I would imagine many doctors are on to this, though, especially for drugs like Adderall that people frequently sell on the black market. Does this often work?
It hasn’t failed me yet. But this relies on a specialized kind of social influence that I somehow seem to be very good at.
In any case getting what you want out of a doctor doesn’t seem to all that difficult (and, barring actual safety risks, nor should it!) The main reason I use an “I need a repeat” approach is that doctors tend to have their own ‘default’ preference they like out of the various options and they sometimes get all insecure and consider it a social challenge if you want a different drug. Say, vyvanse rather than Ritalin or escitalopram rather than fluoxetine (or, god forbid, venlafaxine!). It is just so much easier to frame the request as ‘resupply’ rather than ‘diagnosis’. Especially when the doctor clearly does not understand what the difference is between the drugs or what the modern research suggests. You need a way to get the right outcome without stepping on the poor old guy’s toes.
Another useful and harmless lie is “My sister has been using Tianeptine and it really worked for her. She’s the one who convinced me that I should consider treatement, etc” Throw in the body language of someone who is wary of the whole process and hesitant to concede that they need treatment. For some reason this works better than “Don’t give me SSRIs. SSRIs suck balls for depression with anxiety. Except stuff like venlafaxine that seriously mess you up with ‘discontinuation syndrome’ when you try to come off them. Tianeptine is way better, especially for the anxiety side of things and not only that, it has a much better side effect profile.”
It hasn’t failed me yet. But this relies on a specialized kind of social influence that I somehow seem to be very good at.
In any case getting what you want out of a doctor doesn’t seem to all that difficult (and, barring actual safety risks, nor should it!) The main reason I use an “I need a repeat” approach is that doctors tend to have their own ‘default’ preference they like out of the various options and they sometimes get all insecure and consider it a social challenge if you want a different drug. Say, vyvanse rather than Ritalin or escitalopram rather than fluoxetine (or, god forbid, venlafaxine!). It is just so much easier to frame the request as ‘resupply’ rather than ‘diagnosis’. Especially when the doctor clearly does not understand what the difference is between the drugs or what the modern research suggests. You need a way to get the right outcome without stepping on the poor old guy’s toes.
Another useful and harmless lie is “My sister has been using Tianeptine and it really worked for her. She’s the one who convinced me that I should consider treatement, etc” Throw in the body language of someone who is wary of the whole process and hesitant to concede that they need treatment. For some reason this works better than “Don’t give me SSRIs. SSRIs suck balls for depression with anxiety. Except stuff like venlafaxine that seriously mess you up with ‘discontinuation syndrome’ when you try to come off them. Tianeptine is way better, especially for the anxiety side of things and not only that, it has a much better side effect profile.”