[Ripose]

My last doctor hated to see me because she felt all my ailments were psychosomatic. Not once would she suggest that some of my problems were caused by medication side effects. When I complained about actual physical ailments she actually laughed at me and said it was all in my head. Every time she referred me to another doctor she would also make sure they knew I was bipolar, so the new doctor was already set to not believe anything I said before I even met him/her. some of them even treated me like a child.

How about you?

[Moose72]

No, but they don't believe the extent of the medication side effects I have had from bipolar. What with the fatty liver issues I have now, they'd better believe it!

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I happened to get a doctor straight out of medical school and pretty much sat him down and told him that I am well-educated about my illness, what I needed in a primary care doctor and asked if he felt he could handle my care. (This was after a horrible doctor I reported to the medical board). He agreed and we spent some time feeling things out. 11 years later we have a great relationship where he trusts me and I trust him and it all works out very well. I often wonder if it would have worked the same if he'd had even a year of experience when I met him. (It also helps that we have a lot in common and probably would be friends in another situation).

[*Laurie*]

In general, no. In fact for the most part most doctors seem sympathetic to my mental illness.

[Nammu]

I've had docs like that in the past. Right now I'm lucky to have a smart doc that treats me as he does any of his patients.

[Unrigged64072835]

No. My doc is level with me on my physical issues. She works in tandem with my pdoc so that meds don't interact, etc. She also knows that I've been doing better on Latuda and she'll work out the physical side effects than say get off of it.

Now Borderline, on the other hand, I get a lot of crap about whenever I go the ER.

[HALLIEBETH87]

No doctors have treated me different because of my mental illness. I have became very
Open about it now and quite frankly I don't care about their perception either.

[MtnTime2896]

Doctors? Well, my official diagnoses is too new to really know how doctors will treat me. Mine really didn't care. All he cared about was my blood work when I went in last time.

My last ER experience, haha. That's a different story. I was a nuisance to their care, apparently. Like, why would I actually need their help, right? I was only in a mixed episode and about take myself off the map. That's not an actual emergency. Until they put me in the psychiatric holding area, the people I dealt with (outside of the on-call medical doctor), the way I was treated made me ashamed for needing help. I wasn't bleeding, so I shouldn't have taken up their time.

[BipolaRNurse]

I have had that unlovely situation happen a couple of times. Once I was registering for a thyroid test (my pdoc was curious to see if an imbalance was causing my symptoms) and he'd put "bipolar disorder" as the reason for the testing. The gal who was inputting the orders in the computer was friendly to start with, but the instant she saw my diagnosis she suddenly went silent and didn't speak again until she was done, and then she was curt and obviously wanted me out of her office ASAP. What did she think I was going to do---get violent and throw things at her? Give me a break!

Another time I went to urgent care to have a broken toe looked at. Instead, the doctor wanted to go over my psych history and medications rather than talk about the toe. I was lucky to have it X-rayed. I also got "the look" when he asked me what kind of painkiller I wanted and I said Percocet. Well, Vicodin doesn't help and it makes me stupid on top of that...only Percocet works. But it's hard to explain that when the doc already had an impression of me as a flake and maybe a drug-seeker too.

[LadyShadow]

My doctor now hardly listens to what I say. He is over critical and a real pain in the ***. At least when I tell him I don't want to be drugged up he listens. No one is perfect, but out of all the docs I have had he is the second to worst one. So not so bad.

[Fuzzybear]

I've had doctors I was tempted to eat except they were too rotten

[Sad Mermaid]

I hope that my extremely positive experiences with the doctors and physician assistants mean improvements for others in the near future, since I live in Silicon Valley and we generally get good things ahead of other states.

I am so sorry to hear this has happened to you and others. It's happened to me too over the years and is disgusting! I'm glad to hear it's not a total epidemic and that some people here have not experienced it but I have and it's done me a great deal of harm. I have physical issues and it was assumed by a few doctors that it was all psychosomatic which I went along with and conceded they were right when they weren't. It's caused me a lot of mental anguish, confusion, self hatred and doubt and it's not fair. My heart goes out to you, me and all the others who have suffered unfairly at the hands of those who assume and make unwarranted, erroneous, unfounded diagnosis. Doctors go to school so they can make educated guesses in a lot of cases and it's clear to me they don't leave their bias up their azz where it belongs sometimes. (((Hugs)))

I've had potentially and nearly DEADLY side effects and they don't care at all. This is serious and unacceptable for you, for me....for anyone experiencing it.

