Post by jon on Jul 23, 2012 15:37:10 GMT
So... four days after seeing the Clinical Psychiatrist for my area and having a baffling and distressing experience, I get a phone call from my GP.
You see, one of the parts of the consultation that really pissed me off was that she said she was going to put me in for a ton of blood tests and some CBT, which I wouldn't sneeze at... but she basically left me to do it. She just said 'in a few weeks, arrange X' and gave me a huge list of things to get screened for (my family are in medicine, so I knew what some of them were, but no one, ADHD or not, can memorise a list of stuff thrown at them off the cuff,) and then gave me a number to phone for something called 'Primary Care Psychology' which didn't really sound like something that she should have been telling me to just phone.
So anyway, coming out of my appointment I ask the receptionist about getting my bloods done and she says what I expected, which is 'You don't do that...'
Then the doctor phone me. Apparently the psychiatrist 'wasn't familiar' with the procedure for getting blood tests done or referring someone for CBT. At that point I asked whether she (the psychiatrist) would be familiar with the procedure for referring me onto a specialist and she assured me that it would be okay since that whole damn event was a bloody formality, my GP basically admitted that the person I saw knew nothing about ADHD and couldn't even have diagnosed me if she HAD believed in it. And when I say 'basically admitted' I do mean that she said, 'Dr. Jummimümi isn't an ADHD specialist, it isn't really a part of mainstream training in mental health services.'
No judgement, just mildly irritated and feeling slightly vindicated. I wasn't shitty with my GP because she's been completely fine with me about that and other issues all the way along, and let's face it: who hasn't had to cover for a colleague sometimes?
You see, one of the parts of the consultation that really pissed me off was that she said she was going to put me in for a ton of blood tests and some CBT, which I wouldn't sneeze at... but she basically left me to do it. She just said 'in a few weeks, arrange X' and gave me a huge list of things to get screened for (my family are in medicine, so I knew what some of them were, but no one, ADHD or not, can memorise a list of stuff thrown at them off the cuff,) and then gave me a number to phone for something called 'Primary Care Psychology' which didn't really sound like something that she should have been telling me to just phone.
So anyway, coming out of my appointment I ask the receptionist about getting my bloods done and she says what I expected, which is 'You don't do that...'
Then the doctor phone me. Apparently the psychiatrist 'wasn't familiar' with the procedure for getting blood tests done or referring someone for CBT. At that point I asked whether she (the psychiatrist) would be familiar with the procedure for referring me onto a specialist and she assured me that it would be okay since that whole damn event was a bloody formality, my GP basically admitted that the person I saw knew nothing about ADHD and couldn't even have diagnosed me if she HAD believed in it. And when I say 'basically admitted' I do mean that she said, 'Dr. Jummimümi isn't an ADHD specialist, it isn't really a part of mainstream training in mental health services.'
No judgement, just mildly irritated and feeling slightly vindicated. I wasn't shitty with my GP because she's been completely fine with me about that and other issues all the way along, and let's face it: who hasn't had to cover for a colleague sometimes?