I had a doctors appointment yesterday; my repeat prescription slip for my beta blockers, used of course to try and keep away panic attacks, had that annoying warning message on it: "You must see your doctor so you can keep your repeats going, otherwise the men in white coats will come and take you away." Usual waste of time, I thought.
So I made an appointment, which I thought was going to go something along the lines of:
Dr: Hello.
Me: Hi
Dr: Terrible weather again!
Me: I know, typical British summer.
Dr: Yes. How can I help?
Me: My prescription is running out of repeats.
Dr: Oh, ok. I will update the system for you.
Me: Thanks
[Prints off new slip]
Me: Thanks
Dr: OK, bye.
Me: Bye.
Well worth an afternoon off work, I'm sure you'll agree. You know when you start talking about the weather you're in trouble, and that's considering part of my day job is to deal with impacts of weather.
However, I had forgotten that, in a previous appointment, I told my doctor that I was undertaking CBT via Anxiety UK. I think I wanted to keep him up to date even though I'm not totally convinced of his knowledge of mental health issues. He's not dismissive though, which I suppose is the main thing. Anyway, so instead of the above conversation, it went something like this.
Dr: Hello.
Me: Hi
Dr: Terrible weather again!
Me: I know, typical British summer.
Dr: Yes. How can I help?
Me: My prescription is running out of repeats.
Dr: Oh, ok. I will update the system for you.
[All rather familiar up to this point]
Dr: Have you finished the CBT sessions now?
Me: Oh...[surprised for a split second as I forgot I mentioned it]... yes a few weeks back.
Dr: How did they go?
Me: OK thanks, had getting on for 40 sessions and they have certainly helped me re-evaluate things and move on with my life.
Dr: That's great. Remind me where you got CBT from?
Me: Via the charity Anxiety UK.
Dr: Ah yes... What process do you have to go through?
[I then explained a bit about what I did, how Anxiety UK helped and the outcomes]
Dr: OK. I will have to do some research on Anxiety UK! It'll certainly be worth me bearing them in mind the next time I have a patient who comes to me with anxiety!
Me: Yes definitely!
[More conversation re medication, explained below]
Dr: Here's your repeat slip.
Me: Thanks. Bye.
Dr: Bye
Was that genuine interest expressed by an NHS doctor? I believe it was! He is a good doctor and a genuine person, so I hope that he is true to his word and does recommend Anxiety UK to others who are in a position to consider them an option.
The bigger picture from a personal point of view, is that we also agreed that I would begin reducing my medication dosage. I've been on the beta blockers for ages now, but I have come off them in the past so I'm looking to do the same again though. The health anxiety is starting to kick in of course, as I look for any bodily changes that may or may not occur... but I know it's something that I want and need to do. I'll let you know how it goes!
Best wishes
Al
Hi again Al :) ... Ive been looking through your blog archive and just came across this post. I've never had any therapy for my anxiety, well tell a lie I had a few sessions of CBT about 8 years ago now *im 28* but I didnt really feel that is was worthwhile as the one the guy doing it gave the impression that he didnt fully know what he was doing and secondly I was suffering with Agoraphobia due to the anxiety and he only wanted to focus on the agoraphobia even though the underlying problem was the anxiety which was causing it. Anyway getting back to the point I wondered if you could tell me how you got your CBT via anxiety uk? Ive only just come across the site via reading your posts so know very little about it but was wondering if I could possibly get help the same way. Thanks again Matt.
ReplyDeleteHi Matt, from what I remember (it was a while ago now!) you basically ring up the Anxiety UK helpline (08444 775 774) and request the therapy you want. They may ask a couple of questions about the anxiety there and then but it was a fairly painless process to what seemed like quite a daunting thing to do initially. They then take your email address and send you some form(s) to fill in. A few things to bear in mind, (1) the therapy will cost you and if it's the same as when I did it, how much it costs depends on total household income. (2) It may help to become a member of Anxiety UK as that will also give you access to their resources etc, but again that will cost. (3) Something that may help (and something that I received) is that they also offer webcam therapy, which I found to be as effective as face to face. There isn't a therapist within 15 miles of where I live, so this was the best option, plus at the time I was struggling to travel any distance. I think you have to specify if you want this on the forms they send. After I filled mine out, it was only 2 weeks til my first session; the therapist phones you and arranges your first appointment. The only other thing I would say is you may want to speak to your GP first; they may not help but, as mine did, they wrote a referral for me which strengthened my case for having therapy with AUK. Your therapist will ask whether you've seen your GP anyway I would imagine. Hope this helps, let me know how you get on! Cheers, Al.
ReplyDeleteOk il try that. Thanks Al. Im a student at the moment *yep at 28 : / * lol. So im not sure how that would work for me in terms of how much it would cost me but im going to look into it! Thanks again :)
ReplyDelete