Just got back from the Doctors

[Chatative]

Hey all,

So I've just had my appointment with the Doctor.

He was great - he'd actually booked a double appointment so we had plenty of time to talk!

He thinks that it's not unusual to have anxiety following serious health problems, which in my case was Schizophrenia. All the problems I had with the illness & side effects of the medication, the lack of structure to my life & the reliance on family & health care professionals. As such he reckons that as I am re-adjusting, my stress doesn't really have an outlet & is manifesting as health anxiety. As for the trouble keeping on top of things & them building up, again it's a lack of routine.

He said he wants me to set aside 30 minutes every day, at the same time to do household tasks. Force myself to do the whole 30 minutes but that's it. If I don't finish, it doesn't matter. In the end of the day, 30 minutes a day is plenty of time to get most chores done if you are doing it every day. I personally think there are underlying issues but I'm happy to try & go along with his plan & see what happens.

Other than that, he said if I have any health concerns just to ring the Doctors. The Doctor actually calls back before making an appointment, so it's not like I have to go in & out of the surgery all the time. He said not to call for everything but if anything was persistent or particularly worrying. If I need blood tests or anything else, then I'll get them but being as I've done loads already, in the absence of any serious symptoms, the Doctor should be able to re-assure me over the phone.

He didn't give me detailed explanation or discuss things like my irritability, brain fog & trouble sleeping but I think the reason he didn't do that was he doesn't want to reinforce my concerns or make me more anxious.

He said my state of mind seemed reasonably good despite my anxiety & that he didn't think it would be anything to worry about in the long term.

I'm very happy with my appointment overall - I could have just got a Doctor who asked me a question or two & prescribed me medication; instead I've got one who obviously has a very good understanding of anxiety problems & for who medication isn't the answer to everything.

He's told me to come back again sometime next week to discuss if I've made any progress or not. Although there is no quick fix, not that I ever thought there would be, it's comforting to hear a good prognosis.

I'll be asking for this Doctor by name every time I call now unless it's urgent :p

[Enduronman]

:woot: That's awesome brah!!.....:)

[Ashlee13x]

I wish my doctor was like that!!! She just tells me its anxiety and shoves me out the door!!! grrrr

[Chatative]

Yeah it's a shame there aren't more Doctors like him. It's just pot luck who you end up with!

I noticed something interesting though:

I got home & I had this great plan to re-arrange my bedroom which I thought of last night. So after 45mintues of dismantling a computer desk & moving things around, I was so physically & mentally drained that I was in a sort of anxious funk after.

I've noticed I feel much more drained doing things than I normally do... makes it sort of hard to get things done when that is happening.

I think the problem is that even though I take lots of time to myself, my mind is never really at rest... I'm going to have to dig deep & just try and blitz my flat. The Doctors plan is sound but it won't mean much unless I'm on top of everything to begin with so we can see if I can keep up a routine & stay on top of things.

Also, there's lots of what if's at the moment but I need to try & not worry about them. Who knows what will happen when I get back in the gym, when I start looking for jobs & when I get one. At least I've got the ball rolling by having gone to the Doctor.

Here's to a long sh*t afternoon, a tidy flat & a great evening. Time to start chores... ;)

[mykids12]

Yes there definitely needs to be more drs like that. One thing I hate is if you're talking to a dr and they have their back towards you and they're typing on the computer as you're talking. To me that seems like they're not comprehending what you're saying. I also think it's cool that you call for an appt and the dr calls you back. I've never had a dr do that. In fact it's hard for me to actually speak to a dr on the phone, it's always the nurses I end up taking to. There's one dr I see that if I call in to ask a question it's either a week before I get a call back or not at all. That's not cool especially when dealing with the disorders we have. We have to know that the person were spilling our guys out to is listening. Ok I'll stop there because I'm getting myself all worked up haha.

[NixonRulz]

That doc sounds like a keeper

Good to see a few that understand anxiety and stress to a point where they actually listen and not just shove pill down your throat

[jessed03]

I like that he took his time to kind of help you develop some ways to become more productive, and outgrow your problem.

So many just say 'it's anxiety...' Then look at you like you're mad for wanting some help for it.

[Chatative]

I like that he took his time to kind of help you develop some ways to become more productive, and outgrow your problem.

Yeah exactly.

I think essentially I've not had anxiety long enough to justify medication & there may be reason to think it will resolve itself.

I'm not sure which way it will go but I'm happy to exhaust all other means of resolving my anxiety before resorting to medication.

I actually was very productive for many months after coming off my APs before my anxiety became a problem, so I'm not sure that his method is the answer but we'll see.