[pirilin]

I've only had two doctors. One for five years. I know his whole life. He thinks he knows mine.
The other is a lady here in this dead town that we've moved to.
The previous doctor wanted me in Adderall Adderall and Adderall.
This one does not prescribe it.TG. It doesn't agree with me.
Both did more Rxs than talking to me. I could have talk to the wall if I had problems.
In fact they bring their problems to me. I'm their shrink.

My mental health issues have pretty much been a non-issue with my other medical doctors. They didn't really have any input in my treatment and I didn't really talk to them about it. They were aware of my diagnosis because of the meds I was on, but they honestly never said a thing about it.

[raspberrytorte]

When I was on geodon it was giving me heart problems, so I went in and saw my primary doctor. She ended up telling me my symptoms were all just anxiety related and not because of the geodon. I knew my problem was not from anxiety. I took myself off geodon and the heart pounding, fluttering in chest, unable to breathe in the afternoon all went away. I know what my anxiety feels like!

I am treated poorly by drs, not really because of MI, but because i'm in the UK

you know, the country with the best mental health care system in the world where everyone needs to move too (lol)

seriously if you've not guessed it sucks the mental health care here

sucks

My doctors dont seem to care about me being bipolar and are more physical centered.....but they will attribute physical problems to the psych drugs in general like an abnormally low bone density from a bone a scan. They put me on a daily calcium/vit d supplement to take along with my psych meds. But as far as thinking that it's all in my head....I don't see it because I don't get the brush off.

Because of insurance problems like lack of mental health coverage....my doctor is filling my prescriptions but doesn't like it.

Once a Little presented at a dr appointment and kept telling him that we were a multiple and talked about doggies....it made him very nervous until one of the guys spoke up to ask about acid reflux meds...the doctor started to grin but we got down to business. It was funny how all that went.

But anyways....I'd find a new set of doctors if possible away from them yoyo's. Good luck honny!

Hasn't really been a problem. Great PHP, very real. Seriously, she's a delight.

My med list is right there whenever I've seen anyone. Only recently has a AP been added to it, but I don't really anticipate problems with that.

I also personally strive to not give them reason to believe in "problematic" stereotypes and am low maintainence --emotionally, for them, that is. I aim to shatter preconceptions of all sorts. (I'd probably go so far as to cancel if needed to preserve this. Maybe that is wrong, but fighting the stigma means a lot, and I don't want to make future trouble for myself if it can be helped.)

There was (arrogant) weirdness one time with a referral doctor, but I don't think it was MI related, so much as he was just being a bit of an asz. (Haha, wouldn't it be great if we had a "donkey" emoticon? )

(I did have an outburst one time switching dentists -- they were being jerks about transferring my records -- but that was about 10 years and many hundreds of miles ago. So that's safely in the vault. )

[Ripose]

When I moved to a new area I do not bring any psych history with me and found as a result I received far better medical care. People with a diagnoses die an average of 25 years ealier than non-labeled people I believe there are 2 reasons for this, first the meds themselves have organ damaging side effects, and secondly, if you present for any physical complaint and have a psych history the assumption will be made your physical complaint means you aren’t taking enough psych drugs. Becoming completely illegitimate serious illness get ignored until they are fatal.

- Katie on MIA

I guess I am really quite fortunate that I have a gp who is understanding and supportive. Whenever I see him we spend some time talking about my mental and emotional health. I am aware he keeps up with my case as my psychiatrist cc's him regularly about those visits.

When I was last hospitalized 18mos ago, my GP came in to visit 3-4 times a week (8wks)

When I was recently going through a lengthy wait-and-see-the-results crisis he was good enough to phone me a few times to find out how I was holding up.

it never occured to me until just now that this was not the norm.

