The state of mental health care in the U.S.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Warning - self-harm behavior is discussed in this post.

I’ve been diagnosed with a personality disorder (bonus points to anyone who can guess which one from my posts)and have been taking meds for the last 6 months or so. About 2 months ago, I began a slow decline where I began to feel like my meds were no longer working.

In mid-December, things got really bad and I started having intense suicidal ideation once again. As I was supposed to do, I called my doctor’s nurse and left a message asking to discuss changing my meds. I said in the message that I was feeling suicidal again and that I wasn’t doing well.

A week passed with no response, so I called the Psych. Department and asked for an appointment to see my doctor. I was really struggling at this point and had begun cutting myself. The receptionist said, “OK, your doctor has an available appointment in FEBRUARY.”

Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

I told her that I really wasn’t doing well and that I felt like I needed to come in right away. She said, “OK, can you make it tomorrow at 7 am?” I said ‘yes’ and felt relieved that I was finally going to get to see my doctor.

I was walking out the door at 6:45 the next morning when my phone rang. It was a nurse who told me that my doctor was sick and asked if I could make it at 7:30 the next morning. I agreed to do so, but reiterated that I wasn’t feeling well.

The same thing happened the following morning. At that point, the nurse said that my doctor was really sick and that she wasn’t going to make appointments for her until she knew that my doctor would be back to work. I told her that I didn’t think that I could wait that long and asked to be seen by a different doctor. She said, “OK, I’ll check.” When she returned to the phone, she said, “OK, I’ve got an appointment for you. Is March 16 at 3 pm good for you?”

Needless to say, I was speechless. I said, “No, I’ll just stick with my regular doctor,” and then hung up.

Time to play doctor on my own! In the past, I’ve researched all of the meds that I’m on and decided to up the dosage of one of them since I was on the lower end of the dosage range for that one.

I guess I did the right thing. After a week at the higher dosage, I stopped cutting myself and the suicidal ideation has diminished. I can’t figure out if the meds are working or if I’m now so depressed that I’ve lost the motivation to cut or kill myself (that’s oldscratch’s diagnosis). Either way, things are looking up, eh?

The nurse did call back with an appointment for me - Feb 9th.

I guess I shouldn’t complain, though. It could be worse.

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Maybe it could be worse, but it surely could be better. I know it’s frustrating and very difficult to wade through the roadblocks that medical offices have for patients trying to actually see their doctors, but is there anyone higher up (or in another office) to whom you could appeal?

I know that my internist’s office usually makes appointments no sooner than 3 months ahead, but if I have an urgent problem, her nurse figures out some way to get me in quickly. What you described is an urgent problem, and they should do the same for you. Maybe you could keep calling back just in case they have a cancellation.

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Late last summer I started thinking that driving into a tree was a good idea. When I called around to mental health-type places I was told they had openings in October :rolleyes:

Was quite lucky that my employer has this thing called EAP that got me in to see someone the same day I called.

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If you get into a bad place again try this:
Call a suicide hotline. Tell them you ARE suicidal.
This gets their attention.
Tell them that you have a doctor and are on meds but cannot seem to get an immediate appointment.
I’m telling you, when the suicide hotline supervisor calls your doctors office, shit happens NOW!

Not that I’ve ever done this…no, not me…

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Dude! For Pete’s sake, find another doctor!! If your doctor isn’t a psychiatrist, then go get one! I don’t know who you’re using, but if he or she doesn’t attempt to squeeze you in right that day, then you need to be done with him and find one who cares!

Like, I’ve got friends who see shrinks and when they start to fall apart, they called their docs who are psychiatrists or psychologists and get in right then! Even if they get there and have to sit an hour to be seen in-between appointments! Even State operated mental health clinics do this, especially New Horizons!

You can dig up all you want about your medications, but your shrink needs to decide like which of 100 others will do you best at what dosage or what can be combined with them. A regular physician mostly is going to start you on a mild medication, see how it goes, then adjust or replace it as needed.

You need a doc who cares! No doc I ever knew of postponed seeing a person who was feeling suicidal or even talking to them by phone to determine just how bad they were. Depression, right Dude? Effexor?

Please go see another shrink! If you’re at a clinic already, you can change to another who’s on staff. A couple of my buds did and were glad of it. Sometimes, they got different medication and if that didn’t work well or gave them side effects too serious for them to take, a call to the doc got them stopped and new ones ordered or a walk in appointment set up for a personal chat and look-see.

So, be cool man, hang in there and get a new doctor! Don’t use a medical doc for your head, because he takes mainly care of your body. Use a shrink for the head because that’s all he works on. Keep hold of that suicide hotline number also and use it if you start to feel real dangerous. Okay man?

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As the son of a psychologist/neuroscientist in an area with a shitload of season depression (read: cloudy and no sun makes people sad), I would have to say it’s pretty bad in most places. For all of the undergrads reading this right now, I would suggest going into psychiatry. There are people out there that need all the help they can get, especially with a shortage of doctors in many areas, as Crack’d Off’s experience protests.

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Thank you all for the good advice. I’ve actually been pretty happy with all of my doctors and therapists (I have 3 of them, uggh.) It’s the nursing and scheduling staff that is difficult to deal with. I probably should have been more insistent, but I was worried about getting 5150’d again (that’s the involuntary hospital commitment statute in California).

I guess that I should have taken dragonlady’s advice and called the suicide hotline. I’ve done that before and had good results. Sometimes, though, it is difficult for me to think about what would be the best thing to do when I’m feeling that way.

I am on the list of patients who will be called if there is a cancellation. My hours are pretty flexible, so there’s probably a good chance that I’ll be seen sooner than my scheduled appointment. The good news is that my self-administered dosage increase seems to be working. I haven’t cut myself for almost a week and I’m no longer suicidal. The side effects suck, though. Major insomnia, nausea 24/7, and the ever popular sexual dysfunction. The sexual dysfunction I’m having wouldn’t be so bad if I had a girlfriend. She’d like it. That’s probably TMI. :slight_smile:

Oh yeah, TheMoonGazer - I’m not depressed. I have borderline personality disorder. One of the lucky few males who have it. I’m taking Paxil and Wellbutrin for it. The clinic where I go is actually one of the few places in the country that have success treating BPD.

Thank you all for the support. This board has been really helpful to me. You guys are GREAT!

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Dude!! :cool: :slight_smile: