1st appointment with psychiatrist - what to expect?

[Former-Member]

@outlander

Yes I have much going on in my head

tomorrow is another day 

off to bed

sleep tight xxxx

[outlander]

Goodnight @Former-Member sleep well ❤

[Former-Member]

Hi @Former-Member and @outlander sorry I didn't reply yesterday, I didn't get to jump on at all. Such a busy day at work, didn't even get a tea or lunch break (how's that for International Nurses Day?!) but one of my patients became palliative and so her comfort levels were more important to me than my hunger levels and exhaustion! Yesterday was a big achievement for me, I went out for dinner with two of my friends. It's the first time I've been out with any friend in about 6 weeks. I actually really had fun. And I told them about what's going on with me. I'm a bit worried one of them thinks I'm weird and the other one seemed a bit offended that I didn't come to her sooner, she said "if that was happening to me I would have run to you for help straight away". I tried to explain its not about our friendship and it's not at simple as that, part of the depression is isolating oneself and I have such anxiety about what people think. One of the things that was really nice was I told them a bit about some of my OCD stuff and one of the things is I can't drink water out of a glass/cup (I seriously don't know why because I will drink wine out of a glass!) I'll only drink it out of a water bottle. Its been like this for years and it doesn't really affect my life at all so it's no big deal. But they didn't pour any water in my glass at dinner and then the bar after and didn't make a deal of it so it made me feel like they were really listening so that was nice. Little things that make such an impact. How are you guys? Thanks for caring about me xx

[outlander]

@Former-Member
Very well done. Your such a kind caring person and im sure your patients and their families are certainly appreciative of you and all you do too
Sounds like you had a great night and thats fantastic and you most certainly deserve that
Big hugs to you and remember im always there for you even when im not here but your always in my thoughts
Hopefully todays not too busy for you and you can relax abit more
Im ok today thanks 😊
How did your first appointment go?

[Former-Member]

Thanks @outlander I really find my job to be quite therapeutic - especially when I'm feeling like a pile of worthless poo! makes me feel like I am making a positive impact, even if it's just giving a hug to a lady with dementia who is crying. My appointment was good. The doc was really nice and made me feel like what I'm going through isn't completely weird and abnormal. We even laughed together about some of my weird OCD compulsions and it made me sort of see a different side of it - like it's not the end of the world, these things happen, and we can work on getting through it. He also listened to me about my concerns about side effects of medications and asked me how I felt about alternative treatments. So he's added a natural medication (I still needed a script and had to get it made at the compounding pharmacy) to take with my antidepressant, because he said the side effects that I'm mostly concerned about will not occur in the alternative meds. Only thing is it makes me feel really nauseous and hot for about half an hour but then that goes away and I feel good. Almost a bit hyper though so I need to watch that. @Former-Member just tagging cos I thought you might like to read how my appointment went xx oh the only thing that I'm a bit worried about is he said he wants me to go back every 2 weeks for 8 weeks but the receptionist said he's fully booked for the next month so my next appointment isn't til the end of June! Any ideas what to do about that?

[Former-Member]

hello @Former-Member @outlander

I was just about to respond to your other post and then saw this one.

If the psychiatrist has given you that timeframe you tell the receptionist those are the times you need to have appointments. Usually they jump up and down because it rattles their cage, their system. In that situation I just say, can you please check with the psychiatrist as this is what he or she has asked me to  do. If they still dispute the fact. Be assertive and politely say "if you  have a problem with that you need to take that up with the psychiatrist; I am merely following what I have been told to do" or something like that, depending on the type of person and also not to sound too officious.

sorry so longwinded. happy to  try and condense if you dont understand a word of what I have written above.

Head not in a good place at the  moment.

As to your time with your friends, I wanted to congratulate you because that is such a huge milestone. I have hidden my illness from most people for the majority of my life because of the reaction I got from my family. I still tell  very few people as I manage it up to a certain point. Having said that I am prone to isolating. It really does depend on the people and you seemed to judge that.

I am so glad that things are settling for you, reassuring also. xx

[outlander]

its great that you have a job that you enjoy. makes working more fun as well @Former-Member

it sounds like a great psychiatrist esp to have been able to make you feel comfortable and even to help you have a little laugh and see the other side of it.

your definently on the right track.

with the appointment try not to stress over it. your gp is also able to help you with you medications. if your having some major side effects that are bothering you then speak to you gp as well. your gp can keep your psychiatrist up to date as well and if they think you really need to get in to see him then they might be able to arrange a one off appointment to another one while your unable to get into see your own.

[Former-Member]

Thanks @Former-Member and @outlander for the advice and the kind words. I will wait and see if my side effects settle in the week. I'm a bit spaced out actually but kind of fidgety at the same time, exhausted but wide awake too if that makes sense. They said they will put me on the cancellation list and then call me so I will wait maybe til Wednesday and then ring them if I haven't heard. Sorry to hear that your head isn't in a good space at the moment @Former-Member. Do you want to talk about it?

[Former-Member]

Well the day started off great but now I'm feeling... I don't even know. I talked to my mum over Facebook messenger about how my dad abused me when I was young. And I am really upset right now and I promised my partner I'd tell him what was going on tonight. Because he is unaware. I only started panicking and crying all the time about 6 weeks ago and apparently it's based on PTSD from this but he doesn't understand because I've never told him. He said "why would you have PTSD when you had a normal childhood?" He's just popped up to the servo to get ciggerettes and I said we could talk when he gets back. How on earth do I put it into words?? I don't want him to feel the pain that I just KNOW he will feel when I tell him. I feel like it's better if I don't say anything because then it's only me hurting and not him hurting as well. I'm so ashamed but I don't want to lie but I also don't want to tell the truth. Help me please someone anyone @outlander @Former-Member @Shaz51 can someone please tag a moderator or professional person on this forum because I don't know how and I'm scared. And I think if I tell him then if he ever sees my dad he will beat the crap out of him

[Former-Member]

Hi @Former-Member

There won't be any 'right' words, whatever comes out will be ok. Could you show him the convo from today wiht your mum to read? or write it down for him instead? 

keep taking deep breaths to steady yourself, your partner will be sad for you but he obviously loves you and you will be understand each other better i would expect, though im definitely no expert on relationships, sorry,

lj