Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Thanks for the link. I actually already have a therapist that I go to.
The thing I don't like about my psychiatrist, however, is that when he asks if I have been having suicidal or homicidal thoughts and I say "yeah I have thought about suicide"..he doesn't really show that much concern. It's kinda odd...I mean, I understand they have a lot of patients they have to see but I figured they would just show some kinda concern
Your concern about your psychiatrist is valid, find another one.
Suicidal thoughts are never something to dismiss.......ever.
Thanks for the link. I actually already have a therapist that I go to.
The thing I don't like about my psychiatrist, however, is that when he asks if I have been having suicidal or homicidal thoughts and I say "yeah I have thought about suicide"..he doesn't really show that much concern. It's kinda odd...I mean, I understand they have a lot of patients they have to see but I figured they would just show some kinda concern
That is odd. I've been seeing various psychiatrists for years and no one has ever poised that question to me. I simply don't understand. I know they ask certain questions to determine your mood. How social you are and how you're dealing with life. I have been asked if I have any reactions to the medicine I'm on.
Now some psychiatrists like to ask about your sex life. I assume they do because certain medicines impact performance. They're not asking to be nosy but to get a picture of your overall health.
I'd think a doctor can see if a patient is suicidal by their actions and hopelessness / depression.
Every time I visit my psychiatrist, he will ask me some stupid questions like "are you still employed" or he will try to convince me I need to get a girlfriend, then he will write me a prescription for refills on my meds but he doesn't talk about how to get me better so I can get off my depression and anxiety meds. I am sick of taking medicine everyday and taking these psych meds can cause damage to your liver and kidneys from what I hear yet some people take them for many years.
I've been there, me and others. What helped me was choosing to get off the merrygo round and trying to find what triggered the downs especially. And as the standard seemed to be didn't work, take more. I decided to experiment with taking less. I cut one in half, and daily dropped the dosage by a half a pill a day for at least a week. Next week, I cut the half in half (a good pill cutter will do it) and gave it another week. The effect was small but I could tell the difference.
I also saw my MEDICAL doctor. She was very concerned about the passing out, and had other patients who saw pdocs who didn't care about anything else. She did the medical tests you should be getting if you're taking psych drugs. One directly and absolutely indicated I should not have been taking one of them. Pdoc didn't care. Go to your medical doctor and get the tests if they don't have them done and insist IF the test say no. There is a reason that there are offical warnings about these effects.
Way back when, I was on some five meds, and ultra sensitive to them and none worked right. Our appointments with a doctor were maybe five minutes, and if you could walk in the door you must be okay. They had the next script written before you came in. None of mine were working. They didn't notice. One was interfering badly with physical problems, and the 'doctor' wasn't even interested.
I even tried insisting they talk about how all they were doing was making me slip into zombie mode, but he seemed to think that was okay. I decided since no one cared to say nothing and did not raise the dosage that visit, and instead cut another pill in half and started a long process of getting off them, one very small dose at a time.
When I'd gone down just one pill of the handfull, I realized I didn't seem to even need them. My concentration was better. The fog was mostly gone. Even when I was down four of the 16 pills a day, the doctor even noticed I seemed better. But the fog had been gone for some time, and I finally told them I'd backed mostly out of the drugs.
The one there Saturday was shocked. How could I do that, and I shouldn't. But no thought about how he saw me doing better. And most of all, it made me angry that he did not care how it had been threatening my physical health.
If we have some organic difference which means we handle 'things' differently, perhaps with depression, pharma's solution is the the anvil. Maybe starting at the smallest dosage, and for when its needed would help people find their inner resources and not have them blanked out along with the problem.
Backing out of them IS a slow process, but the baby steps let you discover and learn to use your own, real strenght, and find a way. And go see a regular doctor, get good health check up so you know where you stand health wise. And look up you meds on the offical studies done for approval and see if anything you have learned about your own body would be a reason NOT to be taking it.
I found one was absolutely contradicted and when confronted the physc guy looked really surprised. But he also dismissed it as not so important. I still got rid of the pill. So remember, look out for yourself since nobody is looking out for you.
And find a DBSA chapter. These people helped me very much, when I needed someone who understood. It stands for Depressive and Bipolar Support Association. The people who consult are professionals. The people who run the meeting are patients who had found a way to manage, and there are phone numbers to call and who will listen. And just having a room full of people who *understand* is magic.
