New doctor need advice.

Hey all!! I am going to see a new doctor in a few weeks. I was diagnosed as bipolar when I was 16. I have heard some unfavorable things about this doctor, but want to give him the benefit of the doubt. I have heard that he prescribes trazodone as a "cure all" basically, wont listen to you and feels that anxiety and depression are all because of lack of sleep. Hence the trazodone. With my episodes becoming more frequently lately, I just want to get help. I took trazodone a long time ago and it really made me worse. So bad I ended up in the hospital. I stopped taking meds around 22 and have felt some what fine (not 100%) up until now. My rage is so bad that im angry one minute and just fine the next. Im on this roller coaster only it feels 100 times worse than times before. I have been having urges to buy things I can't afford more and more, among all of the other common symptoms. My anxiety is out of control. I can't leave my house for 15 minutes without calling to check on my daughter. I feel like my life is being over run. Just in a personal situation, would I be better off finding a better doctor who can help me sooner? This doctor isn't available for another month but I really feel I need the help now. Does it have to be a psychiatrist or can a primary doctor help me? I haven't seen a psychiatrist in years and im kicking myself. Thanks for any advice!

katscrazeemeow wrote:Hey all!! I am going to see a new doctor in a few weeks. I was diagnosed as bipolar when I was 16. I have heard some unfavorable things about this doctor, but want to give him the benefit of the doubt. I have heard that he prescribes trazodone as a "cure all" basically, wont listen to you and feels that anxiety and depression are all because of lack of sleep. Hence the trazodone. With my episodes becoming more frequently lately, I just want to get help. I took trazodone a long time ago and it really made me worse. So bad I ended up in the hospital. I stopped taking meds around 22 and have felt some what fine (not 100%) up until now. My rage is so bad that im angry one minute and just fine the next. Im on this roller coaster only it feels 100 times worse than times before. I have been having urges to buy things I can't afford more and more, among all of the other common symptoms. My anxiety is out of control. I can't leave my house for 15 minutes without calling to check on my daughter. I feel like my life is being over run. Just in a personal situation, would I be better off finding a better doctor who can help me sooner? This doctor isn't available for another month but I really feel I need the help now. Does it have to be a psychiatrist or can a primary doctor help me? I haven't seen a psychiatrist in years and im kicking myself. Thanks for any advice!

Hi

It sounds to me like things are becoming unstable for you atm. In my opinion if this Dr is not available for another month I think you need to be seen by someone sooner. If you can find another psych then that would be good tho seeing your GP is also an option - I dont know about where you are but in the UK many GPs are very good with MH stuff and will have done psych as part of their GP training rotation before becoming a partner so they can be very helpful. And if they cant help they should be able to point you in the direction of someone who can. I think that it sounds like a month is too long to wait for you. As an aside when you see a Dr I think it would be worth you pointing out the bad reaction you had to traz to them.

Hugs

Cracked

I agree that it sounds like you need to see someone as soon as you can, and not wait a month. For the doctor in question, I think I personally would not see a psychiatrist that had such rigid beliefs and only prescribed one type of drug. I think it would be limiting your chances of getting better if the doctor isn't willing to try all the alternative drug treatments to find the best one for you, as everyone responds differently to medications. Make sure to tell whatever doctor you do end up going to about your reaction to trazodone.

I hope you can get some help soon, sounds as though you're really struggling. Hang in there and let us know how you're doing.

- EGD.

in the USA, a psychiatrist can prescribe meds without referring you to a prescribing physician. that would be the reason to see one. if you belong to an HMO, then your primary care physician will refer you to see some kind of psychologist, who will in return refer you back to the primary to get a prescription. rather inefficient, and you wonder why the cost of health care is so high?

every doctor i've had, with exception of ones running clinical trials, had a favorite med to prescribe. usually this would be the first one he encountered during medical training, or even worse, the one that the drug co. representative left free samples of. allmost never will any prescribing doctor have actually sampled the drug prescribed, so in order to keep himself in an objective frame they sacrifice a certain empathy for the patient's individual needs. but conversly, having an exclusive favorite as described is not objective either. the whole reason for going to see a psyche-doc to begin with is that they remain objective. otherwise, we could all get better by self-medicating, and this is statisticly very rare. do you understand the meaning of very?

with the exception of neurosurgeon or something like it, i don't think any doctor is so damn good that he would be worth waiting a month to see. so i encourage you to find another p-doc.

Thanks you guys fot the advice. I do feel very unstable. I talked to a family member today who is also seeing a psych doc at the same clinic and he said his doctor is amazing (he too was seen by the doc I am going to see-or rather not see) He said he would refer me, which I figure is better than waiting a month. Again, thank you all for the replies! Its nice to not feel "crazy". I never talk to anyone about how i feel and i stumbled across this site! I have read through alot and everyone seems so amazing!

Hope things go well hon - let us know

Cracked