Posted by Tomatheus on January 30, 2015, at 12:06:02
In reply to Is your psychiatrist a huge help?, posted by fido on January 29, 2015, at 19:04:25
Fido,
My current psychiatrist sounds a lot like your psychiatrist: he asks few questions, keeps me in his office for no longer than 10 minutes, and doesn't seem interested in prescribing much other than first-line treatments for depression and psychosis. Lately, his suggestions have been along the lines of trying medications that I've tried before, while hoping for better results a second time around. I stick with him because he's willing to prescribe Abilify at the dose that seems to suit me best, so although I would say that my psychiatrist does his job, I wouldn't describe him as being a "huge help."
Right now, what seems to be helping my depressive symptoms is vitamin D3, which I'm taking because my vitamin D level came back low after a doctor at an orthomolecular treatment center ordered a blood test. The Abilify that my psychiatrist prescribes does seem to help with my psychotic symptoms better than other treatments that I've tried, so I wouldn't say that my psychiatrist isn't of any help, but in my case, medications, psychotherapy, and all of the other depression management strategies that others seem to benefit from were of no help as far as my depressive symptoms were concerned. As of right now, only vitamin D3 seems to help with my energy and concentration on a long-term basis.
I'm not a psychiatrist or any kind of mental health profession, but I fail to see why anybody with a treatment-resistant depressive disorder deserves anything less than to have the opportunity to try second and third-line treatments that might potentially provide the antidepressant relief that is needed. Just because a medication is old doesn't mean that it isn't still useful, at least in my opinion. In your case, it might make sense to specifically bring up any medications that you might be interested in taking, considering that you said that what your psychiatrist suggests isn't usually what you're looking to take. With some doctors, I think we need to ask as many questions as possible (which I know can be hard to do when we're really symptomatic) to find out the reasoning behind their treatment decisions and to get their thoughts on medications that they might not think to suggest.
At any rate, I don't expect that anything that I write here will change the fact that your psychiatrist doesn't seem to meet your expectations, but if the treatments that your psychiatrist is prescribing you don't seem to be helping you, it might be a good idea to try communicating with your psychiatrist differently and to specifically bring up any medications that you might be interested in taking. If you're still dissatisfied with your psychiatrist's prescribing decisions, then the option to seek a second opinion is always there.
Tomatheus
Has long-standing difficulties with energy and concentration, as well as psychotic and cognitive symptoms
Taking Abilify & supplements including vitamins B3 & D3
poster:Tomatheus
thread:1075744
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20150129/msgs/1075787.html