Visit the M.D.

I got to have an audience with my psychiatrist yesterday. Actually it turns out I like her, mostly because she kept me waiting for 20 minutes. And I was 10 minutes late, so it sort worked out just right. Anyway, why do I like that my doctor was late getting to me? Because although she works for the HMO machine and seems to be just another cog in the mental health factory, she did what she needed to do to care for a patient. The woman who came out of the doctor's office before I went in was clearly in need of help, and despite the fact that HMO administration believes that all patients need 20 minutes or less with their clinician, Dr. Shrink gave the patient more. Obviously the needy patient's time with M.D. ate into my time, but I had already been planning to make this "med check" as fast as possible so that I could go pick up my kids. My doctor was very apologetic to me when I got into her office, but of course I told her it was no problem.

My doctor is younger than I am. I guess that will happen when you start pushing 40. She is from Pakistan, I think, and does not wear a wedding ring. She wears a long thick braid on the back of her head, and glasses. She is serious, with kind eyes.

I got straight to the point that the sleeplessness is not working for me, and the way my limbs jerk involuntarily when I lie down to rest is troubling to me. I believe these are side effects of the SSRI drug, and I would like to start taking less of it. Doctor agreed that these are signs that I am getting too much of the drug, so we are cutting me back to 30 mg. instead of 40 mg. I was ready to drop to 20 because my mood is stable and anxiety attacks are a thing of the past. I will go with 30, however, and see what happens. Unfortunately this drug takes 6 weeks to take effect, and consequently 6 weeks to decrease in the blood stream. I guess I might be able to stop taking the sominex sometime in mid July. Hope it works!