November 16, 2008 - 12:56am
I went a saw a new Physchiatric Nurse Practitioner yesterday as my Primary doctor is new and doesnt feel comfortable with my prescription. My current medications for Anxiety, Insomnia and Depression are as follows.
Klonopin 2mg 2xday
Xanax 2 mg 1xday
Effexor XR 75mg 3xday
Trazadone 200mg 1xday
Ambien 10mg 1x day
Vicodin 15mg 2-4xday(only temporary as I have bronchitis)
The nurse I saw said she could not see me as she has seen anyone on this type of regimen and her licensure prevented her from prescribing so many benzos. She warned me that this is the type of thing Heath Ledger died from, which freaked me out a little. She recommended I see a MD Psychiatrist for my meds. Has anyone had an experience like this. Is this an unusual combination?
November 16, 2008 - 3:08am
#2
You just need to see a
You just need to see a different psychiatrist. I don't see a problem with what you are prescribed benzo wise. You're one of the few I've seen on this board that are prescribed klonopin and xanax. I personally have been prescribed both long ago in the past. Then I ended up choosing just xanax. Which I'm on close to the same as what you're on mg wise from the both of yours combined. I'm on 3 2mg xanax per day. Which works well for my personal needs for anxiety, panic disorder, and depression. I'm one of the few people I personally know that xanax helps with depression. I'm also on Ambien 10mg for sleep. Every med you listed I had been on at some point in my life. Except for the hydrocodone 15mg. As far as Heath Ledger that really upsets me to hear someone talk about him like that from not knowing personally what really contributed to his death. I hope you find the right Dr. soon. Take care.
November 16, 2008 - 11:18am
#3
What I don't understand is
What I don't understand is why she would need Ambien AND Trazadone for sleep. I can see the Xanax AND Klonopin but why 2 different meds for sleep? They both do the same thing. I agree with you, spade about the Heath Ledger thing. Kind of like Anna Nicole Smith. No one really knows what contributed to their deaths. Also, why scare the OP like that?
Good luck with your meds...................KK
November 16, 2008 - 1:57pm
#4
I agree with you as
I agree with you as well KK about Anna Nicole Smith noone really knows except for themself. Along side a very highly trained pathologist that is. And that was rude of the person at heart to mention Heath in the manner he/she had. I agree with you on that as well also KK. KK I was thinking the same thing. Since she didn't mention whether she takes them at bed-time or not we our kind of left to speculate. It does show both of them at the bottom of what order she'd ingest them in though. So we can only figure she does ingest the Traz and Ambien at bed-time. I can think of only one reason for this so she will stay completely asleep for the duration of eight hours. I would assume she has a very rough time with sleeping.
November 16, 2008 - 4:33pm
#5
In most states Nurse
In most states Nurse Practitioners arent allowed to prescribe controlled substances and in most of the states that they can they have to have a real doctor with a DEA license collaborate on the case and issue the script for the controlled meds. IMHO there shouldnt be a profession called a Nurse Practitioner, and most doctors will agree.
Best advice was to find a real Psychiatrist. To become a Psychiatrist a doctor who has already obtained his/her D.O. or M.D. degrees must get post-graduate education in psychiatry consisting of 4 years of residency training, of which at least 3 are in psychiatry.
I personally would also have the psychiatrist that you choose evaluate your Rx regimen. I think there could be some tweeking that would probably help you out a lot. Such as dropping the Desyrel 200mg and just taking a higher dose of Ambien in the CR form.
November 16, 2008 - 5:12pm
#6
I was just going to say to
I was just going to say to spade that maybe she should try the Ambien CR if she has trouble staying asleep. Then maybe she could drop the Trazadone 200mg. I know the regular Ambien put's me right to sleep but the CR keeps me asleep. Also, I use to take 50mg of the Trazadone at bedtime years ago and I could not function the next day. I can't imagine taking 200mg!! But that's called Tolerance. 
Good Luck to you...................KK
heath ledger overdosed on a mixture of benzodiazepines and alcohol as far as I know and he probably took a very large amount. Your doseages arnt unreasonable but they are up there towards the limits on what a doctor will comfortabley prescribe. My doctor wont prescribe more than 2mg of xanax per day or equivalent. (1mg twice per day). Your med regimen makes perfect sense as long as the doctor isnt uptight in their prescribing practices. I would assume the trazodone and ambien is for sleep the effexor is an anti depressant, the klonopin is like a baseline anxiety med and the xanax is for sudden panic attacks. Like I said your doses arnt too high unless you just started on that dose (you should have built up to that level unless there were really bad circumstances). So pretty much you need to find a more willing doctor or your going to have to go down on your benzo level to what the doctor is willing to prescribe. Like I said my primary care doc wont go over 2mg total per day and my mom's new psychiatrist will only give 2 .5mg tablets per day but i've seen doctors prescribing 6-8mg per day so it depends on the doc/psychiatrist and their prescribing practices although your meds dont seem too unreasonable for two docs so far to not be comfortable prescribing them. It is probably just because you are a new patient and wanting high dose meds. They will probably want to start small and bring you up to what you need