My Psych doctor dismissed me :(

[Iheartray]

Back story - Well the WAY back story is I have been suffering for almost 10 years with Anxiety/Depression/Panic Disorder among other things. I had been seeing this new doctor for only about two months, she is new to my town and my town has very limited choices for Doctors. I thought things were going ok, not great, but ok. She disagreed with the Xanax that my previous doctor had put me on and I agreed to trying new things to see if something else would work. She tired me on an SSRI, I gave it a good go - about 4 weeks, and it only seemed to make my foggy headdedness/dizziness/derealization and therefore my anxiety and depression worse. We both agreed that I should try something different, so she prescribed me Cymbalta. I told her I was willing to give it a try but perhaps not right away, I was still recovering from the last failed attempt and I was nervous and scared to take anything new.
Anyways, so today I go to see her (she sets up appointments for me every 3-4 weeks) and the first thing she says is "Why are you here?" Umm... because you scheduled an appointment for me? She then seemed to be upset that I had picked up the Cymbalta prescription but had not yet tried it. I tried explaining my fears about taking it but she was sort of talking over me. Then she basically just said "I think it might be best if I just refer you to a different doctor, we don't seem to be on the same page with anything."
I am not only confused but my feelings are really hurt. I feel like I did something wrong and I wish I could go back and ask her what I did. Part of my problem along with my anxiety I have an intense fear of people not liking me for whatever reason, and this brought that up in an intense way. She also said something like "You just don't seem to be getting any better." Well, yeah that's why I'm here! That's why I'm asking for your help! Perhaps she was just frustrated because it is hard to diagnose and treat disorders such as mine, we still don't have the exact diagnosis pinpointed. I feel like I wasn't given a fair chance with her though. And I still have a feeling like I did something wrong... or that she didn't believe me about my symptoms or something :(
Has anybody had anything similar happen or any ideas why she would do this to me?

Thank you for reading and thank you in advance for any input!
Kat

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Kat,

This is completely inappropriate behaviour from a doctor.

Its quite natural to feel the way you do about medication, many of us have issues with it because of the side effects as the last thing we need is worsened anxiety which some of them can cause. Doctors don't appreciate this as they dish them out with little warning of how they can make you feel. I have been through this with mine who on both occassions said "you may have some looseness of bowel or sweating" which is pretty far away from the reality of what I suffered in side effects going onto Citalopram first and Duloxetine when I relapsed years later.

Perhaps such doctors should be rewarded with a stint of anxiety and anti depressants themselves because I'm very sure their attitudes would change. (I shouldn't really say this, I don't wish it on anyone, I just wish they understood how it feels)

It seems she is not very aware of mental health issues or has little patience for them. Personally, I'm not sure how she is going to be much use to you if her attitude continues so it might be wise to consider a new doctor if thats possible.

Whilst a doctor may be frustrated if a patient doesn't take their advice, they should be well used to it and should remain professional at all times. This doctors attitude would make any anxiety disorder sufferer feel worse about themselves whether they had issues with people disliking them or not.

I would also consider your ability to lodge a complaint. Doctors have to adhere to professional codes of conduct and its inappropriate to move a patient just because they are not responding at first to something that they are afraid of.

[Iheartray]

Terry, thank you for your reassurance! Jeez, I felt like she was in the wrong but with the way my brain works it always makes me wonder if it's me?! I think I definitely will look into filing a complaint. It's sad how it's taken me so long to take steps to get help and when I finally do I'm met with stuff like this.. *sigh* And it also sucks that our doctor options are very limited in my little town. There are like 2 other psych doctors and one of them is her husband :doh:

[MyNameIsTerry]

That sounds a difficult situation.

I don't know how it works in the US, over here would are normally with GP's who know very little about mental health issues but yours sounds more like a specialist which makes this even worse.

Its also very strange considering she must know the situation with resources? I wonder whether she is very target orientated and so only wants an easy ride of successes which just isn't the trade with mental health issues. I find her attitude quite baffling.

Don't let it stop you on your journey to recovery. Many of us gets these brick wall issues but ultimately its your recovery that matters more than anything.

[Iheartray]

I had an appointment with my psychologist on Friday (My psychiatrist was the one who spazzed out on me) and I feel a lot better about the situation. I explained it to her and she said the other doctor was WAY out of line and assured me that I shouldn't be worried about it being my fault. I know she is relatively new, she's young and has only been at our Medical Center for a few months so maybe she was overwhelmed by a bunch of new cases or maybe she was just having a bad day. Whatever the reason though, I feel like it was taken out on me in a way it shouldn't have been!

I have an appointment with a new guy next month and I've heard really good things about him so maybe it was a blessing in disguise.

[lior]

That sounds like a result!

If someone had said that to me, I would have felt the same way, and like you I would have thought that she doesn't really know what she is talking about - she's not really trained in how to deal with people with mental health issues. She was out of line.

Doctors in the UK know how to prescribe drugs but not how to talk to people about things. They can be socially awkward. They also sometimes think about the money element of their job rather than the getting-people-better part of their job. This means that they end up pushing drugs rather than what's doing best for their patient.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Thats great news!

They sign up to a code ethics when they join these professions and they have to abide by them or face the consequences.

I realise everyone can feel stressed and lash out but we are talking about people specifically trained not to act in that way. If she had lashed out and you stayed under her care, that may have been a possibility but her sudden need to transfer you when you were still new to her care brings in possibilities about her being a target chaser.

I think this new guy is the one to concentrate on for now though so you get yourself better.

I just hope your psychologist feeds it back so she gets pulled up on it...given the small practice and links with her husband, closing ranks is more likely.

[Iheartray]

Thanks for the support everyone! I doubt she will be reprimanded in any way because my other doctor probably can't share the information that I told her, I feel like the doctor/patient confidentiality thing would be breached. Maybe something could be done if I filled out a complaint, though. One thing is for sure, she's going to get some bad online reviews from me!

[MyNameIsTerry]

If you know what associations she has to be a member of, there will be a code of ethics they have to follow which will explain this and any complaints policy for their associations.

I'm not sure how it works in terms of confidentiality. A therapist, I would imagine, would be required to report anything that could endanger future patients by other therapists and they certainly would have to report anything illegal. or if a patient is a danger to themselves or others (this last one will depend on different countries and how their doctors are set up to work with each other).

I don't blame you with the online option. That will warn others.