[emptyspace]

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I finally got up the nerve to go see a doctor, which was really overwhelming for me.
I have not been under a doctors care since I was a kid (and even that was sporadic growing up in foster care).

I actually cried most of the "initial" appointment.
The doctor did all this bloodwork and no physical exam.
The doctor prescribed 2 medications based on something she guessed was going on.

So, would it bother you if a doctor:

1) said they would set up an appt with another doctor, but did not. did not even contact the 2nd doctor.

2) said they would call you "next week," but did not.

3) did not give very good directions about when to take the medicines, etc?

I think I need to find another doctor, but I don't know if this is normal for doctors. I had some "serious" symptoms for my age, and there was no call back.
Or are "my mental issues" getting in the way and I should just call and make another appt and..... this behavior is common for most doctors today?

I just don't know what I should expect from doctors, (or people in general). Thoughts?

[ThisWayOut]

I have had experiences like that with a doc... maybe she became very busy? If you do not feel comfortable with her, you could seek another doctor... or you could call and find out if she forgot? I had 2 really awesome docs before I moved. One was super responsive and always called when she said she would. The other is somewhat of a flake unless you are in her office, and I had to track her down for info. I guess it depends whether or not you got comfortable enough with her in that one appointment, and how you may feel trying to find a new doc. For me, the flakey-over-the-phone doc is super awesome and caring in person, and that makes up for her forgetfulness... but I also had a lot of trouble finding a doc that I felt comfortable to be in the room with. I have switched doctors before because I did not feel a connection. Trust is huge for me with a doc, so I went looking for someone else and got really lucky with those 2... I still see them when I go back to that part of the country (one is my gyn, the other is my pcp).

I just re-read your concerns, and #3 would be a bit more of an issue for me... I want to get clear directions on meds, or at least be able to contact the doc and get a response if I had questions on the meds...

The person you really need to get in touch with is the doctor's nurse as she/he will be the one to make the contacts, etc. Doctors rarely personally make contact outside of the office; that's why they assistants/nurses to handle these kinds of matters.

[cool09]

Get used to some of that. But not giving good directions about when to take medicine is kind of rare. It can happen because Doctors give out tons and tons of prescriptions and forget to give good verbal instructions but it's not completely acceptable.

[Neptune83]

I think you should (and have every right to) expect more than that. Mental health should not be taken lightly and should never be ignored. They should have called you if they said they were going to. To be honest, if this is a GP then I've never found them much cop with mental health. They're a general practitioner, so don't specialise in mental health. They're not the best for accurate diagnosis. To expect you to take medication without explanation or even instructions as to when and how to take them is utterly ridiculous and irresponsible. But I have found GPs tend to throw pills your way and leave it there because that's the easiest thing to do. You get the odd one or two who are very helpful and knowledgable, but I've found them few and far between. The GP I usually see is a nice guy, he listens, takes me seriously and isn't awkward about prescribing things to help with anxiety. But, there is a limit to what he can do for me, and even he himself has admitted that even psychiatrists aren't that great here. To me, every psychiatrist I've seen has just written a prescription without listening to me and making a nice wage for the privilege.
Personally, I think you'd be better off telling your doctor you want to see a therapist because they'd likely be far more helpful to you in the long run. They spend time with you, regularly, getting to know you. And if you build enough trust with them, they could really get to the bottom of your problems and that is the best thing you can do because if you don't know what it is, or why, then it's harder to treat. Sometimes you don't even know what's bothering you the most. I've heard many say its better to treat the most bothersome symptom, which is obviously going to help, but you need to try to get to the bottom of why instead of burying it under an endless course of pills.
Saying this, I'm assuming you're unsure of what specifically you're suffering from. I do apologise if I'm wrong.

[RedBarchetta]

Not a lot, but has happened - they do get bussy and forget things, it's also possible they did try that other guy, but (has happened to me as well in the past) they don't accept your insurance, and don't know anyone else so you will need to find out what the specialty is..(But it's been over 20 years since one doctor set me up themselves to talk to a different one, except for when actually in the hospital.
And when to take pills, I rarely get told that either, usually it's once a day, twice a day, Three times a day, exc. and SOMETIMES you might see something like "With meals" - but typically you figure it out. Basically the way I do it is take the average time you wake up and make that the first pill, in the case of multiple pills in the same day, figure you are awake an average of 16 hours per day, so 16 divided by the number of doses per day, tells you how meany hours between each dose.
Make special arrangements for special medications - like my sleep medication, it's one dose per day (as needed) but obviously it's at bedtime due to what it dose.

[Neptune83]

While a certain amount of common sense can go a long way, I do think clear and precise instructions should be given and are your doctors responsibility. It's their job, not yours, after all. Some Of my meds don't come with the leaflet or instructions on the label, say that could make you very sick if not taken with food.. You wouldn't really want to find that out through trial and error!