GP enough guidance on antidepressants and depression??

[Hometownglory]

I am on citalopram for depression and after hearing other people's experiences of being on antidepressants I am becoming increasingly dissatisfied with my GP and how she has handled the situation.

For a start she told me she didn't think I was depressed (even though I told her I was suicidal and had had depression before so knew I needed help) but still put me on antidepressants.

She gave me a weekly prescription to 'avoid the temptation' of having a lot of them at once so I need to pick up 7 at a time every week from the pharmacy.
However since I started them (nearly 6 weeks now) she has not asked to see me once nor suggested I go b ack for any appointments. And the prescription has been renewed in that time because the first one was only for 4 weeks.

I feel like she has just given me these pills and let me get on with it without really bothering about how it is affecting me.

I had a work night out last weekend which I can remember none of. I did have alcohol, which you aren't supposed to do, but not enough to not remember 90% of a whole night!

I don't know if I should see another doctor, or complain about the one I did see or what?
That may sound like an over reaction but there is a whole lot more I could say about when I went to her for help in the first place which is shocking!

[Jan1957]

And who mentioned troll?

[Hometownglory]

No I did get good advice from you pinki, thank you.
But I've also had feelings of selflessness and feeling a bit stupid about all this reinforced. (Not by you).

Jan, isn't that what a troll is? Someone who makes up stories on sites like this just to annoy people?

[Jan1957]

I have no idea, cos I'm a real person who only speaks the truth. Sadders are'nt.

[Jan1957]

And maybe you too pinki, seems as you say you know who I am on fb but I don't know who you are.

[Hometownglory]

Well Jan, I was hoping that maybe when I told you my point of view on all of this and why I'm angry with my GP you're understand but since you seem hell-bent on bering very unpleasant to me I'm not going to ge annoyed over it. I just hope that if you ever come on a site looking for help with your mental illness you'll not come across such nastiness as I have.

Pinki- nice of you to look up my history. But if you'd really looked at it you'd see that apart from this post only one other relates to 'heavy drinking'. And I am a student so.... what do you expect?
I go out and I get drunk like every other young person my age, I do it about twice a month at most, I don't think that constitutes a problem.
The one about liver inflammation turned out to be a virus related to my auto immune diease so you may say you weren't judging me but really? You were.

[Jan1957]

Horlicks and have you given any to the kids?

[Hometownglory]

Sorry pinki you have been very nice to me so far, I am getting a little defensive so that's why I took what you were saying the wrong way.
I know it can be easy to get riled by people on here, which is why I don't come on very often!
Seriously though, thanks again for all your help. Will get to the doctor and hopefully finally get someone who can give me the treatment I need.

[Jan1957]

The only idiot is the one wh pretends they have children and is still up at this time of the morning.

[Jan1957]

GOTCHA!

[bednobs]

hi. If you are dissatisfied with any advice your GP has given you, then you have the right to see another, so i would suggest you firstly do that.
It's not unusual for someone who has expressed suicidal tendancies to be only given 1 weeks' worth of tablets at a time.
it does sound unusual that your gp didn't ask you to come back, but if you feel like you would like to go back, all you have to do is make an appointment. Healthcare is a partnership and you have to take some responsibility too, not just put all the responsibility on your GP to make you better. TBH even with 1000 patients, you probably went out of her mind as soon as you left the room, so it's UP TO YOU to make another appointment if you think you need one.
Also, if you feel you would like a leaflet about the effects of your tablets then you JUST HAVE TO ASK - you go there once a week so you have ample opportunity. You need to focus on you and what you can do to make yourself feel better, rather than expecting other people to do it for you

[ummmm]

Bloody hell....

So, let's get this right. People with children, and very cute they are pinki, cannot be insomniacs? So all those people that post on FB 'I can't sleep' are lying about having children?

[sandyRoe]

I believe it takes some time for anti depressants to start taking effect. So give them a chance.
When you're depressed it seems hard to motivate yourself do anything, but if you could start taking regular exercise you'd be surprised at the difference that might make to how you're feeling.

[ganesh]

To get this thread back on track..
I do know a fair bit about this subject from experience. A lot of GPs do not know how to handle depression and suicide attempts. Most will have the ability to refer you to someone else who may or may not help but at least if they do it shows they are taking it seriously.Quite frankly ,without going to many personal details,we had no help from the NHS or private therapy which cost us an absolute fortune with no result,or rather the worst result.
To help you,all I can say is that there are different anti-depressants,e.g prozac with which I believe,you are allowed to have alcohol,but getting drunk whilst depressed is not a good idea as you know that alcohol is a depressant.
Also,as others have said ,you can see another doctor in the surgery who may be better.Giving out a smaller number of pills is standard in case you get the urge to take the lot.but of course this means you have to pay more in prescrition fees (she says cynically)