I don't think I've ever had to fight any of my docs overly so on medications, but I've also bluntly told them I will walk away from you as practitioners and not look back if you try to push me into a treatment/to take a medication that I am 100% against.

That said, it's not all blustery defiance. When an issue like that (side effects, new symptoms) arises, I can speak their language. I've dealt with enough medical issues (both physical and psychological) that I can do a differential diagnosis in my sleep.

I get an odd symptom and I'm thinking to myself: What is it? When am I getting it? Does it occur when I take my medicine? Immediately? How long after? Does it occur after I eat? Etc. etc. I then try to present the docs with the most likely possibilities that I see.

They generally work with me after that and if I agree to "one more week" I make it clear that I will unilaterally stop the medication if the side effects become intolerable. It's my happy medium we're trying to find, when it boils down to it. Luckily, I've only had to do that once, when seroquel gave me heart palpitations that woke me up from a dead sleep at 2am. I'm not risking that for "one more week".

I'm wondering if incorporating a kind of differential into your future interactions might help? It would allow you to put your experiences into a framework that your doctor could work with and would allow you put your doctor's suggestions within that same framework. Gives you both a chance to make your case.