Like pulling teeth to get help with medicine!

[mom23boyz]

I was wondering if anyone else has this problem with their psychiatrist office. We have just switched my ds from 54 mg Concerta to Adderall. I have talked to his Dr. two times during two different office visits about switching to Adderall and then if all goes well with that, switching to Vyvanse. The Concerta wasnt doing enough for him during school anymore. Anyway, he wrote me rx for Adderall 5 mg in the morning, knowing my son flies through meds normally (dont last very long in him) the Dr. said we will see in a week if he is allergic or has any bad reactions to this, if not and its not enough call me and we can add another one in the morning, and an afternoon if needed, after that we can see about the vyvanse. We scheduled an appointment for 4 week checkup.
Well after about a week I had to call and ask for more in the morning. They called back and said sure, Dr says to give him 10 mg in the morning. Ok, 2 weeks later and now Im running out of meds since they doubled the morn dose, and this is wearing off by 2 or 3 pm. So I call and have to leave a message asking for more medicine, I figure since we are going back in 2 weeks, I asked for the Vyvanse we have already discussed so we could talk about how it was doing when we go back.
Well the Dr office girls call me back and say they cant switch his meds to something different without seeing him first? OK we have already discussed this 2 times now? Is this a law? Or just their way of doing things? So I say well this isnt lasting long enough, he needs something for the afternoon. We have Bible school next week from 6-8:30pm and this med stops around 2 or 3pm thats not gonna work. Well I basically had to fight for this, finally they call back and left me a message that my RX was ready.
I picked it up today, the other Dr, my son's was out of town, wrote the script for 2.5 mg at 3 pm!!!! Come on, he needs 10 mg in the morning do you really think 2.5 is gonna help him? Has anyone else ever experienced all this headache? I am considering switching Dr's, and also thinking about going back to the Concerta and Ritalin even though it doesnt work well enough for him at school, I can deal for the summer!! Any thoughts would help!

[jj]

All I can say is I have had my nightmare times with doctors. I do think when certain meds are considered "controlled substances" they do have to follow the law and it may be that you must visit the office but I'm not sure. I do know some meds you have to get a new prescription each time and hand carry it to get it filled.

Sorry you are having such a rough time with your doc.

[bugsmom]

Mom23...I'm sorry your having such a hard time with your doctor. I have to say that we've been very blessed with our docs and haven't ever had this type of problem. With that being said, I'm wondering if your doc just hasn't perscribed Vyvanse very much. Vyvanse is fairly new (but not that new), and maybe he doesn't have that much clinical experience with it or hasn't seen good results with it. I'm just grasping at straws here.

If you feel that this doc in anyway is not working well for you and your son, by all means seek out a new one. You should be working as a team, not just listening to him only. You know your son better than anyone, and when you tell him something isn't working, he should listen.

JJ made a great point about the medication. Your doc cannot call in a new perscription. You need to personally come into the office to pick it up. Now, that doesn't mean that he has to see your son, you could just go get it. Since you have discussed this on 2 other occasions, I would think it wouldn't be a problem, but he must have a different policy.

My son also metabolizing very quickly. We would get 6 hours best when he was on stims. Concerta was the best when he did take them, but when we increased he had to many side effects. We now take Strattera, which is in his system 24 hours. It is so much better for us.

Hope this helps a little...let us know how it goes.

[mom23boyz]

Thanks for the replies. In regards to actually picking up the Rx and taking it to get a refill, yes I always do this. I was asking them to write one for Vyvanse for me to pick up, since he was doing fine on the Adderall. They said the Dr cant write for a different medicine other than what my ds is on unless he sees him? This is the practice I am questioning? We had already talked 2 times about switching to Vyvanse if he did ok on the Adderall but when I called and asked for the script they said no, only could refill the Adderall until they see him? I wasnt asking for something we hadnt already discussed, like calling and asking for Focalin or something, thats what I dont understand. Oh well we go back on the 30th of June I will keep you all posted.
My other beef was having such a hard time getting them to write the script adding an afternoon dose for my son. Then after 3 calls they add only 2.5 mg!! UGGH!

[charliegirl]

Was your regular dr in at the time or could he have been out of town for a few days? Maybe if he was out the dr on call couldn't change your son's prescription without seeing him since he isn't his patient. That could also be why it was a lower prescription than you expected.

You could call again and ask if that is the case and you really want to try it sooner or up what he is taking.

[puzzled]

I was thinking that maybe you should call and ask for the doctor himself to call you back. The nurse/receptionist would likely not know what all was discussed in the appointment, and is following standard procedure.

[mom23boyz]

Thanks all for the help. His actual doctor is the one who said he couldnt change the Rx without seeing him, even though we discussed it 2 before. Mind you, my son's actual Dr is a PA under the real Psychiatrist. My son's Dr, the PA, was out of town when I finally got them to give him an afternoon dose, and the actual psychiatrist wrote the dosage for 2.5 mg, this maybe because we havent seen him since the 2nd time we took him over a year ago. But I figured with him taking 10 in the morning they would give at least 5 in the afternoon.

I am going to tough it out and wait until our appointment on the 30th. I am going to ask his Dr, the PA, why all the problems? Hopefully he will prescribe the Vyvanse then. I will keep you all posted!

[lcdc1]

I will add my 2 cents and frustrations to this one! I was telling a couple people here I am so tired of seeing doctors in our family, then I call my doctor (which I have to do once a month and pick up the RX in person), to refill my concerta and ritalin and when I go to get the Rx,they told me I have to make a follow up appt for the meds! At first I left there frustrated and mad, but my pysc said they have to by law with the stimulants do this and if there is ever a change in med brands, they have to do more visits now to titrate up and stuff.

So yeah, it is frustrating, but a check and balance kind of thing for the sake of the patients in general.

Hang in there, but I do share your frustrations there!

[puzzled]

Yes the two times that Chase switched meds, we had to go back to the monthly visits till the ped was sure that he was tolerating it well, then we were able to go to a visit every three months.

Good luck at your visit on the 30th!