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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Ines on March 15, 2007, at 8:35:35
I just had the most horrible appointment with my GP. When I mentioned that I'm finding the constant stream of thoughts going through my head really difficult to deal with he said he can't help me anymore and that I need to see a psychiatrist, but that I'm still looking at several weeks wait at least to see someone on the National Health Service. That because I am not dying of cancer I am not considered a priority. He changed his mind about prescribing any new medication and said just to cut reboxetine in half until I can see someone else. Said I can't expect the meds to work fast; I explain the problem was that I was feeling worse than before on reboxetine, and he didn't reply. Said there's nothing else he can do and to come back in a month and tell him how I'm doing! He made me feel like vermin and I can't stop crying about it even though I know he had no right to treat me like that...
Ines
Posted by Quintal on March 15, 2007, at 11:29:50
In reply to Isn't the NHS great?, posted by Ines on March 15, 2007, at 8:35:35
Hmmm, I'm not very good at giving emotional support to other people, but I hope it helps to know I've had the same experience myself.............. I was actually attacked by my psychiatrist's secretary one day - she slammed the door against my ankles as I was leaving. Then there's my GP's partner who thinks people should "just learn to live with it".
'Care' can be truly appalling on the NHS if you get landed with an unsympathetic doctor, but I guess that's what we have to put up with for getting 'free at the point of delivery' medical treatment in the UK.
Have you thought about coming off the reboxetine Ines? I stuck it out for three months and ruined a whole summer because of it. It was a relief to be free of all that nervous tension again - it was so powerful it was even stopping my benzos (4mg clonazepam) from working. If you get really desperate I suggest buying a packet of Solpadine Max/Nurofen Plus tablets - the codeine in them will lift your mood and soothe anxiety faster than any prescription antidepressant.
Hang in there Ines, we're all rooting for you.
Q
Posted by Phillipa on March 15, 2007, at 12:06:20
In reply to Re: Isn't the NHS great? » Ines, posted by Quintal on March 15, 2007, at 11:29:50
Ines so sorry you had to go through this. I guess I'm glad I don't have the NHS but don't you pay horrendous taxes to have it? Love Phillipa
Posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 15, 2007, at 12:56:55
In reply to Re: Isn't the NHS great?, posted by Phillipa on March 15, 2007, at 12:06:20
Oh Ines! Yes, I've had similar experiences myself on the NHS. Its awful isn't it? I think thats why I gave up early on with the GPs - I just used them for the prescribing power, I'd research the drugs I wanted to try and then go ask them for it basically. Its completely and utterly awful situation in the NHS re: mental health. It makes me so mad! I wish something could be done about it. Again, like you mentioned if we'd have breast cancer or something, there would be no end of help, etc etc. But the thing is, they don't take into account how these mental illness affect you well, for the rest of your life, and just how much it stops you from living a relatively normal life.I reckon a lifetime of even moderate mental illness hinders you far more than, say, getting breast cancer and completely recovering (thats not to belittle breast cancer, but you see what I'm saying).
The government, if nothing else, should think about all the lost days of work, all those people on longterm sick, or whatever, and then maybe think about putting at least some sort of therapy/decent care in place. I mean, decent therapy and decent pdocs without a waiting list a million years long.
I guess the mentally ill are hardly the best group of people in the world for standing up for themselves. I barely make it through each day, let alone campaign for anything! I think in some ways we're the most vunerable group of people there is (well possibly children too). :)
The UK leaves me cold somewhat actually. Its only when you live abroad in another country you really see how it is somehow.
Posted by Ines on March 15, 2007, at 13:51:39
In reply to Re: Isn't the NHS great?, posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 15, 2007, at 12:56:55
Thanks for your posts guys! They've really made a difference in cheering me up.
I used to think the NHS was great until I actually had to start using it... The concept is great but they seriously need to reconsider their attitute to mental illness. It's like you say Meeri, the level of suffering due to prolongued mental illness must be far greater than a lot of other nasty things combined. I think someone who's never experienced it just doesn't get how horrible it is. It makes me really angry that they can abuse someone who goes and asks for help; I mean, it would be completely unacceptable for a GP to make a cancer patient feel embarrassed and belittled by their condition, and yet that was just what I was made to feel like today. I suppose it's something to do with the british stiff upper lip thing- you're supposed to grin and bear it and if you don't manage it it's considered weak. The ironical thing is it took me over 10 years to seek any kind of help exactly because I felt like I should be able to sort it out on my own....
