I sure do appreciate your response on my thread! I guess I just needed to feel more validation in regards to what I have (basically) began to figure out for myself. Well .. with the help of individuals who have personally been through their own similar (same as H) hell too ..
By the way .. I have found a lot of people that swear that Effexor "made" them drink. So, I believe that between the Mirapex and Effexor .. well, its gone beyond toxic in my H's situation.
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Ugh. Your husband's treatment reads like a pharmaceutical nightmare to me. It is an unfortunate failing of our current mainstream approach to medicine, that we rely too much on medical "band-aids" and do too little to solve the underlying causes of problems
I totally agree!!
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Mirapex belongs to a class of drugs known as dopamine agonists. These drugs have definitely been shown to trigger impulse control disorders in some people, like compulsive gambling or compulsive sexual behavior. The following links are to recent medical journal articles detailing that association. I suggest you send them to his doctor who prescribes the Mirapex and to his psychiatrist who prescribes the Effexor.
I haven't (previously) printed off any info/research from a governmental site .. just some different sites that "reinforced" the point I was trying to make to my H's pdoc. Not sure I should present his pdoc with any more info. I (back in July or August) sent a long letter (6 pages!) telling him what I realized had been going on with H. I included in that letter some "documentation" that I had found to substantiate what I was trying to tell him. H's pdoc's office called me and told me that H's pdoc wanted to meet with me. Well .. I did meet with him and was totally disappointed. He basically told me that he did not concur with me and that unless/until H got off the alcohol, he could not agree with changing any kind of meds.
I thought that was bizarre in that I totally believe that it is H's med "cocktail" that put him where he is "at" currently.
Well .. I ended up "showing up" on H's next quarterly med check appt. H was not happy about that, but did eventually agree that I could participate in his appt. During that appt. his pdoc reiterated to H that if he wanted to feel better, he must attempt to get off of the alcohol. H agreed, but as we all know, that is easier said than done. H's pdoc now added Campral to his medication cocktail .. to help him with alcohol cravings.
A couple of years ago, I asked his family doctor to run the gammut of tests on him. Nothing really showed up. I specifically asked for the Free's and thyroid antibodies and he ordered those wrong. So .. of course, to this day, not really sure where those are at. At the time, H thought I was pushing it by "requesting" his doc doing that. So, couldn't get H to go back or "rerequest" the correct tests. His mom and two sisters both have thyroid problems .. along with diabetes is in his family also. Husband maintains that being hypothyroid is a "women's" issue .. so he is not going to ask to be tested for that again.
I have added magnesium to his daily dosage of drugs, etc. 1200 mgs in the morning and 1200mgs at night before bed. He takes it with his Campral and his Mirapex and Ambien. It looks like from what you mention here that the magnesium should be upped? What are your suggestions as to the best forms of magnesium? Is there a form of magnesium that is beneficial, but not so hard on the digestive system?
Just two weeks ago, I began (also) adding krill oil to H's daily regimen. He get 1000mgs in the am and another 1000mgs in the evening. I am wondering how much "good" this might do him while he continues drinking? I have also been giving him B12 and the folate for about a month. I doubt that I would be able to get H to take anything sublingual. Is there a next best thing as far as the B vitamins that you are suggesting? He gets low dose iron (25mgs) daily also.
I have accessed the Neuroscience site and asked them to send me a list of doc's that may be close to us. I will also be checking into possible local doc's in the functional medicine area.
It will be very tough to "persuade" H to change docs. At times he thinks I am nuts because of my more holistic attitude. He thinks all Drs. are gods and rarely questions any of the drs. that he goes to. I'm not sure ..as you say, unless we (he)changes his psychiatrist, how H will get off the Mirapex.
Another aspect that I am looking into is the fact that maybe H is bipolar? That may be why antidepressants don't (never have) helped him in the past? The way he has been acting .. so terribly "irresponsible" just has me looking all over the place for a possible "diagnosis culprit"
Okay .. my post here has become way too long. Will (probably) have more to post later .. or tomorrow as you have provided me with a lot to digest.
