are you a good patient?

lets just say that I am a difficult patient.
I drink and my pdoc may refuse to continue seeing me tomorrow when I see her again after she had her staff tell me 3 times to not drink any alcohol.
I drank.
now I must lie to her.

I am a nurse and read up on things and make suggestions all of the time about meds to try etc.
I suggested abilify and seroquel, abilify was not good for me.

I increase my meds then tell her about it.
She is not happy with me.
I want a new pdoc, but have yet to come up with an alternative one.
Although I am not looking that hard.

I have told my therapist about wanting a new set of eyes....she did not like the idea of me seeing a psychologist who has prescriptive abilities.

She would rather I see a nurse practitioner, psych nurse.

I have seen Dr.O for 15 years so that is a long time.
Not sure how it is going to go tomorrow....
bizi

I guess so.....kinda. I've had I've had 35 years to practice being a "good" patient and mostly I am. I get along well with most people although I've had my share of a$$holes who probably thought I was a tuff patient cause I suffer no fools.

Yes I am a good patient. I try to always follow my doctors orders.

I'm terrible at being a patient. I constantly go on and off my meds and question my diagnosis.

I think I'm a good patient for the most part. I take my meds 98-99% of the time with the occasional missed dose, but I go to all my pdoc appointments, work on being self-aware, and use coping skills to get me through tough times. The only thing I'm not particularly good at is calling my pdoc when I'm in trouble. I drove my last one crazy by not doing that. I haven't had the occasion with my current one because I've been mostly stable with only mild hypomania and minor depression (usually seasonal), but there have still been times when I should at least have checked in.

Right now I am a great patient, but this could change at any time.
The good patient in me listens to the pdoc and calls/emails with problems. I am honest and I stay away from alcohol. I try to exercise occasionally. I also meet with my therapist weekly and let her know if she needs to conference with the pdoc-she can do this anytime, anyway.

Then somewhere along the way something goes bad, and I am the bad patient. I am dishonest about symptoms. I am paranoid-not trusting the motives of my providers, and I make their jobs very tough. I am fortunate to have a good team of caring providers who work to put the pieces back together. I know the bad patient has to change when my tiny pdoc informs me that I will not be leaving the building at the end of my appointment.

Bluemountains