Today I convinced a guy not to kill himself and to stay on his meds over the phone. He was taking fluvoxamine and risperidone and was convinced that they were making him stupid. He claimed to have an above average intelligence but had been on these meds for over a year now and was concerned about how he could no longer read well or do simple math problems. The man had OCD and probably a whole schwack of conditions I didn't even scratch the surface of... but his obsessions seemed to dominate our conversation.
The man, we'll call B.J. (because they're funny initials, I never really knew his name)... wanted to discontinue his meds and wanted me to okay that decision without really knowing what was going on. I'm not a doctor and had no idea what his case involved and not only that... I have no fucking clue how most antidepressants work yet. His psychiatrist was apparently out of town for 7 months... which made me want to take up psychiatry... but I brought to his attention that maybe he should see another one in the city, her replacement or whatever. He replied that he didn't care for her and that she kept saying he was OCD although he didn't think he was, although to anyone who doesn't have Down's syndrome, it was apparent that he did. How to tell a crazy person that their doctor is correct in their diagnosis? I wish we learned that in school.
Check me out though, I eventually talked him into going back to his G.P. and not to off himself before his big speech that he had to give the next week. So, I'm taking credit for saving his life through a referral to someone who gets paid to exclusively deal with crazy guys like him.
Seriously though, I hope he's okay. he seemed really nice and I wish I got his contact info to call him back.
This story wasn't as good as I remember it being, or my story telling skills are lacking. Just pretend that was the best story you've ever read about me talking down a crazy dude. .... he had a bomb strapped to his chest or something and there were hostages... yeah, hostages.
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