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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by chiron on April 3, 2002, at 15:50:34
Because I don't have insurance, and Psychiatrists are about $200, I would rather go to a family physician (where I have picked up prozac in the past.) But I have been miserable my whole life, and want someone who's knowledge goes beyond the normal SSRIs to get out of this ongoing rut. I'm thinking I want to try a stimulant, or at least in a combo. And then, would they even have some free samples for me?
Posted by fachad on April 3, 2002, at 16:55:54
In reply to No insurance- are regular docs good enough?, posted by chiron on April 3, 2002, at 15:50:34
A regular M.D. will probably be less familiar and less comfortable with med combos. Also, a regular doctor will likely be MUCH less willing let you try a stimulant.
Are you in the U.S.? If so, you may qualify for government assisted behavioral health care, which would include both pdoc visits and meds. Look in the "blue pages" of you phone book for "Department of Health Services" or "Behavioral Health Services".
To answer your last question, a regular M.D. would probably have free samples of the more popular, new, "in-patient" meds like Paxil, Remeron, Zoloft, etc. but not of older drugs that are available as generics.
> Because I don't have insurance, and Psychiatrists are about $200, I would rather go to a family physician (where I have picked up prozac in the past.) But I have been miserable my whole life, and want someone who's knowledge goes beyond the normal SSRIs to get out of this ongoing rut. I'm thinking I want to try a stimulant, or at least in a combo. And then, would they even have some free samples for me?
Posted by OldSchool on April 3, 2002, at 23:31:19
In reply to No insurance- are regular docs good enough?, posted by chiron on April 3, 2002, at 15:50:34
> Because I don't have insurance, and Psychiatrists are about $200, I would rather go to a family physician (where I have picked up prozac in the past.) But I have been miserable my whole life, and want someone who's knowledge goes beyond the normal SSRIs to get out of this ongoing rut. I'm thinking I want to try a stimulant, or at least in a combo. And then, would they even have some free samples for me?
If I had to do it all over again, I wish I had used my family doctor in the beginning of my depression. Because then my treatment would have been kept simpler. Simple is good. One of the major problems with psychiatrists is that they tend to overanalyze, overreact and overmedicate. And thats BAD when diagnosis is so subjective as it is in psychiatry and when there are absolutely no medical tests used.
I guess Pdocs tend to compensate for the lack of real medical tests (brain scans, blood tests, etc) by overanalyzing. They tend to analyze EVERYTHING.
Anyway, there are real advantages to using a family doctor or internal medicine doc to manage depression or anxiety probs. One is you probably wont get overanalyzed...you wont get the psychoanalyzing crap with real doctors. Also, real doctors tend to not overreact as bad as Pdocs. Finally, regular docs will not like to do polypharmacy as much which means your treatment will be kept simpler, which you may not believe it or not is oftentimes a good thing.
So the answer is yes, family docs are just as good as psychiatrists for treatment of depression and anxiety. In many cases superior, because you dont have to deal with the psychology crappola as much. Its just treated as another medical problem.
Old School
Posted by Janelle on April 4, 2002, at 0:57:02
In reply to Re: No insurance- are regular docs good enough? » chiron, posted by fachad on April 3, 2002, at 16:55:54
This is the end of the thread.
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