4 ms·
This is ridiculous: @carbocation: "If you are interested in a physician's help but do not want to take a specific medication or class of medications, things wi
by lisa_henderson 11y ago
This is ridiculous:
@carbocation: "If you are interested in a physician's help but do not want to take a specific medication or class of medications, things will get a bit more complex"
You don't understand the pressure the doctors are under to prescribe these things. A few years ago I was bit by a tick and a few months later I developed severe problems because of that tick bite. One of the problems was that my heart would sometimes race. The doctor put me on antibiotics to deal with the bacteria from the tick bite, but the doctor said I also had to take Paxil. I asked, why would I need to take Paxil to deal with a tick bite? She said the racing heart indicated anxiety, which needed to be treated. I said, if the bacteria causes anxiety, won't that antibiotics resolve that? She said yes, but in the short term I needed to take Paxil. I asked, if the problem is assumed to be resolving in the short term, and the episodes rare, isn't this a classic use-case for something like Atavan or Klonopin? We discussed it for a long time, and we went round and round in circles, but in the end she made clear that her decision in this matter was final: my choices consisted of taking Paxil or finding another doctor. Since this woman was a well known specialist in treating the kinds of bacteria that one can pick up from tick bites, I decided to take the Paxil. But it struck me as absurd then, and now, that I had to take Paxil to deal with a tick bite.
- d0ugie 11y agoI'm with you on the benzos sounding more appropriate, but parenthetically, Paxil does have some very off-label uses for which it is indeed effective, including, for example, treating vasovagal syncope, a fainting condition. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2998831/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2998831/
- ankushnarula 11y agoThat is the oddest preemptive prescription I've heard of in a long time. "You might feel anxiety - so take Paxil" which (a) is typically recommended for social anxiety and panic disorders and (b) it can take upwards of 4-6 weeks before it becomes effective. I'm also quite sure that the antibiotic will have run its course in far less time. But aside from that, who the hell prescribes an SSRI purely for "possible" anxiety? Yes there are SSNRI, like Effexor and Cymbalta, that address chronic generalized anxiety and panic disorders. But again, we're talking about a long time before there's any measure of efficacy. The correct answer would have been to give you a few tabs of Atavan, Xanax, or Klonopin for the duration of the infection and then only after you experienced any anxiety. Mind boggling
- tptacek 11y ago'carbocation is in fact a doctor.
- idlewords 11y agoAs a doctor, he can recommend a high-quality burn center to report to after reading this comment.