Depression: A Mind and Mood Matter
Part III
March 2, 2014
Make Your Doctor
Listen
Do
you ever feel like your doctor doesn’t listen?
We all know that physicians are extremely busy. Each of us have most likely had an experience
sitting in a crowded waiting room while a limited staff does all they can to
herd patients in and out like cattle.
The doctor rushes in when you are lucky enough to make it to the exam
room. He/She quickly flips through your
file and you are thinking, “they must be speed readers. How can they remember everything about me?” Maybe you are like me and you have seen the
same medical doctor for 29 years? However, my
trips to Psychiatrists could be likened to a roller coaster ride. I want to share some of those experiences and
stress the importance in this blog of insisting that your doctor listen to
every word you speak.
A
patient can’t go into a doctor’s office and say “I have a mass in my abdomen
and I think I am dying of cancer,” and expect the doctor not to run a battery
of tests and attempt to rule cancer out.
Right? We also can’t
self-diagnose. Many illnesses share the
same symptoms. This is so true for
mental illness. As I have said before,
Depression and Bipolar Disorder have such common or notable symptoms that it
would be easy for a medical professional to misdiagnose if they don’t have all
the information. According to Wikipedia,
there are 189 different types of mental disorders…of course they share many of
the same symptoms.
Before
taking control of my illness I bounced around to several Psychiatrists in
Calhoun, Etowah and Jefferson Counties.
I will not name any names on this blog, because I do not want to
disparage anyone, but let me share a very scary experience with a Psychiatrist
in Anniston. I was having a particularly
difficult time and had been making very impulsive decisions. One of those was to try a brand new doctor
without stopping the medication I was already on. It was a poor decision on my part and one
that I fortunately was able to “live” to regret, but it was a close call. Five minutes in the man’s chair and he pulled
out a prescription pad. As far as I know
he had not reviewed the current medication list on my new patient
paperwork. He prescribed Geodon, an
anti-psychotic drug for those who suffer from Bipolar Disorder. Once again, he didn’t pay attention to the
medications I was currently taking. It
was haphazard of him. I made the mistake
of not insisting that I stop other meds, or clarify that it would be okay to
mix them, but every time I tried to speak, he just cut me off or I felt he was
not really listening.
The
combination of Geodon, 1600mg of Lithium per day, Prozac, and Xanax was almost
lethal to my body. I literally had to
crawl to bed within 20 minutes after taking the drug. Certainly it takes a little time to adjust,
and I will address that a little later, but my side effects were
unbearable. I became very dizzy,
nauseated, and paranoid. Tremors and
hallucinations lasted throughout the night.
I went to work the next day and felt like a zombie. I repeated the process that night and had the
same outcome. I called my medical doctor
and never went back to see the Anniston quack again. Again, my side effects where not mild…they
were extremely intense. My family doctor
started treating me at age 13 and he was furious with me for randomly picking a
new Psychiatrist and not being strong enough to recognize the danger in that
situation.
Dr. Ingram
explained to me that a proper mental illness diagnosis comes after many
conversations, documentation of behavior, symptoms, etc. He did teach me that trial and error is
necessary with any anti-depressants and I accept this. Most of us have experienced the need to allow
new medications to work into our system. It truly takes about 2-3 weeks for your body
and chemical make-up to adjust when adding a new script. Those 2-3 weeks are crucial.
Patients
will face many different side effects because we are all made differently. You and I will never experience 100% of the
same outcome from our meds. We have to
be resolved to give ample time within reason.
Clearly, the anti-psychotic medication was not right for me in
combination with that much Lithium and other drugs. I have however had to learn to put up with a
few uncomfortable symptoms over the years when starting new meds. Prozac used to make me want to pick at my
clothes, bite my fingernails, even get down on the floor and just tear at the
carpet. The best way I can describe the
feeling is that I just couldn’t stand myself during that time. I hated being in my own skin.
The
Mayo Clinic released a study in 2008 stating that patients can have increased
thoughts of suicide during the first two weeks of starting new meds. I was talking with my friend Tracy
who is an R.N., and we came to this conclusion:
A
person is often so depressed they don’t have the mental capacity, willpower,
energy, or even fight in them to harm themselves. They can barely get out of bed at times. We
can be emotionally paralyzed to the point that it’s almost a physical
paralysis. So when that person starts a
new medication that is truly going to help improve their health, the middle
ground between rock bottom and “quality of life” can give the energy and drive
to execute a plan of suicide. Feeling
better isn’t always that much better when you are referencing being on rock
bottom with depression. A person who has
contemplated suicide has to improve quite a lot to remove that idea from their
daily thought process. Therefore many
professionals recommend and even insist that patients do not live alone while
trying new meds.
My
friend Lu Anne was encouraging me last week and telling me how proud she is
that I have kept my career going and been able to function in society so much
better than many people who suffer from Bipolar Disorder or other illnesses. I feel lucky and I feel blessed. God knows that my career and my friends keep
me going. I have been at that place many
times where I wanted to just give up and I didn’t believe that I could get out
of bed and go to work. Fortunately, I
have never had to give serious thought to disability. I am not saying that I never will, and
clearly have enough history documented that I could, but part of living for me
is working. It’s in my DNA. My mother is 70 years old and has already
retired from 35 years in a cotton mill and is now 11 years into her second
career. She recently suffered two heart
attacks and lives with a total of eleven stents. She continues to work. And so will I.
I
want to empower you with my words. I
want you to know that if you are fighting a mental illness the way I have and
still am, you can be in control and you should be. Your support team needs to read this blog and
understand that you have to be truthful at every visit to the doctor. You need to document every symptom and hold
nothing back. Medicine is evolving in
regards to mental illness just as it is with heart disease, high blood
pressure, cancer, etc. The more
information you give your medical professional the more accurately they can
treat you. Hold him/her
accountable. Keep a notebook or journal
and ask lots of questions. An improper
diagnosis can be extremely detrimental to the patient and the family.
Regarding
treatment, the other obstacle that I have struggled with is that your body
becomes immune to certain dosages of some medications after a time. Your doctor may even alter the dosage every
three months. Once you find a great
medical professional, stick with them.
Find the one you can trust who will take the time, maintain great
records, and can be easily reminded of past experiences or episodes you may
have suffered. You deserve every chance
to beat this monster. We all do!
I am
grateful to God for giving me the path to my recovery and for showing me the
way to share my experiences in order to hopefully change the stigma or
eliminate the shame and help others.
Please share this blog with those you love.
Love
to you all…
