I wish to see a psychiatrist about some depression and anxiety issues. I've taken prescription antidepressants, but my regular doctor has not prescribed specific antianxiety drugs. I have struggled with anxiety for quite some time, and I have had friends occasionally give me some of their prescription meds to help me out. I do not abuse these drugs, I have taken them only when I felt that I really needed them. However, it is illegal, and if I admit that would it be construed as 'drug seeking behavior'? OTOH, I feel like I should talk about it, because it represents valid data about what seems to work for me.
posted by anonymous to health fitness (19 answers wholesale jerseys total)
Psychiatrists encounter so many drug seekers, they're pretty good at recognizing them. Drug seeking is a little bit about what you Cheap Jerseys From CHINA say, but a lot about your affect and attitude/how you say things.
If you are insistent about wanting certain medications even if your psychiatrist thinks they are not the best choice for you, that can come off poorly. Tell your psychiatrist you are willing to try whatever they think is most likely to work for you (and mean it), and it is doubtful you will appear to be drug seeking. Be honest with your psychiatrist. You will definitely not be telling them anything unusual or shocking to them.
Keep in mind that certain antianxiety medications are not meant to be taken on an as needed basis, and as such, borrowing one here and there from a friend would not be effective.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 3:22 PM on February 4 [3 favorites]
On a scale of 1 to whatever upper limit psychiatrists experience once in a professional lifetime, this is a 1.
From their side, of course I know it's a big deal for you. But you have to be totally open with them drug interactions, symptom masking, and a fundamentally dishonest doctor patient relationship are all real risks here.
posted by cromagnon at 3:26 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]
Drug interactions is the big thing here. Well, that and if you know that a certain one made you go all suicidal and you should never let it in your body again. But they're not going to get you thrown in jail or anything.
posted by theichibun at 3:34 PM on February 4
There are probably some psychiatrists whose ears will prick up if you admit to using meds you weren't prescribeddifferent people make different judgments in the same situationbut this is extremely common. It's well worth the risk of having to possibly go to another psychiatrist to give them the additional data on what works for your anxiety. It's my understanding that doctorpatient confidentiality would protect you from any legal consequences here, but I'm not any kind of expert on this.
That said, I've known a few people who have gotten labeled as drug seekers from admitting to using prescription antianxiety meds without a prescription. However, most of those people were the sort not to see the difference between:
"I tried some Xanax at a party and it made me feel really awesome. Can I get some Xanax?"
"My friend gave me some of her Xanax when she saw me having a particularly bad panic attack. It really helped with my symptoms, and I think that benzodiazepines might be a good option for controlling my anxiety. What do you think?"
That's an important distinction.
posted by lemonadeheretic at 3:44 PM on February 4 [3 favorites]
I would absolutely tell them. "My friend gave me some xanax once and it seemed to help, but I felt like I should speak with a professional and not just selfmedicate" is a thing you could say.
When I started talking to my doctor about antianxiety medicine I said that I drank to take the edge off and that seemed like a bad plan and I was hoping to find a better way of coping (in addition to diet/exercise stuff which I was already doing). Usually drug seekers are more like "I need this medicine because I have these symptoms!" and not "I am concerned about my psychological wellbeing because my anxiety is impacting my life in these ways and I'd like some help figuring out how to not be so stressed all the time" so I think you are okay. One of the problems with anxiety, of course, is that it manifests itself in these sort of "My doctor is going to give me a hard time!" metaworries which is enough of an unliklihood that I'd lump it in with "Things my anxiety is doing to me" and just go in and tell the doc the truth.
posted by jessamyn at 3:46 PM on February 4 [18 favorites]
This is purely anecdotal, but my doctor really doesn't mind and uses it as data points for what works.
posted by Raichle at 4:19 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
Confidentiality = they can't rat you out, with very few exceptions, without violating their own professional ethics.
posted by Elagabalus at 5:36 PM on February 4
Everybody with anxiety likes taking Xanax or Klonopin, but you need to trust your doctor's judgment. On the other hand, it's your job to tell them that your current anxiety medication (SSRI is in fact indicated for anxiety) isn't cutting the mustard.
But taking benzos for anxiety is almost the same as drinking to calm your nerves. Sure it works great for short term relief but for most people it's going to cause more problems than it fixes. Over the last year I've received several separate, lengthy emails from professional societies talking about the pressing need to entirely stop long term benzodiazepine use for anxiety and how someone really needs to get around to sanctioning doctors that prescribe benzos for more than a couple of months.
In my experience some psychiatrists are going to judge the hell out of you and put their private frowny passiveaggressive drug seeker labels in the chart, and others are going to hand you whatever drugs you ask for without a single question. Still others are going to take that into account for whatever future plans they had for medicating your brain.
Giving you what you want is not their job. They are actually following the guidelines for the highest level of evidence by not giving you benzos. But the primary goal is treating your anxiety, so you need to properly articulate that you're not feeling the chemical love.