Posted by Racer on March 12, 2004, at 17:35:28
In reply to Adjustment disorder? Something else?, posted by Civ on March 12, 2004, at 12:00:42
Lots of thoughts, no guarantee any of them useful...
First of all, I've had a number of doctors tell me some symptom or another was "all in my head" over the years. They've always been wrong. Doesn't that sound nuts? It's true, though, in an empirically observable way. For example, a bladder infection that the doctor told me wasn't bad enough to be causing me discomfort. She did apologize to me when I got out of the hospital after ending up in the emergency room with a kidney infection that had started moving into kidney failure. Sometimes, I think doctors dismiss certain symptoms as psychosomatic, just because they'd have to challenge themselves a little more to trace out the actual cause. It's unfortunate, and it can cause a small problem to become a large problem before it's actually addressed.
Back to the other side of the fence for a second, and let me suggest that anti-depressant medication may not be a mask for physical symptoms, but be a way of allowing a patient who is in unrelieved discomfort to get a chance to take a deep breath. It may not fix the underlying problem, but it may give you a little relief that will allow you to act as you need to to get your needs met. So, it may not be a bad thing.
And congratulations on having a pdoc who's really listening! I envy you that more than you can know. Hold on to the comfort that should give you.
(My pdoc didn't even listen when I told him that I thought the meds were making me sick to my stomach. Told me it couldn't be the drugs, must be something else, scared the bejeesus out of me, and when I stopped the meds, the pain started to resolve itself. Go figure! Be thankful that your pdoc is paying attention and offering basic respect to you.)
Good luck!
poster:Racer
thread:323609
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040308/msgs/323702.html