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06-21-2017 09:02 PM
I agree with some of what you say, but the problem is most insurance companies require a referral to a specialist from your primary doctor. If your doctor feels you need specialized help then they make the referral to who you need to see. I know where we live you can't just make an appt. with a psychiatrist or any specialist w/o that referral.
06-21-2017 09:29 PM
I'm in an open network, I can see whoever I want. I see specialists for everything. I have a family practitioner who checks all the parts not covered by a specialist (of which there are very few) and for emergency things like a UTI when I can't get into my gyn fast enough for relief.
06-21-2017 09:30 PM
My PC says prescribing a "cocktail" of drugs regarding mental health is a fine art and I agree. She refuses to do it, as she says she is not educated in mental health. She also told me that when a new drug comes out, the drug reps provide an in service for the doctors.
06-21-2017 11:47 PM
@Leeny wrote:
Thank You for your kind words. This is a hard thing to go through for him and his family, but I know he's in the best hospital for this. He is having a hard day today due to coming off one of the meds. I do not know the name of it, but at least they are there for him at the hospital to take care of him during this rough time.
@Leeny If the medication he's coming off of is Cymbalta, let him know that there is an online forum to help people deal with that. I've noticed that just about all of the links posted here are now being deleted, so I won't post a link, I'll just say to Google "Cymbalta withdrawal forum" and it will come up. There is a lot of information there for people who are suffering; it helped me get through. I'm glad I didn't take my doctor's advice and try to wean off of it quickly. It was hard enough to wean off of it slowly.
Of course, there are other meds that can be a bear to withdraw from, but I'm not sure how many of them have their own forum.
06-22-2017 08:43 AM
@jaxs mom wrote:
@Yardlie wrote:
@jaxs mom wrote:I don't think a family Dr is the best choice as a first step. I've had experience twice where I went to a regular GP when I had been feeling really sad and didn't know why. Both times they automatically wanted to put me on meds. Both times I realized after I left that I was dealing with a loss anniversary so I never filled the rx's and dealt with it fine without medication once I realized what the issue was. If I'd actually gone to a psychologist first, their first step would not have been to just start medication.
@JaxsMom ... The family doctor is just supposed to do a depression screening and then refer you for treatment if s/he determines that it is needed. A psychologist or psychiatrist can then determine if you are just having situational depression (such as a loss anniversary would be) or if you have a chemical imbalance and need meds. Some family doctors like to take on the role of the psychiatrist and prescribe meds also. I would never let a family doctor prescribe psych meds for me.
"Supposed to" being the operative word here. So far, I've yet to see a FP or GP not just rx meds and send you on your merry way and I'm not referring to just my personal experience. Plus I wouldn't rely on a GP or give me a referral to a psychologist and I don't need a referral to see one with my insurance. There are many different specialties in psychology and you need someone that you have a personal rapport with. When a psychiatrist was actually needed, psychologists can give referrals if you don't know who to go to.
You are never obligated to take a physician's advice. However, it is the physician's responsibility to give you a referral if you don't know who to go to. Whether you need a referral or not is just a matter of symantics. The doctor just gives you a name as a starting point.
06-22-2017 08:51 AM
I am not a DEPRESSED PERSON. I am one who has been anxious all her life. It sets me up for being on alert and does not allow for relaxation. I have to solve all problems YESTERDAY even if they are not really problems. I found a remedy.... DANCING.. AND MORE DANCING. Social and physical aspect I guess. And it works for me. Doctor once tried to medicate me. Decided not to go THAT WAY.
06-22-2017 09:23 AM
I do not know what drug he has been taken off of. My son is in the hospital while coming off this drug. He is not at home. He will be there for at least a week or maybe more. I am not sure if they are going to take him off additional drugs or not. I know coming off any drug is not easy. He is under doctors supervision and I trust they will do the best for him.
06-22-2017 11:25 AM
I do not disagree with what you have said about using google. In the case of @Leeny son, he is in a facility being treated by professionals in Mental Health. With that, my belief is they are aware of his medications, and know the best methods to treat their patient, her son.
While having internet access is a good thing, I do not believe everything, even close to it, I read there and specifically on any kind of health issue, physical or mental. My personal experiences makes it much easier to choose the sources that are their strictly to pad their pockets, and sites with very valuable facts for someone to read, and possibly talk about with their doctor(s).
@Leeny, There are some very rough times while in treatment, but knowing he has those professionals to call on 24/7, helps a patient to get through them with less physical/ mental setbacks.
