u/nonainfo

Salam girls. I am feeling so confused. I changed psychiatrists to a Muslim doctor and he completely changed my medication combination and diagnosis. He speaks very highly of himself (He literally said “You don’t know WHO I am!!”) and doesn’t listen to me or my feelings. Tells me that I’m just telling stories to myself and that all my previous psychiatrists were wrong. Now I’m following some of his advice and prescription changes and I feel awful. Maybe his treatment plan will work in the long run but I don’t have much more patience. I have suffered so much already. I just want to cry and run back to my old psychiatrist. Just venting. I vented the other day too but then deleted bc I felt guilty for exposing him even anonymously. I don’t know if I should go with what was comfortable or if Allah is telling me to get out of my comfort zone. I’ve done Istikhara a hundred times already it seems. I’m so confused.

Hey everyone. So I switched psychiatrists recently bc my old one was not giving me the time I wanted anymore, cutting appts short and not filling out forms I needed her to.

However, my new psychiatrist terrifies me. He wants to take me off of half of my meds, change my diagnosis, tells me that my overheating side effect can’t be said to exist unless I run on a treadmill and then check my body temp (even though after every activity I have to sit in front of a fan with ice packs to cool down), and he says that if I ever don’t take the meds he wants me to take or not take, he reserves the right to discharge me at any time.

He also said that someone of my age should be “working or pursuing higher education”…I’m 45 and not only do I currently feel too disabled to (I’m on disability), but those are not my goals anymore at my age. I’ve adapted to my life as it is and I am fairly content. Honestly, my biggest accomplishment would just be to be able to brush my teeth every night bc right now it’s kind of spotty.

Furthermore, the new doc said I shouldn’t be using Zyprexa anymore because it is “not a good drug.” Okay but I’ve been taking it for 8 years and I can’t sleep without it. I’ve tried everything to sleep but only Zyprexa allows me to sleep. He says I need to do a “Sleep Study” bc antipsychotics shouldn’t be used for sleep. But I have a psychotic illness too so what’s the big deal? I am only taking the lowest freaking dose…2.5 mg!

Do you think my old psychiatrist might be willing to take me back, even if I wrote her a goodbye letter with the reasons I was leaving her? I feel so embarrassed and feel like I let a good thing go. I had just started Caplyta and had enormous energy and the old doc was just not “keeping up” with things, or so it seemed at the time.

Ugh I hate this.

Salam girls. So I have a severe mental illness which has been diagnosed as various disorders by various doctors. The last 10 years I have been seeing the same psychiatrist with the exception of a couple years where another doc stepped in and out in her absence.

Recently, I noticed that my psychiatrist was talking over me often, not allowing for my questions, cutting appointments short, and sitting for weeks on some important forms that I needed filled out. Furthermore, she was on telehealth and would just end the session abruptly before I’d felt heard.

So I decided to switch psychiatrists and this time chose a Muslim male psychiatrist. We have very limited options of psychiatrists in my rural area, especially ones who do “in person” appointments, so this felt like an obvious choice and I felt almost “lucky” to have a Muslim doctor available to me.

Well, since I started working with him, I have been kind of in a state of shock. First, he wanted to drop four of my medicines because he didn’t think they were helping at the low doses I was taking. He said it was all “psychological” and in my own mind that they were helping, even though I felt definite improvement after taking them and those improvements stayed with me long-term. Now granted, I began a new medication recently which may override the need for those meds, so I tried to stay open-minded about that.

Then, I told him that my newest medication, an antipsychotic, was making my body unable to regulate its temperature. After every activity like cooking or cleaning the bathroom or just walking up the stairs, I was panting, sweat running down my back, and I had to sit in front of a fan with gel ice packs on my forehead.

When I told him this, he said “how do you know you’re hot?” Have you run on a treadmill and checked your body temperature afterwards? Because that’s how you will know if you’re really hot or not.

Lastly, I have been on Disability for the last decade due to the progression of my illness and side effects of the 7 medications I was taking. During this time, I have adapted to a new kind of life and it takes a lot of work to just get my basic needs like hygiene, cooking, cleaning accomplished. I live with my parents and stay close to home. I try to keep up a social life, which I feel is important. I have not been able to keep up with advancements in technology and such. We haven’t even started the new medication regimen (which if I don’t follow, he says he reserves the right to discharge me as a patient…when I asked him why we couldn’t just try a different combo, he gave me a look) and this doctor is already telling me that “the goal” is for me to start working and/or pursuing “higher education.”

