Posted by Racer on May 20, 2004, at 19:55:07
In reply to Re: And I hate to say that I can relate, posted by jerrympls on May 20, 2004, at 19:18:11
Well, the two that I can think of are the area in which you're living, and your situation vis a vis access to care. Are you insured? Are you in an area where uninsured people can see private doctors, or do your local doctors only accept patients with insurance? (I'm in Silicon Valley, where only one psychiatrist in the local telephone books accepted self-pay when I looked four years ago. With the current unemployment rate down here, that's improved a lot -- but the costs are still out of reach for most of the unemployed, depressed people around here. That's an example of regional variations, and again: if you looked a couple of years ago, and couldn't find anything else, it's worth looking again.)
If you're going to the teaching facility because it's the best solution for you financially, it is time to do a cost/benefit analysis about that decision. If you can go somewhere else, but the cost worries you, do the c/b. If it still says that you can't go the private route, that's OK. My own situation is that I cannot, emotionally, take the risk of seeing a private doctor because of the risks to our financial survival. If it weren't survival that was at stake, I would be seeing a private doctor because I'm currently in a situation very similar to yours. (Except that I kinda like my inadequate, apparently deaf pdoc. He's still not treating me very well, and certainly can't hear what I say.) Anyway, if this is the only facility you know of locally that is within your reach, post your location as specifically as you are comfortable doing. Someone in that area is likely to know of some alternatives that might work for you.
If there really and truly aren't any alternatives for you in your area and within your reach -- AFTER checking around with people who have no emotional stake in this situation, because it is so crazy-making to have a really awful pdoc making such life-affecting choices about YOUR life so don't just go with your gut (trust me on this one) -- then it's time to look at what can be done to make this facility effective in treating you, at least getting you stable enough to get something else done for yourself. (Remember, been there, done that...)
The last pdoc before this one, many years ago, TOLD me that the anti-depressant she had prescribed for me was effective, and I was just so screwed up that nothing would ever help me. She also told me that she was satisfied that I was neither suicidal nor continuing to experience any signs of depression. She TOLD me that I was no longer depressed and the drug was working. I called the head of the clinic to say that I was NOT being adequately treated, that I was still in grave distress and an immediate danger to myself. He checked with the doctor and told me that she had assured him that I was just fine, responding appropriately to the medication, etc. I called the county -- this was a county doctor, by the way -- who told me that this was the only doctor for adults available to me based on zip code, and that it was all moot, anyway: that doctor was the one who would need to instigate any change of doctors and she said I was fine! Now, tell me that you're not both laughing at how ridiculous that story is -- by any reasonable standards -- and that it's not close enough for government work to what you're going through that you'll allow me to give you advice I wouldn't have taken myself a few years ago?
Again, best luck to you and I hope you find treatment that includes basic human respect for you.
poster:Racer
thread:348952
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040515/msgs/349000.html