Tell your son that there is a "light at the end of the tunnel", and to maintain Optimism no matter how bad it seems at any time. It will get better for him, and you and his whole family. Everyone has to be both patient and optimistic, and let your son see it in all of you.
Best Wishes to your son and yourself,
hckynut(john)
06-22-2017 11:48 AM
Everyone needs and outlet for stresses/anxieties, some just do not realize it, while others do not want to invest work and time. Many choose to take a pill(s) to try to relieve their issues.
I have always been your opposite. Maybe because my hobbies took time to successfully complete, not yesterday. If not, they sure were beneficial in that respect. Nobody hurries me in things that I do, especially things that I see as my responsibilities..
Your dancing was/is my being physically active, be it running/skating/playing my musical instruments/setting up electronics for others, and just plain being physically and mentally active with things I enjoy.
Many know these things, but it involves time along with physical effort. Some just think of it as "work", and I have met many of them. As soon as I say "move your body physically", that pretty much ends their interest.
My focus has always been to work strictly with things that I can change. Trying or concern about things I cannot change, to me is a waste of time and counter productive.
I however still admitted myself to a Mental Hospital as these activities were/are not enough to change the chemical imbalances in my brain. Those needed(need) Professional and Medication help. Without continuing to follow these things my life would be much different, in a negative way.
Type A Personalities are not set in stone. While they may not be able to be changed completely, their are many ways to work on making them different(better?)
Glad to see you have found what is working for you.
hckynut(john)
06-22-2017 02:43 PM - edited 06-22-2017 02:48 PM
All I can say is that I would not put my complete trust in these doctors. I've been given some very bad advice, and had some very bad experiences with psychiatrists over the years.
I had a psychiatrist when I was fifteen who worked with adolescent patients with eating disorders in a hospital setting. But I saw her in her office, outside of the hospital, for depression and anxiety. She saw me regularly. During my sessions, I told her how much trouble I had eating and that it was an ongoing problem. She watched me lose 25% of my body weight inside of 3 or 4 months, and she didn't even bother to do an assessment. She did nothing. In fact, she did worse than nothing; she told my mother that I didn't have an eating disorder. My primary care physician said it wasn't a physical problem and he also said it wasn't an eating disorder either (?!?!). Based on their opinions, my mother gave up looking for answers for me. So I suffered and suffered until I finally gave my mother an ultimatum. I calmly told her that I could not deal with the near-constant nausea, the leg pains, the weakness, the heart palpitations, etc. (I was born with a heart problem, so my doctors' neglect was even more dangerous than it would be for most). Then I told her that if she didn't get me help right then, I was going to take my own life. I knew it was the only way I could get help short of calling the authorities, and to be honest, I was almost ready to take that step. She looked in the phone book, got on the phone, and within 20 minutes, I had an appointment set up to be assessed for an eating disorder at a clinic. This could've been done by my psychiatrist, but she didn't do it (or give me a referral). I was diagnosed with an eating disorder and got help, but it wasn't because of my psychiatrist.
After that I changed psychiatrists. This one--when I asked for a referral for a counselor--refused to give me one and insisted that medication was all I needed. I needed to continue counseling for my eating disorder and anxiety, but she felt that drugging me was sufficient, and I think she had a high opinion of herself and thought that she was enough of a counselor to meet my needs. She wasn't.
Along the way I've had several psychiatrists who pretended to be counselors (even one who thought that yelling at me was good counseling), but most of them are not qualified to do it, as many are just M.D.s and have little education in counseling, but it doesn't stop them from pretending they know more than they do.
My current psychiatrist wanted me to come off of Cymbalta over a span of 10 days. But even the FDA warns against a fast withdrawal from this medication. Before that, he wanted to put me on either Abilify or Risperdal, but when I asked questions about the side effects, he casually told me that if I didn't like the side effects I could stop the medication. I pressed him for more info, and didn't get any, so I went online and found out what the potential side effects are. The info I gathered helped me reach the decision that these types of medications are something I do not want to try if I can avoid them. I'm also glad I didn't blindly trust him because if he didn't even know that you're not supposed to come off of Cymbalta in only 10 days, then how can I possibly have blind confidence in his judgment regarding other medications?
So I've learned from experience that you cannot take your psychiatrist's advice as gospel. There will be times when you must do extra research in order to ensure good care. I've found this to be the case for a lot of things in life, so I'm not saying it's just psychiatrists. I'm just saying that we have to be our own advocates, because these people don't always care or know what they're doing.
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