saw my psychiatrist yesterday

I know I've posted recently about feeling like my meds weren't helping much and having terrible insomnia and stuff.  Normally I feel like my psychiatrist really listens to me and I like him, but the last couple visits I was dissatisfied and felt he wasn't listening.  Well, yesterday he was back to his usual self and I felt like he was listening again.

I told him I didn't think the Abilify or Nortryptyline were helping and that I wanted to come off them because of side effects.  He agreed I could come off them if I wanted too, but warned me that I might get more depressed.  I guess he wasn't listening real good at that point, but I said I did not feel my depression improved when I started taking them.  So therefore I don't think it will get worse to stop taking them.  I am still taking Effexor four times a day.

I am looking forward to my appetite going back to normal (oh, please, let it go back to normal!) and to being able to poop again.

I asked for Trazadone for sleep and told him I'd taken some of my partner's Trazadone a couple of nights and it worked real well.  And yes, I know you are not supposed to take someone else's medication.  And this is one reason I love my psychiatrist - he knows I know you aren't supposed to do that, so he did not lecture me about it.  He just said yeah, I could have some Trazadone.  I also asked for a script for Vistaril for anxiety, which I've taken in the past, and he wrote me a prescription for that, too.  Although I think getting regular sleep will help the anxiety a lot.

I took trazedone for years...I lost rack on how many years actually.  It does work really well.  There were times the dose would be raised then lowered depending on what was going on. 

For me, my depression was situational.  My doctor said I would be on the med for life.  It was difficult to come off.  My sister warned me about that.  Anyway I decided I did not need it for life and weaned myself off...I did it over a very, very long period of time - more  than a year at least.  My insomnia was menopausal by that time.

I'm glad he gave you a script and hope it works well for you.  What I liked was the increased doses made no difference in how how felt in the morning.

That's good to know.  One thing I dont' want is that hung over, drugged feeling the next day.

I have been taking Trazadone for years in combination with 2mg of Ativan for insomnia. It took YEARS and over a dozen medications to get the combo just right. I do know when my pshychiatrist tried to increase my trazadone, I was horribly sleepy during the day - I guess it is a very individual thing.

I hope your transition goes well. I hate having to change meds. It seems like I've been on everything. My doctor has had me taking 1 mg of Abilify in addition to everything else I'm taking. I really think it has helped. We were just switched to a new prescription plan and Abilify is a non-preferred drug with the new plan. I'm going to have to find something new and I'm really not looking forward to it. Who knows, though? Maybe I won't need something new.

If your doc can explain to your insurance company why you need Abilify and other drugs won't do the job, they may agree to cover it.

It is covered, it will just cost me $50 a month instead of $30.

A lot of insurance have prescription mail plan - and mine allow me to get 3 months worth for 2 monts co-pay.  I am on 2 very expensive meds and that saves me $60  every 3 months.

Yes, my insurance has mandatory mail order for maintenance drugs. I have several brand name medications and that extra money on top of it will break me, I think.

sorry babe... I now it hurts...