Posted by BrittPark on January 11, 2003, at 15:06:32
In reply to Re: New doc is not only benzophobic but stimuphobi, posted by utopizen on January 8, 2003, at 21:19:07
> > Ask them whether they treat ADHD, whether they every prescribe benzos, whether they ever prescribe stimulants and anything else that is important to you. Some doctors will take offense at being asked questions. Thank them politely and move on to the next. Some doctors will think that you're displaying "drug seeking behavior".
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> "Some doctors"? Um, probably all doctors, even the ones who are rather generous with the benzos. And even if you do get these doctors, they'll never trust you because you asked a question like this off the bat. Don't follow this advice.Perhaps you're right and I've just been lucky. Phone screening is how I found my fantastic psychiatrist, however.
I had been a graduate student and had my meds monitored by a psychiatrist on staff at student health services (He, btw, never thought twice about prescribing benzos, since I had told him that they had been helpful in acute phases of depression). I then went into the working world and gradually tapered off (a bad mistake) the imipramine I had been taking. About a year and a half after my drug discontinuation I had an acute depressive episode. I called my insurance company to be referred to a psychiatrist. He turned out to be a quasi-Jungian who would not prescribe benzos as a matter of principle. (I don't mean to put down Jungians; they are just not a good match for me.) At that point I realized that it was no use painfully going through the insurance company's list of psychiatrists. So my wife and I grabbed the yellow pages and started calling. The basic questions we asked were "do you take into consideration patients past medication experiences?" and "Are you flexible and agressive about medication as a treatment for depression?" As I stated in my original post, some doctors acted insulted, some were perfectly polite but didn't fit my bill, a few seemed positively pleased to be asked questions. Among the last group I found the doctor who was the best fit for me.Now, we never asked about specific medications so that may have been why we didn't get the "drug seeking behavior" reaction. So perhaps I should amend my recommendation to say that asking about specific medications is probably a bad idea.
Britt
poster:BrittPark
thread:134817
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030106/msgs/135355.html