Embarrassed to go to the doctor

[Nevex]

Stay away from psychologists, their only purpose in society is stealing your money.
The best psychologist is yourself. Take your time and think about what can make you feel better.

[rog]

Stay away from psychologists, their only purpose in society is stealing your money.
The best psychologist is yourself. Take your time and think about what can make you feel better.

That's a lot harder than you think if you get really depressed. Trying to do anything you're not forced to do can be nearly impossible. Might not be terrible advice for the OP in specific since his depression doesn't seem that bad, but depression can easily snowball out of control, to the point where all you'll do is sleep 20 hours per day. You have no fucking clue what serious depression is like.

[Amelya]

Call your doctor, tell them you've been feeling very depressed lately and that it's starting to affect you at work and that you'd like to see the doctor to see if there's anything wrong health wise. Trust me, you're not the first person they've heard this from. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Your doctor will most likely refer you to a psychologist who you can talk to.

Personally I'm not against anti-depressants; if your mental health is impacting your work than you may actually need the help. If you're a competent, normal human being a low dose anti-depressant is highly unlikely to "fuck up your life permanently", that's just ridiculous IMO. Discuss the pros and cons with your doctor and make an informed decision based on your life and your needs, not a bunch of random people's opinions on the internet.

[notorious bum]

People on here claiming they experts on this psuedo-science shit. You can't treat the symptom unless you know the underlying problem. Any of those drugs will simply cover it up and leave your ass worse off than what you started with.

Being damn near homelss for practically 3yrs and in poverty for the rest of my brief life means depression is always there and probably always will be every-now and then, even if I do start making cake.

Its true, you are the only one that can keep yourself in check. Family and friends can help, but ultimately you need to man that shit up or be prepared to bring others down with you and your gloomy, emo, pussy ass mood swings. I'm speaking from the heart man.

Do what ever you can to break up the monotony in your life, read some dope books, learn some tai chi, etc. Don't go marathoning on some videogames by yourself either, avoid that hermit shit, it will do you no good!

edit: to the OP, do yourself a favor and google some shit on SSRI's and I guarantee you will be terrorified at the end of the day if you aren't already. There is nothing clinical about these placeebos that get pushed through the trials with no explanation other than a corrupt drug/healthcare industry(shocker)

[Kerberoz]

Pot is more effective than most antidepressants.

Getting a hobby you enjoy and not sulking is even more effective.

[rog]

People on here claiming they experts on this psuedo-science shit. You can't treat the symptom unless you know the underlying problem. Any of those drugs will simply cover it up and leave your ass worse off than what you started with.

Being damn near homelss for practically 3yrs and in poverty for the rest of my brief life means depression is always there and probably always will be every-now and then, even if I do start making cake.

Its true, you are the only one that can keep yourself in check. Family and friends can help, but ultimately you need to man that shit up or be prepared to bring others down with you and your gloomy, emo, pussy ass mood swings. I'm speaking from the heart man.

Do what ever you can to break up the monotony in your life, read some dope books, learn some tai chi, etc. Don't go marathoning on some videogames by yourself either, avoid that hermit shit, it will do you no good!

No one is saying everyone should take anti-depressants.

For mild depression, that's great idea. You're right, everyone suffers some occasional depression. It's not a big deal, nothing to really worry about too much.

However, if it becomes a problem, it just starts snowballing pretty easily. Depression can easily kill any motivation you have to do anything, which is why people often sleep 15-18+ hours per day while depressed. This just reinforces itself, ie if a friend calls, and asks if you want to hang out, you don't feel like it, so you say no, then later you realize you're laying in bed doing nothing, when you could be out having fun, which makes you more depressed, etc. Anti-depressants can help a lot to get you out of that cycle.

If you can get over it yourself, then great, do that. But if you can't, SSRIs are an excellent option for many people.

[synistar]

If you have health insurance, go see a damn therapist. I'm in that same boat where I have yelled at my supervisor for being a complete douche. It's a high stress work environment where upper management won't do crap to fix anything.

The hardest thing is admitting you have a problem to a complete stranger. The thing is they won't force you to do anything. They are really there to just listen. They are not supposed to give advice. They can suggest indirect ways to make you cope or improve but they won't shove anything down your throat.

I have been seeing one for the past year on and off. The hardest part is admitting you have a problem. If you have health insurance, go find a therapist. You don't even need to give a reason to the therapist/receptionist of why you need to setup an appointment since it is confidential.

