To Ask About Your Experiences Discussing Anxiety with Your GP?

[picklypopcorn]

Posting here for traffic, apologies!

I've been struggling with anxiety for 4 months and this morning took the plunge and booked an appointment to see a GP about it tomorrow morning (God bless country GP's eh?)

Problem is this has made my anxiety a lot worse and I now don't know what to tell him/ how to act?

Hopefully DP is coming with me for support, can I ask what's likely to happen? What will they say/ prescribe? Can you share your experiences?

picklypopcorn I've not done CBT but it is meant to be good for anxiety. If your doctor believes you are depressed he will probably offer AD's and I've certainly found them helpful in the past. If he doesn't, suggests medication and thinks either are suitable, think carefully about trying beta blockers first - in my experience at least they have fewer initial side-effects.

allegretto can you ask at your surgery if there is a GP there who has an interest in mental health issues? Even if there isn't could you just see a different GP? Whoever you see tell them that it is affecting your family life and work and that you'd like to discuss treatment options.

My experience of dealing with my GP was not as positive as those upthread.

At the start of this year I went in because I felt pretty low and desperate. I couldn't sleep and everything seemed on top of me. I am considered by everyone to be a 'coper' but I felt utterly overwhelmed, especially with work.

I was signed off for 2 weeks, and just the break from work really helped. She said I didn't need medication but referred me for a session on CBT and then 6 sessions of group therapy through MIND, which I found really helpful.

BUT (there's always a but) the group therapy was in the eves (I work FT and couldn't go to any daytime meetings) so whilst I did enjoy going, it didn't help with the feelings of being overwhelmed and having no time for anything!

I went back to my GP about 6 weeks ago as I was feeling really stressed, struggling to sleep (again) and I had a constant tightness in my chest. I've previously been investigated for high blood pressure so I was concerned about that.

And she basically told me to go away, do some of the techniques I'd learned in therapy, that I couldn't expect any time off (I'd not gone in to be signed off...in fact those 2 weeks were the only time I've ever been signed off in 20+ years of work!) and I didn't need medication.

I'm still not quite right. I cannot cope with the volume of tasks I have at work (for example this week I am off today, working remotely on 2 other days - 1 of which is a full day of meetings at one office, the other is a full day of presentations at another, and yet by Friday I also have to put together a several thousand word publication). Sigh. Oh, and I failed my driving test today. Possibly, or even probably due to nerves, but I feel my GP will not be prepared to offer any solutions.

To be honest the main thing that would help me is having a job that was less bloody ridiculous in terms of expectations (or at least paid a crazy salary so it was worthwhile!). I'm working on that one.

Apologies for the essay. Hope it all goes well OP.

velvetspoon could you ask to see a different GP - see my suggestion to allegretto - there may be GP there who has an interest in mental health, or just see a different GP.

You need to see a GP who understands that mental health issues aren't necessarily helped so easily and who is willing to discuss all the treatment options - medication may not be what you need, but your GP should be willing to discuss with you why that's the case.

My experience with my GP was fantastic- supportive, non judgemental and reassuring. I was feeling really good the morning of my appt and was worried that he would dismiss what I said because of this. However, that wasn't the case at all.

On the other hand, my experience with onward referral hasn't been as good- been waiting 6 months for CBT now, and in the meantime medication has graduated from beta blockers (helped at first) to anti-depressants.

Going to the doctors did help though, especially as it helped me open up to DH about how I was feeling and he's been amazing.

If you can go privately for onward treatment I would strongly suggest it- it's the path I'm following now. If not, definitely look into online CBT options as I've heard the waiting list can be a bit better.

My GP was very sympathetic but pretty clueless (this was when I was diagnosed with social anxiety), thankfully I'd done my research. He basically asked me what medication he should prescribe me

Just a thought for some of you, whose experiences haven't been as good as others - in some areas you can self refer for therapy. It was my health visitor who put me onto it, my GP hadn't even mentioned it. I think they sometimes look (rightly) for a more immediate solution (I.e. Meds) rather than thinking long term. I called a number, although my health visitor had already contacted them. I did a triage interview over the phone and a questionnaire and they decided on CBT, but they also do group therapies and stuff. It's called 'improving access to psychological therapies' (IAPT). Might be worth googling IAPT and your town or county to see if there's a service near you.

Hi Everyone, I just got back from the GP.

Luckily my GP has a special interest in mental health and was brilliant. She's diagnosed Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

She took 20 minutes to explain to me that how I'm feeling isn't because I'm cracking up or struggling to cope with life because I'm not strong enough, and she thinks that persistent low mood triggered by the work issue I had in January has reduced my serotonin levels to the point where they now cant recover naturally. This is apparently very common and no amount of exercise, self help and therapy would get my levels up again. She actually told me off a bit for not coming to the GP sooner . She explained that the "fog" feeling I have is just an absence of serotonin, its as much a physical illness as a broken arm or a tummy ache.

This helped MASSIVELY.

Anyway, she took my blood pressure and pulse, both of which were high and this is a concern for her because she suspects it's all due to anxiety and an excess of cortisol.

She doesn't think I have depression and suspects my tearfulness is a result of constantly feeling on edge.

Anyway, she's prescribed an initially very low dose (20mg) of fluoxitine to get my serotonin back in line and 40mg of propranolol to bring down my heart rate and give my "fight or flight" response a bit of a break. She's also given me the phone number to self-refer for CBT which she thinks will help avoid the catastrophic thinking which depleted my serotonin in the first place.

I have to go back in 3 weeks for a catch up to see how things have gone on the fluoxitine and to potentially up my dose if needed.

Thanks everyone for your help it was brilliant

Excellent news so glad she was supportive, she sounds great. I hope you start to see an improvement soon

That's fantastic, absolutely best case scenario, getting such a brilliant GP! Xx

Great news OP but also as a GP really heartening to read some really positive stories about GP management of anxiety disorders.
Really good to see.

kitty
Through my miserable divorce I have had exceptional care in all my contact with the NHS, some of it initiated by me, some incidental (falling apart in the surgery when I was there for something else entirely different) and what I thought was a minor issue that escalated me to A&E (still divorce related) and saw me being moved to a private room so I was able to speak to the consultant freely.

I feel truly cared for. We still have a long way to go in the handling of DV but I cannot fault the NHS.

Thank you now don't bloody tell me you work in the private sector

I was coming on to reasssure the OP - but see she has had a good outcome, which is great.

I had a phone conversation with my GP last week about depression anxiety.
We talked about my symptoms, and my depression - he knows my family situation is hard, He was very sympathetic, has arranged counselling for me which will start soon (I am already on anti depressants and didn't want to up my dose atm)
He reassured me that my mental health will always be taken seriously and I must never feel I am wasting his time (I said I was worried about this) He has also made an appointment for me to come in and have a general physical check up and a chat.

There are some lovely GPs out there who really care about their patients.

So pleased she was so helpful OP The tablets will give you some resting space to pursue the CBT, which I totally recommend. The only thing I'm a bit surprised about is your GP saying your serotonin could not recover naturally. My experience (very sustained low mood and high anxiety for well over a year - and it was high blood pressure which took me to the GP interestingly!) was that your serotonin can recover naturally but it takes a while and the tablets will definitely work faster. The CBT really started to help after about 3 - 4 sessions. It helped before that actually but I began to understand how much it was helping at that point and it continued to help. It's still helping now, long afterwards, because I'm more aware of when I'm being hypercritical of myself.

I have nothing against tablets, I just reacted badly to them ( a different one from you) but do go for the CBT because it will be protective for the future as well as helping now. And it's so great to see how many wonderful GPs there are out there who take these things seriously