So not everything is bad. (See below). I did some digging on my insurance website and I found my missing doctor. He did move to the City, but it will be manageable. He's a few blocks from one of my workplaces and 20 minutes from the other. If I change jobs to one further south, as I would prefer, that may be difficult, but the psychologist is in the same area and I don't struggle too much with that. The psychiatrist is an hour further than that and I make it to see her also.
I can't explain the relief. I'm sure the other doctors where I went are great, I'm just not ready for another change. If I have to explain one.more.time in my life why I can't take ibuproferon (it increases lithium levels) and why I have to act as if I had high levels even though I'm on a low dose (my body thinks it is toxic if it is much higher that it is now) I will just scream. I also have just about lost my patience with explaining why I can't take cold meds. (Although even this guy called in something last year that had pseudoepiphrene in it. That's why I usually go in person though).
Anyway, yay.
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I really think there is a need for internists/family practitioners who specialize in treating patients with serious mental illness. Doctors who know the drug interactions. Doctors who know that just having a mood disorder, treated or untreated, is a major cardiac risk, and need to be treated aggressively. Doctors who monitor the blood sugar of all their patients on antipsychotics. Who recognize that antidepressants cause osteoporosis. Whenever I bring any of these things up I'm treated like a hypochondriac.
You are exactly right and that is what this doctor is like. My BP went up on Risperdal; he aggressively treated it. My thyroid died; he aggressively treated it. I have a long history of colds turning into serious sinus infections thanks to a lack of decongestants; he treats them before that happens instead of telling me it's viral. For me viral infections turn into bacterial cesspools. And I get the labs. My psychiatrist will order them too but with this doctor we've let him do it. Which is nice because I get to feel a little more normal seeing the regular doctor for regular care, even if it is more frequent than my age indicates.
I get a fasting glucose every 6 months and another test for diabetes (Beta A1c? something like that) annually.
Another thing I really appreciate with him is that he's the first family doctor I've had who went above and beyond to find SOMETHING that I can use. I had strep once and coughing was so incredibly painful and for years I'd been told that I had to just deal. He gave me Vicodin. Not one hint I was a druggie, just acceptance that it was appropriate (I'm allergic to codeine). In contrast I have had other doctors act like I made up the ibuproferon-lithium thing. I actually had one say "I've not heard of that, it can't be true". How arrogant! I made him look it up and hmmmm, there it was......
I've gotten so used to this that I'd forgotten the whole hypochondria thing. But you're right.
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