[Weiing]

A lot of people can't do it alone. I mean, they can't "man up and deal with it" by themselves. It's completely normal to have these feelings and be scared as to what to do. It's completely okay.

Depression is on a spectrum. This could be transient or from something that's been going in your life...or a culmination of multiple things. I don't know; the other posters on this thread don't know (especially those who say you should man up and take care of it yourself).

It's ok...don't be afraid to call a professional up. That is what they're there for. There's a lot of strength and insight I see in you just from recognizing that you do need help, now just take it.

Psychiatrists are MDs that are able to prescribe antidepressants. If you feel that is what you need.... I'm not a big proponent of medication over actual therapy, but I think some people may need antidepressants, but only when used in conjunction with therapy. I think the best therapist (honestly...even though I may be biased because I am a social worker) is someone with a LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker). LCSWs aren't like Psychiatrists/Psychologists who just consider your mental health, but LCSWs also consider the person in environment--so they really look into what's going on in your life, too. So if your depressive symptoms (notice how I'm not saying you're depressed?) are due to some environmental sources, they could explore that with you. The only things social workers can't do are prescribed Rx and give you a battery of tests (such as Beck Depression Inventory).

edit: Don't be afraid though--everything is confidential. We are bound by that, except if you have thoughts of harming yourself/others or there is evidence of child or adult abuse.

[Venga]

Personally agree with the hobby approach. It may just be you want something new or exciting in your life?

[clobetasol]

masturbate

[arus2001]

I still shake my head at the time my parents sent me to a shrink when I was younger. Ultimately, at that time I was "down" due to a lack of friends, freedom to do things (didn't get an allowance), and the general family bullshit of being the only boy with three sisters (Remotely physical chore? You bet I was tasked to it while they sat on their asses watching TV.). They tried to medicate me, took for a few days, but stopped since I felt no different. Confronted the shrink about where I might find people with similar interests to my own or to get some level of fairness in family life, but they were stumped. I refused to go after that.

I still have my down times, but as someone who doesn't enjoy the bar/club scene while living in a somewhat rural area with tight finances, I know my social options are somewhat limited. Were it not for the net, I probably would've gone loony to some degree, though.

[Ksandra]

fwiw here's my thoughts on this:

Don't be scared to seek help. There will always be people who had situations where it didn't work for them, but it does work for others. You need to go for yourself at least once to see if it's right for you or not. I'd say if you've tried to fight it and feel at a lost then there is no harm in seeking other options. I'll give my mom as an example. She has issues with anxiety that grew over the years. When I was young, she couldn't drive over bridges so we had to take back roads to get everywhere. Until I was about 14 I barely knew what the upstairs of our mall looked like because it had open floors in the center and she couldn't walk up there. For years it was like this and got worse and worse, but she didn't want to go to get help because of that idea "they just take your money and hide the problem rather than fixing it," etc. etc.

It got so bad though that finally my dad got her to talk to someone. They did give her medicine for her anxiety and she's 10x thousand times better. In the end, she admits now that sometimes it's better to suck it up and get help so that way you can move on with your life. She's able to do so much more now, and has a lot less stress in her life.

Granted anxiety =/= depression so the medicines may not react the same way, but I think the point still stands. It may not work for you, but it could, and the best way is to just realize there's nothing wrong with giving it a shot to see.

[Weeks]

Again, listen to your doctor, not some guy from the internet who isn't qualified to give you advice.

[rog]

Again, listen to your doctor, not some guy from the internet who isn't qualified to give you advice.

Random guys on the internet are a good place to find out what your basic options are. If he doesn't know better than to make a final decision based on what we say, he deserves what he gets.

[Weeks]

No. I avoid these medical topics for the most part, but from what little I've seen the advice is almost uniformly terrible. "Go demand an MRI for your back pain." "Don't let your doctor put you on medicine for mood disorders that are effecting your career." Truth be told, I think most doctors are pretty bad at their jobs, but even the bad ones are worlds better at it than random advice.

[kuronosan]

Again, listen to your doctor, not some guy from the internet who isn't qualified to give you advice.

Yea, cause random guy from the internet probably isn't a doctor, amirite?

As memory serves me, we have at least 2 here on BG, plus another 2-3 (such as myself) that are actually in the medical field.

I also took a ton of psychology courses during my undergrad.

Not everyone is random dipshit#4.

