How Did You Bring Up Your Symptoms To Your Doctor?

[krimson]

I haven't been diagnosed with PTSD but this site has given me courage to make an appointment with my doctor(and keep it!).

I am battling with PTSD symptoms and apparently have been all my life. I've compiled some facts about what happened to me and how my every day life is affected by the symptoms I've been having.

Is anyone willing to share what that first visit is like? I've never admitted to a professional what has happened and fear being judged.

 

[bitterfight_]

I made an appointment with a psychologist, and I brought up having difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep (mostly because of nightmares), and I mentioned being very anxious (in my words I think I said jumpy) and irritable. I brought up my issues with anger, and crying a lot, and that I felt detached from everyone else, and I mentioned the "pop-up" thoughts I was having (ie. intrusive thoughts along with flashbacks). It's hard to really say, of course, because each person is different from one another. I don't always have the same symptoms in each situation or on each day, and it's always changing, but I'm very proud of you for making an appointment with your doctor and keeping it! That's a big first step - it took me 7 years to make that leap. Be as honest with them as you can, and bring up that you're feeling pretty sure that you have PTSD. Your first visit can be a little unnerving, but for me, it was great to finally hear the diagnosis and have a label for all the symptoms I was having. It can be very validating, or at least I found it was. Remember, PTSD is NOT about what's wrong with you, it's about what happened to you, and nobody has the right to judge you or invalidate you on your trauma. Good luck for your appointment! Xx

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Hi,
Are you seeing a psychiatrist or a general practitioner? I think it may make a difference as the former has more training in PTSD than the latter.

My first visit post triggering was in crisis so once I mentioned the flashbacks, the psychiatrist said "I think you have PTSD". After that I started to see an anxiety specialist who confirmed it. But back to the initial visit... I honestly didn't say much as I was visibly in distress. I know I mentioned the flashbacks and the insomnia and anxiety episodes.

I'm sure others will have more constructive feedback on how to bring it up when not in crisis mode.

 

[krimson]

@Solara I'm seeing my family doctor as getting a counsellor involves me having to call a 'qualifier' and talk about what happened over the phone which makes me extremely uncomfortable so I want to seek another avenue hoping I can just get a referral that way. My doctor has seen me in distress as well but attributed it to anxiety as I haven't come forward about what happened yet

 

[Changing4Best]

A lot of it depends upon the therapist or psychiatrist. If they have a good manner about them and make it easy for you to communicate with them, all will go well. They are in the business of making folks comfortable and making it easy for folks to open up to them. They learn how to do this in their training, so relax, and remember, the more details you can impart to them, the better chance of your being treated in the way that will best suit your needs and help you to get better. So tell it all! I tell you from my experiences, and they have all been pretty good.

 

[franciemarnie]

I just want to add to the good advice given already that your condition will be judged, not you. Whoever did something to you - they will be judged, and not by just the doctor someday.

Only say what you feel comfortable saying. Try to step back and see it as a case study of symptoms maybe.

Feel free to preface to the doctor that you fear being judged. If you get a bad vibe from him or her, move on to another. You are number one.

 

[Echo]

If you are in the UK and seeking help from your GP, go along, list your symptoms, maybe say you were abused or raped or whatever you think the cause may be (without giving details), and ask to be referred to a specialist who can properly diagnose you. Your GP is unlikely to be in a position to do so. And because he/she cannot diagnose you, he/she has no business to be judging you. I can't say my experience with the original GP was particularly helpful. She was more shocked than anything, but I did eventually get a referral. It took months and, in fact, has resulted in a diagnosis, but no help. The whole NHS procedure is agonisingly slow. I was desperate in the end and sought private professional help. In fact, my original diagnosis (with which the NHS subsequently agreed) came from the rape trauma psychotherapist I found for myself. It is a huge struggle to find the money to see her, since I can barely work, but I am so glad I have. She works as a sensorimotor psychotherapist, which is a gentle way to deal with rape trauma, and doesn't involve talk therapy so much as is a body-centred approach.

 

[Meadowsweet]

For me it was a horrendous, desperate and ultimately the best and bravest thing I've ever done.

I'd had breakdown after breakdown, and picked myself up, quite often by getting away from the trigger - all friends who knew my attacker and did nothing, but try to minimize and push it back under the rug.

I was terrified that the GP would tell me I should be over it and that I was mad, and didn't deserve help and I should get over it. So I was conflicted between what abuse had taught me, and this voice that said that I had to get help before I really was unable to be a mother.