Quintal, I discovered codeine a while ago when I had a bad tooth and was waiting to have a root canal done- it was great, I was in pain but couldn't care less about it! Maybe it's time to have tooth pain again ;-)
Ines
Posted by deniseuk190466 on March 19, 2007, at 13:45:21
In reply to Isn't the NHS great?, posted by Ines on March 15, 2007, at 8:35:35
Hi,
I'm not one for giving support or encouragement either because so often I feel so discouraged but just wanted to say I know how you feel.
When my depression first flared up again, I was fortunate to have a good job with good private medical health insurance but since I lost my job (due to my depression I'm sure) I've had to rely on the NHS.
The GP who supposedly specialises in psychiatric disorders at my local surgery is arrogant, he tried to insinuate I had a Personality disorder by saying "but you are always like this when you come and see me". When I mentioned the long waiting list for me to have CBT (So far 1 year and 7 months) he said that I was lucky to be getting it at all. He also insinuated that I should just learn to accept the way I am.
I went to a Day Care centre hoping that this professor there might be able to help me. He was the most unsympathetic, cold Dr I have ever been to see. He kept drumming his fingers exasperatingly on the table, he told me that I was addicted to the mental health services, he told me that I wasn't depressed I was just a very unhappy person and then he said that a lot of cancer sufferers accept their cancer, give up on treatments and go away and try to get on with and enjoy the rest of their life, he was implying that I do the same. What he failed to appreciate is that I can't enjoy life when I'm like this!
I just wanted you to know that you are not alone.
Denise
Posted by Quintal on March 19, 2007, at 14:42:52
In reply to Re: Isn't the NHS great?, posted by deniseuk190466 on March 19, 2007, at 13:45:21
I had a similar experience with my last pdoc. He too insinuated I had a personality disorder (Borderline/Schizoid/Avoidant) because nothing works. When I agreed I did have traits and asked for treatment he said "most people do have traits, because they are human beings, not categories. In fact I don't believe you even have social anxiety at all Mr.Quintal. I think you're just trying to get benzodiazepines for recreational purposes". He discharged me after that and I haven't been able to get any further care, not that I really want to anymore to be honest.
I don't mean to be pessimistic, but the CBT you get on the NHS is of the same calibre as the general psychiatric care. They told me I was too unstable for it to be effective and to come back when things were going better. I'd already been waiting for two years to get that appointment and worked really hard at the homework they set me - it ran into 34 pages of my deepest thoughts. The worst thing is I suspect the only use it came to was giving the secretaries a laugh over their lunch break. The waiting room door used to open onto their office and I could hear them sniggering and cackling like witches about the freaks who's notes they were reading. I found the whole thing depressing and demoralizing, and it was based in a creepy disused mental hospital. There was only one room used in the whole building and the corridors were full of dead leaves, rusty beds and strange medical appliances. There was even a pool of what looked like dried blood on the waiting room carpet. Thank God I don't have Paranoid Schizophrenia or anything like that. My imagination would have had a field day (think of the ambience of Stephen King's "The Shining" and you'll be pretty close).
The only talk therapy I found helpful was the Humanistic Counselling I got free from the college after I started cutting myself. I always used to leave the session with a warm glow and a spring in my step. Elaine actually hugged me once - you can't get that on the NHS.
Q
Posted by Ines on March 19, 2007, at 17:25:30
In reply to Re: Isn't the NHS great?, posted by deniseuk190466 on March 19, 2007, at 13:45:21
Hey Denise and Quintal,
What horrible experiences you've had. Thanks for sharing. Makes my GP seem almost compassionate by comparison.
I'm sure there are plenty of great GPs and nurses out there, but I wish they'd weed out the ones that have that kind of attitute towards mental health patients. If someone cannot find it in their heart to be compassionate they simply shouldn't be allowed to be in general practice. It's not that difficult to work out. Also, just because we pay for healthcare through our taxes rather than at dellivery it doesn't mean anyone has the right to make you feel that whatever help you're getting is a bonus.
Posted by Quintal on March 19, 2007, at 20:33:26
In reply to Re: Isn't the NHS great?, posted by Ines on March 19, 2007, at 17:25:30
Oh there are definitely some angels among the minions Ines. My first psychiatrist was a wise and gentle Bulgarian man who did everything he could to help me, no ego games or anything like that, and I respected him for it. He had some sort of 'breakdown' himself apparently and moved into semi-retirement and things went downhill from there. The last one I consider to be a borderline psychopath himself, and I said as much in my CBT notes, which unbeknown to me were passed back to him to review *cringe*. I think that played a pivotal role in his decision to discharge me.
Q
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