How to get doctors to believe me

[Alpam]

Hi all,

I was hoping you guys could give me some idea on how to talk to my doctors to get them to believe me that medications do not effect me the way they do the normal population, I have tried explaining over and over again but they don't get it. I have severe medication resistance.

I have a major medication resistance, as an example I get chronic severe tension type headaches. As an opiate naive patient my GP prescribed me Fentanyl patches 25mcg/h after 3 days I wasn't finding it strong enough so we increased it to a 50mcg/h which is equivalent to 200mg of morphine a day, I found it to reduce pain and that's it, no sedation, no euphoria or anything else people get from taking high doses or opiates, according to the literature I should be dead with that dose. My GP is now saying it was a mistake to prescribe so high. Also I take Phenobarbitone 120mg at night, I told my doc I didn't find it sedative and she would not believe me, she kept saying "but it's a sedative" with myself responding "so what it does not sedate me". I probably shouldn't of done this but when I was first prescribed Barbiturates I wanted to see if anything would happen if I took a large dose of Phenobarbitone, with the hypothesis nothing would happen. so my first day on it I took 40 30mg tablets (1200mg), and absolutely nothing happened, I felt no different. Other examples include I took half a dozen Rohypnol and couldn't sleep, plus many more I wont bore you with.

I keep telling my doctors that I need large doses of medication, or that medications do nothing at all and I seem to have a natural tolerance, but they don't seem to get it they keep dismissing me, and these are the doctors I have been with for years (But they are good doctors otherwise so I am  not switching)

Please note I am not seeking an increase in medication and I am not using this to doctor shop or to get high.

Thanks

[notloki]

Get some genetic testing.

[TakeAChillPill]

I am kind of like you in some ways.

For instance, the only time I was in the mental hospital was in November 2010.  I was there for 10 days and 10 nights.  They kept giving me heaps of drugs for my insomnia and anxiety.  They gave me Ativan, Seroquel, Zyporexa, and Abilify.  I wasn't being out of hand but I kept getting out of the bed every half hour or so when i should be sleeping and walked down to the med window to get another Ativan until they'd threaten to put me in the "seclusion room" where they basically tie you down and give you a Zyprexa injection.  After the threat thing I'd lay in bed awake.  In fact I didn't sleep for 10 days and 10 nights.  To be honest there have been times I've gone even longer without sleep when I was prescribed Wellbutrin, Abilify, and stimulants as well.  

So maybe the downers like Zyprexa and Seroquel don't work for me while the stimulants work too much.  

I agree with notloki that you have some differences in your DNA/genes that cause you to metabolize medication differently.  I'm not sure there are tests that can confirm this though.  

What does the Seroquel do for you if anything?  

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by TakeAChillPill

[Alpam]

I have had genetic testing which showed slightly reduced CYP2D6 Reduced CYP2C19 Normal CYP2C9 and increased Warfarin Sensitivity. Not too sure on the accuracy of the results as this is the first year it has been available that I know of.

Currently the only way I get to sleep is if I relax by myself for a few hours smoke some pot and take the seroquel, I don't know how but my sensitivity to Seroquel has dropped, I used to take 4000mg to get to sleep (not prescribed that dose), at the start of the year I was at 1300mg and it wasn't sedating but now I am getting to sleep fine. Also Seroquel is the only drug I find sedating.

When I was first prescribed Dexamphetamine it put me to sleep, same with Ritalin.

Benzos are not sedating, for muscle pain I usually take 4 tablets of Valium (20mg) with no side-effects

[melissaw72]

9 hours ago, Alpam said:

I keep telling my doctors that I need large doses of medication, or that medications do nothing at all and I seem to have a natural tolerance, but they don't seem to get it they keep dismissing me, and these are the doctors I have been with for years (But they are good doctors otherwise so I am  not switching)

I'm sorry the DRs aren't believing you.  I can truly empathize with you.  I have DRs who don't believe me either and it is way beyond frustrating.  The problem for me (and finally pdoc seems to understand it) is that I metabolize meds faster than normal, which is why I need the higher doses of meds.  Idk how he came to that conclusion, but he did say it to me as a potential reason for the high doses I need on some meds.  Idk how to know definitively the actual answer, but he knows it to be true. 

FWIW ... I did have some genetic testing done but it didn't seem to talk about how I metabolize meds in general ... it showed the results of which meds would suit me better and which meds were not recommended for me ... good ones, low ones (that might not have the biggest effect on me), and high (where the meds could potentially have a bad effect of me) but that was all AFAIK what the testing talked about ... and he would have told me about metabolizing meds faster or not. 

**Idk though if this is the same genetic testing being referred to in this post.

 

[OliverB]

I am sorry, I have the opposite problem with some medications, I am highly sensitive to, for example, amisulpride. The normal dosage is 400-1200mg. I drove crazy taking only 150mg. The same with risperidona, I took a dose for a child and got severely sedated.... Dxm, whichs is in cough syrupes, makes me high, it works like ketamine at high doses... for me a therapeutic one is ahigh dose....

 

It took 8 years for doctors to understand it, now they are just careful with meds, I can metabolize some normally. I have never been made a genetic test.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by Bixo