THE WAKEUP CALL

As I said in my last blog, I was really close to being prescribed another drug for my worsening CNS symptoms. And then I had a serious reaction to wellbutrin. It was a wakeup call!

I doubt I would have stopped antidepressants and regained my mind if I had not gone through the experience of feeling suicidal. This feeling set off alarm bells in my head.  It happened on a weekend so I was left to my own devices. This is good because it is unlikely I would have got answers from my doctors or pharmacists.

 I got on the internet and found out that the drug could be causing the symptoms – suicidal thoughts, confusion, short term memory problems, and the lack of coordination. I also learned that someone with a family history of bipolar should not have been prescribed the drug.

This shocked me to the core! I then realized that I had to verify everything to do with my healthcare. I started to look at all of the prescriptions I was taking.  It was easy to find relevant prescription drug information on the internet and I would highly recommen

d visiting www.drugs.com and the US government website www.fda.gov/drugs.  I could not believe that the doctors and pharmacists did not know this information. The individual drug interactions are known. Out of 8 drugs, I had 5 serious drug interactions going on. But this is a whole other story for another blog.

It was my review of all of the drug interactions that altered my medication plan. One of my biggest risks of having CNS lupus (inflammation of the blood vessels in my brain) is having a stroke. One of the drugs I am taking is plavix which makes my blood less sticky and less likely to cause a blood clot.  Can you imagine my dismay when I found out that this drug has been rendered useless because I was also taking Prozac, an anti-depressant? Thousands of dollars down the drain over 8 years, unmitigated risk and not one professional pointed this out.

After bringing this to the attention of my doctors, they suggested that there was another antidepressant that I could take that would not interfere with the plavix. When I went to pick up the prescription from the pharmacist, he cautioned me to stop the Prozac for a period of 6 weeks before starting another antidepressant. I heeded his advice since I was not eager to repeat the suicidal idealization experience -besides this was going to be the third differenct antidepressant taken in just over 3 months.

About the same time, I spoke to a tennis friend who is a pharmacist. He said that I needed to stop taking most of the drugs in order to get over all of the drug interactions.  He said that normally someone is hospitalized and taken off all of the drugs. Then they are reintroduced say 2 rather than 8 medications.

Hospitalization was not an option. I knew I had to wean myself off of the antidepressants. It would have been best if I had received advice from a psychiatrist but I was several months away from being able to see one. I planned and executed my own withdrawal scheme. My experience of withdrawal is described in my next blog - Antidepressants Caused my Zombie State.