Posted by action on February 10, 2004, at 2:26:59
In reply to Re: Inexpensive Psychiatric Help? YES, posted by Bill LL on February 9, 2004, at 8:46:27
Hi Bill,
I really appreciate your informative helpful response. Since we both live in the DC area do you have an internist who may be able to help me out? Maybe you could e-mail the info to me at gdday2u@hotmail.com.
Thanks
> ACtion, I also live in the DC area. Psychiatrists are the only specialty in the area that do not accept Blue Cross / Blue Shield. There might be 1 or 2 pdocs who accept it, but I have never found one. They can therefore charge whatever they want. It's simply supply/demand economics. In contrast, all other specialties do accept insurance such as Blue Cross/ Blue Shield. Therefore an internist would generally cost $15 and the insurance company pays the rest. Even if you don't have health insurance, an internist wil be much less costly.
>
> I have a really good solution to your problem, go to an internist instead of a pdoc. In my experience, internists are not only just as knowledgable about psychiatric drugs as pdocs, but they are generaly even more knowledgable. That's because the average internist treats more depressed patients each year than the average pdoc. Depression is one of the top conditions treated by internists. Pdocs are better at psychotherapy.
>
> Remember that psychiatric drugs interact with non-psychiatric drugs and other medical conditions. An internist can therefore provide a more coordinated, or holistic treatment. Since they see more patients than pdocs, they also usually know more about the real side effects of antidepressants. I went to a pdoc 2 years a go who never heard that Paxil can cause weight gain. But he may have only had 1 or 2 patients on Paxil.
poster:action
thread:310836
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040204/msgs/311562.html