i use to see my p/doc once a month and every time i saw her it was the same thing ‘i’m doing ok’ or ‘i’m fine’ but after a while i realised nothing was getting done, nothing happened, nothing changed and i was getting upset, even when i tried writing things down to take into them they still just brushed me off and didn’t take me seriously,
its like all they want to know is if you are under control and if when you say you are fine its easy for them because they don’t want to really help you anyway, they want you to help yourself and when you say you are fine they probably just write down ‘no change’ in there notes and then on to the next client, thats what i think anyway,
When I see my psychiatrist, he seems to be only interested in anything that will affect the prescribing decision that he makes near the end of the session, which in most cases is to keep my medication where it’s at. If I tell my psychiatrist that my symptoms are the same as they were as of my previous session, he’ll keep the medication at its usual dose, and if I emphasize certain symptoms that are bothering me, he’ll prescribe an add-on medication. My psychiatrist seems to be very focused on anything I say that might affect his prescribing decision, at the exclusion of pretty much everything else, unfortunately.
My psychiatrist listens pretty well, she knows I’ve been having problems with gremlins and hearing voices so she wants to put me on injections. She has tried to lower certain meds and raised others but they didn’t help much but she tries.
I find that when I didn’t say much, do much, open up much, my doc and I had a pretty cut and dried relationship that involved us in a blinking contest for a few minutes, not that thrilled to deal with each other and him giving me the same meds as he always has.
But as I got better, more interested in my health, started asking questions and doing what he suggested, he started opening up more.
(I then decided that he needed to keep seeing me so I could humanize him. I was pretty pleased with this progress. )
On a serious note, my doc and I got better because I tried more. I made a concerted effort to reach. That is when he could see progress. As he saw more progress, he would spend a little more time listening to me.
A doc can only go on what you tell him, and if you tell him nothing then nothing will change.
The pdocs I’ve encountered have always been compassionate and have listened and tried their hardest to make me symptom free. I have a new pdoc that I saw last week. She wasn’t quite warm and fuzzy but she listened to my concerns and offered solutions. I’m still perplexed over a medication she prescribed. I told her the Lexapro was giving me sexual side effects so she recommended I try a new SSRI that doesn’t have that side effect. When I got it filled the pamphlet said it does cause that side effect. I called and talked to the pharmacist and she said it does that in fact all SSRIs do but I may react to it differently. She said in trials it effected people the same as Lexapro. My pdoc also said I wouldn’t experience any anxiety with the transition but wanted me to start on 10mg and stay on that dose. Usually you have to build up to a therapeutic dose. I don’t know what her reasoning was, but she must know her stuff because she is the director. I’ll ask her at our next appointment.
I have 15 minute medicine appointments. Order it on the computer. If that’s taken care of - a few sentences exchanged about what I’m doing. I don’t have insurance for talk therapy. It keeps me honest.
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