PCOS Messages for March, 2002: Re: To Gemma re: Anti-Depressants

Re: To Gemma re: Anti-Depressants

From: Renee (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Wed, 13 Mar 2002 08:28:20 -0800

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Maybe in reply to: stedgar: "To Gemma re: Anti-Depressants"

anonymous wrote: > >
> What makes me angry and frustrated is that the psychiatrists dispensing
> these terrible drugs
> never read these bulletin boards and self-help pages where people talk
> to each other and
> commiserate about what they are experiencing. The first time I told my
> shrink about these
> types of pages, he bluntly dismissed me as seeking information from very
> subjective and
> unreliable sources.

Actually, they are very subjective. So is this, unless people are able to back up what they are saying with studies or reliable sources, which they often do. The very statement of "I feel/This happened to me/I think/This is common among us" are all subjective. By definition, objective is from an outside person, using quantifiable techniques and assessments. Also, with many listserves, only people who have a problem or are unhappy are on it. So, you only hear one side. There aren't a whole lot of people on this list who are happy and think everything with their bodies is fine. We're going to hear about all the problems we face. On other lists, you'll hear only from people who had a difficult time on antidepressants, or whatever else the listserve is about. People who feel their meds are helping them function better with minimal side effects aren't going to spend their time on a listserv reading about how people are having problems with the meds.

Well, the fact is, he and his cronies in his HMO > don't do much of anything
> except collect huge paychecks and stock options. They are not there to
> help you! That's the
> very first thing you are going to have to realize. They are there to
> MAKE MONEY!

Actually, HMOs don't pay that much compared to what they used to get under old fee-for-service payments. That's one reason visits are so short now. THey have to see more people in a shorter period of time to cofer their rent, office staff, the reimbursement denials, insurance, staff benefits, etc. Medicaid pays even less. In my state, a physician gets only $18 (as of 3-4 years ago) for a nursing home visit.

They are > there to put you on a drug that will keep bringing you back, year after
> year. When Prozac first
> came out, the makers were offering some shrinks incentive vacation trips
> for doing a volume
> business prescribing it.

This is actually illegal now, and has been for years, though it was common practice at one time. Physicians have been prosecuted and put in jail with huge fines for this type of behavior. If you have proof of it going on currently, report it. I recently read about a physician who was prosecuted because of an arrangement with a drug company to switch his patients from one drug to another.

> But I'm
> going to take a bold step now and seek a psychiatrist in a private
> practice -- one who is
> interested in my health, not my "Health Maintenance Program." I'm going
> to go back into
> group therapy for depression and I'm also not going to accept any
> further medication unless I
> have a doctor that actually cares enough to talk to me on the phone when
> I am in desperate
> need -- one who monitors closely any drug he gives a patient and is
> concerned as I am when I
> wake in the middle of the night with a bomber of a headache and my skin
> is itching and I'm so
> wired up that all I can do is stare at a TV on the couch all night!

Good for you. You need to take control of your health, and that's just what you are doing. Just like with any other type of job, there are good people, there are bad people. If you're not satisfied, move on.

>
> My advice to everyone: Don't be a sheep! Fight back! If you are not
> getting the care you are
> paying for and that you deserve as a patient -- LEAVE! And be sure and
> tell them why.

I agree. And, tell the HMO too. More of them are including quality and patient satisfaction in their decisions to renew or drop contracts with providers.

Meds work really well for some people, and not for others. Just like with anything else, listen to your body. If brand A doesn't work well, consider trying brand B, the C, then D. There is probably one that you'll click with. But, for many people, anti-depressants are the only way that they can function while they work on the other problems.

Renee

-- Renee Cordrey, MSPT, MPH, CWS

---

Don't follow in the footsteps of the masters. Seek what they sought. --Zen saying

Next message: Tatjana: "PCOS in Germany / PCOS in Deutschland"
Previous message: anonymous@obgyn.net: "My Little Sister (Long - Sorry)"
Maybe in reply to: stedgar: "To Gemma re: Anti-Depressants"

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