Today, I went to the medical centre to see whether my prescribed anti-depressant which I use as anti-anxiety had arrived. My medication is Prozac, a typical SSRI. But somehow, it is not commonly used in Villawood. So it has to be specially ordered for me. It has not arrived yet.
I went the medical centre with my friend who is supposed to take a similar anti-depressant, Zoloft (sertraline). He has never taken any anti-depressant before he got a prescription of Zoloft only about a fortnight ago. When a nurse gave him a tablet, he said, 'That's not mine.' Then the nurse told him that it was the medication he had been taking for the last fortnight. Then she showed him a package. It was a box of Seroquel!!! I jumped up.
Seroquel is a psychotropic used for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It can be used as augmentation for severe depression. But it is not the first choice drug for a mild depression, in my understanding. I told him not to take and explained what Seroquel is. Well, perhaps I didn't need to stop him or explain to him because I knew he was not going to take it anyway. But I was so surprised that I did so without thinking. Another detainee who had listened to me told my friend that he was taking Seroquel for sleep. Then I remembered a GP who had accompanied me from Gold Coast to Sydney had tried to give me Seroquel. IHMS (a contractor of the Immigration providing medical service) must be giving Seroquel to virtually anyone. What the hell... Isn't it a kind of drug abuse? Does RANZCP or RACGP or AMA know it?
*RANZCP= Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, RACGP= Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, AMA= Australian Medical Association.
*RANZCP= Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, RACGP= Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, AMA= Australian Medical Association.