Medications

I saw a seventeen year old yesterday for a seizure. She had a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. She went to the emergency room, but they didn't find any cause for it. Her primary care physician sent her here for further evalution of new onset seizures. She takes Ultram and Prozac. Both of those medications can cause seizures. She takes the Prozac because she has "outbursts" where she gets very upset over "nothing" at her mother. She takes Ultram for chronic back pain. I asked her to stop both of those medications. It seems to me that her back pain and her outbursts are both caused by stress from her home life. I don't think medications are likely to solve either of those problems. She is also upset about being heavy. She has gained thirty pounds. She takes Lyrica (for her chronic pain). Prozac and Lyrica make people gain weight. So I think the weight gain she has is from the medications.

I don't think her social life can be easily fixed. I don't think her stress can be easily fixed. But I think that the medications are just going to make matters worse. In fact, they are already doing that. People sometimes think that if there is something wrong there is a pill for that. But there isn't a pill for everything. This needs to be seen sometimes.