I think I might have accidentally caused an argument between my psychiatrist and GP.

I was diagnosed bipolar, and was started on Depakote, for which I had a blood test at the beginning. I was told it was for liver function. So afterwards my blood results went back to the hospital and I had a letter saying to see my GP and I assumed this was for the beginning prescription of Depakote. I didn’t hear anything else until I turned up at my GP’s office and he said out of the blue not to worry about my cholesterol and that the hospital was overreacting.

Well, I didn’t worry, because I trust my GP absolutely, but the next time I saw my psychiatrist I thought I may as well ask him about it as well, because I was curious as to how the hospital had “overreacted.”

He pulled up the results on his computer and went through them and said my cholesterol levels were really dangerously bad. Well, I couldn’t say my doctor had mentioned it and done nothing, so I said he’d advised me not to worry. The psychiatrist seemed a bit put about by this and said that I really should do something about it.

He gave me paperwork for a further blood test which I took away, but I haven’t had it yet. I should have had it a few weeks ago. It’s really difficult for me to get out of the house, and not just because I’m depressed. But even when I remember, and I have the opportunity to go get the blood test done, I don’t, because I’ve usually had toast for breakfast instead of a banana or something, and I’m not wanting to make the psychiatrist worry. I told my CPN this last week.

I think they’ve talked together, because when I saw my CPN this week, he told me that my GP should be putting me on medication for high cholesterol, and that I need to ask him to prescribe it for me, and that it had been an oversight.

I feel really bad for my GP, because he’s just the most wonderful doctor in the world. He’s saved my life many times over the years, and I just feel terrible because clearly there’s some kind of argument going on behind the scenes and I feel like I have caused it.

I need to apologise when I see him, because there isn’t a person in the world whose opinion I respect and trust like his.

But…

…then I’ve got to try and be assertive with regard to my pulsatile tinnitus and explain that I want him to listen to the bone behind my ear with a stethoscope to test for objective vs subjective, and I need to have him check the blood pressure in each arm to see if there is a difference that would indicate an occlusion of the subclavian artery. And then I have to ask him to check for a pulsatile movement of the tympanic membrane, which would indicate a couple of other things that might be causing the pulse in my ear.

Actually, I’m feeling pretty miserable now about the entire thing. He really is a great doctor. Maybe I’ll take a nice bottle of port into the appointment with me…

What would you guys do?