Pyschotic Pyschiatrist !

[Troy]

It seems my bad luck never ends, recently I ended reporting a Psychiatrist to the medical practioners board for jeaopordising my wellbeing and causing me stress.

Initially I requested my family doctor to send me to a Psychiatrist for some hypnotherapy as I was experiencing severe chest pains and overheating which was interfering with activities outside of home, especially whilst driving a car I would suddenly need to pull aside due to chest pain feeling feverish and and diziness from my POTS and autonomic neuropathy. I've never had any issues with panic attacks, the symptoms were purely physical and direct result of when my symptoms worsened, there was usually no emotion behind the symptoms but it was still taking its toll on my confidence and I needed relaxation and coping techniques to deal with this and to avoid being a threat on the roads for when my symptoms worsened.

The pyschiatrist however refused to accept that an illness such as Dysautonomia ever existed, even when I presented documents from my autonomic specialist and my neurologists the pychologist claimed she had never heard of such an illness and that she was also a professional and she would not accept such bogus jargon from other doctors claiming to be specialists. I told her as pychologist she could not expect to be aware of every illness that exists in an everchanging world . She yelled at me saying that she was a Pychiatrist and NOT a Pyschologist and that there was a difference betwen the two. At that point I realised I was talking to an unstable individual.

She said I had a classical anxiety and panic disorder and nothing more, and prescribed me antidepressants. I tried explaining to her that my past trial with antidepressants only worsens my symptoms and ruins my sleep (which I usually dont have any issues with) and causes me to overheat more severe than usual because they seem to mess up my brain chemicals which are already unstable.

I got real mad and upset at her ignorance, arogance and narrow minded attitude and we started yelling at each other, I left there refusing to pay for the consultation. Later I reported her to the medical board for not helping me despite my efforts to seek help and for further causing me stress and for trying to prescribe me medication that has the potential to make me worse based on her ignorance and wrong diagnosis.

In response to the medical board the pychiatrist now decided to falsely claim that I was a junkie who had gone to her to only demand valium ( benzodiazepam) and when I did'nt get it I had become abusive and violent.

I became even more outraged that this so called doctor could make such false accusations towards me and was allowed to continue treating other patients when she was clearly a dangerous and unstable enough to lie so balatantly to save her own backside. I became even more stressed at the whole situation but luckily my specialists all knew that at an earlier stage in my life when they prescribed me benzodiazapems I had actually had adverse bad reactions to them and had refused to use them.

So I had concrete evidence now to disprove the Psychiatrist.

Then my family began to notice a car surveillancing us everyday for around two weeks in front of our house. My parents became concerned that perhaps unstable doctor was involved and decided that if a doctors is capable of lying to such an extent then they are also possible of more or even harm to me and my family as the Pyschiatrist knew all my personal details and my adress. If I was living on my own I would have persued tthe matter to the end but I now had to consider my familys safety and as a result was forced to drop the matter even though I had strong evidence in my favour I sensed that if I presented it she would cause us harm. But I am still greatly disturbed this unstable Pyschiatrist is allowed to continue practice.

[Ernie]

Hi,

Whenever I file a complaint against the medical community either I don't get anything out of it or it backfires. These doctors have so much power. They are like policemen. Whatever they write in our file is taken as the truth. It is so frustrating to be treated unfairly and not even being able to do something about it.

[EarthMother]

No surprise, I am a firm believer in karma. Which does not mean that I don't take action ... I do. But at the same time there is a deep knowing that every action that happens has a purpose. It may not have a purpose in my life situation, but in the larger picture the role I played was pivotal to the totality. I also trust that no one escapes their own karma and even though you may never see how this plays out, sooner or later it has to catch up with her. And indeed in the story in my mind, I am deeply grateful to you for speaking up in her office, for showing her the facts about dysautonomia and for being brave enough to follow up with a report ... because you have paved the road for compassion and understanding to occur.

Good luck on your healing journey. You are not alone.

~EM

[firewatcher]

I am sorry you found a bad apple!!!

Here in the states we have several websites where the patients grade the doctors for other patients to see (healthgrades, etc.) If you have anything like that there, leave a report!!!! Be as dry and factual as possible. I am still amazed that anyone would have to tolerate this.

