yesnomaybe
Active member
I hope that my experience is able to help you out some, rodinski. It's not coincidental that you can relate to my thoughts on the subject. Just about everything that you're saying matches my experience.
i first went to my general practitioner with my problem. big mistake. she thought that i was just going through a depression, so she prescribed an SSRI. well, the SSRI didn't help any. matter of fact, it made things worse. turns out that i'm diagnosed as bipolar 2, and when you're bipolar 2, starting off with SSRIs can actually make things worse, which they did.
so i went to a pro - a real, full blown psychiatrist. i found me the oldest guy in town. my guess is he's in his late seventies or early eighties. sometimes i fear that he's going to fall over when he walks around in his office. i get the urge to walk behind him so i can catch him. but let me tell you, his mind is SHARP! the older they are, the more experience they have, is the way I see it. and experience is gold.
so anyway, the doc diagnosed me and put me on an anti-convulsant that is known to stabilize people with bipolar disorder (lamotrigen, brand name known as lamictal). so that was the plan, first get the symptoms stabilized, then get as close to a cure as possible.
around the same time, he also put me on buproprion (brand name wellbutrin), which is an anti-depressant, but not an SSRI, which give me intolerable side effects.
between those two meds, after about a year of tweaking them, we finally found the sweet spot. the entire nightmare, however, lasted well over two years.
interestingly, buproprion is not supposed to help with obsession disorders. however, it works wonders on me. if i miss a dose of it, my mind goes right back to dysfunctional.
even though it took a year working with the pysch doc to get the desired result, i was able to gradually notice minor improvements throughout that entire time. it took a lot of patience though; the experience was a roller coaster ride.
so, long story short, get yourself a good psychiatrist. not a psychologist or counselor, who can't prescribe meds. the big guns are needed in this situation. next, have him/her give you a diagnosis and an action plan, and take it from there.
baby steps. nothing will happen all at once. keep a journal the entire time. make note of the slightest changes in your physiology. do your own research. the doctor is not a god. they make mistakes too. (i actually had it out with mine one time, over his diagnosis. a full blown argument. i really upset him and he started firing back. he said to me: "listen, i've been doing this since before they had meds! people would sit on that couch there <he pointed> and do my therapy exercises, and eventually they got better!" and so on and so forth.
even though i was upset at the time, looking back, my argument with him was a hoot. it has to be rare when a patient causes the *psychiatrist* to lose his cool. i'm quite proud of that. anyway, the next time that I saw him i apologized for my behavior and he, being a class act, dismissed the entire thing.
in the meantime, i highly recommend that you seriously consider the suggestions that i made in the first thread. the advice that i give helped me out tremendously.
i hope that my experience with the doc and meds gives you an idea of what you can expect. people have been exactly where you are right now and made it out just fine. soon enough you'll fall in that category as well.
i first went to my general practitioner with my problem. big mistake. she thought that i was just going through a depression, so she prescribed an SSRI. well, the SSRI didn't help any. matter of fact, it made things worse. turns out that i'm diagnosed as bipolar 2, and when you're bipolar 2, starting off with SSRIs can actually make things worse, which they did.
so i went to a pro - a real, full blown psychiatrist. i found me the oldest guy in town. my guess is he's in his late seventies or early eighties. sometimes i fear that he's going to fall over when he walks around in his office. i get the urge to walk behind him so i can catch him. but let me tell you, his mind is SHARP! the older they are, the more experience they have, is the way I see it. and experience is gold.
so anyway, the doc diagnosed me and put me on an anti-convulsant that is known to stabilize people with bipolar disorder (lamotrigen, brand name known as lamictal). so that was the plan, first get the symptoms stabilized, then get as close to a cure as possible.
around the same time, he also put me on buproprion (brand name wellbutrin), which is an anti-depressant, but not an SSRI, which give me intolerable side effects.
between those two meds, after about a year of tweaking them, we finally found the sweet spot. the entire nightmare, however, lasted well over two years.
interestingly, buproprion is not supposed to help with obsession disorders. however, it works wonders on me. if i miss a dose of it, my mind goes right back to dysfunctional.
even though it took a year working with the pysch doc to get the desired result, i was able to gradually notice minor improvements throughout that entire time. it took a lot of patience though; the experience was a roller coaster ride.
so, long story short, get yourself a good psychiatrist. not a psychologist or counselor, who can't prescribe meds. the big guns are needed in this situation. next, have him/her give you a diagnosis and an action plan, and take it from there.
baby steps. nothing will happen all at once. keep a journal the entire time. make note of the slightest changes in your physiology. do your own research. the doctor is not a god. they make mistakes too. (i actually had it out with mine one time, over his diagnosis. a full blown argument. i really upset him and he started firing back. he said to me: "listen, i've been doing this since before they had meds! people would sit on that couch there <he pointed> and do my therapy exercises, and eventually they got better!" and so on and so forth.
even though i was upset at the time, looking back, my argument with him was a hoot. it has to be rare when a patient causes the *psychiatrist* to lose his cool. i'm quite proud of that. anyway, the next time that I saw him i apologized for my behavior and he, being a class act, dismissed the entire thing.
in the meantime, i highly recommend that you seriously consider the suggestions that i made in the first thread. the advice that i give helped me out tremendously.
i hope that my experience with the doc and meds gives you an idea of what you can expect. people have been exactly where you are right now and made it out just fine. soon enough you'll fall in that category as well.
