Last week I came off Mirtazapine immediately after my psychiatrist told me to. I knew of the sedative effect but then having not taken mirt in the evening about 10 days ago I realised that I could pee much easier in the morning. Previously it had been extraordinarily difficutl. Obviously this is something that one notices immediately. I emailed my psychiatrist and he iimmediately told me to come off. I have been taking 15 mg and I did not taper off. I have just stopped takin them. I should stress that my psych is clearly happy with my progress such that he has said that if I feel I need it I can just go to my GP for an anti-depressant.
That comes to the question of my GP - he is supposed to be a general practitioner. That iss he takes general care of me - he is not an expert in psychiatry. But I don't now have a care-coordinator from the hospital, he is supposed to perform that role. Yet when not so long ago I went to him about mirt I think it was, possibly commenting about its sedative effect. he said that that was what my psych had prescribed and, looking at me terribly sincerely at me he said that he couldn't do anything about it. Well, my sister is a GP and Idon't recall if she had advised me so, but I looked back at him and asked to put something in my notes which he did so reluctantly.
If the GP doesn't write anything about it, the psych won't know. I assume that then my psychiatrist can look at my GP's notes and see this. Can someone clarify this for me?
What I do know is that when my psych writes to my GP after my meeting with him, the psych faxes him. 1 Why can't he email my GP? 2 Why can't he attach the letter to my patient notes in the practice from his PC? I thught that the hospital were able to see my GP's notes and vice versa. I do know that when I have been to the Intermediate Treatment Hosp they haven't been able to see my GP/hospital notes.
Going back to the problem with peeing - am I right that this is a male problem - I have reported this on a number of occasions to my GP. Once he tested my prostate which is the obvious source of such a problem. He reported that it didn't seem too large implying that there wasn't any point doing anything about it for the time being. I have been off mirt for about 2 weeks now and I haven't thought another thing about my peeing problem. I don't need to tell you that once something like that has gone away it is difficult to imagine the difficulty that I was in previously.
As I say the GP is a generalist but he should be looking out for such things. Now one is able to look up such things on the Internet fortunately,
For a long whike I have been having problems with general aches and pains - the sort of things that one gets as one gets older. I was getting cramps in my back/thigh area such that I had difficulty getting up from my bed in the morning. I have suddenty realised that I have no more backpains. It is really miraculous. Even the stiffness in my neck has almost gone. I can turn my neck almost without any twinges.
This was causing such a problem that I have been given a referral to a physio. I will take up the appointment but it looks as though I won't need it. In fact, this was proving such a problem that my sister, the GP. had suggested that I should see an orthopaedic or nerve specialist.
So much for joined up treatment. I have come to the conclusion that my GP is a waste of space. Fortunately he has a junior partner who seems more thorough. I have come to the conclusion that my GP just wants a cushy life. He treats conservatively - which means less work for him. On one occasion when I was less well my sister actually had to ring him up to suggest a particular treatment to him. He was reluctant to do so. I now sometimes say when I see him, that my sister said etc and that does move him. Pity the porr person who doesn't have a relation who is a doctor. Another realtion said that if he refers to the hospital then this comes out of his budget.
But I am not going to change doctors at the moment which I have thought about. If I go to a new GP they will not know about me - I will be having to explain my history and the doctor might not be any better, Unfortunately people with psychiatric problems are probably not given the respect that general patients receive so that any comments are not treated with the degree of seriousness that they would be given otherwise.
Finally I am 60. One reads that there is a problem with middle-aged men not taking their health seriously. Well, there also seems a problem, certainly in the case of my GP, of not taking the health of this middle-age man seriously.
There are a number of other things I don't understand about my GP.