Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 36192

Shown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.

 

Any med drs out there dealing with Gad/depression?

Posted by marc on June 5, 2000, at 19:49:30

Are there any medical doctors out there willing to share
their experience with a 36 year old pre-med student? I
lost my dad last year and now I'm struggling to maintain.
I'm not performing as well as I would like. Any words
of encouragement would be helpfull.

 

Re: Any med drs out there dealing with Gad/depression? » marc

Posted by leslye on June 7, 2000, at 11:09:02

In reply to Any med drs out there dealing with Gad/depression?, posted by marc on June 5, 2000, at 19:49:30

Marc - I'm a doc, and went to medschool age 31 after having another career in my 20s, was a single mom, and I've fought with episodes of major depression and life long anxiety. Was lucky that I only had one episode of depression in med school - but I have to tell you there are an amazing percentage of med students who have mental health issues - this is a normal part of life!!!One thing that became clear to me and my older med student friends was that many of us had ADD(of my group of 7 close friends, 3 have been formally diagnosed with add, one with bipolar disorder, and the other 3 HAVE add, they just live with it!) I was not dagnosed until 2 years into residency - and once I got on the right med (serzone for anxiety and ritalin for my hyeractive impulsive side) my life has really spun into focus. I'm a pdoc specializing in treating adults with add and geriatric pts, and am starting up my own private practice. My older friends have all done well (one was a beautician before she went back to college in her 30s) and now is a family doc in good private practice - another older friend who was 41 on graduating iis in the marine corp. We have all had to deal with family issues, deaths, marraiges, and the stress of the incredible demands of med school - what pulled us through?
1 - connections - mutual support was incredibly important. It's hard to reach out when you are down, but well worth the effort
2 - therapy - I (and many of my friends) had a supportive therapist who had the ability to look at my life from a more reasonable (ie non-depressed)point of view and help me pull myself together.
3 - med - when the tough stop sleeping, the tired take their meds! Since I had to deal not only with med school, but 2 kids (and then a new husband, and then a 3rd child!!!) I was very sensitive to levels of impairment - lack of sleep is the most harmful thing for me - and it is usually directly tied to my anxiety levels. Prior to med school I had done well on low dose pamelor, but the SE (mostly monster constipation) were troublesome - serzone plus ritalin is the best for me ...Get recs from someone else who has seen a doc - it's hard to find a good pdoc just from the yellow pages...
4 - exercise your butt off! - I mowed my lawn with a fly wheel mower, walked miles, and played games with my kids. Med school never left me with time for a formal exercise program, but I am a naturally active person, and I just make good use of things I have to do anyway - recently, life has gotten a bit too sedentary, so we got a dog - he's my new exercise program!!!
5 - again, regular sleep -this is key - you cannot maintain emotional equilibrium or absorb all the stuff you are learning unless your sleep is sufficient - if this is disturbed, it is a sign to seek professional help if the exercise/support thing doesn't help
6 - watch your diet! you deserve good food - if you can buy it out of a vending machine, it probably isn't helping you! Less sugar usually means more even moods, and less sleepiness after meals.
Marc, I know I've written alot, but I want to let you know that there are many professionals out there who have stuggled with these issues, and gotten through - and used the experiences to be better docs!!! Good Luck - leslye

 

Re: Any med drs out there dealing with Gad/depression?

Posted by JohnL on June 8, 2000, at 17:18:48

In reply to Any med drs out there dealing with Gad/depression?, posted by marc on June 5, 2000, at 19:49:30

Marc,
I'm sure no med doc. But the School of Hard Knocks has taught me a few things over the years.

I think one idea is to spend some time with a counselor for just a few weeks. A good one can work miracles in helping to put the grief in perspective and get a handle on things. Good ones have amazing strategies to overcome life's hurdles and emerge with new vigor. I've had a couple counselors over the years, and one in particular was just amazing. Angels in disguise.

If the cause of your GAD/depression is biological in nature though, time spent with a counselor could very well prove frustrating. In those situations, counseling helps but usually only after medication is working. If your symptoms are biological in nature, it would make every negative life event seem even more drastic than in reality. Perspective is distorted. So at this point I think it might be worthwhile to try to identify whether your symptoms are purely life-event related--which should respond to counseling; or biological--which would not respond well to counseling, but rather medication; or both.

And for a change of subject...since you are in pre-med, I would like to make a suggestion of reading a book (manual actually) called The Successful Treatment of Brain Chemical Imbalance by Dr Martin Jensen. It's about $30 and can be read in an evening or two. The reason I suggest this is because the book clearly identifies which chemical imbalances are responsible for which symptoms, and which drug protocals have the highest percentage chance of working, and stuff like that. It isn't one man's overnight idea, but rather an accumulation of years of evidence provided by hundreds of patients. It has information you will not find in med school. They won't teach you this stuff. But they should. I am familiar with what they teach in school. And I'm familiar with this book, as well as an array of other psychiatric books. I truly believe you would be a huge step ahead of your peers by understanding not only what they teach in school, but also what's in this book. They are complimentary, not contradictory. For the sake of an enhanced career and the ability to cure patients that other doctor's can't, I think you should include this book in your library.

We need more thoroughly good doctors. I hope you feel better soon. I do wish you a smooth day.
JohnL


This is the end of the thread.


Show another thread

URL of post in thread:


Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ


[dr. bob] Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD, bob@dr-bob.org

Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.