Medication management ensures your medicines provide the required benefits without causing additional problems. Elena Gherman, MD, offers expert medication management services at Full Moon Behavioral in San Antonio, Texas. You can get more out of your treatment and avoid unpleasant adverse effects by booking a medication management review. Call Full Moon Behavioral today or arrange an in-person or telemedicine consultation using the online appointment scheduling tool.

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What is medication management?

Medication management helps you get the most from medications you take for mental health conditions. These could include:

  • Antidepressants
  • Anti-anxiety medications
  • Mood stabilizers
  • Stimulants
  • Antipsychotics
  • Sleeping pills
  • Addiction withdrawal medications

Dr. Gherman reviews the medicines you take, their effects, and any problems you experience that could be due to your medications. She adjusts your prescription where necessary to optimize your care.

Who benefits from medication management?

The psychiatric medications listed above can be vital for people with moderate or severe mental health problems and behavioral disorders, including:

  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
  • Schizophrenia
  • Personality disorders
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Substance use disorder
  • Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Finding the correct medication and dose for each patient isn’t always easy because your response to a drug may differ entirely from someone else’s.

For instance, some people benefit enormously from selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for depression, while others don’t improve and do better on tricyclic antidepressants. It can, therefore, take time to determine which medication suits you best and at what dosage.

Your response can differ in other ways; you might experience unpleasant side effects from one drug but have no problems with an alternative. Medication management is the best way to minimize adverse effects and optimize beneficial ones.

What happens at a medication management review?

When you attend a medication management review, Dr. Gherman checks your prescriptions and asks how well the medications help. You tell her about any side effects you experience that could be due to your medicines and improvements in your condition.

Dr. Gherman also asks about medicines you take for other purposes, which could include:

  • Prescription drugs for other conditions, such as high blood pressure
  • Over-the-counter medicines
  • Herbal remedies
  • Food supplements

These substances can potentially affect the way your psychiatric medicines work. Some might adversely react with your medications — for example, you shouldn’t take St. John’s wort, the herbal treatment for depression, if you’re on prescription antidepressants.

After she gathers all the information, Dr. Gherman can adjust your prescription if necessary. She offers in-person medication management and telemedicine appointments, a convenient, stress-free way to ensure you have the appropriate medicines.

To discover the benefits of medication management, call Full Moon Behavioral today or book an in-person or telemedicine appointment online.