Posted by Zana on May 6, 2009, at 21:14:43
In reply to Re: Anyone seen an expert for consultation?pls. advise, posted by Frustratedmama on May 6, 2009, at 20:43:20
I saw a psychopharmocologist for a consult. He did a psychiatric residency and then an addition 3 yrs doing just psychopharm in a hospital clinic. He came highly recommended by someone who also did a psychpharm residency and was in training at the same hospital at the same time I was doing my post-doctoral training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Th4e point being, I knew he had spent extra time doing just psychopharm training, I knew it was in a very good place (Mass General in Boston) and I knew and trusted the source of the referral. I haven't yet received the bill.
It was not helpful. He diagnosed me correctly as having a severe major depression. He did a decent history and remarked that I had suffered from depression over the course of my life. He noted that there was some suggestion of Bipolar 2 in my family and that ADs had not been particularly helpful to me.
He then went on to recommend exactly what my regular psychpharm doc had recommended. (She is the head of the psychopharm clinic at one of the other big hospitals.)
I got dumped by my regular doc whom I had been seeing for 15 years and went to a man who is a psychoanalyst and also does psychopharm but has no advanced training in it but is someone that my analyst uses and trusts. He put me on pristiq and restarted provigil and I have felt like myself for the first time in about 2 years.
The point. I don't know. I think advanced training is a good thing to have and my first impulse was to go to the expert's expert. The end of the story, however, proved me wrong.
Go with your gut. Whoever you see should be someone who knows meds and you probably know enough about meds to suss that out from a meeting. But go to someone who is more than a wonk.
I don't know if this is helpful. I hope you find someone good. It should be someone you trust your life to because that's what it amounts to.Zana
poster:Zana
thread:894496
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090505/msgs/894581.html