Find a chapter and go, listen and tell your story, and you'll find other people who will be there for you who understand where you are since they've BEEN there. And they do other things like an after meeting over lunch which is just social among people who get you. Its its own magic.
Our group back in California had a holiday get together too, especially for Christmas, since so many didn't have family family around, and their group/friends had become a place to make a new one.
You aren't alone. There are people out there who get it and are on your side.
Very few psychiatrists actually provide counseling. They mostly provide prescriptions, which many mental illnesses require.
You need an LCSW or a psychologist for therapy. Ask for a reference. Good luck
But its very important for them to LISTEN to their patients. If I say I feel like I'm in a fog, then don't tell me that I'll have to get used to it. And even if the listed effect of a drug doesn't say brainfog, maybe for this person it reacts that way. Did you ask them about anything else they take? Are you absolutely sure their body chemistry is 'normal'? Did you do a blood test? Did you consider that maybe your dosage of this med is 'normal' for people, but this one guy might be extra sensitive and if you use it at all, it has to have the dosage reduced and watched.
Part of caring is to see your patients as individuals who might follow the general rule, or NOT. If what you're doing isn't helping even if you don't know why, then don't blame your patient. Have you sat down and talked to them about their diet, other medicine, any past medical treatments like surgery which might alter absorbtion, and excetra... That's also part of your job. And make sure they've had a basic physical which would show conditions like low thyroid and that its properly treated before you start dispencing.
If the patient brings it up, then absolutely give their concern the full attention it deserves.
These concerns shouldn't just be for psychiatric drugs. Anytime your health suffers, you are your own advocate. You need to determine which doctor to see and if what tests they want will help discover what's wrong. It takes time to rule out various illnesses and get the proper diagnosis. Like when your back gives out. Is it time to see a chiropractor or a sports doctor? What about a back specialist? Is it something to treat with over the counter, ice, and heat or something to seek medical help?
Like I said, you are your own advocate. You should know your own body and what helps and what doesn't. The doctor doesn't know everything and he/she has a set routine of 'Let's try this' and if that doesn't work then move down the list of drugs that the doctor is most familiar with and has the most success with.
One example.. .
My mom underwent chemo and radiation for her cancer. She was also on Depakote. I noticed how her hands were shaking, something not normal and I told my dad that she's having a reaction, an overdose. Her meds are too strong. He took the safe route and didn't touch her meds but did make an appointment to see her psychiatrist. Sure enough I was right and he was yelling at the doctor. Something should've been said because my mom had been on those cancer treatments for months.
Her dose was lowered to manageable levels and yes a lot of that is determined by blood work. But even I know that if your body is fighting an infection (or in my mom's case cancer) that meds have to be watched and adjusted.
These concerns shouldn't just be for psychiatric drugs. Anytime your health suffers, you are your own advocate. You need to determine which doctor to see and if what tests they want will help discover what's wrong. It takes time to rule out various illnesses and get the proper diagnosis. Like when your back gives out. Is it time to see a chiropractor or a sports doctor? What about a back specialist? Is it something to treat with over the counter, ice, and heat or something to seek medical help?
Like I said, you are your own advocate. You should know your own body and what helps and what doesn't. The doctor doesn't know everything and he/she has a set routine of 'Let's try this' and if that doesn't work then move down the list of drugs that the doctor is most familiar with and has the most success with.
One example.. .
My mom underwent chemo and radiation for her cancer. She was also on Depakote. I noticed how her hands were shaking, something not normal and I told my dad that she's having a reaction, an overdose. Her meds are too strong. He took the safe route and didn't touch her meds but did make an appointment to see her psychiatrist. Sure enough I was right and he was yelling at the doctor. Something should've been said because my mom had been on those cancer treatments for months.
Her dose was lowered to manageable levels and yes a lot of that is determined by blood work. But even I know that if your body is fighting an infection (or in my mom's case cancer) that meds have to be watched and adjusted.