What he hasn’t considered is that I have a 13 year work gap, an illness which spikes and recedes, several failed attempts at landing a job, and honestly…I am unmotivated to work because I am truly grateful to Allah for the Disability payments, the ability to live with and help my parents around the house, and the new life He has given me. I am content.

When my psychiatrist asked me if I am happy with this kind of life at home at my age…that it’s not “real life”…I just looked at him and said I was content. I do not feel a lack of anything, Allah has blessed me immensely considering the medical condition that I have, and I do not feel motivated to necessarily change anything. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

I feel like this psychiatrist is pushing me and borderline controlling the direction of my life when I want control over my own life at my age. I’ve had enough people controlling me throughout my life. Just because I have schizophrenia or bipolar with psychosis or whatever diagnosis I have, doesn’t disqualify me from being an adult woman with her own power of choice.

Yet I somehow feel unable to leave this doctor so maybe he’s good for me or Allah has Khair in it for me. I’m quite a spiritual person and can usually see the positives in just about anything…I’m just kind of terrified and this guy is giving me the heebie jeebies!

Maybe I’ll WANT to work or study once I’m on the “right” (his) meds? Or maybe I should run for my life!

I am so stressed because this medication is working for me and it’s freaking $672 for a 30-Day supply per my Medicare advantage plan. Do any of your insurances pay for this?

My UHC plan covers it at $600 per month!

I started Caplyta 21 mg about a month ago and I heat up real quick after any sort of activity. Also, I am unable to sleep on this dose. Does the 42 mg make the overheating problem worse? Does it pretty much guarantee a good night’s sleep? Struggling with these two issues. :(

Hey Friends,

Since switching from Zyprexa to Caplyta, I've been so much more productive and clear-headed, but am sorely lacking in the sleep department. Zyprexa would knock me out within 45 minutes guaranteed. On Caplyta, there are nights where I don't sleep at all. It has been making me so anxious and screwing with my head.

Last night, I tried 5mg of Melatonin per the suggestion of a friend and the pharmacist, and it made me feel so good. A sweet, mild, drowsy feeling, a quietness almost, overtook me and I was able to sleep a FEW hours. Still not ideal, but I feel so much better after actually having slept. So I'm considering upping it to 10 mg tonight and see if I fare better.

Does anyone take Melatonin regularly for sleep, and at what dose? I'm wondering if I can go up to 10 mg?

Thanks!

Hey everyone! I started Caplyta about a month ago and have now started noticing extreme feelings of heat intolerance. I live with my aging parents and my dad doesn’t let me put the AC on lower than 80 degrees and I feel like I’m going pass out much of the day, especially on really hot days when the temps are in the 80s and 90s. I’m sweating bullets down my back whenever I am trying to do anything that requires movement. Has anyone found anything to help or have any tips?

Hey Everyone again!

After failing my Cobenfy trial miserably, I am now trying Caplyta and am so pleased that I have literally NO intolerable side effects. At first, I intended to just ADD a bit of the lowest dose of Caplyta to the Zyprexa because I thought Zyprexa was a once-in-a-lifetime wonder drug, but now that I have increased the Capyta to 21 mg, I am finding that it just may be able to replace Zyprexa. Time will tell because Zyprexa stays in your system for 5 days after you stop taking it or reduce the dose. Right now, I am still on 2.5 Zyprexa.

The great part about it is that it seems I'll be able to switch over because Caplyta helps with sleep just as much as Zyprexa does, if not more. Not feeling any manic-switchovers or anything like that. Just a clearer head and more energy.

The biggest challenge will be getting my insurance to reduce the tier at which it is covered. Currently, it is barely affordable (Like in the hundreds per 30 day supply). So my doctor has to kind of argue my case and see where that lands us. I hope she is willing to do that.

Anyways, I took 10.5 mg all last week and now am on 21 mg/. Crossing fingers this continues to work!!

I just got samples of Caplyta to add to my other meds. I am trying to decide what time I want to take it. I want to take it when it’s “peak” in my system is during when I would want to exercise. For those of you who take it, do you feel it kicking in? How many hours after you take it? Any experiences would be helpful to hear about. Thanks!!

