she hugged me when i walked out of the elevator she was there waiting. i have found out her clozaril level has been nearly doubled and they added 600mg of trileptal (oxcarbazepine). i really need to emphasize that i hope she hangs onto life in so many ways, spiritually and her body--this is now 1/2 of her lifetime on these antipychotics and more. she was writing all of her numbers and things out onto a newspaper and one sentence i picked out in the mix was "the rising sunset". i think she has it correct. the sun always rises and this description of a rising sunset is a beautiful image in my mind, because most people think of the sun going down, she has it rising, maybe as a continual thing of beauty. it's how i felt when i read it anyway. i wrote her a note on the paper that said, "you are a great, kind and compassion-filled person". she read it out loud and placed a pillow case on her head like a headress. i told her she looked like a nun.
Trileptal/oxcarbazepine
Body as a Whole: Fever, malaise, pain chest precordial, rigors, weight decrease.
Cardiovascular System: Bradycardia, cardiac failure, cerebral hemorrhage, hypertension, hypotension postural, palpitation, syncope, tachycardia.
Digestive System: Appetite increased, blood in stool, cholelithiasis, colitis, duodenal ulcer, dysphagia, enteritis, eructation, esophagitis, flatulence, gastric ulcer, gingival bleeding, gum hyperplasia, hematemesis, hemorrhage rectum, hemorrhoids, hiccup, mouth dry, pain biliary, pain right hypochondrium, retching, sialoadenitis, stomatitis, stomatitis ulcerative.
Hemic and Lymphatic System: Leukopenia, thrombocytopenia.
Laboratory Abnormality: Gamma-GT increased, hyperglycemia, hypocalcemia, hypoglycemia, hypokalemia, liver enzymes elevated, serum transaminase increased.
Musculoskeletal System: Hypertonia muscle.
Nervous System: Aggressive reaction, amnesia, anguish, anxiety, apathy, aphasia, aura, convulsions aggravated, delirium, delusion, depressed level of consciousness, dysphonia, dystonia, emotional lability, euphoria, extrapyramidal disorder, feeling drunk, hemiplegia, hyperkinesia, hyperreflexia, hypoesthesia, hypokinesia, hyporeflexia, hypotonia, hysteria, libido decreased, libido increased, manic reaction, migraine, muscle contractions involuntary, nervousness, neuralgia, oculogyric crisis, panic disorder, paralysis, paroniria, personality disorder, psychosis, ptosis, stupor, tetany.
Respiratory System: Asthma, dyspnea epistaxis, laryngismus, pleurisy.
Skin and Appendages: Acne, alopecia, angioedema, bruising, dermatitis contact, eczema, facial rash, flushing, folliculitis, heat rash, hot flushes, photosensitivity reaction, pruritus genital, psoriasis, purpura, rash erythematous, rash maculopapular, vitiligo, urticaria.
Special Senses: Accommodation abnormal, cataract, conjunctival hemorrhage, edema eye, hemianopia, mydriasis, otitis externa, photophobia, scotoma, taste perversion, tinnitus, xerophthalmia.
Surgical and Medical Procedures: Procedure dental oral, procedure female reproductive, procedure musculoskeletal, procedure skin.
Urogenital and Reproductive System: Dysuria, hematuria, intermenstrual bleeding, leukorrhea, menorrhagia, micturition frequency, pain renal, pain urinary tract, polyuria, priapism, renal calculus.
Other: Systemic lupus erythematosus.
Serious dermatological reactions, including Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), have been reported in both children and adults in association with Trileptal use. The median time of onset for reported cases was 19 days. Such serious skin reactions may be life threatening, and some patients have required hospitalization with very rare reports of fatal outcome. Recurrence of the serious skin reactions following rechallenge with Trileptal has also been reported.
The reporting rate of TEN and SJS associated with Trileptal use, which is generally accepted to be an underestimate due to underreporting, exceeds the background incidence rate estimates by a factor of 3- to 10-fold. Estimates of the background incidence rate for these serious skin reactions in the general population range between 0.5 to 6 cases per million- person years. Therefore, if a patient develops a skin reaction while taking Trileptal, consideration should be given to discontinuing Trileptal use and prescribing another antiepileptic medication. http://www.rxlist.com/trileptal-drug.htm#
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That drug was:
Added to Clozaril, one of the most deadly antipyshotics a person can be on, law requires constant blood monitoring for white blood cell count or the drug will not be dispensed. She is not epileptic, and she is not bipolar. Her dx on October 20, 2009 was PDD/Autism/Psychosis NOS. I noted her flushed rash appearance several times over the weekend and on Monday of this week. I also doubt that she was given informed consent about the drug being added to her Clozaril. I doubt they talk to her at all about anything important. They don't think she understands. I fear what the medication cocktail will turn into when she gets to the institution. Drugs are all these places do to/for people.
They don't see her declining as a result of inpatient locked up for 4 months and increase of medications. They never will, never will see her as a human being, she entered there speaking
fluidly for the first time in 3 years in August, and i made sure the doctors knew she went off of Clozaril and could finally speak. Most of them viewed her speaking to being in a ramped up psychotic break. They dumbed her down and have slowly removed her voice again.
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3 comments:
Stephany wrote:
"...her clozaril level has been nearly doubled and they added trileptal..."
I know that it's impossible to challenge the quacks, because they're using their skill and experience when prescribing drugs, and they can argue that, subjectively, they believe a drug will achieve the desired result... Which brings me to the point.
I'm trying to put this in a form of words that won't sound like a challenge to their great wisdom, but is the increased doseage expected to alleviate her symptoms? You know my view on the use of drugs - I think they're snake oil remedies, but it seems to me that if the quack doesn't have a clear view of what (s)he's trying to achieve, then how on earth is Lindsay?
Matt
PS Linds may have been telling you that you were kind and compassionate - I think I've said before that her verbal acuity is quite probably exceptional, which is why, I think, she can hear things in a person's voice that the words taken in isolation wouldn't convey, to most. Anyway, I think she understands that when one recognizes a quality in another (ie, genuinely recognizes it, and not just say so), then it is probably because one possesses the quality, oneself.
Stephany, where as you are her guardian, don't they have to ask your permission before they administer any medication to her?
In these psych wards you lose a lot of rights and the very first day she was admitted last august, they gave her a forced long acting injection of haldol, without her consent, and during a 72 hr window of time that the last 24 hrs before court they can refuse meds, and she couldnt because she was already injected with a 30 day shot.
ive heard many patients over the years there (during her other admits and now) complain to doctors about their meds and the doctors argue back. one woman begged not to be given the haldol shot, and had reasons why (reactions, etc asked to call her attorney) and they restrained her on the floor, injected her, and she layed on the floor at my feet in a heap sobbing hysterically.
just one of many awful things.
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