Quote:
Originally Posted by rwwff
Here's the deal though; even if they *are* current on where the research is, or even participating in it; they are very unlikely to take a patient off the street and run them up into the research study. It presents very large liability issues with little likely gain in outcome.
In addition, when they order expensive testing that the insurance companies know provide very little benefit, those doctors and facilities get dinged on their compensation, and can eventually get booted off of a network.
Now, if you can pay cash, let me suggest something. Concierge medicine. These are MD/DO's who do not take ANY insurance of any sort, you generally write a check up front as a retainer type deal. They can order imaging, and you will have to pay cash for it too, and THAT is extremely expensive. But doable. You can get those tests, and have them read. So there is a path to what I think you are looking for, but I do not think you will get what you want in the end.
And the reason is simple...
"bipolar" has no biologically testable definition. Period.
For now, we have a list of symptoms, and some sets of interventions that mitigate those symptoms. And that is all.
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There was a very poor woman I knew who suffered from seizures and received brain surgery that employed robotics. That sounds expensive but it was provided to her at no cost. She was delighted to tell me her seizures are gone. And I can tell she isn't brain damaged because we have had detailed conversations with each other and her limited mobility problems are not from brain damage.
I realize that parts of the brain that cause seizures are not the same as those causing emotional disorders. For emotional disorders I haven't heard of treatments involving robotics and brain surgery. But my point is that given an area of medicine, like psychiatry, doesn't mean you have to have lots of money. But if you do have lots of money then you will be charged because you can afford it. Finances aside, I believe psychiatrists discuss amongst themselves cutting edge and trending advances in their field but not with patients. However, I have yet to find someone on this thread who is willing to take the challenge of asking their doctors about trends in diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder. The answer is partly true that they don't want to talk about that with you. But if you keep asking you will learn that there is more to just taking meds and moving along. That is the main reason I have been replying here because it helps me deal with the answers that I will invariably get. Alot of doctors aren't interested in novel ideas they just want to deal with the here and now.