Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

Your feedback is essential to the psychiatrist.  In the beginning patients want to be “fixed.”  They want the medication the doctor prescribes to solve everything.  You have to take an active role in your treatment.

Question everything the physician does, every medication you are put on.  After all, it is your body you are putting the medication in.  Learn what to expect, with every medication adjustment.

Learn what a therapeutic level is.  How long it takes to get there, what changes to expect.  Learn the side effects of each medication you are on, whether you can live with them.

Learn, also, what changes will occur in you body and mind, when to determine whether the medication is, truly, helping you.

You are not a passive participant.  The doctor can not prescribe medications properly without your accurate feedback.

Know the time frame of each medication, how long you have to wait before it works properly, if at all.

The medication is only an aid.  You still have to help yourself.  The medication does not work properly if you do not take care of yourself:  that means eating correctly and sleeping enough regularly.

You have to know if the doctor is listening to you.  Don’t be afraid to change doctors if they are not.  I have fired a few in my time.  This is harder to do if you are going to a mental health center but it can be done.

Learn everything you can about every medication before you take it so you know what to expect.  Your feedback is essential to the doctor.  He can not do his job properly without it.

Tags: eating correctly, help yourself, medication, mental health center, mental illness, patient feedback, patients want to be "fixed", physician, psychiatrist, question your doctor, side effects, sleep, therapeutic level
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It is a small thing but I date every med change.  I put it on the calender.  I find out my memory is not always good.  That way I have a reference point.  Most meds take five to ten days to work.  If enough time has gone by and there has been not much change or any, I can inform my doctor of this.  There is something called a therapeutic level.  Most drugs I take it is usually ten to fourteen days and there should be some change in five or six days.  Writing the drug change on the calender helps me keep track of this and enables me to tell my doctor when the dosage is too high or the medication is not the right one.  It is one way I am a responsible patient.  The doctor can do so much.  The rest is up to me.

Tags: doctor, drugs, med change, medications, therapeutic level
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