Posted by whiterabbit on May 20, 2003, at 15:27:07
Yep I was all geared up for my first appointment with my fourth psychiatrist and they asked me to re-schedule because the doctor has to go to a funeral. Hope it wasn't a patient.
My first pdoc was a young woman assigned to me when I was comitted. After a couple of weeks they turned me loose from the nervous hospital with a fistful of prescriptions for psychiatric medication including some serious stuff like 500 mg Depakote and 200 mg Seroquel daily along with a month's worth of Xanax, which of course I finished within a few days. When I called for a follow-up appointment as an outpatient, a receptionist told me that my new doctor would be gone for six weeks because she had returned to Pakistan to get married - and then I guess a honeymoon, setting up house, etc. - but the gal on the phone said that I should have enough medication until then. Shocked, I said, "Who did she refer her patients to in her absence?" The receptionist told me to go to the hospital if I had an emergency.
My God! I had just been involuntarily committed as a suicide risk, I had just been started on a lot of heavy-duty medication that was making me feel confused, half-witted and ill, I had not been referred for therapy or any other out-patient treatment, there was no doctor covering for the psychiatrist in her absence, AND she hadn't even bothered to inform me that she was leaving the country for six weeks! What the
!?#*@^$!Although I was new to psychiatric treatment at the time, I knew this was not good patient care.
In fact, if one of the younger doctors at the orthopedic practice where I worked had pretty much abandoned one of their patients in this manner, the senior partners would have torn him a new rectum. (Whether this was inspired by concern for the patient's welfare or fear of a malpractice suit, I've seen it happen.)Regardless, I stuck it out with this woman for another 6 months, mostly because I was too depressed and sedated to do much else. Her blase, nonchalant attitude never changed much - she was always canceling appointments and looked bored to death whenever I did see her. Finally her careless manner penetrated my drugged stupor enough to really offend me. I dropped her and threw away all my pills.
Without going into detail, I'll tell you that this was not a viable option for me. I was desperately ill and I actually became psychotic.
(Of course I didn't know it then, but I know it now.) Psychiatrist number two (my gosh I just got a picture in my head of Thing One and Thing Two from the Dr. Suess book)was a kind but intense and nervous young man who couldn't sit still. He was always jiggling his leg or tapping a pen on the desktop, but at least he was listening to me. Thing One gave me the impression that if I stepped out of her office and dropped to the bottom of an elevator shaft right outside her door, she probably wouldn't bother to get up from her desk to see what the screaming was about.I was with Thing Two for nearly 2 years when he went right over the edge his own self. I called to make an appointment with him and the receptionist told me I couldn't because he was gone. I yelled, "Gone! What do you mean, gone! Where is he!" She said he came into the office with a cardboard box, cleaned out his desk and told her goodbye, she doesn't know where he went.
At least that's the story I got. He didn't refer his patients or anything, I guess he snapped. Although I practically became unhinged myself, I was in such a panic, really I wasn't totally surprised. The guy had been so high-strung that I sometimes left his office more concerned for him than I was for myself.Doctor Number Three was just a jerk. Although I don't question his competence, his "bedside manner" was really lousy - and sometimes downright rude. Another Pakastani, his accent was so pronounced that I often had trouble understanding him, and he would get terribly annoyed when I asked him to repeat himself. He'd
rap out these instructions like a drill sergeant
and tolerate no feed-back - "You are not to drink coffee. You are not to drink alcohol. You are addicted to alcohol and caffeine. You WILL attend the dual-diagnosis program at the hospital as I have instructed you to do. You WILL have your bloodwork completed this week. I will not see you again until you have followed my instructions..."Well, I need a good psychiatrist, but I don't need the attitude. Maybe Thing Four will be the
man...
-Gracie
poster:whiterabbit
thread:227917
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030517/msgs/227917.html