue. My prescriber now is a very caring and brilliant doctor, who has seen me through many a crisis with severe depressive episodes. Have you considered changing prescribers? I recently agreed to a change in meds and it has made a world of difference for me. Keep sharing here and good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[Thurlesy]

I work in this field too. I tell nobody at work about my condition. Or about my medication. As I think they would look upon me as less capable. For me personally, once I found s really good Psychiatrist, who really listened, who I had confidence in, then I trusted him to find the best medication at the best dose for me. And he did eventually. But it was trial & error. And that takes its toll on you. And your work.

For me personally, the hardest thing is knowing when to keep going tk work, and when to take time off. I find that sometimes when I am not all that good, work helps me. The routine and the familiarity and helping people actually helps me. But there are other times when I am under enormous pressure, and the physical chore of getting up and ready for work, and keeping myself focused is just too much, and I have to take some time off to get some perspective and some rest. When I go back then, I am better able to cope. Rest really does help. Having no demands and no responsibility while your body & brain just rest.

[punkster]

I understand how you feel about not wanting to change your medications. I was on the same medications (lower dosage of Prozac) and I felt terrible. The Prozac was supposed to help with my anxiety. I felt like I was walking around in a fog all the time, and that my emotions were stifled. I also gained 15 pounds. I'm not going to lie, going off Prozac was rough! In the end, I'm glad I suffered through it. I still take trazodone to help me sleep, and is doesn't make me feel weird the next day. I hope you can find the strength to change your medications. You can get through this!