![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Civ on March 12, 2004, at 12:00:42
I had major surgery in May 2003 and since that time I've been a dramatically different person. In the last 10 months, I have experienced at one time or another: an inability to concentrate, generalized anxiety, BDD, major depression. I've also had a number of physical complaints like fatigue, body aches, digestion problems, cold hands and feet, et al. I don't really know what's going on. Is it physical? All in my head? I had a lot of basic blood testing done and everything is fine except for the fact that I have an iron deficiency and *possibly* low testosterone levels (there seems to be some suspicion that the assay done was misrepresentative). Every medical doctor that I talk to just wants to give me a prescription for a SSRI. Only my pdoc, who I've been seeing since August, thinks there could be a physical component to all my troubles. I was wondering if this could be adjustment disorder; however, according to the DSM, my symptoms should have resolved within 6 months.
Any thoughts?
Posted by ryan312 on March 12, 2004, at 15:52:05
In reply to Adjustment disorder? Something else?, posted by Civ on March 12, 2004, at 12:00:42
Were there any complications to the surgery? How did you handle it emotionally at the time? Both before and after?
Could this possibly be PTSD? Is there anything in your past..even back into childhood..that the trauma of the surgery might have triggered?
Also, the possibility of Chronic Fatigue/Fibro. comes into play. Although some MD's would choo choo that as a theory as I know it gets a bad rap among certain components of the MD community.
It could be an adjustment disorder and depression. Or, something above? All food for thought :)
take good care and I am sorry you are having to deal with this. I can only imagine that not knowing precisely what is causing it is especially hard.
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!
Posted by Civ on March 12, 2004, at 20:19:02
In reply to Re: Adjustment disorder? Something else?, posted by ryan312 on March 12, 2004, at 15:52:05
> Were there any complications to the surgery? How did you handle it emotionally at the time? Both before and after?
There were LOTS of complications: thrush due to all the antibiotics I was on, inability to urinate without a catheter for 1 week, not being able to open my eyes for the same amout of time because I was so drugged up with pain meds. It was not an easy time. I felt a lot of emotions: helplessness, fear, etc.
> Could this possibly be PTSD? Is there anything in your past..even back into childhood..that the trauma of the surgery might have triggered?
I don't think it is PTSD because I never relive any of the memories. I think there is some emotional trauma involved but not full blown PTSD.
> Also, the possibility of Chronic Fatigue/Fibro. comes into play. Although some MD's would choo choo that as a theory as I know it gets a bad rap among certain components of the MD community.
This is very true. I was also thinking autoimmune disease. Any kind of stressor can cause a dormant autoimmune disease to manifest itself. This may have happened to me.
> It could be an adjustment disorder and depression. Or, something above? All food for thought :)
> take good care and I am sorry you are having to deal with this. I can only imagine that not knowing precisely what is causing it is especially hard.Thanks. Yes, it is hard, especially for somebody with my personality. I've always craved certainty and this uncertainty really bothers me.
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Psychology | Extras | FAQ
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.