[juliegee]

I'm so sorry for what you've been through. This psychiatrist sounds very narrow minded, like she had already made up her mind about what was happening with you before she had all of the facts. I know you realize this by now, but there is a big difference between psychologists and psychiatrists. Psychiatrists are medical doctors M.D.'s, who primarily prescribe medication as opposed to doing therapy. Psychologists are Ph.D's, who specialize in therapy or other treatment forms. They pass you over to psychiatrists when they think medication is warranted. Just because this woman is a medical doctor certainly doesn't mean that she is up to date on every rare disorder out there. Ever heard of the phrase "wounded healer?"

As an aside, my son's doctor at Hopkins strongly believes that ANS patients often have symptoms of anxiety, not due to an emotional weakness, but due to physiological happenings in our body, like sudden drop in BP. the body responds with massive amounts of adrenalin. That feels like anxiety. Nethertheless, it is real. It is physiological. And, you deserve to be compassionately treated, not further harmed and stressed.

I once had a major show down with a psychologist who totally falsified test results on my son's psycho-educational evaluation. I accidentally learned that he reported test scores for tests that Mack NEVER took. He charged us $1,500 for this report and wanted to put Mack on potentially dangerous stimulant type medication based upon his results. He insisted that Mack had ADD, rather than finding his real learning problems. He refused to see my husband or I, so we waited in his waiting room all day until they were closing down and caught him as he was trying to leave. We confronted him with our information and he CRIED, apologized, and refunded our money. Mack was re-tested. No ADD, but a multitude of other issues were found. I struggled with whether or not to report him to the American Psychological Association and in the end didn't. I pray my decision didn't end up herting other children, but I needed to reserve energy at that point and care for myself and my family. I did let Mack's school guidance counselor and principal know about our experience and stop referring to this man.

Ignore the strange car lurking around your home and carry on as a model citizen. Don't let this experience burn you. Follow up with another physician and get the help you need.

Hugs-

Julie

[delphicdragon]

Aha- I see you've met a psychotic psychiatrist. Seems there are a lot of them around, and I've met my fair share. Had one when I was 8 (didn't want to go to school due to an abusive teacher) who promised me that he wouldn't tell my parents what I told him and then promptly did so. Also asked me numerous questions that I refused to answer because I felt they were too personal (and extremely sexual, now that I look back on it) and he informed my parents that I needed to be admitted to a psych ward because I wouldn't answer his questions and was obviously defiant and unstable. My parents asked me what questions he had asked, I told them, and never saw the creep again! He had apparently tried to proposition me, but I didn't know that then. We should have reported him, but my parents decided not to, and they, instead of deciding that I had a problem, decided the school did and things were remedied. He was eventually stripped of his license when it was found he was sleeping with his patients (THIS WAS A CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST).

So many doctors, and psychologists, shouldn't be allowed to practice. It's really scary. And they can do so much physical and psychological harm. It's amazing how many malpractice claims some doctor can have against them, and nothing is done.

Good luck!

Sara

[Troy]

Wow, Im sorry to hear you guys have had some pretty bad run-ins with doctors as well, thanks for sharing your stories with me. Seems as though some of the doctors themselves need a good psychology evaluation before their allowed to start practice.

Thank you everyone for your understanding and support, it means a lot to me, especially when you face an unfair situation in life that makes you feel alone. When other people are allowed to get away with breaking the rules and being unfair you start thinking "am I doomed to be a minority with my morals, have I just stepped into some surreal dimension or alternative reality where my values of fairness and honesty are not shared by the majority anymore".......and lately I keep facing situations that make me feel like that more often especially when its a large group of people who hold unfair views oppose your compasionate values and your outcasted. Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to reason with cold heartless people.

But then as Im losing all hope I hear from people like yourselves who can recognise unfair sutuations and it feels like wow there are still people out there who actually understand me, they share the same morals, values who are compasionate, honest, fair people like yourselves and that it restores my faith in humanity again. Thank you all <3

>EarthMother I share your vies on life exactly as you said. I too believe everything you said about karma and things balancing out eventually in life sooner or later. I also believe even though I did not get full resolution out of this situation to my satisfaction the fact that I complained has caused some awareness and has forced the Pyschiatrist to perhaps re-evaluate her own narrow minded views and how they can jeapordise her own career as a result of patients complaining which in turn will make her more cautious next time a patient asks for help regarding an uncommon issue.

