Access to psychiatrist Birmingham

[vxa2]

Has anyone got experiece of getting an appointment with an NHS psychiatrist in Birmingham ? I have been seeing someone privately and tbh my reationship with him has completely broken down. My GP is making a NHS referral but has said that I might not be offered an appointment until I have had counselling or mindfulness or similar (something I think is called Healthy Minds). She is going to try and avoid this as I am already having CBT privately and am already at the point of having a psychiatrist.

Has anyone else been through this and if so, how did you find it ? I think I need to prepare myself for a bit of a rocky path ahead.

[NanaNina]

Sounds like you have depression - same here, recurring depressive disorder, with recurring being the operative word! I am in secondary care (so have a CPN and see a psychiatrist on a frequent basis) but there has been several changes of psychiatrists and the last one (who was really nice) left at the end of September and now there is a locum but he's leaving next month. However none of the drugs seem to be doing any good - this year has been horrendous. I was on the point of having ECT but changed my mind at the 11th hour as the psychiatrist hadn't really told me about the possibility of memory loss. They have now added lithium.

I have an appointment to see a psychiatrist in Birmingham but not on the NHS although she does do NHS work. It's taken months to get the appointment because she was not really happy to see me as I was already seeing a psychiatrist in the NHS and her PA and I seemed to misunderstand each other!

I have had CBT and counselling but they haven't done any good. I am at my wit's end and don't imagine this psychiatrist can help but it's worth a try. I live near Birmingham. I'll PM you the details as I don't want to put her name on here, although she does have a website.

[vxa2]

Thanks for replying Nana. I have anxiety more than depression at the moment but have had long term issues with both. I am currently off all medication because I decided to stop but I can feel myself becoming unwell again and my GP does not want to prescribe anything new as I have already tried citalopram and venlafaxine with risprirdone and then quetiapine which have not worked. My exisiting psychiatrist has been really unhelpful and does not like that I stopped taking the medication - surely I can't be the first patient not to have done as they are told !

I would be interested to know the details of who you are seeing. I have also seen a female psych privately for several appoiuntmernts but I fell out with her too.

[NanaNina]

Can I ask you when seeing private psychiatrists, do you have to pay for the prescriptions. I am over 65 so don't normally pay for prescriptions, but think I might have to, if this psych does prescribe anything. I am on Sertraline and Mirtazapine and now lithium. I was on Venlafaxine for a short time but it more or less stopped me sleeping. It's more depression with me than anxiety, which seems to be getting worse as I get older. I'll let you know how I get on.

[vxa2]

Yes you do have to pay and I was really worried about it especially as I don't pay for prescriptions normally. You have to pay for the cost of the items and I was surpised at how inexpensive it was. I paid £4.95 for my venlafaxine and another time a similar amount for diazepam - so less than the cost of an NHS prescription. I suppose some items would be more expensive. I took it to a normal pharmacy.

On other times the psychiatrist wrote down what I needed and my GP wrote the prescription.

I thought that the psychaitrist might charge me for actually writing the prescription but he didn't.

Hope that helps.

[NanaNina]

Thanks. I don't think the psychiatrist will prescribe anything tbh - I think the most she will do is write to my GP with any suggestion. As I said she seemed very reluctant to see me without access to my medical records, even though I have recorded everything since 2011.

[LovelyBath77]

NanaNina have you tried fluoxetine (prozac)? I have recurring depression too and it's the only one I've found that seems to help..

[NanaNina]

No I haven't tried that LB - it's an SSRI isn't it? I have an apt with this private psych on 4th Dec so will see what she advises. I have an apt tomorrow with locum psych but not sure he will change anything.

[Chapsie]

Nana - my private psych writes to my GP who then prescribes the medication for me so I pay the NHS charge

[LovelyBath77]

I've tried a few and fluoxetine is worth a try. Something about the half life- it stays in your system longer and builds up whereas the others like sertraline have much shorter half lives. Yes it is a SSRI. There is an interesting book called Listening to Prozac which explains it well