I moved to this city a little over 3 years ago and felt I had hit the jackpot with doctors on the first try. (My husband wasn't so lucky with his pick, but that's another story.)
My primary care doctor was fantastic, professional, the works. Happy Cookie.
I found a psychiatrist that helped me out and I think I was in such a low place with my depression at the time, I wouldn't have been surprised if she sprouted angel wings. She only ever prescribed me one thing and that's technically a sleep aid because I have crazy insomnia, too. It just happens to have anti-depressant "side effects" that I believe have proved helpful. (That and getting actual sleep.)
Fast forward to now. My primary care doctor has gotten really popular and apparently never learned when to stop taking new patients. If you get sick, you will end up seeing someone else in the practice because she won't be available. If you try to make an appointment, you have to wait...6 months. Yes, 6 months for a doctor's appointment.
The psychiatrist I was going to is an integrative medicine doctor just like my primary physician. I like that they're open to natural remedies but at the same time will prescribe meds where they're truly needed. (Please no fratching on this. That's just the balance I've found for myself.) More and more, she's been trying to get me to buy weirder and weirder remedies from her and it feels we spend more and more time in the limited time sessions I'm paying out of pocket for with her just trying to sell me stuff.
Also, it seems she doesn't respect our appointment times any more. I see her once a month and we always make an appointment for the next session while I'm there, so there's a month's advance notice. So why is she calling me a few days in advance of appointments AFTER work has made the schedule around said appointment to try to get me to do it on another day because there's an event she forgot about that she wants to go to? This keeps happening and it happened again this time. I'm fed up with it.
This was the last straw. I'm getting off my butt and going doctor shopping. Here's the plan:
1. Find a primary care physician. I'm starting with a practice that has a lot of really good reviews online and from what I've seen, people often don't bother reviewing doctors unless they had a bad experience. Initial appointment has been made.
2. I'm hoping this doc can prescribe my sleep aid since it's not technically a mental health medicine.
3. The next step is hopefully one of the psychologists in the practice will be a good fit for me. If I can get my meds from my primary care doc, I think I can make more progress with someone who's more of a therapist.
Wish me luck. I'm nervous.
My primary care doctor was fantastic, professional, the works. Happy Cookie.
I found a psychiatrist that helped me out and I think I was in such a low place with my depression at the time, I wouldn't have been surprised if she sprouted angel wings. She only ever prescribed me one thing and that's technically a sleep aid because I have crazy insomnia, too. It just happens to have anti-depressant "side effects" that I believe have proved helpful. (That and getting actual sleep.)
Fast forward to now. My primary care doctor has gotten really popular and apparently never learned when to stop taking new patients. If you get sick, you will end up seeing someone else in the practice because she won't be available. If you try to make an appointment, you have to wait...6 months. Yes, 6 months for a doctor's appointment.
The psychiatrist I was going to is an integrative medicine doctor just like my primary physician. I like that they're open to natural remedies but at the same time will prescribe meds where they're truly needed. (Please no fratching on this. That's just the balance I've found for myself.) More and more, she's been trying to get me to buy weirder and weirder remedies from her and it feels we spend more and more time in the limited time sessions I'm paying out of pocket for with her just trying to sell me stuff.
Also, it seems she doesn't respect our appointment times any more. I see her once a month and we always make an appointment for the next session while I'm there, so there's a month's advance notice. So why is she calling me a few days in advance of appointments AFTER work has made the schedule around said appointment to try to get me to do it on another day because there's an event she forgot about that she wants to go to? This keeps happening and it happened again this time. I'm fed up with it.
This was the last straw. I'm getting off my butt and going doctor shopping. Here's the plan:
1. Find a primary care physician. I'm starting with a practice that has a lot of really good reviews online and from what I've seen, people often don't bother reviewing doctors unless they had a bad experience. Initial appointment has been made.
2. I'm hoping this doc can prescribe my sleep aid since it's not technically a mental health medicine.
3. The next step is hopefully one of the psychologists in the practice will be a good fit for me. If I can get my meds from my primary care doc, I think I can make more progress with someone who's more of a therapist.
Wish me luck. I'm nervous.
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