So the next person to consult her could benefit from my actions more than I have, and knowing that I still get some satisfaction that I may have made a difference to the bigger picture. As much as that Psychiatrist refuses to admit it... the amount of fuss caused over this situation would have lead to her looking up the words dysautonomia over the internet to at least see if it was a bogus of an illness as she thought it was, that alone would teach her and make her realise that she should perhaps be more humble as a person in life instead of being so arrogant and all knowing...so maybe there was a life lesson for her in there too, although it was a sacrifice and cost at my own wellbeing to make that difference my actions may have even benefited her life journey to grow and learn as a person too perhaps.

Edited October 25, 2008 by flop

[MomtoGiuliana]

Wow, what a scary and very frustrating experience. Like Ernie said, doctors do seem to wield an awful lot of power and authority. I'm sorry you had to go through this. Hopefully she did learn something, but she does sound unstable, for sure.

The only psychiatrist I ever saw was the most helpful doctor, until I got diagnosed. She determined I was not suffering a mental disorder and was not in need of medication for one, as my ob/gyn and PCP insisted, and she sent this finding to my PCP. So, there are good ones out there, who can be helpful allies.

[Maxine]

I'm so sorry you had to go through such an unpleasent experience. She should know better as a psychiatrist, she should have some knowledge of the ANS, and that dysautonomia is dysfunction of that part of the nervous system.

She obviously has some mental issues, and is not able to appropriately treat her patients. She should be reported to the medical board, as she poses a danger to other patients. This is something that should be on record.

I know what it's like to have a medical professional have unethical bahaviour----------------even psychotic---

I had a nurse stalk me on this forum, and verbally attack me on the phone, and I'll never figure out why. The nurse was from a long trusted physician's office that I have seen since 2001. I was shocked beyond words. Apparently she was trying to discredit me regarding my SSDI. In the end a medical expert FROM SSDI validated all my physical limitations, but I had a bad physical and emotional set back from the whole thing. I filed a formal complaint, and the nurse still works there. Another person filed a formal complaint on the same nurse. I have also talked with many people who had unpleasent experiences with this nurse.

From now on I'll be wiser. I thought I WAS wise, and this exerience changed me into a more cynical person. I know who the nurse is now----at first I couldn't remember her name, but now I do, and I know what she looks like. I'm not sure if she works directly for him now, but I know she works in the building. No one will ever violate me like that again.

I see a psychologist now, and have on and off since being sick with my ANS dysfunction, and other health problems. This should be a place where you can feel safe and get the treatment you need.

Keep your chin up, and don't let this idiot doctor get you down. You have proof, just turn it into the medical board, and don't stress yourself out about it any longer. You do what you need to do to keep yourself from getting more upset about the whole thing.

Remember, "what goes around, comes around".

HUGS,

Maxine :0)

[MelissaCrystal]

My last psychologist -actually- YELLED at me and said I was lazy and wasn't trying hard enough to have a normal life (physically). I was so upset. It caused me to have a panic attack-- that was the last time I saw her. I got a new one, and she was appalled by the last one. No one should put up with a psychiatrist or a psychologist treating you badly. They aren't allowed to do that. Therapy is hard, but what she did was abuse.

[Maxine]

This first psychologist I saw in 2001 was the one who believed how sick I was and tried to suggest different doctors who could help me. I still see her every once in a while, but keep regular appts. with a PhD recommended to me from my ANS doctor who works with chronically ill patients.

He would never think of acting like that psychiatrist. I don't think it's possible for this guy as he is a professional, and he has a heart of gold. Even on days when I go in there overwhelmed and babble on not making any sense, he is such a diplomat about it. He'll put some kind of positive spin on it so he doesn't offend me. This kind of psychologist is a rare find. He knows how tough it is for us, and I know he has seen people much worse off then me, but he makes you feel validated, and that your problems are real regardless on how they might compare to others.

ANS dysfunction is a very difficult thing to deal with, and it's also very hard on the emotions. A lot of us go to many different doctors being accused of being lazy, having a PRIMARY anxiety problem, or that everything is manifested in our minds. That alone can make someone feel emotionally worn.

I'm sick of the ignorance, and that so many different doctors get away with this "God Complex" way of being.

A person walks into their office with hope, and it gets shot down over and over again, until it finally wears a person's spirit away.

Never in my life have I seen such tragedy, as I have witnessed over the last 8 years since my POTs crash.

Maxine :0)