[SunshineGold03]

I have a question for you all. I went to my doctors a week or so I ago regarding sinus problems and she prescribed antibiotics for me. Then I asked her if there was anything I could take for the sinus headaches and dizziness. She looked at me and hestitate and said "well there is something I am thinking of but I am not sure if should prescribe it for you" she then asked me if I ever had a history of drug addiction she asked not once but twice and I said absolutely not. She said "well I figured I would ask since you have a mental health illness and most people with mental health issues have drug addictions in their past. I told her " well I do not". She then went ahead and prescribed fiorcet for my sinus headaches which come to find out is sedating. I took like three for my headaches and threw the rest out. It pissed me off though that the assumption out there is if you have a mental health disorder/illness you must be addicted tor drugs either presently or in the past. I know that statisitically speaking there is a higher rate of people with mental health issues who use drugs/alcohol versus general population but still it is awfully preassumptious oh my doctor I think. My family thinks I am being to sensitive. So the question is am I being too sensitive?

[Lexicon78]

Well, it does sound like your doc is a bit presumptuous. Sure some people that are mentally ill have bad addictions, but not all of them...I know plenty who do not! And anyways, who isn't "mentally ill" these days! I hate being categorized as that. We all just have problems like everyone else.

I think you have every right to be upset about what your doc said. It's not cool that he couldn't take your word for it the first time...

[honeyblood]

No way! I would've acted the same way. It seems like there has to be a label for everything, everything has to be stereotyped. I wish that more people could have open minds.

*~in my field of paper flowers, candy clouds a lullaby, i lie inside myself for hours, and watch my purple sky fly over me~*

[SunshineGold03]

I agree with you all I didn't think I was overreacting at all but my family said I was so thought perhaps I was being a bit sensitive. People should make those kind of assumptions at all!

[image]http://images.animfactory.com/animations/food/beverages/tea_steaming_md_wht.gif[image]

[krzyk101]

No, I must say you were ablolulty right about the way you were treated by your medical doctor. The assumption's the doctors make when a person is Mentally ill really upsets me as well, not only on this issue, but for medical treatment all together.

For instance I have went to the Emergency Room before, and as soon as they heard the word 'Risperdal' or 'Effexor' they began to treat me totally different, in a slower manner of urgency as if since I was seeing a Psychiatrist that I didn't have a 'true' emergency or that it was probubly all in my head. It really upsets me as well. I feel as if I am being dismissed before ever being treated once that they see I am a 'mental patient' and I feel it is a form of discrimination no matter what the issue.

I am sorry you had to go through this, and hope someday the Hospiatls and Doctors will not jump to conclusions when they see the history.

Have a good day I hope your sinus problem gets better.

Take Care,
Kris

I wish hope for us all

If you think you have totally gave up, you haven't, because you are here!

[SunshineGold03]

Kris,
Thanks for your understanding and your kind words. My sinsuses are getting much better thanks for asking. As far as my primary is concerned she can kiss my ***! Pardon my french....wait that wasn't french...lol.

Jenn

[FearsomeAnna]

While I agree that the presumption that you might have had an addiction to drugs is upsetting, I also understand entirely where the doctor is coming from.

People with mental disease (and it is just that - it's a disease. Not "problems", not "issues", etc.) have a much larger representation in the population of substance abusers for a variety of reasons not yet understood. Drug abusers come from all walks of life, and it's almost never a matter of willpower or weakness. I was a speed addict for awhile (prescribed!) and I come from a very happy, financially secure home. I have my bachelor's degree in veterinary medicine and am about to return to school for my masters/Ph.d in Microbiology. Drug addicts don't all live in the gutter, and for the most part we don't wear signs that say "Junkie" in big red letters.

Additionally, people aren't usually very forthcoming at ALL about said drug abuse, especially of prescription drugs. I know I wasn't and I repeatedly denied that I had a problem with one, even though speed addiction is very, very obvious. I had to be confronted about a million times about it before I acknowledged that I MIGHT have had a tiny problem, when in fact I had an enormous problem.

Consider also the climate towards doctors these days in terms of malpractice suits. Many of them have to stop practicing because the premiums where they live are unaffordable. What if the doctor didn't ask you about your substance abuse history, even if you had a severe one, and then you got addicted to the sinus meds as well? In a lot of cases, that would spell "lawsuit", especially because one of the major tenets of malpractice claims is the doctor's failure to take an adequate history. Hence her asking you twice. She had to be very, very certain.

Seriously, I think you may have over-reacted. This day and age, she has to look out for herself as well as for you. It's a terrible climate to live in. It's offensive to us - but no doctor these days really knows you, so how would she know (in a manner that would stand up in court!) that you wouldn't do it/never had a problem? She can't!

Forgive her. She was trying to watch out for you. That's rare these days.

some of it's magic
some of it's tragic
but i had a good life all the way......
~jimmy buffett