How often do u guys visit your shrink?

[Poloplayer_76]

If you are not on ur perfect cocktail thats working for you how often do u visit ur shrink and how long did it take to find ur correct meds

[blackcat64013]

Hi Poloplayer_76,

I tried various medications on their own with primary care provider (GP) for 6 months before I got a referral to a specialist (psychiatrist) for a medication review.

I think it was about another 6 months of trial and error of polypharmacy ( the medical term for cocktail of meds) before we found the right combination.

After each change, the next appointment was in 2 weeks to see how I was going. Once sorted, I check in every 4-5 weeks.

The psychiatrist and GP work together as a team to keep me well.

My GP has an interest in mental health so has done extra training and does the talking therapy with me. I do some of my own therapy, getting enough quality sleep, using exercise and mindfulness exercises between visits

I am one lucky person who seems to have the treatment plan working perfectly. It wasn't always so

[Poloplayer_76 in reply to blackcat64013]

Thank you for this- wasnt the wait 6mths to a year frustrating trying to find out what worked. Im currently on trileptal, sertraline, topomax 25mg n klonopin 2mg- hate all these meds but only started topomax 8 days ago, slight improvement in anxiety....so tired of being anxious. How did u wait it out

[blackcat64013 in reply to Poloplayer_76]

My GP gave me a sheet of things I could choose/should do based on the webpage below - we actually came up with a list of 2 things I wanted to try first so that there was something else as a safety net. I must say I worked my way through most of them.

The most important thing I found is to get on top your sleep. You should get enough hours and of good quality i.e. unbroken. I learned that sleep occurs in 1.5 hour cycles so it is better to complete a full cycle than wake up in the middle of one e.g. 6 hours, 7.5 or 9 hours calculated from bedtime. I shifted Mirtazepine which has sedating side effects from morning to night time to get my zzzzzs.

I even take an extra pill (Temazepam) for this if 2-3 nights go by without restful sleep.

wikihow.com/Help-Pass-the-T...