My pdoc steadfastly refuses to give any credence to the side effects I report. When I went on Geodon, my already low thyroid plummeted. My primary care doc called and asked several times what I was doing differently, and I couldn't account for the change. But when I mentioned I had gone on Geodon at a later date, she said, "For god's sake tell your psychiatrist I said you MUST stop the Geodon." Well, I think she should have called him. My psychiatrist responded to ME this way, "There is no way that Geodon could cause hypothyroidism. It has to be something else."
So I looked up the side effects of Geodon. And right there under infrequent side effects was, you guessed it: HYPOTHYROIDISM.
And I doubled my weight on Zyprexa in just a few months. I am still ravenously hungry 24x7. He gave me a pharm co videotape about how "eating less and exercising more" was the answer. Yeah. Try it yourself. For years, he never mentioned I should be getting my blood sugar checked every 6 months (add to that tryglycerides and cholesterol.) I think that amounts to malpractice!
Another idiot pdoc prescribed Depakote to me and my hair started falling out (one of the listed side effects) and besides, it didn't even work. So he took me off of it. A year later he prescribed it again, to my dismay, and again, it made my hair start falling out and it didn't help my moods. When I told him I wanted to stops taking it because of hair loss, he glared at me through his bifocals and huffed, "I take it you read that somewhere on the internet?" I said, "No, I found it in the sink, just like when you prescribed it last year." He soon requested that I seek residence in a long term care facility. I am deadly serious. He couldn't stand to have his preiminence and omniscience undercut.
Med Compliance - interesting topic. The very phraseology "non-med compliant" indicates a power struggle between those with a vested interest in the drugs being bought (ie. pharmaceutical companies) and those who are being coerced into taking them and thus buying (ie. the "mental health consumers").
Language matters and those who get to choose the words used to describe an interaction, are those with the power in that relationship.
I define myself as "med wary" which denotes a cautiousness laced with a firm dose of skepticism. The very fact that psychiatry refers to its patients (or "clients") as "med compliant" or "non med compliant" donates a bias in favor of the drugs lavishly financed to be sold for profit.
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How amusing and how amazing that a professional is exposing the industry for what it is.
I had a rollercoaster ride with a misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder where I was put on a concoction of anti-psychotics for two years before I was re-diagnosed. Those drugs pretty much ruined me and I lost job after job for non performance.
Now I simply treat myself because my trust in the psychiatric industry and the medical profession in general has gone down the toilet.
Speaking of not listening, I recently went to see the head gyno at a health clinic in my area who told me I could take one of two kinds of drugs to get my cycle back on track. I simply told him both drugs I had tried and the side effects were adverse. He stood there stone faced while I had to make a choice and pretty much refused to agree to me using natural progesterone cream because he had not heard of it before. My own GP (they are buddies) would also not prescribe it even though it is in the MIMS book. His reason - he has not had any experience with it. I argued black and blue with him that I could show him the brochure, he could call the chemist who supplies it (not an ordinary chemist) but nope, he was adamant he was "not interested" and I had to take what the gyno prescribed me.
If you are reporting on adverse drug side effects take a look at this psychiatrist's website and research that may be of interest to you: http://www.lucire.com.au. I found her while trying to find evidence to sue my former psychiatrist for negligence (which was too hard!).