Comic Strips

I wish so many comments on this post didn't support what you're saying. And the guy in the comic isn't even asking for help, just showing that he's suffering.

Long story about healthcare workers.

I went to the ER for chest pains this summer. EKG was good, did a scan, and didn't see any blockages. They determined it was probably heart burn.

I started taking prevacid and that helped but I still wasn't feeling great. Doc said to try the three main over the counter heart burn drugs to see what worked. So I tried nexium next.

By the time I finished that bottle I was feeling very nauseous, dizzy and would get sharp quick headaches that lasted a few seconds. On top of that still feeling pain in my left shoulder/ chest area. It got to the point that one day at work I just felt so bad I had to go back to the ER.

Another round of scans and tests and they still said the old ticker looked good but did give me an IV and anti nausea that helped. The ER doc this time asked if I had anxiety and I said sure because at that moment I was very worried about my health.

They discharged me and I went home for the day and set up some doctors appointments. I went to my doc and talked about everything going on and she looked at the test results. Then she says the ER doc says you have anxiety and gives me a bunch of pamphlets about mental health and suggests talk therapy.

I've got nothing against therapy and could probably use some, but I don't think it's the cause of my chest problems. I was perfectly fine before the first ER visit. Anyways I fired her and went looking for a new doctor.

I found one and set up a physical. We did all the basics and he went over all my tests results. I felt like I was being listened to and we were getting somewhere.

His big suggestion was to lose weight... Again not a bad idea but maybe not the core of the problem. He thought that or nerve pain.

Well losing weight seems more appropriate than talk therapy so I set out doing that for a few months. I'm down about 15 lbs, got another 30 to go. Hasn't really helped, but I am looking better.

In the mean time I'm still taking prevacid because that helped and I didn't have any side effects. Except one time I bought a bottle of Prilosec instead by accident. I got about halfway through and started feeling dizzy, and nauseous again, so I cut that out and went back to prevacid.

I looked it up and turns out Prilosec and Nexium are closely related and do have those side effects. Nexium just was worse for me. Prevacid is a completely unrelated drug and does not cause me issues. So second ER was probably all from the Nexium and no one caught that despite me informing them of what meds I was taking.

We also scheduled a colonoscopy and endoscopy to look for a root cause of heart burn issues but found none. The new doc who told me to lose weight said let's try a nerve blocker so I said okay. Turns out it's also an anti anxiety med as well... so I think that suggestion was based off ER doc saying I'm anxious.

I decided to take it anyway even though I don't think I need anti anxiety meds. It's been two weeks and shoulder pain is pretty much gone which is great but I'm having way too many side effects from this drug. Wake up in sweats, always thirsty, low libido etc.

I go back next week to talk to doc about it see if there's something else to try since this path seems to be working.

I actually never interpreted it that way - I though it was just showing it getting worse - but that's a good point and you may be right. It could be showing that he "fixed" the problem by pretending it doesn't exist as much as he can around others, since none of them take it seriously anyway. Of course, that won't help anything and will likely make it worse.

This is about others not taking depression seriously. The difficulty in getting treatment is another matter.

This would be the correct response when you met them.
Which shows you have the right idea.

Instead of this comment, which is victim blaming.
You are presenting yourself as the same as all the other characters in the comic.

The correct response would be "none of the other characters told them to get help, or tried to help them".

Which of course is a symptom.

“My leg is broken” “Then walk to the hospital, duh” “I can’t, my leg is broken” “Why are you choosing to live in pain?!”

And when the doctor decides you're an attention seeking malingerer and refuses to help, what then?

Notice how the "friends" are completely dismissive of the hand? If they actually thought it was cause for concern, that would be an improvement.

Finding a doctor, making an appointment, keeping that appointment, trying who knows how many medications until you find one that helps, etc. is not the easiest thing in the world when you have trouble just getting out of bed in the morning.

My first GP phonecall to get an in-person appointment resulted in a tiny piece of paper with suicide/help hotlines, and an ADHD form.
I was worried about ADHD and Bipolar. I wasn't myself. At all. It got pretty bad.

After an in person appointment and me failing to fill in my form (edit: or not filling it in correctly, I guess?), a referral to a psychiatrist wasn't justified and I heard no more.

I eventually seeked private healthcare for this.
And proper private healthcare, not that fucking "better health" or whatever that YouTube ad is. From actual doctors from an actual clinic.
After a 1 hour consultation and £300, I felt listened to.
The psychiatrist identified both ADHD and Bipolar traits, but said they were not significant enough compared to the depression. Treat the depression first, then circle back to the other possible issues.

6 months on SNRIs, and I can't believe the difference.
I don't feel like I'm struggling with memory loss. The traits I thought could be ADHD (hyperfocus sessions and yet easily distracted - exclusively) became manageable. The every day tasks suddenly were accomplishable. I haven't tracked my mood very closely, but I'm either on a 2 month hypomania streak or this is actually just what I'm normally like and I can't remember what feeling normal actually is. So maybe any bipolar I do have isn't impacting my life so much.

It took 6 months between the GP disappointment and seeking private care for it.
It's the best fucking £300 I've ever spent.
The reason I got there, as opposed to accepting the GPs diagnosis, was a colleague talked about their experience. They talked about their depression, a failed visit to a GP, seeking a 2nd opinion, getting meds, and turning their life around.
They said "don't stop until you feel heard. Don't stop until you agree with the doctor".

I want medication for my ADHD and instead the doctors I would see kept trying different antidepressants. None of them helped. In fact most just added more problems, like not being able to get an erection, weight gain, and fatigue. I would tell them and they would either switch to a different antidepressant or up the dosage.

I know the cause of my depression and I want to treat that; not the fucking symptoms of depression itself. But I also have shitty insurance that's only accepted by 2 different networks of health care where I am, and they are so understaffed for the mental health shit that making an appointment anywhere is always 6 to 8 months away, and even if you show up the doctor might not.