A question about medication and (mis)diagnoses

[Nomen Dubium]

I know we're not clinicians here, so I know I'm likely asking the kinds of questions you may not be able to answer to that degree, but some input would nonetheless be valuable.

I was seeing a psychologist back in 2007. He was treating me for suicide ideation and depression in the wake of the breakup of my one and only relationship. The relationship had started okay, but she hadn't been able to cope with what hindsight tells me were almost certainly autistic symptoms, something neither of us knew at the time. She just thought that, behind a superficial veneer of charm, I was just an idiot who couldn't function in the world and I, for my part, didn't know the words needed to argue my case. The relationship ended in screaming - she doing the screaming, me doing the cowering - I just couldn't cope with it and ended up obsessing over taking my own life.

Here's the interesting part. In the course of the consultations, the psychologist diagnosed me with depression (okay), PTSD (okay), whatever mental condition leads to suicide ideation (okay), and Tourettes (what?). To be fair to him, the Tourettes 'diagnosis' was nothing of the sort: he admitted it wasn't his field but based on the symptoms I was describing to him (echolalia, palilalia, mental and motor tics) that was what it sounded like to him. He did suggest I might be on the autism spectrum but, again, it wasn't his area. For the 'Tourettes' he put me on Risperidone, an anti-psychotic I'm sure some of you have heard of. It was like magic: the 'lalias' stopped almost overnight, as did the maddening mental tics, and the motor tics reduced to almost nothing. I felt like a new man. It was incredible and I loved the stuff. However, because it ended up being a repeat prescription, Tourettes likewise ended up being entered into my medical records as the reason I was taking it. Officially I have Tourettes, even though the psychologist wasn't sure.

Flash forward to 2018, I had another very bad personal episode that ended not in suicide ideation, but actual attempts (two of them), for which I spent eighteen days in a psychiatric hospital. They looked over my records, concluded I hadn't got Tourettes, stopped the Risperidone and also the anti-depressants I had been taking, but didn't look further into the symptoms I'd reported back in 2007. For one thing, there was plenty of residual drug in my system and I just wasn't manifesting anything. Anyway, the psychiatrist at the hospital had a conference with her colleagues and my drug regime was changed. They put me on Sertraline, which I gather is a milder form of anti-depressant than the Venlafaxine I was taking before, and - and this is the weird bit - something called Quetiapine.

I had never heard of Quetiapine prior to admission, but it's somehow ended up on my repeat prescription. I gather it's another form of anti-psychotic but its main effect is to make my brain feel like it's bulging and throbbing, while tranquilising me for about 12 hours. I don't take the stuff regularly because I don't enjoy feeling like a zombie. Does anyone else have experience of this stuff? What's it for?

Anyway, thanks for reading this.

 

[Bolletje]

I’ve previously been taking Quetiapine as an antidepressant and to basically slow down my thoughts and get me to sleep better.
I’ll soon start taking it in a higher dose as a mood stabilizer for my bipolar disorder.

 

[Streetwise]

I know we're not clinicians here, so I know I'm likely asking the kinds of questions you may not be able to answer to that degree, but some input would nonetheless be valuable.

I was seeing a psychologist back in 2007. He was treating me for suicide ideation and depression in the wake of the breakup of my one and only relationship. The relationship had started okay, but she hadn't been able to cope with what hindsight tells me were almost certainly autistic symptoms, something neither of us knew at the time. She just thought that, behind a superficial veneer of charm, I was just an idiot who couldn't function in the world and I, for my part, didn't know the words needed to argue my case. The relationship ended in screaming - she doing the screaming, me doing the cowering - I just couldn't cope with it and ended up obsessing over taking my own life.

Here's the interesting part. In the course of the consultations, the psychologist diagnosed me with depression (okay), PTSD (okay), whatever mental condition leads to suicide ideation (okay), and Tourettes (what?). To be fair to him, the Tourettes 'diagnosis' was nothing of the sort: he admitted it wasn't his field but based on the symptoms I was describing to him (echolalia, palilalia, mental and motor tics) that was what it sounded like to him. He did suggest I might be on the autism spectrum but, again, it wasn't his area. For the 'Tourettes' he put me on Risperidone, an anti-psychotic I'm sure some of you have heard of. It was like magic: the 'lalias' stopped almost overnight, as did the maddening mental tics, and the motor tics reduced to almost nothing. I felt like a new man. It was incredible and I loved the stuff. However, because it ended up being a repeat prescription, Tourettes likewise ended up being entered into my medical records as the reason I was taking it. Officially I have Tourettes, even though the psychologist wasn't sure.

Flash forward to 2018, I had another very bad personal episode that ended not in suicide ideation, but actual attempts (two of them), for which I spent eighteen days in a psychiatric hospital. They looked over my records, concluded I hadn't got Tourettes, stopped the Risperidone and also the anti-depressants I had been taking, but didn't look further into the symptoms I'd reported back in 2007. For one thing, there was plenty of residual drug in my system and I just wasn't manifesting anything. Anyway, the psychiatrist at the hospital had a conference with her colleagues and my drug regime was changed. They put me on Sertraline, which I gather is a milder form of anti-depressant than the Venlafaxine I was taking before, and - and this is the weird bit - something called Quetiapine.

I had never heard of Quetiapine prior to admission, but it's somehow ended up on my repeat prescription. I gather it's another form of anti-psychotic but its main effect is to make my brain feel like it's bulging and throbbing, while tranquilising me for about 12 hours. I don't take the stuff regularly because I don't enjoy feeling like a zombie. Does anyone else have experience of this stuff? What's it for?

Anyway, thanks for reading this.

is your depressive disorder considered to be MAJOR STILL (I TYPE IN CAPS AS MY EYESIGHT IS ALMOST NON EXISTENT RE RETINA )QUETIAPINE IS FOR(ACCORDING TO WIKIPEDIA) BP DISORDER, SCHIZOPHRENIA ,MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER ,SIDE EFFECTS COULD CAUSE THE HEADACHES AS ITS SEDATING SEE YOUR GP/MD FOR HELP SOON

 

[tree]

I wonder what lower case looks like using the largest font size (7 instead of the standard 4).
Looks like this.
It's easier for me to read larger font than
to read all caps.

 

[shysnail]

My brother takes quetiapine for bipolar. It's an anti-psychotic, but also sometimes used for depression I believe. He also reports it turning him basically into a zombie. I think part of the anti-psychosis works by making you really tired.

It sounds like you've really not been given a lot of information or autonomy over the drugs you're on, which is terrible. Can you go see a doctor about the quetiapine, since you're not getting on with it? I don't know for sure, but I don't think it's a drug you should be taking just now and then. Also, did the doctor tell you you need to have liver function tests if you're on it? My brother has to have them every six months or so.

 

[Bolletje]

@Nomen Dubium what dosage are you taking?

 

[Fino]

If you're not happy with one of your prescriptions, you just explain that to the doctor. If they refuse to listen, you switch doctors until you find one that listens. Then you switch meds until you're happy. The end.