OT-I had a breakthrough with mom...HELP?
DH and I watched the movie 'A Beautiful Mind'. For those of you who haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. As we were watching, I was seeing a lot of the main characters symptoms were the exact same as my mom. I had recently received a list of her medications from my grandma when we picked up mom and MIL for a birthday brunch, so I googled every single medication on a reputable clinic website.
The results shocked me. EVERY. SINGLE. MEDICATION she is on, her erratic behavior is a known side-effect of one of these meds. Also, one of the medications lists "unless advised by a doctor, do not take ____ medication while taking this" and it showed a list of "do not combine"....she is on THREE of the "do not combine".
It makes me sick. I know she is on state healthcare....I'm thinking that when she had to change doctors when she moved they might have "double-dipped" because they knew they would get paid. Example: this pill causes sleeplessness...lets give her a sleep aid. Oh, this one causes upset stomach, here's another pill...anxiety pill...arthritis pill....also the biggest one: one of the pills is used to treat schizophrenia: I ASKED about her being schizophrenic and they said they tested her and she ISN'T...so why is she on this then???
Something isn't adding up. She had none of these behavioral issues until she moved and changed doctors.
Here's the issue. Mom will not allow ANYONE to talk to her doctors, and recently removed my aunt who had power of attorney so now nobody has it. Is POA the only way I can talk to her old doctor and get her old medication list to find out what changed?
One other confusing thing: my aunt swears the last time she picked my mom up from a treatment center where they got her back on all her pills (took about 4 months) she said mom seemed "more like her old self again, perfectly normal". So now I am conflicted. Either the medication is causing her behavior or it fixes it.
A big part of me doesn't want to get involved again.
Ideas?
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Comments
Dang! Typically the
Dang! Typically the pharmacist filling the prescripts will catch stuff like that. Sounds like she isn't using the same pharmacy for all meds.
that would make sense except
that would make sense except she can't drive, and there is only one close pharmacy to my grandparents. Unless she is getting pills shipped to the house? Not sure.
Your mom may be taking meds
Your mom may be taking meds prescribed by old doctors from old prescriptions that she refilled... and then also taking new meds prescribed by the new doctor. Without getting overly involved (because you legally cannot). If you know the contact name of your mother's current doctor, I might send them a letter. Tell them that you were provided with this listing of medications that your mother is supposedly taking concurrently. You are concerned because her behavior is even more erratic and you have seen indications that many of these meds shouldn't be taken together. You want them to be aware so that they can review the course of meds with her mom the next time she comes in.
Unfortunately, so many people want to go to a dr and have things "fixed" like if you had taken your car in for service. But, it doesn't work that way. Sure, there are tons of medications that can do some amazing things. However, many of those meds have their own side effects and drawbacks and between DR and Patient.. the decision needs to be made whether the risk is worth the reward. And yeah.. sometimes that means that meds are also dispensed to deal with side effects of the primary meds... it can be complicated and a patient seeing multiple drs has higher risk of dangerous interractions.
I agree with the posters above
My mom is a retired CVS pharmacist. I would start with the pharmacy.
HIPPA prevents doctors and pharmacists
from talking to others about their patients. However, it would not prevent a doctor or pharmacist from listening while you talk to them. Call her previous doctor and give him the info on what she is taking and the behaviors you are seeing, then provide him with her current doctor's info. He might contact the current doctor.
I did this once with one of my DH's doctors and he was willing to listen.
There are some anti-psychotic meds that are frequently used as mood stabilizers, so that might explain the anti-schizophrenia drug.