I'm a full grown adult now, but I have no substantial relationship with my siblings. They never check in on me even though I was hospitalized 12 times and have several mental illnesses. When I reach out to them, they don't return the call or they keep any text very "surface level" and superficial, and when I ask to visit they indirectly say "no." Their husbands don't like me either even though they know nothing about me.

Sometimes, I am so anxious after receiving no response from them that I express my feelings to them, to which they also don't respond. This makes me more anxious and I apologize. Then they finally write back thanking me "for the apology," as if it was necessary when I didn't do anything wrong.

Now one of my siblings is having a baby and I asked her if I could come visit her and the baby, because she did not allow me to visit before. She said "if I want to." So I asked her "does SHE want me to? Because she didn't before." Again, no response.

However, both of my siblings are super tight with my evil stepmother and talk to her on the phone on a regular basis, and my stepmother always has to talk on really loud speakerphone so their voices are reverberating throughout the open-floorplan of a house we have.

I know our horrible relationship is due to my parents always treating me like the "bad child" every time I opened my mouth to speak, beating me up until I was crying loudly, telling my sisters I am "crazy," telling me to "apologize to my sisters" everything we got in a fight, but never telling my sisters to do the same. What hurts even more is that I'm the oldest, and they have no respect for me.

I have now decided to just cut them out of my life, but it is very hard and guilt-inducing in itself because it is against my religion to "cut off the ties of kinship." I just hate this whole thing.

Asalamualaykum Brothers and Sisters,

I have been literally "stuck" in a haram relationship for 3 years. The reason I say that is because the entire time, I have been TRYING to get out, but have been unsuccessful. I don't know what it will take for me to be successful. Any kind-hearted help would be appreciated. Here are the factors:

1. I am a 45-year-old female. My parents (Pakistani) never looked for a partner for me when I was of marriageable age. Instead, my father is a gambling addict and only cares about money. He also often would seek jobs away from our immediate family and move far away to other states. He started doing this when I was a teenager so my stepmother and sisters lived without a Wali or male at home starting then. However, he wants me to stay "living with him" to "take care" of him in his old age, even though he never actually lives here. He has expressly stated to me that he expects me to "live with him forever." This seems like a gross violation of my rights, but that's a story for another day.

2. My boyfriend is a Christian. He is an orphan. He has no family, no parents, no siblings or cousins. He has very poor social skills and so doesn't even have many friends. Any friends he does have a very surface-level and superficial. I am his closest friend. We are the same age and we met at a recreational sports facility that we both attended.

3. I have already tried to introduce my boyfriend to Islam since the very beginning in the hopes that he might embrace it, but he does not take it seriously. I have begged and begged.

4. I am disabled with Schizoaffective disorder, which is a combination of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. Because of this, I am highly sensitive, emotional, and rely heavily on feelings.

5. I have tried to break up with my boyfriend over 30 times. In the end, it never lasts. Either he finds a new way to contact me (for example, I blocked his phone number so now he started calling me from his work number), I feel sorry for him because he has nobody, I genuinely start missing his company since I am an outcast in my own family and live far away from my friends, who all live in my old city (I left there after college because my dad wanted me to live with him), OR, because of my illness, I am left suicidal and unable to perform basic tasks like cooking, hygiene, so I just get back together with him so that at least "nothing changes" and I can get back to taking care of myself at least.

What do you guys think and recommend?

Please exercise compassion in advising me but tough love is allowed to some extent. Thank you.

Asalamualaykum Sisters,

I'm having an issue. I've noticed that when I start to practice Islam more correctly and fervently, I sometimes feel like I'm being "harsh" to people that are not practicing (my family and friends don't practice), and it feels really insecure to be following a concept, an intangible, rather than "love" or other humans. I know this may sound silly, but it's something that really gets in my way of properly following Islam.

For example, sometimes I consider "cutting off" certain friends who it's become difficult to be around, such as a gay married couple that I am friends with, because it somehow feels inhumane to do so. I've been friends with them since we were teenagers so for 20 years, and it just feels like it would be harsh. It also feels like I am left with an insecure feeling like "now what?" Sure, Allah and Islam, but they are intangible somehow...even though Allah is closer than our jugular vein.

This is probably something I could snap out of, but how? Any advice?