Aa
Need help on a problem with my medication.
Okay so, I was put on a medication which was Haloperidol. I had a side effect of having my sex drive basically shot. So I told my doctor she said go on less dosage and she'd put my dosage down. She didn't actually put my dosage down like she said she would. So because she did that I stopped taking it after getting back on it. The first time I stopped I was fine, but this time I am having some problems getting turned on. My doctor doesn't want to hear any of my complaints and thinks I'm basically making all of this stuff up every session we have she doesn't listen to the side effects and she only wants less than 5min sessions. Is there a way to undo this effect?
Sashauwu, you made the right decision to find a new Dr. I don't think it's ever appropriate for a Dr. to casually dismiss patient complaints. A good Dr. should always listen patiently to such complaints & whenever possible, consider prescribing a different med with fewer side-effects, or at least adjusting the dose, and also consider adding a 2nd Rx that might help with the side-effects. Of course, it gets pretty tricky to prescribe multiple drugs for a particular problem, but if done w/ caution, can work out for the patient. Good luck going forward, I do understand how distressing this can be...
1 Comments
Forgot to add that specialmom's advice was very sound...
Sorry you are experiencing this. So, Haldol can indeed impact one's sexual self. Believe it or not, some people have an increase in sex drive but most do have a decrease and it is moderately common. Are you actually facing impotence though? That is another potential side effect.
What is tricky is that mental health in itself can cause sexual side effects. Do you take Haldol for a particular diagnosis such as schizophrenia? The other issue with an antipsychotic medication is that one has to weight risk to benefit. That means side effects to the needs of having the medical issue treated. I don't know the severity of whatever it is that caused the prescription of Haldol. But it could be that your doctor is not really blowing off your sexual concerns but weighing if the benefit of being on that medication outweighs that issue. However, that is not really doing you justice and treating the whole patient and all of their needs. Having sexual side effects like this can impact your relationships, so I understand it is important. And clearly it impacts your compliance for taking it.
Since this side effect is not uncommon, I would ask your psychiatrist for more help in dealing with it. Check to see if there are any tricks. Completely stopping your medication is not ideal and please do not do that. But perhaps there is timing of dosage, temporary dosage adjustments, etc. that could be utilized to improve this. Adjunct therapy perhaps as well. And another option is choosing a medication less likely to result in this side effect. There are some that have a lower incidence of sexual side effects.
Here's a pretty good article about it: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3623530/
What is tricky is that mental health in itself can cause sexual side effects. Do you take Haldol for a particular diagnosis such as schizophrenia? The other issue with an antipsychotic medication is that one has to weight risk to benefit. That means side effects to the needs of having the medical issue treated. I don't know the severity of whatever it is that caused the prescription of Haldol. But it could be that your doctor is not really blowing off your sexual concerns but weighing if the benefit of being on that medication outweighs that issue. However, that is not really doing you justice and treating the whole patient and all of their needs. Having sexual side effects like this can impact your relationships, so I understand it is important. And clearly it impacts your compliance for taking it.
Since this side effect is not uncommon, I would ask your psychiatrist for more help in dealing with it. Check to see if there are any tricks. Completely stopping your medication is not ideal and please do not do that. But perhaps there is timing of dosage, temporary dosage adjustments, etc. that could be utilized to improve this. Adjunct therapy perhaps as well. And another option is choosing a medication less likely to result in this side effect. There are some that have a lower incidence of sexual side effects.
Here's a pretty good article about it: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3623530/
1 Comments
Thank you for the comment I will answer all the questions to the best of my ability.
I am not facing impotence, just a lack of a sex drive. When I was taking the medication I basically had impotence and it was wearing on my psyche. The decrease in it caused depression and I didn't leave my room for the while time. I don't have depression so being depress to the extent I was, was very jarring and I was very scared. If I took it any longer I'm sure I would have had a break down.
With my mental help I do have paranoid schizophrenia, I've had it sense I was 16 and only two medications have ever effected my sex drive. The first I had a doctor who was very understanding and willing to help. I agree benefits do have to be weighted it's just I'm very very sensitive to medication, so if one medication can have a minor effect it will be major with my chemistry.
My doctor is blowing me off, she was actually my first doctor. My first meeting she was rude to me, I told her all the problems I had she disagreed with what i was experiencing and told me what i was feeling and what was going on. So I switched doctors and he was willing to listen to what I had to say, my second doctor was also very willing and kind. Then I got her again and she has been rude and not willing to hear my side of things.
I am switching psychiatrists again from her so I will ask the next psychiatrist if they could help out this issue, I just wanted to see if I could do anything in the mean time. I stopped the medication because I was depressed to a point to where I felt like I would hurt myself and as soon as it got out of my system that went away and I felt relieved. (My doctor didn't want to listen to any of that basically making it my problem not a problem we could work out)
Thank you for the advice! hopefully I gave some more helpful information into this!
I am not facing impotence, just a lack of a sex drive. When I was taking the medication I basically had impotence and it was wearing on my psyche. The decrease in it caused depression and I didn't leave my room for the while time. I don't have depression so being depress to the extent I was, was very jarring and I was very scared. If I took it any longer I'm sure I would have had a break down.
With my mental help I do have paranoid schizophrenia, I've had it sense I was 16 and only two medications have ever effected my sex drive. The first I had a doctor who was very understanding and willing to help. I agree benefits do have to be weighted it's just I'm very very sensitive to medication, so if one medication can have a minor effect it will be major with my chemistry.
My doctor is blowing me off, she was actually my first doctor. My first meeting she was rude to me, I told her all the problems I had she disagreed with what i was experiencing and told me what i was feeling and what was going on. So I switched doctors and he was willing to listen to what I had to say, my second doctor was also very willing and kind. Then I got her again and she has been rude and not willing to hear my side of things.
I am switching psychiatrists again from her so I will ask the next psychiatrist if they could help out this issue, I just wanted to see if I could do anything in the mean time. I stopped the medication because I was depressed to a point to where I felt like I would hurt myself and as soon as it got out of my system that went away and I felt relieved. (My doctor didn't want to listen to any of that basically making it my problem not a problem we could work out)
Thank you for the advice! hopefully I gave some more helpful information into this!
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