Psychiatrists in Toronto?

[Nathan]

Fuck, anyone know a good one? I am sick of going to these fuckers only to have them tell me I need to be medicated but then finish with, "But I don't like following through with the procedure for adjusting medication so I won't help. You'll have to see someone else." So I go see someone else and they give me the same bullshit. I'm fucking having
a panic attack as I write this. It's also getting in the way of work - I keep getting into trouble for not working - as well as school, relationships, BBing, etc. This shit has owned me my entire life. Sorry for my lack of stability but I know there are some canadian guys on the board who are medicated. Anyone?

Jeez, reading this over really doesn't sound like me. So, this is actually CYCLEON's post - Nathan just agreed to let me use his username. Anyone buying that?

[Pete235]

Nate...check you PM's bro.

[TNT]

Originally posted by Nathan
I am sick of going to these fuckers only to have them tell me I need to be medicated but then finish with, "But I don't like following through with the procedure for adjusting medication so I won't help. You'll have to see someone else." So I go see someone else and they give me the same bullshit...

I don't know if this is the case in Canada (with its socialized medicine), but here in the States, only psychiatrists can adjust psychotropic medications. (Theoretically, any physician can do so, but it's usually left to those who know them better than anyone else - shrinks.)

Unfortunately, the entire field of mental health has changed over the past several years in the U.S. because of insurance. Psychiatrists used to do counseling, then they stopped doing counseling and simply became medication managers, with psychologists doing the counseling. Now that counselor's are also licensed, psychologists have been relegated to testing and assessment, with the actual counseling being done by LPC's, RPC's, or LMHC's (depending on the state).

Nathan, what you have described sounds like classical panic disorder, possibly with a touch of attention deficit disorder. The most important thing you can do (in addition to medication) is to learn as much about yourspecific diagnosis(ses) as possible - become a proactive patient and take charge of your own treatment in a proactive way. Feel free, as always, to PM me on this - anything we discuss by PM will be kept confidential.

And above everything, realize that you are not alone. If you have not yet done so, try to find a peer support group - even one in cyberspace will help. Because some of the best feedback you will receive will be from others who share the same situation.

[Nathan]

Thanks guys. TNT, I have been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, Type II. That means my cycles are more rapid than someone with Type I, but I imagine you already know this.
In the past, I have done what you have suggested. I have to many docs about this, and have tried several meds which did not help but rather often made matters worse so I gave up on meds for the time being and tried behavioral modification. I have also been diagnosed with OCD, and in high school was completely, well, less than sane. I couldn't do anything normal at all and the behavioral mod really helped. Obviously the OCD is still there but I channel it a bit better to stuff like BBing. Anyway, I thought things were better but didn't really realize for a while that the bi-polar disorder and anxiety were still giving me a lot of problems and making me very anti-social most of the time. I lost it pretty bad again recently for a while and my parents made me see more shrinks which I agreed was a good thing to do. Anyway, so that's where I'm at except that of the shrinks I've seen none will carry through with meds but agree that I need to be on them. I was referred to them by my old family doc and I'm out of referrals. I tried the other docs who I recently saw but they haven't called me back. Thanks again guys. Oh, and one of the docs suggested I get my GP to do the meds which is who my mom gets to do them. I don't have a regular GP in Toronto anymore though.