It is a crime in the US to offer legal advice without being admitted to the
bar of the state in which that advice is to be offered.
See a lawyer for legal advice.
See another doctor if you think you have a problem with medical ethics.

"Fred" <fred_whitaker@hotmail.com> asks:

<snip>

I'm no doctor but I sure know that this is *not* a list
of drugs appropriate for someone who is only suffering
from a mild bout of reactive depression.

The aldactone is probably what made her incontinent
but given the other crap she is on it is probably useful
to help her flush all the other pharmacological residues
from her body.

Celapram is an antidepressant and Stilnox is a sleeper.
These might be validly prescribed for severe depression
but if your description of her problem is accurate there
is no reason she should be on them five years after
a mild bout of depression.

Zyprexa is an antipsychotic and is probably one of the
most widely overprescribed drugs in Australia today
(thanks to Eli Lilly's aggressive marketing). It is NOT
indicated for depression at all and can have harmful
side effects. If your mother was not displaying signs
of psychosis or schizophrenia then whoever prescribed
this is a quack.

If I were you I would be encouraging her to see another
doctor and get her medication reviewed.

DO NOT encourage her to quit the medication by herself.
Withdrawal from a cocktail like this can be very severe
and needs to be carefully managed if it is not to tip her
back into depression or worse. On the face of your
posting she needs to find a doctor who can manage
her withdrawal and she will need support and care
while this happens.

michael

Just to clarify (in case it wasn't clear): she's been on the above
drugs for five years, and only hallucinates at night after taking
them.  So basically I'm asking: is that normal, or is the doctor just
prescribing it to fund her practise?

As far as legal advice goes, I would suggest going
to a community legal centre if you think that your
best recourse is legal. Find out which one covers
your area from http://www.naclc.org.au/

I would be inclined to try a community based mental
health or disability support group or if I were you.
If you can say what state you are in I can offer some
suggestions. You need to be careful with some of
these groups as several are funded by the pharmaceutical
industry and are essentially front organisations for
promotion of precisely the drugs that are the problem
here (e.g. Eli Lilly funds the Schizophrenia Fellowship
of NSW, so you would be foolish to seek advice from
them about the usefulness of Zyprexa).

As to the doctor herself, I'm afraid that most medical
complaint bodies are toothless at best. At worst they
will tie you up with meaningless bureaucratic procedure
while keeping the doctor informed about your every move.
If I was determined to follow this path I would try the
Doctors Reform Society http://www.drs.org.au/.
Avoid the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of
Psychiatrists.

But the most important thing is to try to work patiently
with your mother-in-law to try to gently encourage her
to question the medication she is on - at least enough
to seek a second opinion. Doing everything behind
her back and seeking to undermine her faith in her
doctor is likely to be counterproductive.

Good luck with it.

michael

You're asking for medical advice, not legal advice, but those meds don't
seem too unusual for someone with major depressive issues.

Without taking any sides on the issue, if you have any concerns such as your
have expressed, a good idea is to find a specialist in the area, and get a
second opinion.  Good luck.  Harold.

Harold Boxenbaum, Ph.D.
Pharmaceutical Consultant
Arishel Inc.
14621 Settlers Landing Way
North Potomac, MD 20878-4305
(P) 301-424-2806
(F) 301-424-8563
Email: harold@arishel.com
Website: www.arishel.com