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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Aphrodite on September 21, 2004, at 10:19:19
In a word -- yuck.
I thought it would be so great. She has a doctorate and a medical degree, so she *must* be smart. Ha. My appt. was for 45 minutes, but she was shoving me out the door in 20. She hardly asked me anything, so I started volunteering things I thought may be useful. That seemed to annoy her. Basically, I just have a "little" low-lying depression. No big deal. Nothing a little Effexor won't fix. I asked her if she would want to talk to my T, and she looked puzzled. She said she knew him, and I could tell him she said Hi. "Don't worry about the suicidal side effects," she informed me. "That happens to people who were already leaning that way, and you're clearly not." Ahem. She didn't ask, and I certainly do struggle a lot with suicidal ideation. I guess my facade must fool a lot of people. I really did try to be forthcoming -- she just didn't care.
I cried on the phone with my T last night for over an hour. "No one can help me, no one likes me, no one wants to help me, there's no hope, you're leaving me to go on vacation, whine, whine, whine." He gave me lots and lots of sympathy.
This can't go on forever, right? I'm going to get a break one of these days, right?
Posted by Aphrodite on September 21, 2004, at 10:20:38
In reply to My Pdoc Experience, posted by Aphrodite on September 21, 2004, at 10:19:19
BTW, I'm not taking the medication. I'm so loopy right now that I feel like I need a competent and caring person to monitor anything I might take.
Posted by vwoolf on September 21, 2004, at 11:15:32
In reply to Re: My Pdoc Experience, posted by Aphrodite on September 21, 2004, at 10:20:38
It sounds really bad, Aphrodite, I'm so sorry. Pdocs should take their patients seriously but unfortunately so often they don't, and behave as if they were gods - leaving us mere mortals to pick up the pieces. It can be very hurtful and have long-term consequences. Is there anyone else you can see? It sounds as if you do need medication but it doesn't seem as if this person can be trusted to give you the right thing, or monitor it adequately.
Posted by badhaircut on September 21, 2004, at 13:55:55
In reply to My Pdoc Experience, posted by Aphrodite on September 21, 2004, at 10:19:19
Except that yours was a woman, I would swear you went to MY last pdoc! Half way through our first meeting, he told his supervisor that I didn't have hallucinations. I said, "Did you ask me that?" He said it would've been in the letter from my referring physician! AS IF!
(Thankfully, I don't, but still.)
Posted by Poet on September 21, 2004, at 16:18:49
In reply to My Pdoc Experience, posted by Aphrodite on September 21, 2004, at 10:19:19
Hi Aphrodite,
You deserve a break and I hope you get one soon.
I can't believe the pdoc didn't ask you a bunch of questions and seemed to just ignore suidical ideation. I see mine for medication management (Effexor XR) and he goes through the same questions each visit, including suicide.
Sorry your pdoc was such a seemingly waste of time. I'm glad your T was there for you.
Poet
Posted by Dinah on September 21, 2004, at 22:17:00
In reply to My Pdoc Experience, posted by Aphrodite on September 21, 2004, at 10:19:19
Aw well, the old kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince applies in doctors of all sorts too.
And sometimes the ones with the most shiny degrees aren't the ones that are the best for us.
Keep trying. There are good pdocs out there. This obviously wasn't the right one for you. Generally an initial interview for a psychiatrist who is prescribing for you runs 90 minutes in my experience, and they take every minute. Then they do those brief (about 5 minutes for my doc) med checks every few months once they're happy with your meds. But even my super-speedy pdoc had a long initial session.
You'll know when one feels right. Look at how well you did figuring out that one felt wrong!! I went to the pdoc from h*ll for several years before figuring that out.
Posted by saw on September 22, 2004, at 1:33:30
In reply to Re: My Pdoc Experience » Aphrodite, posted by Dinah on September 21, 2004, at 22:17:00
I have only seen my pdoc twice. The first appointment was far more triggering for me than therapy. I think her being a women made a difference. I have seen a bunch of non-caring, impersonal male pdocs. (I really do not mean to knock men in any way!).
The one thing that I was grateful for, is that she said to me on the first appointment that she needs to find out as much about me as possible in the short time available to us in order to correctly dx and prescribe meds. She told me quite clearly that she does not offer therapy or counselling and that she does not have the time to do so. She told me this with a great deal of empathy and I appreciated her directness and honesty. Her questions made me crumble on that first appointment and I left her office emotional but relieved that someone understood and explained that it was ok to be feeling the way I was.
I do feel very grateful for having her recommended to me as we have very few qualified pdocs in my area.
Your pdoc sounds very insensitive and obviously rushed. And it is harrowing for us when we need empathy and understanding. I really do hope that you will find the pdoc that is right for you. I am sure you will.
Wishing you much strength
Regards
Sabrina
Posted by Racer on September 24, 2004, at 13:36:11
In reply to Re: My Pdoc Experience, posted by Aphrodite on September 21, 2004, at 10:20:38
> BTW, I'm not taking the medication. I'm so loopy right now that I feel like I need a competent and caring person to monitor anything I might take.
>
>That's not "loopy", that's just a healthy attitude!
Did you hear that? That pdoc was wrong. That is neither humane nor respectful. That is not adequate medical care. That is not professionally responsible. She was not a good doctor.
So what does this mean about you? It means that, despite the message she sent you, you're healthy enough and have high enough self esteem to recognize that you *deserve* better treatment than she was capable of offering you.
What to do now? Fire her. You do deserve better, and there are better out there.
If it helps you, you can also feel some compassion for her, that she's gone through all that schooling and still hasn't become competent enough to perform in the real world. It's so sad, isn't it? Or you could keep in the back of your mind that a lot of the psychiatrists in this world are those folks who were at the bottom of their class in med school, and just didn't have enough on the ball to work out everything they'd need to be neurologists or podiatrists (all those bones?) or even PCPs. Or you could even tell yourself that she's expressing her own fears and insecurities about her own abilities by prescribing meds for others whom she can look upon as weaker or less capable then she. Or you can just say she wasn't a good fit for you.
At any rate, you are in no way the problem in that experience, my dear. You just caught a bad'un. I'm sorry it happened to you, but it's good that you recognized it in time to get out before it did any more damage to you.
Best luck.
Posted by Aphrodite on September 24, 2004, at 15:42:11
In reply to Listen carefully » Aphrodite, posted by Racer on September 24, 2004, at 13:36:11
Thank you so much for the validation. She was really, really wrong for me. I need someone who can guide me through this because I am not at all educated about psych medicines. I'll have to put a lot of trust into this person.
I have an appt. Mon. with another pdoc. He too is a shot in the dark. We shall see . . .
Thanks again for your support.
This is the end of the thread.
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