Posted by akc on November 16, 2001, at 6:41:16
In reply to Re: Anyone have a 'good, trusted' Doctor(s)????, posted by Cecilia on November 16, 2001, at 3:30:26
> Good docs, bad docs, what`s the difference? Sure, some have nicer personalities than others, but when it comes to prescribing medications, it`s not like the good docs have a secret stash of meds that the bad docs haven`t heard of. I wish they did.
In my experience, there is a huge difference in how willing a doctor is to do many things -- from keeping current on the progress in new meds (I am on topamax -- and many doctors haven't even heard of it, or if they have, know of its "off-label" use) -- to a doctor truly listening to a patient and properly diagnosing the condition. When I first started seeing a pdoc, I was diagnosed as depressive and put solely on an AD. It helped some at first. But I continued to also self-medicate (drinking), and as that spiraled out of control, things started to get messy. That doctor's only answer was to increase my AD, change ADs, etc. She never really accepted I had a drinking problem, even though my therapist and others involved in my treatment were convinced to the point that they pretty much insisted I go for inpatient treatment, etc.Now, this pdoc was a very nice woman. And she was very concerned about me. She just was not a very good doctor. I don't believe she had a wealth of information, she was unable to think outside the box (from her initial diagnosis), and my treatment suffered because of it. Yes, she had all the same meds at hand -- but there is a talent in knowing what meds to use, when to use them, how much to use, what combinations -- I could go on and on and on. Our illnesses can be very complex. Some people are fortunate -- they present with straightfoward depressive symptoms, a doctor throws them an AD, it works, life is great. But you only have to look at this board to realize that there are some hard cases. I am not a straight-forward depressive. I am bipolar II (a label I hate, but have grown to accept) -- as you know from reading here, putting me solely on an AD is pretty useless, and in fact can add to my difficulties. Thankfully, there are some very good doctors out there that both have the meds on hand, but also have the knowledge and the talent to know how to use those meds (and some of them even have the personality -- I'm willing to bet that some on this board have really good doctors without the best of personalities).
akc
poster:akc
thread:84262
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011113/msgs/84390.html