ethical delema

I have a friend who was on a high dose of venlaflaxine along with other drugs, she is trying to come off them, she finally got the ok well its ur decision, from the dr and has been without venlaflaxine for 4 days, shes getting all the nasty withdrawls, vomiting, dizzisness etc.. shes lost 6kg in 9 days!

When i was comming off mine the withdrawls got so nasty that they put me on fluoxitine and tapered that, to kill the widrawls from the other, it worked resonobly well but her dr is being a prick and wont give her the fluoxitine, i dont weahter its because they dont think she should be comming off her meds so they are helping her or weather they have another reason, if they have a good reason for not giving it to her, they certainly havent told her about it, this is her psych dr and her gp. gp will be doing what hes been told by pscyh dr no doubt. it seems to us that he is just being an unhelpful son of a ***** soooo here in lies my delema...

i want to help her. I could go to my appointment next week and say i want to be put back on fluoxitine.. and then i could give her the meds... its sneaky and i dont know if i should do that or not... does anyone have any thoughts on weather its right or wrong, good or bad, helpful or unhelpful?

im so mad at her dr ive told her to write an officail complaint!

I wouldn't recommend giving her any unsubscribed medicine, it could be quite dangerous.

Did she quit cold turkey?

why dont you take her to your dr?
it she is coming of the meds cold turkey she will get nasty side effects
her dr should be monitoring her as she comes off them

if her dr is being a prick, then maybe she could see yours, sounds like yours knows what they doing.

but i wouldnt give her your meds, you just dont know how they will effect her, and it could make things worse
just coz it worked for you, don't mean it would have the same outcome for her.

thanks guys. Ive been at my friends house most of today and it seems that her dr is just being a prick. he told her it is her choice if she takes the meds or not and so she has chosen not to but he wont give her anything to help with the withdrawl effects from venlaflaxine, he wont give a reason either. so while i was at her place, i called healthline who suggested a second opinion, so we are about to go to city docs and see if they can help..

the dr i saw was when i was in hopstial and my gp isnt open weekends, and even if my dr was open weekends i dont think they are taking on new clients, ive been with my dr since i was a kid so cant do that am just hoping that city drs can help her as she is experiencing shaking vomiting, dizziness and without the zoppies, sleeplessness.

i understand what worked for me might not nessasirily work for her but there must be something that can help, instead i think her dr wants to make the point that she needs the meds instead of supporting her decision to come off of them, will keep you posted on how we get on at the drs tonight.

thanks for your replys

change of plans, no dr tonight

chickie, if u reading this... hang in there!

if she is still feeling really nasty and you think she isnt getting better, taker her to the A&E. They have to treat her symptoms.

A&E or an After Hours Doctor is a good idea.

Hi, NZMUM, its an interesting Thread, this.

I think you know that your idea of giving your meds to someone else isn’t a great idea and is also unlawful under both the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 and the Medicines Act 1981.

Yes, your friend has (unless Sectioned etc) as most of us do, the right to choose to stop taking a prescribed med and we have the choice of either doing so in a safe(ish) way or torture ourselves by going cold turkey.

Its unsafe to assume that because you received Fluox to help transition off another medication, it will be the right thing for your friend to take. It could well be dangerous, given that we all physiologically different.

I don’t know that the GP is wrong in not prescribing an alternative medication to ease the transition, because I don’t know (nor am qualified to understand), the clinical background behind that decision.) There may well be a reason unknown to you – or as you suggest, he’s a hard bastard from the school of thought that we need to find out some truths for ourselves and that decisions always have consequences. ‘Cos, they do.

If your friend agrees, why don’t you accompany her to her next GPs appointment, so that you see and hear for yourself, the GPs reasoning behind the decision? You may be allowed to ask questions or relate your experiences and how you were helped which may assist the GP in reviewing the path he taking with your friend. You will also be better placed to know for sure, if your friend is or isn’t being afforded the protection and assurances in the Code Of Rights for Consumers of Medical Services http://www.hdc.org.nz/the-act--code/the-code-of-rights


Your thought of maybe asking your GP for Fluox so that you can give it away unlawfully may have consequences for you later on? I dunno, but your medical records will at the least say you have (or have not ) been prescribed Fluox as of this time and you will have had to tell a story of some sort in an attempt to obtain a script by false pretences which you may not even get from the doctor.

Seeking and misusing meds by ‘us’, any one of us, makes it just that little bit more difficult for those of us who don’t, when it comes to the credibility and trustworthiness of MH consumers anywhere. Each misuse makes the medics just that little bit more conservative and adds to the already not great perception many people have of those experiencing and living with any mental illness.

You also need think about the potential consequences for every registered patient of the medical centre who may have, now or later, a need for help in managing their health.

Please, do not proceed with your plans to obtain by deception and misuse medications. Your heart is in the right place, but that idea is seriously flawed. Use other options, including written complaints by all means, but don’t misuse or give away prescription meds and certainly not our anti-mad meds eh?

Thanks,
Paddy.
Moderator.

What Paddy said.

Plus I doubt that your own doctor would overrule your friends doctor, I would recommend going with her to her own Dr as Paddy suggested - if she agrees that is. As a friend and her advocate there is no reason you should not ask questions to check she is getting the best treatment possible.

peter

thanks guys.. i think i know that it isnt a wise decison for me to get meds to give away, that is probably why i had doubts in the first place, its simply dishonest in the least and could prove unhelpful to my friend, not to mention if i needed them one day and couldnt get them because i was already supposidly on them.

I think i just got really caught up in wanting to help and ease things a bit for her that my better judgement was taking a twist.

on track now tho and im happy to say my friend has had a better day today, hopefully it will continue.

thank u for all ur thought provoking and helpful replies, really aprecaite it

nikki.

This was never going to happen. I think it was Nikki seeing how distressed I am, and knowing that there is another easier way by switching to fluoxitine; and it was me feeling desperate and being tempted. But Nikki and I actually make pretty good decisions about ourselves and each other. We both have stuffed up thinking sometimes, and throw up all sorts of things, but together we have always managed to get through our wonky thinking and get to the right place. There was a time a few months ago when our psychiatrist said to me that she her very real and strong worry was that we would be the death of each other. She said we could turn it around and make it a strength and support for each other - and we have really, really done such a good job of doing that. I am quite proud of us!

Love ya chickie.

ur right, we do have something to be proud of there, go us! i hope as i write this your sleepinggggg

love ya lots!

well done masie and nzmum you have work well together by the lookz of it and hope you carr on being gd support for each other.

WHY WHY are you awake