Anxiety

[Anonymous]

I have a question regarding anxiety meds that are - in my opinion - overprescribed by unqualified doctors (we’ll leave that for another time). I saw a new PCP this summer, mentioned that work was stressful, and they prescribed me Clonozepim “as needed”. I have never taken any of them - all 30 still in the bottle.

3 years ago I went to the ER after feeling dizzy and they gave me a Valium for “anxiety”. At the time I hadn’t thought anything of it.

Questions:
1. Is there a “good diagnosis” code for either of these? I don’t have the original medical records for either, but I will try to get them.
2. What is the definition of “recurrent”? Would the fact that there are two prescriptions for “anxiety”, even though one was never taken, be defined as recurrent?
3. Neither of these are SSRIs - is that good or bad?
4. Is there a way to “give back” the 30 pills from this summer? I really did not need them. Did some yoga, started interviewing for a new job and no stress post that. The stress was honestly mild to begin with. I am seriously regretting saying anything to my PCP!!!

Seriously I’m never going to the doctor again. Trigger happy over-prescribers…

 

[Rushie]

You gotta be careful what you say to a doctor. One day my cheap POS Amazon oximeter told me that my heart rate was 215 for about 5 seconds. I made the mistake of telling my daughter who’s a cardiac nurse about my worthless oximeter and how it showed me a screwed up reading and she ordered me to tell my doctor! So I told him expecting him to say, “you can’t trust those $19 gadgets, my expensive doctor office gadget here says you’re fine”, but nooooooo, he refers me to a cardiologist. I just turned in the Holter Monitor and have a half dozen other tests scheduled. I bought myself a full cardiac work up. I guess my biggest mistake was randomly sticking the thing on my finger when the only reason I bought it was to have around in case I thought I had covid. I shouldn’t have left it sitting there on my desk in plain sight.

For your problem, you need expert advice which I am not, but I’ve read some people here say you can go back to the doctor with the bottle and tell him you did not take any and please put that in your record. I doubt the pharmacy would take it back. It sounds like the stress was situational but once a diagnosis is in the record it opens up a can of worms and the bell has to be unrung somehow.

Perhaps the bigger problem is the cause of the “dizziness”. You really need to consult with a good AME with these questions. There are a couple on this board who should be along by and by.

 

[Randomskylane]

I have a question regarding anxiety meds that are - in my opinion - overprescribed by unqualified doctors (we’ll leave that for another time). I saw a new PCP this summer, mentioned that work was stressful, and they prescribed me Clonozepim “as needed”. I have never taken any of them - all 30 still in the bottle.

3 years ago I went to the ER after feeling dizzy and they gave me a Valium for “anxiety”. At the time I hadn’t thought anything of it.

Questions:
1. Is there a “good diagnosis” code for either of these? I don’t have the original medical records for either, but I will try to get them.
2. What is the definition of “recurrent”? Would the fact that there are two prescriptions for “anxiety”, even though one was never taken, be defined as recurrent?
3. Neither of these are SSRIs - is that good or bad?
4. Is there a way to “give back” the 30 pills from this summer? I really did not need them. Did some yoga, started interviewing for a new job and no stress post that. The stress was honestly mild to begin with. I am seriously regretting saying anything to my PCP!!!

Seriously I’m never going to the doctor again. Trigger happy over-prescribers…

Six months and no refills? Get a pharmacy report to confirm to the ame

 

[Lindberg]

This is your friendly reminder that there's no question on the Medxpress form about prescriptions. If you have a diagnosis, that you know of (it's not a research project), related to either of those prescriptions, you'll have to disclose it. But if you're not taking the meds (present tense) there's not even a spot on the form to write it down.

 

[pilot445]

This is your friendly reminder that there's no question on the Medxpress form about prescriptions. If you have a diagnosis, that you know of (it's not a research project), related to either of those prescriptions, you'll have to disclose it. But if you're not taking the meds (present tense) there's not even a spot on the form to write it down.

Every AME I’ve ever been to will lookup your 10 year prescription history on the spot. So while not asked for easily found.

I had one AME who accused me of failing to disclose a certain disqualifying mental health condition because of a script he claimed he saw on my record, and he denied my medical. Turns out a completely harmless allowed medication I took for a brief period has a similar sounding name. The AME realized his mistake a half hour after I left, and had to sort it out with the RFS to get the medical issued.

 

[Lindberg]

Every AME I’ve ever been to will lookup your 10 year prescription history on the spot. So while not asked for easily found.

I had one AME who accused me of failing to disclose a certain disqualifying mental health condition because of a script he claimed he saw on my record, and he denied my medical. Turns out a completely harmless allowed medication I took for a brief period has a similar sounding name. The AME realized his mistake a half hour after I left, and had to sort it out with the RFS to get the medical issued.

I'm always amazed by the stories of ****ty AMEs who pilots nonetheless keep using.

I've never had an AME (out of four) pull a prescription history and I'd have serious questions about one who did as a regular practice. I have once had a new AME ask me to get my own prescription history (2 yrs) from the pharmacy because of an absence of other records related to a specific condition.

I wish all pilots would only use AMEs who care if they keep flying. If your AME doesn't trust you, and you don't trust him, find a different one.

 

[pilot445]

I'm always amazed by the stories of ****ty AMEs who pilots nonetheless keep using.

I've never had an AME (out of four) pull a prescription history and I'd have serious questions about one who did as a regular practice. I have once had a new AME ask me to get my own prescription history (2 yrs) from the pharmacy because of an absence of other records related to a specific condition.

I wish all pilots would only use AMEs who care if they keep flying. If your AME doesn't trust you, and you don't trust him, find a different one.

Another item to be careful of is automatic electronic medical records sharing. I’ve had an AME just browse through my medical records from the past year, almost looking for a reason to DQ. (This was the same one that falsely accused me.) After this whenever going to a doctor (especially a new one) I always make sure and opt out of electronic medical records sharing. Not that I am being dishonest, I just don’t want other doctors (especially an AME) having immediate access to my records.

 

[bbchien]

Another item to be careful of is automatic electronic medical records sharing. I’ve had an AME just browse through my medical records from the past year, almost looking for a reason to DQ. (This was the same one that falsely accused me.) After this whenever going to a doctor (especially a new one) I always make sure and opt out of electronic medical records sharing. Not that I am being dishonest, I just don’t want other doctors (especially an AME) having immediate access to my records.

This is a great reason why your AME needs to not be in your healthcare system! (just one of many).

 

[pilot445]

This is a great reason why your AME needs to not be in your healthcare system! (just one of many).

Unfortunately it’s often not that easy. Especially with the EPIC EMR. EPIC shares records by default even outside the system. I had to specifically request to opt out of record sharing.

 

[SkyDog58]

I don’t think it is the doctor who are the OP’s of others’ problem.

 

[Rushie]

Every AME I’ve ever been to will lookup your 10 year prescription history on the spot. So while not asked for easily found.

I had one AME who accused me of failing to disclose a certain disqualifying mental health condition because of a script he claimed he saw on my record, and he denied my medical. Turns out a completely harmless allowed medication I took for a brief period has a similar sounding name. The AME realized his mistake a half hour after I left, and had to sort it out with the RFS to get the medical issued.

Wow! You mean like Zantac and Xanax?