Want to go to doctors without parents?

[emilyv32]

I have been experiencing anxiety for quite sometimes and have severe physical symptoms along with it such as nausea, weight loss, tingling, shortness of breath, and loss of appetite. I have been experiencing it for almost a year now and have tried to talk to my parents about it many times. My parents do not believe anxiety is a real problem and that it's all in my head and I need to stop being so stressed out.  I am eighteen and will be going to college in the fall and my parents have threatened to not send me to college if I don't stop with "this anxiety."  I want to speak to my doctor about my anxiety since my parents won't take me to a doctor for it.  Is it possible to go to my doctor and speak with her and not have to pay or not have my parents find out? I feel that I need to just speak with someone to minimize my anxiety as it is interfering greatly with my life in a negative way.

[Paxiled]

Your parents will find out if you do this on their insurance because statements are sent detailing treatment, if your parents read these statements -- my guess is most people don't but you never know.  I get them and sometimes read them and sometimes don't.  Especially if you have deductibles you kind of have to look at them. But once you start college, it will probably have student health, a separate form of insurance included with tuition.  It it's a major university it will be a teaching hospital, which is probably better than what you're using now, so then you can get care and no statement will be sent to your parents because it won't be on their account.  Now, some insurance doesn't send these statements -- if that's true, your parents won't find out.  But one visit to a doctor isn't really going to help you unless you want to be put on medication -- what you really need to do first is see a psychologist and get an evaluation and try to solve it through therapy.  If it can't be solved is when you want to go on medication, because medication is a significant medical intervention and you always want to try the least invasive things first.  As for turning 18 being magical, that isn't true -- in many states 21 is the magical age, but when you're on someone else's tab, as you are with your parent's insurance, they see the bills.  The magic age is really the age when you're financially independent, and you're a far way away from that.  So you really need to find a way to communicate with your parents, though if they're that stubborn to deny a medical condition I don't know if that's going to be possible.  Maybe another family member is more sensible and can help here.  Good luck.

[BluCrystal]

The moment you turn 18 is the magical moment when you stop having to ask their permission to do something.  You can go to the doctor on your own, and your privacy will be protected, even from your parents, if you want.  Find a doctor who will accept payment plans.  Maybe you can get insurance because you are still considered a student, even if not quite yet attending college.  The truth of the matter is this: explaining anxiety to someone who has never had it is like trying to explain color to a blind person.  IT"S NOT THEIR FAULT.  Plus, no parent wants their child to be 'flawed' in any way.  Anxiety is not a flaw, just as blindness is not a flaw.  It is simply something we have to learn how to manage, and you can do that. :)