I know this is long winded but bear with me as this whole episode is very frustrating and confusing.
I first started seeing Dr. Hanson years ago after my primary Dr. retired. He was the only one at the clinic that was trained/approved to prescribe certain medications for my depression. I was prescribed a combination of Effexor ER @ 75mg. per day and Adderall 15mg. twice a day. The Effexor I would take in the morning and the Adderall I would break the pills up and take throughout the day, never taking more than a half of a tab at once. After some trial and error I found the combination of these 2 was very effective at alleviating the symptoms of my depression. My retiring Dr. didn’t know of any Dr. to refer me to, so I needed to find a new Dr. and was referred to Dr. Hanson by a friend. I prefer not to be on any type of drug at all or for extended periods of time. So I made an appointment with and had conversions with Dr. Hanson that the Adderall I try to take only as needed and would frequently try to take weekends and vacations off. I also informed him that this was not possible with the Effexor as the side effects were too severe and didn’t allow this. He was fine with this and thought I know my body fairly well and if I can get away without having to take something consistently that is all the better. I have already mentioned some of this but want to reiterate it because it is important in order to give you context. I’m 48 and have been living with depressions every since I was a teenager. I had been experimenting with different drug combinations and doses for years before this and I’m someone who is extremely sensitive to drugs and know my body well and how I’m reacting to something that I’m taking. I had come upon this combination after an extended period of time trying to find what worked right for me. It wasn’t perfect but allowed me to live a much more fulfilling life. I continued on this regime with Dr. Hanson for years without any problems and was very happy having him as a Dr. Fast forward to several months ago. Near the end of October 2019 I was in for a required check up in order to continue to get my prescriptions refilled. After the usual procedure Dr. Hanson said they needed to get a urine sample. I asked what for and he said it’s to test for different “things” and seemed evasive about it but I didn’t give it much consideration and dropped the subject. I gave the urine and later in the day I checked my online chart and saw that it was a drug test which leads me to my first concern. I feel the Dr. was very deceptive about what was taking place and should always practice an open and honest dialogue with his patients. I would have been fine with it and consented to the test as I do not take drugs other than prescribed and very rarely drink alcohol. So I look over the test results and I tested negative for everything listed. Now during this time I had stopped taking the breaks off the Adderall and had been taking it consistently for at least a year. So I thought this was strange since I had taken ½ tab of 15mg. adderall early that morning and even though I had just gotten back from a 1 week vacation the day before I had brought the adderral with me this time and was taking it consistently. I thought that perhaps they tested for different types of amphetamines or for some reason this doesn’t show on a drug screen and didn’t give it much thought until after several days I checked the chart again and Dr. Hanson had made a note that I tested negative for amphetamines despite being on adderall. So I thought that he would want to have a conversation with me regarding that. I figured he probably thought I wasn’t taking it consistently like I had discussed with him in the past. I intended on letting him know that that wasn’t the case and that I had been taking it with no breaks. So around November 21st 2019 I was out and the time came to get a refill. I called in like I usually do and after some time passed without it being refilled I called to see why. I was informed that he no longer felt comfortable prescribing it to me because of the negative drug test. No conversation with the patient or anything else just stops cold turkey. I couldn’t believe it. This was about the most irresponsible and reckless thing I had ever heard. Not to mention completely disregarding the well being of your patient. So I asked if I could at least speak to the Dr. as I had been seeing him for years and thought we knew each other fairly well and this was coming as a complete shock. She said she would message him and he would call me back. I waited again and heard nothing so called again and this time was read his notes again that he was uncomfortable but would be willing to refer me to a psychologist? So I then asked to speak to the branch manager as I felt this was unacceptable. I was told she would be given the message and would call me back. In the meantime I started to believe this was a blessing in disguise. CONT.......

Submitted Jan. 10, 2020