Oatcake
21-03-13, 09:24
My doctors are part of a large practice (15 GPs work in my branch at any one time) and I've got no named GP, so I tend to just take an appointment with whoever is free.
When this bout of GAD flared up, I wound up with a locum at their urgent care clinic. He was brilliant. He listened and suggested loads of ways of dealing with the problem. However, being a locum, my next appointment was with another doctor, who I'll call Dr S. She is an incredibly kind and patient lady, but didn't appear to know much about GAD and gave me a prescription for Mirtazapine, as she could see from my history that the usual first choice SSRIs hadn't really helped.
Looking up Mirtazapine, I was a bit worried about its side effects, and decided I didn't want to take it, so made an appointment with the only available doctor, who I'll call Dr J. Dr J is new, and doesn't appear to know a lot about GAD either. She refused to entertain prescribing pregablin or buspar, and put me on Amitryptaline, which was a disaster. I became moody and short tempered, and had to be within running distance of a toilet at all times :blush: Stopped taking that after a week, and the better part of a family pack of Andrex.
Yesterday, I went back to Dr J. She skim-read the Occy Health report, which quite explicitly said "I advise this patient to contact her GP to discuss different approaches". When I said that the Ami hadn't worked, she did not seem impressed, and said "There doesn't appear to be anything more we can do for you medically. The only thing I can do is refer you for counselling". When I said that I wasn't stable enough to talk to a counsellor at the moment, she made it quite clear we were done, renewed my sickness certificate for a month, turned around and started typing on her computer.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be on pills - nobody does! If she genuinely thinks I don't need them, that's good news. I am feeling a bit better at home, but the thought of facing my work again literally sends me into a panic attack. Maybe she was miffed that an occupational health doctor has made recommendations on how I should be treated, which could be seen as critical of her, and she's offended? :shrug: I guess I'd be a bit miffed if someone suggested I'd treated a patient incorrectly.
Dr J asked me to go back to see her in 3 weeks, and she'll review the situation then. I don't know if she's the right doctor for me though. However, she knows me, and the situation pretty well. What do you think?
When this bout of GAD flared up, I wound up with a locum at their urgent care clinic. He was brilliant. He listened and suggested loads of ways of dealing with the problem. However, being a locum, my next appointment was with another doctor, who I'll call Dr S. She is an incredibly kind and patient lady, but didn't appear to know much about GAD and gave me a prescription for Mirtazapine, as she could see from my history that the usual first choice SSRIs hadn't really helped.
Looking up Mirtazapine, I was a bit worried about its side effects, and decided I didn't want to take it, so made an appointment with the only available doctor, who I'll call Dr J. Dr J is new, and doesn't appear to know a lot about GAD either. She refused to entertain prescribing pregablin or buspar, and put me on Amitryptaline, which was a disaster. I became moody and short tempered, and had to be within running distance of a toilet at all times :blush: Stopped taking that after a week, and the better part of a family pack of Andrex.
Yesterday, I went back to Dr J. She skim-read the Occy Health report, which quite explicitly said "I advise this patient to contact her GP to discuss different approaches". When I said that the Ami hadn't worked, she did not seem impressed, and said "There doesn't appear to be anything more we can do for you medically. The only thing I can do is refer you for counselling". When I said that I wasn't stable enough to talk to a counsellor at the moment, she made it quite clear we were done, renewed my sickness certificate for a month, turned around and started typing on her computer.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be on pills - nobody does! If she genuinely thinks I don't need them, that's good news. I am feeling a bit better at home, but the thought of facing my work again literally sends me into a panic attack. Maybe she was miffed that an occupational health doctor has made recommendations on how I should be treated, which could be seen as critical of her, and she's offended? :shrug: I guess I'd be a bit miffed if someone suggested I'd treated a patient incorrectly.
Dr J asked me to go back to see her in 3 weeks, and she'll review the situation then. I don't know if she's the right doctor for me though. However, she knows me, and the situation pretty well. What do you think?