So today was finally my appointment with my psychiatrist today, and then I show up and it was cancelled for a family emergency. The soonest they can get me an appointment is the end of October. ARGH. People are telling me to get a referral to someone else, but seeing as I had to wait 2 weeks even after I went to the emergency room for panic attacks, I don’t think I’m getting anything better.
Meanwhile, I haven’t used my stove/oven for months because it’s easier to just keep it unplugged instead of checking the knobs all the damn time, and people are starting to notice that I tap the top of my car’s trunk compulsively to make sure it is shut. I have to factor in extra time in the morning to make sure I check all the faucets and plugs and knobs and locks or else I’ll be late for work.
It’s just so aggravating, but at the same time, so first world problems. I mean, I realize I could have fought for an emergency appointment, but there’s people out there with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Half hour bedtime rituals seem so insignificant when I can at least hold down a job, pay for a place to live and have some semblance of a life.
I know this is the dope, but can we please not spend every reply arguing about universal health care waiting times?
This is definitely well into the territory where you need help (and deserve it!). Can you go to a regular GP/Family Doctor? My “doctor” is actually a family nurse practitioner, and she has been great about prescribing me antidepressent/anti-anxiety meds and helping me figure out what works.
In the meantime, maybe you could go ahead and get a self-help book and try maybe picking a relatively mild obsession/worry to stand up to? Like, take anything valuable out of your trunk, and force yourself to simply close the trunk normally and walk away, and just endure the discomfort of wondering if it’s really closed. You will no doubt still feel considerable distress (because this isn’t rational stuff we’re dealing with), but you could tell yourself you need to just deal with it, and logically nothing catastrophic could happen.
From what I understand about OCD, it can be progressive. If you feel you are able to “wait it out” until you can get your October appointment, PLEASE try to put together some sort of plan if the OCD accelerates.
Don’t feel the panic problem is separate. All that neurotransmitter stuff is inter-related. Oftentimes, when one problem is treated, it causes an imbalance that can pop up as a completely different problem.
~VOW
