my pdoc gave me an exact amount of days

[michael10364]

she prescribed lamictal on the 10th, i went home and started taking it.. felt nothing the 1st few days so i emailed her asking about how long i can expect to wait until i notice effects from it and she said 10 days.
why did she say 10 days?

i'm taking it for a low dopamine situation, and i'm just wondering how she could give me an exact amount of days.

[istayhome]

your pdoc sounds mildly retarded. Lamictal takes a couple weeks to work. Plus you have to start at a low dose that doesn't do much and titrate up over a couple months (due to possible side effects) until you're on a high enough dose to know if it will work well for you or not.

I'm on Lamictal and it is working very well. I had to take 25 mg for two weeks, then 50 mg for two weeks, then 100 mg for a month and I'm now at 150 mg. I don't really notice the dosage increase until a couple weeks after upping it.

[UltraShy]

So you'd like to know if she pulled this number out of the air or if it was pulled out of her a**?

I don't know, but it's one or the other.

I say it's going to work in 12 days 5 hours 37 minutes and 28 seconds. Of course, my nonsense number doesn't carry the clout of that given by an MD. I'm only a sarcastic guy with a degree in finance.

[viper1431]

Perhaps 10 days is the average amount of time she's noticed for her patients on it to notice any effects.
Better than her saying "stuffed if i know"

[Inshallah]

She had to say something. Replying "I have no idea" would probably have made you a bit uncomfortable

[istayhome]

Originally Posted by Inshallah

She had to say something. Replying "I have no idea" would probably have made you a bit uncomfortable

It would have been best if she was actually knowledgeable about the med she was prescribing, Then she might be able to you know, do her job and provide you with accurate information.

[Inshallah]

Originally Posted by istayhome

It would have been best if she was actually knowledgeable about the med she was prescribing, Then she might be able to you know, do her job and provide you with accurate information.

There's no way of knowing exactly when these meds are going to start working so it wouldn't even be possible tell him something accurate.

[gilmourr]

Originally Posted by Inshallah

She had to say something. Replying "I have no idea" would probably have made you a bit uncomfortable

Also saying exactly 10 days probably helps with a placebo effect. But yeah, she made it up.

[istayhome]

Originally Posted by Inshallah

There's no way of knowing exactly when these meds are going to start working so it wouldn't even be possible tell him something accurate.

Sorry what I meant is it would have been best if she knew the medication and was honest with the patient. With just starting Lamictal saying something like, "Well some people notice the medication affecting them after just a few days but for most people it takes around two weeks." Also with Lamictal the patient is surely being started at the lowest dose so the pdoc would also say something to the patient about how the dose must be titrated up slowly so they may not notice anything at this low of a dose and it may take up to a couple months as they raise the dose until effects become noticeable.

Psychiatrists rarely know their meds well and often do not communicate properly with their patients about the medication they are prescribing.

[Inshallah]

Originally Posted by istayhome

Sorry what I meant is it would have been best if she knew the medication and was honest with the patient. With just starting Lamictal saying something like, "Well some people notice the medication affecting them after just a few days but for most people it takes around two weeks." Also with Lamictal the patient is surely being started at the lowest dose so the pdoc would also say something to the patient about how the dose must be titrated up slowly so they may not notice anything at this low of a dose and it may take up to a couple months as they raise the dose until effects become noticeable.

Psychiatrists rarely know their meds well and often do not communicate properly with their patients about the medication they are prescribing.

I do think or at least hope they know them, the communication part is true however. But most patients probably don't care as much as us, more informed patients do.

[Recipe For Disaster]

Wow you guys are making way too big a deal out of this. Clearly she meant "about 10 days" and while you can find fault with her for not saying that, nowhere did she say exactly 10 days on the dot, so I think you need to stop assuming that's what she meant.