I had a psychiatrist appointment today. I need to start off by stating that I do not particularly like this woman. I do not want to be her patient, but I don’t really have a choice. There are only a few psychiatrists at the clinic I go to, and it is the only clinic that I know of that takes my insurance (and my problems).
It was a rainy day, and crazy people don’t usually go to the MHC during rainstorms. It’s pretty much a given that if the ground is wet, the waiting room will be empty. I got there 15 minutes prior to my appointment. I was in her office within 5 minutes. She asked me if I was bathing regularly. This was kind of an odd question. I told her that I had been. She asked if I realized that I had a body odor. I said no. She asked if I’d had any discharge. (I was getting pissed off.) When I told her no, she acted like I must either be stupid or just didn’t care that I smelled bad. I told her again that I thought this was odd because I take at least 1 shower a day, sometimes more. She asked again about the discharge. I replied that I take multiple showers because it has a calming effect on me. She let the body odor thing go. (Apparently, it was no longer a “serious” issue.)
Next, she started on my weight. This is our general skirmish. She saw in my chart that I’d had gastric bypass surgery. She looked at me and asked when. I told her, and she asked, “Is it normal to weigh as much as you do afterward?” I told her that after 7 years, sometimes things like that happened when the body adjusts and the stoma extends.
The next issue? Why hadn’t I been in so long? I avoided my usual complaints that they don’t call to tell me about my once every 3-6 months appointments because those fall on deaf ears. I stated instead that it had to do with mom’s ankle break. She didn’t understand since her appointments take such a little amount of time. I told her that I had to be driven by my dad.
Why don’t you drive? became the next point of contention. I explained the dizziness when I would drive. She said that was anxiety. I explained that the dizziness happened when I would turn the car. She said that it was anxiety. Um, no. (I have the same issue if I turn when I’m standing, so I think it’s something else.)
She finally got to the point of the appointment where we review the actual psychiatric issues. I told her my mood is relatively stable, which is true as long as I don’t have a headache. She was going to breeze past the psychosis issues, and I stopped her. I told her that I was having issues with thought processing and that I was repeating words and phrases said by me and by others. I was going to tell her that I was mixing up words again, but she just pushed past it. I didn’t particularly appreciate that.
She wrote my prescription and asked if I had had a physical recently. I told her 6 months ago, but that I had blood work that needed to be done. (I still haven’t had my blood work done from the neurologist. I know, I’m all chicken-shit right now.) She asked what for, and I told her that it was for various vitamins and things to evaluate what might cause neuropathy. This is when she made a snarky comment about why she hated how doctors did the surgery, after she first made sure that I actually take my vitamins.
When I got my next appointment scheduled, I went out to the car and asked my dad if I smelled bad. I was a bit concerned. I have certain issues with body image, including the tendency to think that I smell. Now, I know that sometimes people won’t tell you that you smell bad, but if I smelled bad, my parents would tell me. Last time I saw her, she spent so much time harping on my weight that I went home and ate every chance I could.
Either this woman is really one of the most ignorant people in the world, or she’s just some evil bitch.