Monday, May 18, 2009

Temporary relief

I found a Doctor who was willing to renew my medication for six months, and perhaps longer this past week, so I'm okay for the moment. Whew! Now I just need to find a shrink who can do battle with my GP and/or my cardiologist.

I realized later that I left something hanging in the comments on the last post. Basically, the issue here is not the Canadian health care system. I'm free to go to any family doctor I want and they can refer me to any psychiatrist or specialist anywhere. The issue here is prejudice against mental illness and competence, a problem in every country, whether it's privately paid, or publicly paid. In Toronto, I have a lot of family doctors to choose from, and there are some specialists in Adult ADHD here. The issue is getting in to a Doctor who I like and respect and has some competence, while still dealing with this health mess prior to running out of the tiny amount of medication I had left.

You see, the last ADD specialist I had was a bit of a weirdo. Quite apart from all of the health and personal problems they inappropriately disclosed to me, this Doc personally insulted me several times. They were so strange in fact that I'm not going back there, no way. And although I can find a psychiatrist without much difficulty, I don't think I can find a specialist in Adult ADHD as easily, or very quickly. And finding one who isn't nuts themselves? Oy.....challenging to say the least.

As for finding a new family doctor? I'm so torn about this. I trusted Dr.J. so completely, so totally. She has been with me through everything, literally since my first pregnancy test all those years ago. She was there when my babies were born and when they died, and she has been there for me through every medical adventure in between. So what do I do now that I have discovered that deep down she holds the same prejudices towards people with ADHD as Joe Six Pack? I mean, I've always known she's an imperfect Doctor but in the end, she'd admit it and try to educate herself, which is better than most Docs. Except in this case.

Now I feel betrayed, and if I can't trust her then what on earth am I going to do? Any family doctor I go to will get a copy of my records from her so I'm pretty much screwed if I go to someone else, courtesy of the way she will write it up, and anyone new might be just as discriminatory.

I know how to breakup with a friend, and I still remember how to dump a boyfriend, but I really don't know how to breakup with my Doctor. I'm not sure I want to.

7 comments:

  1. So, it sounds like your problem is not with getting the medication, but with the lack of respect shown by your doctor. Odds are pretty good that there will always be someone out there who will prescribe you whatever you need. But finding a doctor sympathetic to your plight is not that likely - whatever your plight may be, but especially with mental disorders.

    I think it's sometimes an education issue (as many doctors feel superior to even highly educated people, due to their number of years in training), and sometimes an ass covering issue. I told my doctor that I don't know of one person related to me by blood who has had any cancer (other than the not dangerous version of skin cancer) in the past 100 years, but he still made me come in for pap smears every 3 months (and cryosurgery! Which had no real effect!) for mild dysplasia. Once my immune system righted itself after pregnancy, the dysplasia went away. People in my family do not get cancer, but there's no way I will ever convince a doctor of that. Either they don't believe me (in which case, I find a new doctor) or they cannot allow themselves to do nothing because they believe it will result in harm (can't really blame them too much for that, but it's hard to swallow).

    I know my example is extremely mild in comparison to what you are experiencing, but you're not alone in being ignored by your doctor. We (regular people, non-doctors) frequently get no respect for our opinions regarding the way our bodies work, and that's just wrong. I hope that there's a doctor out there who will be able to help you with your ADHD - be it a family doctor with an interest or a psychiatrist or other specialist. Good luck.

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  2. I'm so so so happy to hear that you found a doctor willing to help!

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  3. I was "fired" by my GP after 6 bumpy years of treatment. He had treated me like a drug seeker from day one, but I live in a rural area with limited docs so I stuck it out.

    When I looked for another doc I was honest and told him I had been fired. Actually I have told several docs this as I had to see a specialist when I was in between GPs. Here in the states a patient can get a copy of their records and send them to new docs themselves. If you can do that then you can, at least, be prepared for whatever Dr. J has written in your records.

    Good luck.

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  4. I don't actually have a secure way of getting medication---this is a temporary fix, and I was purposely vague about how I got it, but long term, I need to deal with this.

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  5. you know I'm stuck in a similar situation.
    what's worse the devil you know or starting over only to end up in the sam place, or worse.

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  6. i've been debating about divorcing my GP. after getting my endo diagnosis i've been pretty angry at the fact that she brushed off my concerns for so many years and then she referred me to a doc that did the same thing! she's been my doctor for almost ten years and she knows me very well, but she has some very strong opinions about alternative therapies (mainly chiropractic, which i swear by). she's also reduced her hours considerably so if i need a prescription filled i have to go to my local walk-in.

    i'm glad that you found a temporary fix, hopefully everything works out for you soon!

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  7. Good to hear you at least have some more time to come to a decision.

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