Dr appointment for mental health HELP

[Mbmb92]

Hello

I have a Dr appointment booked tomorrow to see my GP because I have been depressed lately and a phone counsellor thought it may be worth seeing one to discuss my options at home. I am not even sure I’ve done the right thing and seeing my normal GP or should I have booked it with someone who has training in MH?

I am interested in knowing what information I should bring with me that will help guide the appointment because I’ll probably freeze on the spot. I’m thinking of writing some notes to help remind me of things.

In general what can I expect to happen in this appointment? Is it uncommon to be prescribed antidepressants this early in the piece?

thanks for your help

S

[james1]

Hello there S,

Welcome to the forums. I am very pleased to meet you because you've taken a really big step in booking an appointment, and I understand you are feeling quite confused about whether you've done the right thing or what to even expect.

To answer your first question, you have absolutely done the right thing by seeing your normal GP. GP's are also trained to assist and are often the best way to help you understand your options. While there are further professionals who specialise in mental health, it may not be necessary to go to them straight away and your GP can help you better understand the pros and cons of doing so. Also, GPs are able to provide a 'mental health care plan' which provides a number of subsidised sessions with a specialist.

In terms of how to prepare and what to expect, a lot of that will come down to your particular doctor but more than likely, they'll chat to you about how you are feeling, your history with mental health and they may give you a little questionnaire to fill out which gives an indication of your depression, stress and anxiety levels. They may prescribe antidepressants as well, but that is something to talk to your GP about.

It is not supposed to be a confronting experience, but I understand your concern and a lot of people also mention feeling a little uncomfortable because it's difficult to talk about our issues. So I think your idea about writing some notes will be really helpful because, even if you can't verbalise them in person, you can show them and have them read it.

Feel free to let us know how it goes. I'd love to hear back from you.

James

[Mbmb92]

Hi James

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my original post - appreciate it.

I read it before I went to the appointment which made me feel much better as I went in today. I found that writing a timeline of events/feelings associated was much easier, because I did freeze up a little before I said "you know what, I wrote it down, would you like to read it?" - and I was grateful that he read the WHOLE two pages.

We set up a Mental Health Plan, I did a K-10 and I have been referred to a psychologist as he believed I have anxiety & depression. He said he didn't like prescribing medicines on the first visit, which is OK. I think I was just after a 'quick-fix', so I can appreciate that.

It was a little overwhelming at first, especially because he has been my GP my whole life and haven't discussed ANYTHING like this with him before. But now I am relieved it's over... I made a deal with myself back in Dec that if after Christmas I was still feeling down, that I would see someone... it took 3 months but I got there. That was probably the easy part... 🙂

Thank you so much again.

S

[james1]

Hello S,

Well done! It's interesting to hear that you'd made a deal with yourself back then and I'm glad you have been able to keep to it.

It sounds like the appointment went quite well and I hope you feel a little bit better in terms of having a plan to work with from now. It sounds like he's quite a good GP to have taken the time to read the two pages, but I think that just shows that he does care about you and how you are feeling. That is probably something good to keep in mind, because it can often be easy to forget that people do care about us when we are feeling particularly down.

Anyway, good on you!

James

[Nurse_Jenn]

Hi Mbmb92,

It was so great to see the result of your appointment with your GP and that writing down things help. I often recommend this a strategy for people but don't always get to hear how it worked.

Congratulations for taking your health and putting it at the top of your priority list. This is hard to do when your not feeling your best and I commend you for getting to your GP appointment and getting your healing journey started. Visiting a GP that you have known your whole life is especially tough.

Way to go!

Nurse Jenn

[mocha delight]

Hi mbmb92 I typed up & printed out a list of symptoms/signs of depression I have which I then handed straight away to my gp before anything was said other then the normal greetings whenever I have an appointment with her. Then she asked about family history which I only got to one side plus there’s only one cousin of mine that’s been diagnosed with bipolar 1 & depression the others family members who may have some form of depression is just a strong guess and not been diagnosed with depression that I know of. Then my gp she gave me the option of antidepressants & see a psychologist or just the antidepressants which I like how she took into consideration what option I wanted to go with but now I wish I had gone with the option of antidepressants & seeing a psychologist (this all happened the week before covid 19 was even first mentioned). So she recommended only half a antidepressant at first to seek how I go on it at first at what started of as a weeks trial. Second week as it went well and I only got 2 very minor side effects in the first week (a slightly dry throat and feeling like I’d had to much coffee/sugar) then my gp told me to go to the full tablet and now as of today it’s the start of my fourth week on the antidepressant tablet (first time I’ve ever been on a antidepressant tablet in my life) with weekly phone appointments with my gp checking in on how I’m going.