communication with psych

28-09-2008, 11:09 PM

so i've been having alot of psych problems lately. well i actually have for a long time, but no one really paid attention except my parents, and i refused to open up to them. but now i have a boyfriend, and he's trying to help me out. the thing is, i've been on meds for a year and a half, and they have not worked, i've also been in counseling for that time, and it has done little. things seem to even have been worse on my meds. i want to go off of them safely, but my mom and boyfriend are a little skeptical, understandably.

anyway, my boyfriend is trying to figure out what we can do. obviously whatever they are doing is not working. he says i don't really talk to my psych (he's gone with me), which is true. i kinda just want to get the hell out of there if you know what i mean. so i don't know how to get them to help me.

he really does not understand the mental health system very well. so he doesn't know what to do. does anyone have any ideas about communicating with your doctor? i forget everything i'm gonna say when i get in there. if i bring a piece of paper to remember, i rush thru it as fast as possible.

i just don't know what to do anymore. the only reason i'm wanting to go off the meds, is cause i feel they are actually making me worse. it would be easier just to stay on them, but i don't feel i can ever make it through school and such if this goes on. it's like my last resort. and i'm afraid the doctor is just going to give me a hard time and try to use another bipolar med, when none of the bipolar meds have worked. and several doctors have said i probably wasn't bipolar. ugh. i don't know what to do. i wish they would give me more than 10 minutes when i go in there and not just diagnose me off a 45 minute interview, not even taking into account what other doctors/counselors have said. medicine isn't always the answer, and every person isn't always bipolar (it seems that's the diagnosis for EVERYONE here) and they won't try different schemes of meds. they just keep trying to replace them.

Aidee · 28-09-2008, 11:45 PM

Well, if you don't feel like the meds are working I think you should tell that to your psych and see if maybe there is a different med that will work for you rather than going off them completely. It's also important to make sure you stop meds properly, as they can have a lot of side effects if you go off them the wrong way.

I know it can be frustrating when you've been on several different meds and none of them seem to have worked, but some times it can take a while to find the right one, or the right combination.

As for being able to talk to your psych it's important that you have a doctor you feel comfortable with. I've found that once you start to open up to someone it gets easier to talk to them.

Writing everything down is a good idea. Maybe when you get to your doctors you could hand him the paper and he could ask you about what you've written and that way you can't rush through it.