Posted by fallsfall on July 22, 2003, at 11:32:35
In reply to Re: A little scared » fallsfall, posted by Dinah on July 22, 2003, at 10:05:14
Thanks, Dinah,
I did see my old therapist after I told her I was leaving (but before I left), and you are right, she looked at least as uncomfortable as I felt. My issue is that she never called me after I cancelled all my appointments. I don't want much, but "Good Luck, I hope it goes well for you" would mean an awful lot to me. So, in a sense, I DO want to see her (but only if she's going to say something like that). My appointment is at 2:10. She picks her patients up on the hour (very reliably). So if I don't get there until 2:05 I should miss her. I think postponing seeing her is the right strategy for today.
I like your science experiment idea, though. That might distract me enough to let me survive.
My new therapist put a lot of qualifiers around his med statement. "I don't know what would happen if...", "Sometimes meds can make you tired...", "I had a patient who lowered a dose and felt a lot better...", "I'm certainly not going to tell you to stop taking your meds...". But also "I really don't think that your depression is caused by brain chemicals" (to which I said "If it was it would have gone away after 6 months"). My sense is that he is a minimalist on meds, and I really do take a lot (4 that do something, 4 to counteract side effects, 3 PRN (2 for side effects), plus OmegaBrite).
I've been on meds for 8 1/2 years. Lithium for 8, the others for less than 9 months. In general, I think that they have helped. Recently, though, the stress from my old therapist was so bad that nothing helped. Since I left her (1 month) my stress levels have gone down a LOT. So, it is possible (but maybe not likely) that I don't need them anymore.
I'm such a goody two shoes that I wouldn't stop taking meds unless my pdoc put it in writing. (But I did forget them 3 times last week "Maybe you were trying to show me (therapist) that you still need them...").
I really do like living with less stress.
Thanks for your support!
poster:fallsfall
thread:244162
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030719/msgs/244241.html