Posted by Simcha on November 16, 2001, at 12:37:30
In reply to Re: Anyone have a 'good, trusted' Doctor(s)????, posted by jazzdog on November 16, 2001, at 10:54:42
I've been very lucky on all fronts. I have had two excellent therapists in my life. During my time with the second I ended up having a major depressive episode that was undeniably not going to go away without intensive treatment. She kept suggesting medication and that I go to my doctor to discuss it since she could not prescribe.
My gp at the time had suggested anti-depressants before this episode based only on my history. (Childhood Sexual Abuse, Sexual Obsessive/Compulsive, Depression, Anxiety, etc.) Of course I did not want anything to do with meds when he first suggested them. I did finally break down when I believed that the only choice was to medicate or to give up and stop living.
He had had some experience prescribing antidepressants. He gave me Effexor which is a typical first-line antidepressant for those with major depressive disorder. This helped once it kicked in after about a month.
He did suggest that I might want to find a pdoc because he did not have wide experience with prescribing for mental illness and he felt that I should have an expert in my arsenal. I loved my gp. He was an excellent doc. If I still lived in Chicago I'd still be going to him.
Now that I live in Iowa, I've had to shop for a pdoc and a gp. I have found an excellent pdoc through asking at various treatment centers and asking a nurse I know here in town about pdocs. They all have reputations and this one had one of the best and he did not make me wait to see him.
He changed the meds I was on. It was rough. Wellbutrin alone is like crack for me. He added the Celexa finding that I have more than depression, I have OCD and he said that I will always need an SSRI because of it. Well, he has tweaked the levels of these two meds, and I'm stable. He has given me control of the amount of Celexa I want to be on based on how I feel. He trusts me. I trust him.
I have decided to remain on the higher dose of Celexa because I descend into massive compulsion and irritability if I am under 40mg of the stuff. The Wellbutrin is finally allowing me to have a sex life where on Effexor sex for me was impossible.
I am happy with my choices and I am happy with my psychiatrist. He does not have the most sparkling personality. (I go to a hypnotherapist for "talk" therapy.) Yet he has always listened to me and he has been able to get the best combination possible for me today fairly quickly.
I hope this provides hope. There are great people out there in the medical/psychiatric communities who can and do help people like us. For me they are life savers!
poster:Simcha
thread:84262
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011113/msgs/84426.html