3.13.2008

Here I am!

I've been procrastinating in posting my next blog. For no other reason than general laziness, I suppose. Although my husband has been out of town on business for a week so I've been spending a lot of time at my parents' house...another reason I haven't posted in a while. Anyhow, I apologize and am now here to fill you in on the last few days in my life.

So, I saw my psychiatrist on Monday and I swear to God I wanted to slap him! I went in and sat down (after he accidentally skipped me and saw the person who was scheduled to see him after me) and explained that I wanted to change my meds from Zoloft to something else because since I've been on Zoloft (about a month and a half) I've gained about 15 lbs. Now, previously I had told him that the reason I had to get off Effexor (before I started seeing him) was because it had made me gain so much weight. I couldn't stop eating. It made me hungry all the time to the point where if I felt hungry and didn't eat I would feel faint. So back to Monday. I tell him I need to switch meds and you know what he says to me?

"Oh...I guess if I had remembered about your issues with weight gain and it had been on the top of my mind I would have never prescribed Zoloft for you. Many people gain weight on Zoloft."

Now you might be thinking that it was an innocent mistake that he forgot this, or didn't check my file before giving me Zoloft, but it's not. Since I've been seeing him (about 8-9 months), every appointment I am forced to tell him my whole life story and medical history because he's forgotten and can't bother to take five minutes before our appointments to review my file. I am so frustrated! I want to try and see someone else but I don't like confrontation and I also don't know how long it will be before I can get in to see someone else.

Anyways, so I had him give me a new prescription and I am now on Celexa. I have a few friends that have said it has helped them, so I'm really keeping my fingers crossed. If any of my readers have has experiences with this medication I would love to hear about it. The other ironic thing is that I asked my psychiatrist about Celexa the last time I saw him because I had heard good things about it, and he told me that Celexa is his number one choice to prescribe to patients with depression but not with anxiety. He said that he likes to stick to medications that have had more studies done regarding anxiety. Fair enough...but why then would he recommend it so eagerly to me this time instead of trying something else like Prozac (which he mentioned to me before)?

Has anyone else had such a rotten experience with a psychiatrist or someone else in the medical profession who is suppose to help you?

2 comments:

Robert said...

I'm not surprised that you're upset with your psychiatrist! Health professionals consider it important to the success of your treatment that you have a relationship of trust and sympathy from your psychiatrist (or other therapist). If you can use a different one, or get a second opinion, I suggest that you do.

My wife had 2 bad experiences with the medical profession - once with the family doctor (now retired) and once by a (very expensive!) cognitive behavioral therapist. Now we check out the reputation of possible therapists/doctors before using them.

On a happier note, celexa is considered quite effective in the treatment of anxiety, although its main use is as an antidepressant. You can find out all you want to know about it - and users' ratings - at the following site -

http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-8603-Celexa+Oral.aspx?drugid=8603&drugname=Celexa+Oral

Best wishes!

Robert said...

Ooops! that link got mangled in the publication of the comment. Here's the link again (all 3 lines).

http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-8603-
Celexa+Oral.aspx?drugid=8603&drugname
=Celexa+Oral