So I sat in the waiting room, and was in such a state that I thought my legs wouldn't move, or that I'd break down in the waiting room and everyone would see that I was mad. For days I'd thought about how I would explain it to my GP. You walk into a GP and they smile and ask "what can I help you with"... what do you say? "my mind isn't working properly, can you fix it please"?

As it happened, I was in such a state by the time I got to the GP, that I managed something like 'I was attacked and can't stop thinking about it' and by that time I was shaking uncontrollably, teeth chattering, unable to think straight or breathe or speak properly.

But she didn't lock me away or tell me I was a bad person/ She didn't tell me I shouldn't waste her time, didn't deserve help or that I should just get over it. She asked some questions (that I can't remember) and said that it was clearly distressing me, and she asked "what do you think would help you?" It was like for the first time in my life, someone asked me what I needed to help me, rather than tell me what I should do to make myself better. I said that I thought i needed to talk about it, and she said "I think you do too". Then she asked me if I wanted something to calm me down right away, and explained the process of referral.

.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

I was so terrified and I was sweating like crazy. I just got out what I could. Had a series of therapists. It is so hard to start over but it is important to get a therapist that helps you to cope with everyday symptoms. I wish you well.

 

[fly away home]

I went to my GP for jaw clenching and muscle tension it was purely for the physical pain I was in. Luckily my GP specialised in mental health and she gently started to ask questions about my past and present until she asked if I had heard of PTSD. I had a deep background feeling that this was the case because of my nightmares (which I had never told anyone about and wasn't planning on having them brought up at the doctors). She referred me to a psychiatrist and a psychologist.

I doubt any other GP would have been so astute. I would never have discussed what I did and most would just prescribe medication.

 

[Echo]

I don't want to upset @krimson, but it was also the most terrifying thing I had done to date. Once my memories of child abuse also emerged and I had to speak about that to a psychiatrist, I think that superceded the experience.

When I told my doctor that I had been raped 30 years previously and was now suddenly experiencing symptoms, I'm afraid she didn't really believe that that was possible. She has never demonstrated a willingness to understand PTSD (I swapped doctors in the practice in the end, which was marginally better.). I asked the first doctor for a sick note and she agreed to give me one for two weeks but no longer because she said she didn't want me to malinger (grrr!). She was a woman in her late 40s, and I have to say I was stunned by the lack of protocol or any useful advice. Her first question was whether I had had sex since then. Quite honestly I couldn't see the relevance. Anyway, I had to go back and insist that I needed help. I was then allowed six sessions with a counsellor in the practice, but it took months to get to see her and then the sessions were very far apart.

Eventually, the flashbacks and all other symptoms were getting very bad and I had started to remember child abuse. I broke down eventually in front of the counsellor and she discharged me as someone outside of her competency. The practice did nothing for me then. That was when I swapped doctors and she started to try and get me a referral. She was only interested in getting me EMDR, which is not available in this county on the NHS. Cue lots of time-wasting, including her having a long discussion with someone in the head trauma dept of the local hospital (!!!!), before she began to understand. I had originally gone to the doctors in very early February. It wasn't until late Sept/early Oct that I finally got to see a psychiatrist, who referred me with more time-wasting and lost paperwork to a psychologist. I had to fight all the way, which I found utterly distressing and exhausting.

The end result was to be told that the NHS had nothing to offer me, since my symptoms meant I was in too sensitive a condition to undertake CBT or trauma-focused CBT (in other words, talk therapies just utterly retraumatise me). I have never been as dissociated as I was when I exited the psychologist's office.

I think you can see why I chose out of desperation to go private. Wow, if I had known this option existed, I would have gone straight to this wonderful woman right at the start. She charges £45 per session and I see her weekly. She is helping me enormously.

The NHS meanwhile are still debating over a year later as to whether they might find exceptional funds to pay for my treatment.

I SOOOOO hope you get better treatment that this. I know other people on this forum who have had better experiences with the NHS. But I do want to say, if you can afford it in any way (and I am scraping it together), please don't forget other options. If your trauma relates to sexual abuse or rape, please don't discount seeking help from the rape charities or MIND. They can often offer appropriate help for very little money (a donation based on your ability) or for free. Don't let the NHS drive you insane and give up hope.

Like me, you deserve help and I hope you don't have to fight for it.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

@Echo is right in that delayed onset PTSD isn't as widely known about, and people have their doubts when you say your trauma is surfacing decades after the fact.