I went to see Dr. Anil Saxena after having to leave my previous doctor due to losing my health insurance. It was my FIRST appointment and I was there no longer than 45 minutes.in that time, Dr. Saxena wanted to make changes to my medications, when all I went there for was regular maintenance. He prescribed Lithium (mood stabilizer) to be taken along with the Lomotrigine (mood stabilizer) and Neurontin for anxiety instead of the Lorazepam. I was to discontinue the Pristiq all together.
I explained to Dr. Saxena that I was on the Lithium before and it stopped working after 2 years. I also explained to him that I cant afford the regular blood work that is required while on this medication to test for Lithium Toxicity. He then asked my if my insurance covers it. I again, explained to him that I do not have insurance. He told me, VERBATIM it is up to you what you want to do. This is what I recommend. I then told him I would like to stay on the medications I was already taking and I asked him if he would please write me a prescription for the meds I was already on. He told me no, that is not what I recommend for you. He then wrote me a prescription for the Lamotrigine, Lithium and Neurontin and also gave me a prescription for blood work and sent me on my way.
NOT ONCE - did he mention about weaning me off of the Pristiq or giving me a prescription to do the weaning - I just had to stop it immediately as I had no more to take. I suffered with withdrawal symptoms of dizziness, nausea, headaches, severe irritability, insomnia, diarrhea and severe anxiety. I called the office and asked if I could see the other psychiatrist and they told me he would follow the same orders that Dr. Saxena had given. The earliest I could get an appointment with another doctor was still nine days away.
After having no medication left and having to stop it immediately, I completely broke down. Due to the withdrawal from the medications, I had a black out and I slammed my head against the headboard on my bed, so hard that I broke the headboard, heard my head crack and started vomiting. My husband called an ambulance and I went to the hospital. I had x-rays and a CT scan of my skull and cervical spine. After this I called his office again because the ER doctor could not even give me the meds since I was under Dr. Saxena's so called "care". They said that I could make another appointment with Dr. Saxena.
My husband had talked to one of the office staff members on December 21st to ask why they did not wean me off of the medication and the staff member told him that Dr. Saxena was going into it blind - he did not know what medications I was on and they had no medical records. Anyhow, the office scheduled another appointment for me to meet with Dr. Saxena. I went in for the appointment with my husband and a tape recorder and wanted to hear his explanation as to why he did not wean me off of the medicine. The office manager came into the office with Dr. Saxena. I announced that I would be recording the meeting and the minute I put the recorder on his desk he reached over and shut it off leaving me and my husband to think that obviously he was hiding something, otherwise he would not have had a problem with recording the meeting. He then asked my husband if he could talk to him and I told him I did not give him permission to speak to my husband and he took him in his office anyways. I went in and told him AGAIN that I did not give him permission to talk to my husband. They then told me to leave. On my way out I made sure every patient in that waiting room knew what he did to me. Obviously he is hiding something by not allowing the visit to be recorded and his ethics are lousy simply by the fact that I told him he did not have permission to talk to my husband and he still took my husband behind closed doors to have a conversation without me.
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