It's very important for family and friends to notice these changes, and insist on answers, even if it means going to a different doctor. I've had eye surgery for cataracs in both eyes, for instance. I had had one treated and the other eye developed a problem, when I went to my primary doctor over a cold. She was VERY concened with the eye situation. It seems one of the drugs I was getting for mood control is strictly not to be used if the patient has cataracs or a family history, as it causes them. And she did the basic blood tests for the rest and several were way way off. I took all this to the psych doc, and he just dismissed all of it out of hand.
I dropped myself out of his drug, though it was too late for the eyes. Eventually after several lesser fixes, I had the lens replaced in both and see very clearly now, but it shouldn't require several doctors to find what was in the literature. If the patient themselves isn't up to it, family should look up every drug they take, and go after the pharmasudical approvals in testing. Look at this in terms of the patients known medical history. Do not be hesitant to go to the doctor and demand they do their job, or change them.
When there are multiple doctors involved, they may not look at what the other has used or done or done a history of any other factors from the previous time. And if they continue to ignore known problems, a family member or other working for the patient should look to change doctors.
Too often, doctors know about the drugs they use, but don't really persue how they work with any others and do not seek out a history.
I'm glad Mom is doing better and the problem was solved. But for those without family or friend looking out for them, who is there?
(Potentially biased opinion alert)
Psychiatrists gave me trust issues with doctors in general, which isn't really fair to doctors who practice *ahem* evidence-based medicine.
I've gone off antidepressants I was on long-term for panic attacks (absolute hell to go off of btw, for certain ones, and hilarious how avoidant they are of calling it 'withdrawal' as if to insist it's something qualitatively different). Stopped seeing the shrink. I was on 0 psych meds for several years so didn't need one...that's all they do anyway.
Since I started having panic attacks again due to some stressful things going on in my life (about 1 1/2 years ago), I just went to my relatively newer regular doctor, explained my history with antidepressants and that I also used to take PRN clonazepam. I take a fairly small dose of that now, don't need to go to any psychiatrists for the Rx, they don't question my requesting more of it because I ask for more like every 3-5 months (for a 30 day supply), and instead go to an LCSW for the psych aspect of it.
Every time I visit my psychiatrist, he will ask me some stupid questions like "are you still employed" or he will try to convince me I need to get a girlfriend, then he will write me a prescription for refills on my meds but he doesn't talk about how to get me better so I can get off my depression and anxiety meds. I am sick of taking medicine everyday and taking these psych meds can cause damage to your liver and kidneys from what I hear yet some people take them for many years.
Most competent psychiatrists require you to be in counseling in order to reduce or eliminate your need for meds. If you're in counseling AND on meds and still feel rotten you may be misdiagnosed -- it happens every day -- or the counselor may just be asking you how your week went rather than getting down to core issues and working on those with you.
Thanks for the link. I actually already have a therapist that I go to.
The thing I don't like about my psychiatrist, however, is that when he asks if I have been having suicidal or homicidal thoughts and I say "yeah I have thought about suicide"..he doesn't really show that much concern. It's kinda odd...I mean, I understand they have a lot of patients they have to see but I figured they would just show some kinda concern
I had a social worker therapist try to bully me into suicide years ago. She kept going on about how horrible I was and how everyone would understand after what I had done. Thing was that I was innocent and hadn't done what I was accused of doing and I knew it. Even so, she was so psychologically abusive and manipulative she came close to succeeding. It took every ounce of resolve not to do it. I was in a very vulnerable place because I had just lost my daughter. I went to the movies to escape reality for a bit and refused to ever see her again. I so wish I had her on tape/recording when she did that, but I never thought anything like that would happen so it never crossed my mind to record the session.
I'd advise getting a new therapist. You're supposed to be able to trust your therapist.
Every time I visit my psychiatrist, he will ask me some stupid questions like "are you still employed" or he will try to convince me I need to get a girlfriend, then he will write me a prescription for refills on my meds but he doesn't talk about how to get me better so I can get off my depression and anxiety meds. I am sick of taking medicine everyday and taking these psych meds can cause damage to your liver and kidneys from what I hear yet some people take them for many years.
There are psychologists (Psychotherapists) out there who do that. They may approve your taking anti-depressants in the beginning, so you can be stable during therapy, and in-between sessions, but their goal is to eventually get you off meds. I've seen very depressed people throw away their meds after a year or two of therapy. That's really not what psychiatrists' practice is about, though. It's more the purview of psychologists.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
