Peru83
04-10-06, 07:51
Yesterday I went to the doctors as my symptoms have changed and I was worried that this time it was something other than anxiety(as I'm sure we all do!). When I entered the Doctors office I sat down and when he asked how can I help you today' I immediatly said 'Well I have been diagnosed with anxiety for over a year but find that very difficult to believe and feel that I've been wrongly diagnosed and I need to be taken seriously'. He very sincerely said, 'Ok, I don't want to say that you have anxiety lets do some examinations and see what they say'.
Well he listend to my heart, took my blood pressure, listend to my chest even took my pulse rate. He then sat down looking rather thoughtfull and asked if it was ok if he took the time to read back on my notes, well I was fine with that, I thought that with him doing this it would only prove what I have thought all along! I've been wrongly diagnosed!! When he had finished reading my notes on the computer he took a questionaire out of his desk and said 'can I get you to fill this in and be honest don't think about what is the right thing to say'. The questionaire had things like 'how often do you laugh at things - often, not as much as I used to, not often at all, never. ect'. Well the then scored me on this and you know what? I rated the highest on it, proving it's just anxiety!! At that point I burst into tears, I really didn't want this to be my answer, that wasn't what I had gone there for!
He calmed me down and asked me to brief him on my first every PA and the things that worry me the most when I feel frightend. He's come to the conclustion that it's health anxiety that I have lost faith in my doctors becasue of what happend to me in hospital! He assured me that I'm young, healthy and have nothing wrong with me! He thinks that one of my triggers for this panic could be when I take unwell ie having a cold as the first time I had a panic attack I had a really bad cold, which funnily enough I took with a really bad cold a few weeks back and have never really shifted it.
He also said that he would do everything in his power to reassure me that I'm ok, but that could have complicatioins! He went on to explain, that he would send me for a CT scan but that is the equivilant to 15 chest x-rays!! (not good) or that he could check the arteries to my heart but to do that he would have to put a scope throgh the artery in my leg up to my heart causing a 2% chance of rupturing the artery and causing me to bleed to death!! (really not good) Also to scope me out for cancer also comes with risks of rupture and x-ray exposure! (again not good). And as much as this sounds like bad information, it made me look at this differently and feel a little better. I was then told that none of my symptoms I have described point to anything serious and to be thankful that I'm healthy and that he see's alot of people, sometimes younger than me that have things that are very serious sometimes untreatable and that anxiety on the grand scheme of things isn't bad, and guess what? he knows of people who have fully gotten over it!!!!![8D]:D. This peice of news made me very, very happy indeed! I just didn't think that it was possible as alot of people I have spoken to on here are able to say that they have suffered it for years and years which made me think that their was no hope and that I would be like this forever! which I really couldn't cope with! Now that I know I can fully over come this I feel much better today!!
He's put me forward for the phsyciatrist, comunity councellor and wants me to reconsider my SSRI's, don't think I will go back on them tho! I want to do this on my own. My theroy is that if I use tablets to help me get over it then when I'm feeling better I would be reluctant to give up the tablets in the just incase I take bad again.
I know that this is such a long post but I was kinda hoping that the information that my GP gave me yesterday would help someone else, I know he helped me alot. He is by far the best doctor I have had yet, he was understanding, non-patronising
Well he listend to my heart, took my blood pressure, listend to my chest even took my pulse rate. He then sat down looking rather thoughtfull and asked if it was ok if he took the time to read back on my notes, well I was fine with that, I thought that with him doing this it would only prove what I have thought all along! I've been wrongly diagnosed!! When he had finished reading my notes on the computer he took a questionaire out of his desk and said 'can I get you to fill this in and be honest don't think about what is the right thing to say'. The questionaire had things like 'how often do you laugh at things - often, not as much as I used to, not often at all, never. ect'. Well the then scored me on this and you know what? I rated the highest on it, proving it's just anxiety!! At that point I burst into tears, I really didn't want this to be my answer, that wasn't what I had gone there for!
He calmed me down and asked me to brief him on my first every PA and the things that worry me the most when I feel frightend. He's come to the conclustion that it's health anxiety that I have lost faith in my doctors becasue of what happend to me in hospital! He assured me that I'm young, healthy and have nothing wrong with me! He thinks that one of my triggers for this panic could be when I take unwell ie having a cold as the first time I had a panic attack I had a really bad cold, which funnily enough I took with a really bad cold a few weeks back and have never really shifted it.
He also said that he would do everything in his power to reassure me that I'm ok, but that could have complicatioins! He went on to explain, that he would send me for a CT scan but that is the equivilant to 15 chest x-rays!! (not good) or that he could check the arteries to my heart but to do that he would have to put a scope throgh the artery in my leg up to my heart causing a 2% chance of rupturing the artery and causing me to bleed to death!! (really not good) Also to scope me out for cancer also comes with risks of rupture and x-ray exposure! (again not good). And as much as this sounds like bad information, it made me look at this differently and feel a little better. I was then told that none of my symptoms I have described point to anything serious and to be thankful that I'm healthy and that he see's alot of people, sometimes younger than me that have things that are very serious sometimes untreatable and that anxiety on the grand scheme of things isn't bad, and guess what? he knows of people who have fully gotten over it!!!!![8D]:D. This peice of news made me very, very happy indeed! I just didn't think that it was possible as alot of people I have spoken to on here are able to say that they have suffered it for years and years which made me think that their was no hope and that I would be like this forever! which I really couldn't cope with! Now that I know I can fully over come this I feel much better today!!
He's put me forward for the phsyciatrist, comunity councellor and wants me to reconsider my SSRI's, don't think I will go back on them tho! I want to do this on my own. My theroy is that if I use tablets to help me get over it then when I'm feeling better I would be reluctant to give up the tablets in the just incase I take bad again.
I know that this is such a long post but I was kinda hoping that the information that my GP gave me yesterday would help someone else, I know he helped me alot. He is by far the best doctor I have had yet, he was understanding, non-patronising