Any of you have probs with pdoc?

I have been going to the same pdoc for 5 yrs yet every time I go in ( she has a file and I see her about every 3 mths for meds) she gives me the same lists of meds! Every time I have to tell her that I've either been on it and now have prediabetes which precludes most of the new anti psychs or that I got psuedo parkinsonism from another. After just discussing these meds she gave me a 'new" med which turns out to be another version of a med that gave me prediabetes! What the heck is she thinking?? She also agrees with everything I say. I swear, if I said I was hanging from the ceiling, she'd agree! I asked her if I could also have BPD as well as being BP and she just handed me a number for a BPD group. No discussion, no nothing, So now I guess I am BP,BPD,GAD and an unnamed psychosis. This is the pits! There is a limited number of pdoc in the area and I am not looking forward to trying to find one that will work with a hard to keep medicated patient.  Life is not good.

[LetaB]

  Have you checked her credentials? It sounds as though she's grasping at straws. If worst comes to worst you could always sue her but yeah, I'd check out my options. I'm low on options myself. Last week I spaced out and missed my pdoc's appointment. His offis is 45 miles away and I have had so many appts because of my kids. Well, he had already told me that if I missed one more I was toast. It must be frustrating to be a pdoc. You are in the business of helping us and then, because we are us, we miss appointments, etc. The thing is there are only to licensed Psychiatrists in the whole river valley and they're in the same clinic. I ran out of my meds a week ago. What am I gonna do now?

[Delusion]

She sounds like she cant be bothered so not assuming the worst shes probally over worked.. which isnt a excuse but a lot of pdocs are like that. Ask for his credentials... he will take it very personally as they all do but its something that has to be asked for, psychaitrists need about 3 degrees and will have credentials but any *insert prefix* therapist may not, ive seen around 10 in the last 15 months and only 3 of them have had any medical or basic psychaitric training at all the rest amount to nothing more than nurses credential wise.. please be wary of this if your British.

[Delusion]

Please excuse me changing his sex mid paragraph im a little tired.

[ILADVOCATE]

Well I'd say one issue we all face (I know health care differs in other countries) at least in the U.S. is "you get what you pay for". Not so much the quality of the provider as the quality of the help you get and attention certainly. I know people who are on Medicaid who only who get a 5 minute consult at a clinic. You can't accomplish much in that time frame and they are seeing different psychiatrists all the time. But its important to have a psychiatrist and be able to get prescriptions. Many plans don't cover anything beyond that so a trained psychopharmocologist as I see is out of the question. I know I was seeing a conventional psychiatrist before then and he wasn't that helpful or available so I made a call to a reference number and made the change myself. But I had the coverage that would enable that decision. That's often the problem for many people though there are an increasing number of coverage options as I've posted.

[bernie40]

I am often frustrated with my psychiatrist but as Delusion has said I think it is down to her being overworked.  I always get my full allotted time but we always have to go over old ground every visit.  I honestly feel as though all she is interested in is the medication side of things.  I too asked the question about BPD, I've asked to see a talk therapist, but she flaps her hands at me and says "why complicate things"!!!

It's different here in the UK.  If you miss 3 appointments on the trot then you have to go back to your regular doctor and be re-referred to mental health services.  However they cannot refuse to see you or treat you they have a "Duty of Care".  Leta - is there no "Duty of Care" where you are?  I think it is terrible that you can be dropped like that.  Do you have to find your own psychiatrist?  Over here we are referred by our regular Dr we don't have to find one ourselves.

ILAD, you're very knowledgeable about the US system, are you able to advise Leta.

bastet56.  I don't know what the answer is to be honest.  It does sound like maybe it's time for a change of psych but I realise this is easier said than done.  Good luck.

[Delusion]

Side tracking a little but i have a question... before i was kicked out of university (addiction bipolar oh the fairness) i missed a appointment because i was passed out on the carpet of the floor of my room, little was i expecting a knock on my door and guess who it was my ''occupational theraper'' and ''mental health nurse'' they asked me to come to our appointment which was 5mins down the road on campus..

Are they really allowed to look up where i bloody live and come get me?

[bastet56]

I have done a lot of thinking and web searching  in the past couple of days. I agree that the dr is overworked, unfortunately, there is little here in the way of help. Some of the drs here claim to treat bipolarism but then go on and on about substance abuse treatment which I have no need for. It is also hard to find a dr who accepts Medicare. I am thinking of writing her a letter telling her how I feel and see how it goes from there. I also have been doing a lot of reading. I think what I am experiencing is mixed episodes which would explain why I feel like my wheels are spinning but I'm chained to the wall. I don't think that I have BPD, just childhood abuse issues which a lot of people have. Don't feel bad UKers, here in the US a dr can drop you if you miss appts too.

[bernie40]

That's a tricky question Delusion, it's one of those where I can answer yes and no :-s  I would think they were exercising their duty of care by coming to your room to find you.  I can understand that you found this an invasion of privacy though

- see what I mean, it's really difficult.

Would I have been happy if that had been done to me?  Absolutely not!

Bastet56 - I was just thinking that writing a letter may be a good way to go!  My advice would be to get your point across as succinctly (sp) as possible but make sure you lay out exactly what your current health problems are and which groups of meds you cannot take.

My psych always has to check back through my notes when I get there.  They must have so many patients to see on a daily basis that it's impossible for them to remember us each individually.  If she has a good summary at the front of the file though this could help dispense with wasting your time because she will have the info there in front of her.