The very nature of this illness means we are not always our best selves. Professionals are trained and should be better trained to understand this. We do not "deserve" bad treatment by them even if we are having a difficult time. I'd even go so far as to say ESPECIALLY when we are having a hard time. Some people don't get this and I hope they don't end up on the receiving end someday when they are deeply in crisis. When people are in SEVERE pain (physical or mental) they act out. If someone has a kidney stone and is screaming and cussing bloody murder, does a doctor have a right to treat them poorly cause they should be a good boy or girl and shut up? NO! Should someone whose had a small stone and didn't scream be looking at their neighbor in the ER with a big stone whose screaming and say "look at me, I'm not screaming and neither should you be". NO!

I'm typically very quiet, nice, polite with a great deal of social etiquette. In crisis, I turn inwards and harm myself or outward and get pissy with others. It happens when I'm in SEVERE physical and mental pain. I don't have a choice to just be a quiet good girl. If I had this option, I wouldn't accept that I even had an illness at all. Being quiet and turning inward can lead to death for me easily. Turning outward is not a choice, it just happens. It means I need HELP not judgemental attitudes. Doctors would be best to remember this. By treating me poorly when I've needed help and understanding the most they have committed attempted murder and should pay!!!!

[xRavenx]

When I was in my late teens, doctors wouldn't take some of my complaints seriously or even bother to investigate. Also, when I would miss school for being sick, the school Social Worker literally called me a hypochondriac to my face. My mother got involved and called her out on it, because she knew something was going on with me aside from my mental health problems. I had certain doctors who labeled everything automatically as caused by anxiety, when I knew there was more to it.

Also, the school nurse said I had something 'seriously wrong' with my mind-body connections, so it wasn't until later when I got a different primary care doctor who actually did find I had some underlying legitimate health concerns.

Originally Posted by xRavenx

I had certain doctors who labeled everything automatically as caused by anxiety, when I knew there was more to it.

You know, now that you mention it, though more people deal with "just" anxiety than BP, I think it is probably a greater factor in getting blown off. This happens with my BF. This, that and the other, "oh, it's just anxiety". And, to be fair, it can wreak physical havoc, but it seems a frustrating answer sometimes. I think it's especially true if one has health anxiety. Ok, THAT would be the worst I would think.

I'm sorry that happened to you, xRavenx, that they blew you off like that.

Originally Posted by ElsaMars

The very nature of this illness means we are not always our best selves. Professionals are trained and should be better trained to understand this. We do not "deserve" bad treatment by them even if we are having a difficult time. I'd even go so far as to say ESPECIALLY when we are having a hard time. Some people don't get this and I hope they don't end up on the receiving end someday when they are deeply in crisis. When people are in SEVERE pain (physical or mental) they act out. If someone has a kidney stone and is screaming and cussing bloody murder, does a doctor have a right to treat them poorly cause they should be a good boy or girl and shut up? NO! Should someone whose had a small stone and didn't scream be looking at their neighbor in the ER with a big stone whose screaming and say "look at me, I'm not screaming and neither should you be". NO!

I'm typically very quiet, nice, polite with a great deal of social etiquette. In crisis, I turn inwards and harm myself or outward and get pissy with others. It happens when I'm in SEVERE physical and mental pain. I don't have a choice to just be a quiet good girl. If I had this option, I wouldn't accept that I even had an illness at all. Being quiet and turning inward can lead to death for me easily. Turning outward is not a choice, it just happens. It means I need HELP not judgemental attitudes. Doctors would be best to remember this. By treating me poorly when I've needed help and understanding the most they have committed attempted murder and should pay!!!!

I'm not sure if this is response at all to my earlier post, but I do want to clarify that I can't just turn on the "quiet good girl" at all times. God, no. But when I can, I do. And it doesn't necessarily mean I'm well or that there's any reason to question the dx. It's just part of who I am for better or worse. Overall, I find it serves me well. I just try to keep the mental and physical realms separate as much as possible and hope they do the same. (Not denying any mind/body connection, just talking about care focus.)

And I have been on the end of bad treatment. Terrible, in fact. From a crisis line. Damn near sent me over the edge. Making a point of being an easy patient when I can doesn't mean I don't get it or that I think people deserve bad treatment or should totally be in control of themselves (yikes, no!) etc.. For me, it's a matter if doing what I can in my own interest. One thing I know is that when I do present in crisis, they KNOW it, as I am not at all myself. It's a big departure.

It's their job, either way. Totally agreed.

I'm sorry you've gotten treated badly, EM Much