Troubleshooting medication problems.
Crap. I don’t have pills left and my provider is out of the office.
Obviously we try hard to avoid this situation. But things happen. Some possible solutions:
Pharmacies will often give you a one to three day supply to get you through to the next refill. (Except for controlled substances.)
Your primary care provider or their office may be able to prescribe a few days worth of medication if that fails. (They usually won’t for controlled substances, which is as it should be.)
A lot of urgent cares will also prescribe a few days worth of medication.
Do you have older pills at a lower dose? This is why you kept them.
If you are worried about withdrawal and you have one pill left, consider breaking it in half so you have something to take tomorrow.
Don’t panic. If you miss one day it’s usually not the end of the world, especially with antidepressants like fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), escitalopram (Lexapro), or buproprion (Wellbutrin). With mood stabilizers and antipsychotics (e.g. Quetiapine/Seroquel, aripiprazole/Abilify, lamotrigine/Lamictal, etc.) it’s less ideal from a safety standpoint. We really want to avoid getting manic or starting to see things, but there is probably still a bit in your system the next day. With some antidepressants that don’t last long in your system - venlafaxine (Effexor) and paroxetine (Paxil) - you may have some withdrawal side effects like nausea or weird sensations, but they’re not dangerous.
This new medication is making me feel yucky.
Side effects are not fun. First, let’s figure out if that’s what’s causing this. If it started when you started the medicine AND it’s never happened before, then it might be a side effect. People don’t start psychiatric medications because life is awesome. That can make it hard to figure out whether it’s the medication or stress or something else causing the symptoms.
Ok, scenario one: A brand new medicine.
If you feel kind of miserable, see if you can break the pill in half or even open the capsule and put fewer granules in yogurt or apple sauce. Some bodies need to start meds really, really slow. And then the side effects tend to go away.
If you feel just horrible and you can’t go to work or you feel suicidal, stop the medicine.
Scenario two: A kind-of new medicine.
You’ve been on this medication for weeks or months and you’re having a side effect that you don’t like. Please don’t stop cold turkey, you might make yourself feel worse. People associate the word withdrawal with addiction but it can happen with anything your body is used to. Try breaking the pill in half or even quarters to lower the dose.
Obviously in both scenarios you’re going to let your provider know as soon as you can what is going on.
My mouth is dry like the Sahara.
Make sure you’re hydrated. You know you are when your pee is light colored, not yellow.
Gum, lozenges, and candy can help.