[Weeks]

I know of a couple of people early in medical school, and no, you should not value the medical advice of a med student or someone "in the medical field" over the advice of your actual doctor.

I would hope that any physicians here would know better than to give any advice other than "Go see your doctor and do what he says."

[rog]

No. I avoid these medical topics for the most part, but from what little I've seen the advice is almost uniformly terrible. "Go demand an MRI for your back pain." "Don't let your doctor put you on medicine for mood disorders that are effecting your career." Truth be told, I think most doctors are pretty bad at their jobs, but even the bad ones are worlds better at it than random advice.

Hence good for figuring out options. Listening to the actual advice is silly.

[clobetasol]

don't go see a shrink, relax to take your mind of whatever is bothering you.

[Mistress Stowastiq]

Note: This is not a livejournal.com or facebook.com or whatever post. This is a I need help getting help type of post.

Lately I have been noticing that I have been having mood swings (Happy then sad then depressed type of thing) and have been very depressed from time to time. I really don't like talking about it to my family or friends and have completely left it to myself to get help with this because I am embarrassed about it but with that being said I am even more embarrassed to talk to a complete stranger (like a doctor) about it most of this is because I have no clue how to set up an appointment or what to say during the appointment (yes I have thought ahead this far). I notice my emotions bleeding into my professional work life and this is why I am starting to want help with it as I deal with customers a lot.

Suggestions on how to tell a receptionist about this issue as well as a doctor are highly appreciated.

I really hate to say this but...
Please help I really need it.\

Edit: I have no thoughts of suicide.

Baby, never feel bad about asking for help. There are people, like me for instance who actually give a damn and will say so.

I hope you take this seriously and don't trip on the doctor or even the receptionist because that is what they deal with daily. Nothing you say will phase them because they have heard it before and know what to do in the odd chance that they have not. They will likely ask you if you have or plan to hurt yourself, explain how you feel about that.

As far as the receptionist. Ask exactly what you asked here. Print out the message just in case you don't know how to say it. Emphasize that you are not suicidal but regardless, you still consider it urgent.

They like pro-active people who address these issues before they get too dire. Doing it now is good.


At Docs office with receptionist:
Example 1. "Hello, I need to set an appointment but I am very uncertain about how to do this. It is urgent and important. I am uncomfortable discussing personal matters with anyone and really need help with this, can I call/speak to the nurse or doctor so that I can understand what kind of appointment I need?" Receptionist will ask you what it is regarding, repeat the above with emphasis on the bold.

It is important that you start the conversation with the fact that you are:

A. Uncomfortable speaking with people about personal things. [Bold type above defines that part of the conversation]

B. Need help asap but are not familiar with the process of doing so. [First part of example 1 defines this part of the conversation.]

C. Tell them that you have never done this before and need instructions on how to do it.

As long as you are very consistent with telling whoever you talk to that you are VERY shy about this issue and it is getting in the way of your ability to convey the message, there eventually will be some one in the office who knows how to handle this situation. Once you let them know that you are shy, it establishes that they need to consider it before addressing your other concerns.

As long as you insist that you get the help you need and polite with patience, repeating the bold type above, the receptionist will know what to do and get you some one who does know how to help you.

It is their job to know these things, lots of people are embarrassed about this kind of thing. I know this because I am the same way with docs.


Once you get to the nurse or doc, again explain that you are exceptionally shy about this and need special help with the way to talk about it.


Worse case scenario, if you are not getting help from some one who is being sensitive to your individual needs for help, Ask for the office manager. Once you get that mgr, you repeat the above example1. If all else fails, print out your post from this thread and show it to them. Your post is VERY easy to understand and it gets to the point very well.

The fact that you are talking about it, making an active choice to do something about this is wonderful. It is a sign that you are going to be ok because you are actually making a choice in doing something about what is important to you. Be persistent with this choice and do not give up until you get the help that you need.


And a tip, if doctor offers medication please ask about getting counseling to go along with the medication because medication alone does not necessarily resolve an issue, especially if the issue is not chemical. [chemical meaning some mental illness is due biological structures that medication can balance or counter]

Counseling can help with these things, sometimes just talking about it helps.

Nothing worse than a doc who prescribes meds and no counseling or schedule to resolve the issue without/in addition to the meds. I say this because often counseling helps you learn to get yourself out of the habits that caused the depression to begin with and depending on meds alone without that help, is sometimes not enough.

If the doc offers meds, don't forget to ask about counseling or alternative treatment.

Best of luck!