I’ve been getting treatment for 6.5 months.

I’ve only seen one person, my psychNP. One time I asked for help in college but was told I was normal. (NO- I was bipolar. I told him I felt suicidal the week before, and went into his office hypomanic…).

I have been very satisfied with PNP and see no need to change. The original diagnosis was severe postpartum depression. Then uhoh…hypomania showed up.

She’s human, but I think she’s the perfect provider for me. She provides therapy and meds. She truly listens. Oh, and she’s on my insurance!

Well I am on my fourth doctor. The first, a psychologist misdiagnosed me as BP II. That was seconded by his referral MD, doctor #2, who prescribed a couple of appropriate regimens of pills.

Then I moved. In comes Dr #3 who simply took what was done before as acceptable and kept me going on that regimen.

Shortly thereafter, I decided that my condition and its various impairments made it impossible for me to continue on as a fiduciary financial advisor. So, I filed disability and moved once again.

Dr. #4 is a psychiatrist and also a genuine diagnostician. Thankfully, every patient presents to him with a clean slate. Thus, it did not matter what my prior docs had said. After several meeting, he diagnosed me as obviously bipolar. However, he correctly diagnosed me BP I, not II. And he put me on a psychotic in addition to my regimen. I was a bit manic you see.

Anyhoo, I think this gent is the real deal. I like all my old docs, but it seems at least two of them threw out practice management ethics out the window when I showed up and simply carried on what the prior guy found to be the diagnosis.

It has been, suffice it to say, an interesting ride.

Andrew

http://www.BipolarPorch.com

Specifically diagnosed as bipolar I’ve had treatment for over 9 years. Within this period three doctors. My best doctor so far was my first doctor of this period because she was the one who diagnosed me as bipolar and started the right treatment, which in my case is Depakote ER, and sometimes Rivotril, and sometimes an anti-depressant (but only when I feel it’s necessary, and it’s taken as soon as I feel better). I had to leave her because I moved to another doctor. I didn’t like the first doctor I found in my new town because she changed the treatment, anti-depressant all the time and decided to become my therapist as well. Even though I had told her that I didn’t want a therapist, I already have an analyst and I just wanted her as a psychiatrist. So I decided to ask my analyst if she could recommend a psychiatrist, and the new one got me back to the treatment that makes more sense to me and he respects my decision to have an analyst and to be just my psychiatrist. I’ve only been to this doctor once, but I’m happy so far.

I’ve got Andrew beat by one: I’m on # 5. Number one gave me a major-depression dx, which certainly seems appropriate given my symptoms at the time & my lack of recollections that would sound bipolar.

Doc #2, who did psychotherapy as well as pharmacology, was very good at both, but I suspect signs of hypomania were starting to show, & weren’t caught.

Number 3 was the worst; really just a pill-prescriber who didn’t keep up on new rxs. No change in dx there either.

Doc #4 was probably the best, & I might go back there. She watched my symptoms closely & upped me to bp II “vs. other”; I took this to mean I might qualify as bp I at some point. She also — & I love this part — told me she thought I had the general personality of someone with manic-depression. I took it as a compliment.

Number 5 is ranked as one of the best in my state, but I haven’t been terribly impressed. He tweaked my dx to NOS. He’s leaving, so off I’ll go again by the end of the year. Have found an excellent therapist after several tries, however.

Primary Phys/Pain dr left my hmo - 2/09. Since then I’ve seen 4 drs RE: Fibro

Just saw by 5th & I think tshe is going to work out. Good review on internet incl neighbor has been seeing her for many yrs & spoke well of her.

The prev 4 drs were from h*ll. Arrogant, abusive, etc!

Well, I know that this site is mainly based in the US, but I’m in the UK and have had a lot of doctors now. Because I’m on the NHS (which is great in a way because I could never afford a doctor) it can be a problem if you move because its worked out by postal code! I started seeing psychiatrists about 6 years ago and am now on i think my 13th or 14th. I meant, even for the UK and moving and stuff, thats quite a lot in a short time!
The first three I saw were in the adolescent outpatient services and were ok. I unfortunately needed more support than they could offer as outpatient so it wasn’t long until I was admitted. I was in a couple of wards for different lengths of time and the longest was 18 months. I think I met my perfect doctor at that time as she was very good at listening to my feelings on everything about my treatment. When they were thinking of changing meds etc they always fully involved me and I felt respected my opinion. They also were very reluctant to diagnose quickly. It was a long time before they settled on whether or not to diagnose me and which diagnoses to give.
After that I’ve seen several more outpatient doctors who I didn’t like and a couple more different inpatient doctors. My last inpatient stay I met my current pdoc who is really good and I’ve continued to see her as an outpatient. She’s brilliant and she seems more relaxed than any previous docs I’ve seen. She’s willing to let me try lower doses of meds etc and to see how it goes rather than to just stick, so that’s brilliant.

I think the thing I find so hard, is that many of the doctors aren’t really willing to change too much if it seems that your functioning. I can see where they’re coming from in that they don’t want to make things worse, but at the same time, I don’t think its fair to leave someone as functioning but not being able to live well! Theres a big difference to me from being well enough to be at home and not in hospital, and actually being able to live my life!

I have a question. If you switch doctors, or you see one years after having had your last psychiatrist who retired, do you have to transfer your charts to the new on? Or can you refuse if you don’t want them to read those charts? And, will they still take you as a patient if you do or refuse?

Where I live, it’s like asking for mercy, or special favors to get an appointment at all even if you have insurance and even if you don’t and offer to pay cash.

You don’t just wait for the doctor to get back to you and which he/she doesn’t but have to wait for a secretary to call you back after leaving a message on the secretary’s answering machine, and which I did twice after a referral, and never got a call back.

One psychiatrist only had available time to see my son but I didn’t do it because he does mostly therapy and I was afraid he would talk my son into regular therapy with him.

I appreciate the response, thanks.

only one in 23 years