What to ask your Doctor about psychiatric medications.

Part of the treatment plan for my schizoaffective disorder involves medication. I am currently on a mono therapy medication, which in layman terms means a single medication is prescribed to control my illness. Medication usage is not a cure for mental illness but more of a way to help lesson the symptoms and help the patient achieve better outcomes. Therapy is equally important, but some illness therapy alone is not enough.

Medication use in Psychiatry often times causes unnecessary fear and is greatly stigmatized. We have all seen the movies or TV shows where a character is placed on medication and become a drooling zombified mess. The Hollywood portrayal of medications is about just as off as their portrayals of the actual mental illness. I'm not saying that the medications used to treat mental illness don't have side effects, because many of them do. What you need to do is weight the pros of taking it (reduction of symptoms, better functioning) with the possible cons. And the best place to that is in the doctors office.

If your Dr brings up medication as a part of your treatment plan it helps to prepared. Make sure that your Pdoc knows your medical history. This is important because some medications can have an impact of heart, liver and kidney function. Another thing is be honest about your symptoms and whats bothering your, this helps in securing a proper diagnosis so that the appropriate medications can be prescribed. It might help to ask friends and family for their observations as sometimes we are blind to some of our symptoms and behaviors.

Ask why he/she is prescribing this medication. Make sure you know your diagnosis. I can't not count the times I have talked to people who were on psychiatric medications and had no clue as to why. It also helps to know which symptoms the medication is suppose to target so that you can report in a later appointments if it is working or not.

Ask how long it will be before you will see any effects. Some medications can take weeks to work has the body builds up a therapeutic level, and some are titrated up slowly so as to lesson possible bad side effects while others begin working in twenty-four hours. It helps if you have an idea as how long you should wait for symptom abatement. You don't want to give up and quit after a week when it turns out that medication takes three weeks to begin working.

Discuss your concerns of side effects and anything that you can do to help lessen those side effects. You might have to watch your diet and exercise more to help combat medication related weight gain. Your Dr may also bring up other medications that can help curb the voracious appetite or metabolic changes that are often associated with medications such as atypical anti-psychotics. Also ask if these side effects are short term ones. Some times after a few weeks side effects such as stomach issues and headaches will go away.

Ask how you should take this medication. How many times a day, what times and whether you should it with food or not. An empty stomach can effect absorption rates for some medications. So it is very important that you know how and when you should take it. Also ask if blood levels need to be drawn and if so how often. Should your sugar and cholesterol levels be checked regularly while on this? It also a good thing to ask if you need to tests for liver and kidney functioning and how often you do that.

Make sure you tell your Dr any other medications or supplements that you are on. This also goes for over the counter medication and birth control. You Dr needs to know this because taking some medications together, even OTC ones can have nasty interactions.

Ask how you should take this medication. How many times a day, what times and whether you should it with food or not. An empty stomach can effect absorption rates for some medications. So it is very important that you know how and when you should take it.

If there are bad side effects associated with the medication weigh the pros and cons of the medication carefully with your Dr. Sometimes the positive outcomes will out weight the negative ones.

Ask about dietary changes should make, this include water consumption. With some medications such as Lithium you will need to increase your daily water consumption to help clear it.

Once you are prescribe medication is very important that you following the dosing schedule. Do not stop taking the medication because you feel better. Your symptoms decreased because of the medication and abruptly stopping it can have both withdrawal and rebound effects. Ask what you should do if you forgot a dose or cant take it because of an illness. Also ask how your dosing schedule might impact your daily functioning. Is an anti-psychotic going to leave you too drowsy to work certain shifts? Is there a possibility that you might be too foggy brained in the morning to function? If these are concerns your Pdoc should be able to recommend what times you can take it or recommend another medication altogether.

If you do find yourself in need of an over the counter medication please check with either your Dr or pharmacist before using to avoid drug interactions. I find it easier to just fill all my prescriptions and buying of OTC medications at the same pharmacy. This allows the pharmacist easier access to my medication history to answer my questions.

Make sure that not just your medical doctor but also your dentist knows about your medications. Also should dry mouth be an issue with your medications your dentist should be able to suggest special toothpastes, mouthwashes, sprays that can help with it. Also because of the dry mouth your dentist may want to see you more often to help combat gum and tooth disease that result from that.

I have found that when discussing the above with Dr it is easy to be quickly overwhelmed with the information. Check out crazymeds for a list of most of the medications used to treat mental illness. Yeah the name of site can be a little of putting but the information over there is great. The way they present the information on the medications is using simple terms and with a dash of humor.

If your like me it might help to write down any questions that you have. Also if you have some reservations about a particular medication voice it and ask if other medication can be prescribed instead. Your Pdoc should be encouraging you to participate in you actual treatment plan and if they won't then perhaps you need to find one that will.