Re-referral back to psych assessment :-(

[AnxiousMunchkin]

Just wanting to post for someone(s) to talk to really. I am in a “major depressive episode” and being re-referred back to the psych assessment team. I saw them nearly a year ago and diagnosis was OCD + cyclothymia, plan was to increase my antidepressant, CBT and support group. My OCD symptoms are much better CBT really helped but my mood is still all over the place, frequent swings both ways but this is the worst I’ve been for a while. Saw my GP yesterday she increased my antidepressant back to maximum dose and also gave me some diazepam, which is a nice distraction lol.

Anyway I got 3 missed calls from the psych assessment people this afternoon and I think I accidentally answered one in my pocket too. They left a voicemail giving me a different number to call back, and I’ve called both that number and the one they called me on and they both just rang out no answer and no voicemail/message saying what to do.

Do I call them back again or will they call me back??? I don’t want to bother the crisis line people, I’m not in immediate danger.

No advice but bumping for others to read

Call back the same number, or go on the health trust website and find the main switchboard no, they'll put you through to the right people.

By the way, antidepressants are totally the wrong type of medication for cyclothymia and could very well be responsible for your mood cycling all over the place.

When you see the psych make sure to ask about this - you shouldn't have an antidepressant you need a mood stabiliser.

Please don’t worry about me being on an antidepressant with a diagnosis of cyclothymia we discussed it at length and as I generally manage my hypomanic phases well and have never experienced full mania we have gone with it as the benefits for the anxiety/OCD side of my issues has been huge, I wouldn’t have been able to engage with the CBT without it and therapy had massively helped me this year. I pulled back from the max dose to keep myself level but now my mood has crashed big time I concede that max dose is worth a try as a short term solution. I am unfortunately very experienced in how different meds work with me (or not).

this is why I inherently dislike the whole concept of psychiatric diagnoses, because yes on paper traditional antidepressants don’t mix with cyclothymia. Diagnoses are only useful as shorthand I think - they are too crude to really be of much use I think. We are all individual humans messed up in our own unique ways, and we don’t neatly fit into tick boxes and one-size-fits-all treatment algorithms. A psych diagnosis is just one persons opinion at that moment in time, often after a very short time talking to you. It’s never definitive.

I guess I can’t ring until Wednesday now though. I think I’ll be ok though off work now so have nothing to do for the next few days except just keep myself and the pets alive. No other obligations, everything else is a bonus.