Posted by Racer on August 25, 2004, at 20:52:05
In reply to Re: Whoohoo! I get to give back now! (long -- !! » Racer, posted by Aphrodite on August 25, 2004, at 14:49:03
Repeat as needed: Racer hasn't been sleeping. Racer didn't sleep at all last night. Racer gets really, really speedy without sleep. Racer talks too much *with* adequate sleep and virtually any topic...
Then, repeat again -- I hope you understand that I'm really pretty incoherent to myself right now.
Anyway:
1. You and Dinah hit on something that I waffle about a lot: pdoc/therapist? NO pdoc/therapist? My recent experiences are the first with a very close pdoc/therapist thing. 'nuf sed. Then again, probably the most overall-beneficial experience I've had to date was with really, really close pdoc/MD coordination -- and I would like a little pdoc/therapist communication, because I have had experiences where I *needed* meds or a med change *NOW* and the therapist could probably have gotten a much better response than I'd have been able on my own. Too depressed to make sense, bad med reaction that I couldn't see, and the old standby -- feeling as if I *deserve* to feel this bad because {duh} I'm depressed. I swing both ways on that issue, but lean towards some coordination ability -- but not lunch buddies, you know?
(The pdoc/MD thing? Don't ask/don't tell -- I think they were probably ex-lovers, I could tell by the beautiful way they worked together to treat me that they loved one another. Personally, I think it helped in that treatment. Who knows? Long ago -- and they were both women of a certain age, with that common ground of struggle in very male areas. That alone might have explained it all -- Women Helping Women was enormously important to them both.)
2. Forwarned is forarmed: *knowing* about the dangers of that easy diagnosis will probably go a long way towards helping you spot it.
(Got maple syrup?)
Then again, if it works, what does it really matter what they call it?
(OK, sit down and grab that fork, butter me, and get ready for more waffling..)
Always keeping in mind my other thought which might be much, much stonger: "If it doesn't matter what it's called, as long as it's being treated effectively, NEVER EVER EVER trust any medical professional of any sort who places seemingly undue importance on the diagnostic name." Yeah, I'm incredibly sensitive about that whole issue right now. But you know what? The DSM diagnostic codes really seem to me to have two important jobs: one is insurance -- what's the doctor gonna tell the bean counters to get them to help pay off his/her med school loans? The other is contained in the title of the book: "STATISTICAL" How do you quantify these things? OK, why don't we put together a consensus and call it -- Diagnostical and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders or something like that? (Thank you, required stats class!(
3. What Daisy said brought something a lot more amorphous to me re you -- but let's let it percolate a little, and maybe stir in a buncha hours in LumLand? It "feels" too important not to make as coherent as possible for you?
So, Ms LongHair And Pearls Painting, I hope it really was helpful -- that you're not being kind -- and really hope that you find you experience something like what I did way back.
By the way, a very wise woman said something today that totally rocked my world off its axis. You know I keep trying to explain what those first meds did in therapy? One sentence I'd never been able to find, she said so beautifully and I'm sure to mangle it, but basically: "The medications allowed me to move from *feeling* the old pain to *grieving* for it." Continuing to feel the pain is what causes the problems (if you can get it in your area, the PBS show Medical Answers often gets totally off the wall gems -- like a show about the anatomy of pain and why it *needs* to be taken more seriously by doctors and treated aggressively, whether mental or physical -- trust me, that show was related to this point) but grieving over that pain, over having had to go through it, over what actually happened, whatever your loss -- grieving it is a huge step in the direction of healing.
I hope that being able to see it that way makes it eaiser for you -- IF the pdoc wants to try a med. Could say, "Naw? Medicate for that? That looks like my idea of a normal reaction -- and I prescribe the following schedule of vacations from work and facials at the salon -- insurance will cover it if I prescribe the time off." Dr Racer'sDream, by the way, *will* be the one who looks at a lot of those "life" issues instead of at which drug company provided the best lunch this week or what the last three patients all responded so well to.
Be well
poster:Racer
thread:381925
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040821/msgs/382357.html