I Need a Doctor

I Need a Doctor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In my last two articles, I have been addressing problems I have had with psychiatrists, such as medication compliance and misdiagnosis of my symptoms. This is a round-up of additional issues that I have had with them over the years. I wonder how many others have experienced these things?

There was the doctor who was running late and I was the last patient of the day. He walked through the waiting room, handed me my prescription slips, and walked out the door without saying a word to me.

There was the doctor who insisted that I was not over-medicated , even though I was so out of it that I couldn’t speak for myself. I asked my dad to advocate for me and the doctor finally backed down.

There was the doctor who recommended adding an herbal supplement to my antidepressant. When I read up on it I was concerned that it might interact with my medication and also some foods so I left a message for him to call. When he called he yelled at me and said that if I wanted to kill myself by taking a dangerous herb then that was on me, not him.

With another doctor I wanted to discuss lowering the dose of a sedative medication because I found it hard to concentrate and I wanted to go back to school. He accused me of being ungrateful for feeling better and said I shouldn’t even consider going to school at that point.

A more recent doctor wanted to argue about my side effects on Cymbalta. I told her that it aggravated my chronic gastritis. Not only did she say that couldn’t happen, but she also insisted that I should stay on it for not just my depression but for my fibromyalgia. I told her point-blank that it was not helping my fibromyalgia and I felt no difference in my depression than I did with the medication that I had been switched from. She wouldn’t budge.

As you can see I have a laundry list of complaints against psychiatrists but there are good ones out there and so to round-up my series my next post will be Yes Virginia, There Are Good Psychiatrists.  These are the doctors who have been the most help to me.