How much do you tell Pdoc?

I've started seeing a Pdoc to get back on meds (finally) and I'm struggling with how much I should actually be telling her. I feel like I don't really want to tell her all that much, unless it's relevant to my condition or meds. Am I wrong? I want to save the deep stuff, the discussion about my actual life, for my T. Pdoc is actually kind of judgy, too, which doesn't help. Feedback?

My pdoc appointments are only 15 minutes long, so I just focus on my symptoms, whether or not I'm experiencing them, and if so, how severe they are. I only focus on what I want medication to help with.

I think you owe it to yourself to be honest; but I understand the need to hold back to a degree. I suppose with such a short period of visit that would be easy to do.

I see my own psychiatrist for 60-90 minutes monthly so pretty well everything comes out. With the exception of a social worker who checks on me each week, I don't see a therapist.

Would I be correct in thinking your therapist has to make a report to your doctor after each visit? I'm pretty sure that's what happens here. At any rate between my pdoc, family doc, and social worker they all seem to know what is going on.

Spill everything! Have him or her sift through it.

I tell my therapist everything. I totally trust her. Of course, I been seeing her for a long time.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

This is actually more stressful than I thought it would be. On top of all of this, my insurance doesn't cover a dime for MH, so I'm self-pay for everything, including my perscriptions. She wrote me a script for Abilify, but it's $850 for a months supply, so that's out of the question. Lithium and Lamictal have worked, but lithium sucks, and Lamictal scares me. I don't know what to do. I'm in a bit of a panic today, and she hasn't called me back.

There's a patient assistance program for Abilify, I got it for free when I was on it

WHAT?! Can you provide any direction here? How does one get information on this program? Google, here I come!

Edit: no longer offered, as far as I can tell.

As to your original question, in my experience most pdocs don't want to hear about the deep stuff. They want to hear about symptoms and response to meds. So I think it's perfectly acceptable to save the deep stuff for your therapist.

I've been on lamictal (generic: lamotrigene) for a year and a half now and have had ho problem. ymmv of course, but it's got to be a lot cheaper than that $850/month Abilify.

He keeps my visits so short that he doesn't get too much out of me. However since I was hypomanic over the summer, I had to divulge a little more so that he could understand why I believe I was hypo. Awkward. Never told him stuff like that. But my T....that's a whole different story!

My pdoc knows the overview of my history (trauma) and always wants an update on my living situation, family, interactions with my ex and any other triggers, drinking, mood, med compliance, sleep, and therapy or other treatments. We cover all that in about 15 minutes. What I do not tell him is about any drug abuse. I don't want him to feel like he can't trust me with certain meds.