With my first pdoc, I felt like a guinea pig & I hated all the side effects that I was going through with them.....even with the smallest of doses & even in the hospital he almost didn't believe that I was having the side effects that I was having.....one stupid medication they gave me at night in the hospital....I woke up & couldn't even sit up in bed as all my joints couldn't move.....it was horrible. My own pdoc had priviledges at that hospital so I always was under his care even in the hospital & he would always put me in the hospital if he tried to change a medication because of the horrible side effects.

I never understood how medication could help a situational depression because no one could change the situation that was causing my distress & it was bad enough that it wasn't something that could just be accepted or changed.....& medication didn't lessen the reaction I was having to the situation.

LOL....he quite treating me when he said....no more suicide attempts & I didn't want to live...they weren't just attempts it's just that I wasn't successful even when I should have been.

I ended up in a private mental hospital & they assigned me this pdoc....initially I really didn't like him & felt unheard & asked to be changed....but the staff suggested that I sit down & really talk with him & discuss my concerns.....I did & he listened....he was the best pdoc I ever could have had....he was also up on natural care that didn't include chemical meds but natural like the Omega's & other options including the light box that he loaned me for awhile to see if it would work before going out & buying one that I didn't have money for.

He was also there to give me some major medications for the trauma I went through even though it totally knocked me out...it was what I needed due to the horrible nightmares I was having......I have to admit, he did have his weaknesses like when I was going through the trauma he was trying to brush it off as my NOT seeing what was going on accurately because of the extreme weight loss I was experiencing.....because of the trauma I was going through & the stress I had been going through with the cancer that my mother was going through & trying to make sure she got the care she was needing because her oncologist was being negligent in his care for her because she was OLD.

Also had one time when the last pdoc prescribed a medication to help me get through my neck fusion stress....only problem, I ended up staying on the med afterward & that mixed with the nausea medication for the migraines....landed me with parkinson's symptoms & he didn't catch that it was happening.....ended up going to urgent care & they caught one med....a month later I was still not better & I went back to the neurologist I was seeing before the neck fusion & he caught the other med.....a month later, the symptoms were finally gone.

Having left my bad marriage of 33 years & living alone....I refuse to take any medications because they leave me grogy & non-functional & living alone.....I NEED TO FUNCTION......so I just take care of things with HOT SHOWERS.....& distractions.....wonderful therapy & a great DBT group.....& I never bothered getting a pdoc here because I refused to take any meds....so why pay for a pdoc if you aren't going to take anything to need them for (saves me $)