Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Yesterday was my long-awaited appointment with the local psychiatrist, Dr A. Unsurprisingly he didn't have any of my previous notes so knew nothing about me or my history, so the whole appointment was basically about me telling him my life story... everything. He didn't seem very attentive to me and some things I didn't want to tell him because he was so unapproachable - plus he had a medical student in there with us but didn't even ask if that was alright with me, so I felt very uncomfortable.

The long and the short of it was that after hearing everything I had to tell him, he told me that I didn't need to spend any more time in the company of psychiatrists. He told me that as my medication was working pretty well that all I needed to do was keep getting my prescriptions from the GP. If I need to then I can call on the CMHT, but I don't need to set up regular appointments with them.

So there you have it... I am officially a self-maintaining bipolar girl. It's all down to me now.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

This might take a while to make sense, but bear with me and I'm sure it'll all become clear in the end.

The other day on a form with my name on, in an office someplace... somebody wrote that bipolar is not a condition requiring mental health treatment.

So I was wondering... what do you think? Do you think that some mental illnesses - bipolar included - really require such constant monitoring? Really need the help of a mental health team? Or do you think that we should leave such things to run their course? Should I down all of those meds everyday, or should I fight it out?

Perhaps a controversial subject, a strange question... but one that's on my mind.