How to get help?

[veedubgirl]

Hi everyone. I just found this site yesterday and am thinking it could be quite helpful. Anyway, I haven't been diagnosed with anything because I haven't been to see any doctors yet. I know something's not right with me, whether I'm just plain depressed or bipolar, I don't know. I am thinking more bipolar since I have periods (usually short ones) of happiness where absolutely nothing can bring me down and everything is just great. Then of course are the lows, which have been going on for a few weeks now continuously (with no "good days"). This has been going on for a long time- years. Often the depressive times resulting in the loss of friends, jobs, etc etc...

Anyway I don't mean to rant on. But I really just want to know if I have depression/bipolar/some other disorder or not and if so, how to deal with it better so it doesn't affect my life, since I have built up a new career over the last year and refuse to lose it. I don't have a family doctor or anything like that, I just go to walk-in clinics when I have the flu or something. And I hate going even then. So what I'm wondering is how other people go about asking a doctor, especially at a walk-in where no one knows you, about tests for mental health issues? At the walk-ins, they seem so rushed and disinterested. Once I went with the intention of asking about depression, etc. I psyched (no pun intended, haha) myself up for days about going. When I got there, I was so nervous and the doctor seemed to be in a hurry so I made up some excuse about how my throat hurt (it didn't). So yeah, I don't know, it may seem dumb but I really don't know how to go about it.

Does anyone have any tips? How did you go about finding out about your condition?
Thanks for any replies.

[rBoulet]

The first time I saw a doctor because of bipolar was because I was involuntarily admitted to hospital. If you have no other way of going to a doctor you could go to the hospital and ask to see the psychiatrist on call.
You could also look in your phone book like corlenbelspar said. I'm not sure how it works where you live, but here there's a main line you can call and they'll evaluate you then refer you to the proper clinic.

But if you want immediate help the ER would be your best bet, and seeing as you're also in Canada it wouldn't cost you anything. If you don't want to go alone you could always have someone go with you.

[paranoid_cataclysm]

Try looking in the phone book in the yellow pages under "Mental Health Services" or something of that nature and give the one that sounds the most appropriate a call.

[ILADVOCATE]

Generally if a person rapid cycles from manic to depressed that could be bipolar but only a psychiatrist could provide a diagnosis but it would be worth seeing one. We have some websites linked up for informational purposes that you could bring to your psychiatrist.