Doctors + Therapy

Happy Tuesday everyone,

Just a little talk today on some mental health stuff.

I've given out some advice on doctors and therapy that I've derived from my experience with the diagnostic process and having a mental illness so I thought I would share here.

One advice I gave was to a friend that has been going through the process at our school and when she was telling me about it she said they might give her medication and if they do she won't take them. Not good! If you don't want to take medication for whatever reason you must express it to your doctor. You must be 100% honest with your doctor. I know it's embarrassing when they ask teens and young adults if they are sexually active but they NEED TO KNOW and you HAVE TO TELL THEM THE TRUTH. The one person you cannot lie to is your doctor. If they think you are taking a medication they gave you and you're not, that could negatively impact their treatment. It's best to tell your doctor you don't want the medication than not taking it behind their back.

My friend had some reserves about medication, which makes sense! That is completely valid. Medication can be scary and have side effects. I was misdiagnosed with bipolar and given a medication that made me gain weight (which made me more depressed) and heightened my anxiety (one of the things we were trying to treat).  So we (my mom and I) expressed to the doctor we needed a new treatment plan because this one is not working. Doctors know the first medication they give you may not be the one for you. It can take time and trial and error to figure out what is the right treatment for you. What you have to do is be patient, honest and LOUD! Doctors can have thick heads and often times small ears. It can be hard for your wishes to be heard so BE LOUD! If something is important to you don't give up. If you don't like a side effect or how the meds make you feel tell your doctor. Tell them LOUDLY and several times. I got off the bad meds and got back on track to a better diagnosis because my mom fought for me.

I'm my experience therapists are much less frustrating than doctors. My therapist agreed that I wasn't bipolar and the drugs where doing the opposite of helping me. Her suporting us on that was also helpful to get back on track.

What my advise to anyone hesitant about therapy is not every therapist is the same. They have different styles and energy. You may not like the first therapist you go to and that can make you want to quit therapy. DON'T QUIT! You may just like a different therapist so you should go to another. I once watched a youtuber who was saying one therapist she went to pretty much only listened and didn't give any person information back and she didn't like that. For that person that therapist wasn't the right fit. Medication and therapists are a lot alike that way. You just have to find the right fit for you. That can be applied to doctors somewhat but from my experience most of them have thick heads and small ears. Our health system isn't perfect. It's difficult.

I hope this talk was helpful in that regard. Since I mentioned my own journey so much I may write another post on it. I talk about it all the time but I don't think I've done a full blown post dedicated to it.

Totally Ky