Visit With Dr. L

After work I was home for about an hour before I had to head back out to go to my appointment with Dr. L. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be when I got there. I had just accepted the fact that I don't know anything about medications or what is best for treating bipolar disorder, so it was up to Dr. L.

I got there about 10 minutes early but my appointment started a little late. No big deal there. It happens with doctor appointments. So I go in and he asks me how things have been going. I tell him how I'm not handling stress as well as I think I should be/could be. He asked me what kind of stress, so I went into all of that.

Then he asked me how I had reacted to it. So I told him how at one point not that long ago, I would say about a week or two, I was at work and it all just hit me like a ton of bricks. I had wanted nothing but to go home. I wanted to go home, lay down on our bed in the dark, curled up in a blanket until I felt I could handle anything again. It was intense, it was kind of scary, and it was just not how I was used to reacting to anything since I have been on my medication.

So once I was done talking (he's a very quiet man.. it makes me feel like he's actually listening rather than just nodding and smiling) he asked me if my medication was having any side effects. The question kind of threw me off, and I replied honestly. I have not experienced any side effects from the medication.

So he said that I'm on the lowest dose of the medication I'm on, which I did not know. He said he had wanted to start me out on that and see how it went. Apparently it's no longer enough. So he upped my dosage from 100 milligrams to 150 milligrams. He told me to finish up the few pills I have left from my last refill and then start on the new dosage. This made me feel better. I had been so worried that he was just going to switch me to a different medication, or put me on an additional medication. Thankfully he didn't feel that was necessary.

But since he wants to be able to monitor my reaction to a higher dosage, rather than seeing me in three months he wants to see me in two. He said that if I feel the dosage is still not working as well as I feel it should then I should call and make an appointment that is as soon as possible so we can discuss it. He said to never be afraid of calling to make an appointment sooner than originally anticipated. I told him I understood, I just hadn't done it this time because I knew it was close, and I didn't feel it was an "emergency" situation.

I really do like the fact that Dr. L is so supportive. I also like the fact that he didn't want to over drug me by putting me on a higher dosage immediately. He wanted to test the waters and see how I reacted. And he's still doing that. It's pretty awesome.

He did say a really nice thing about my Husband. Now, Master has never gone with me to an appointment because all He would end up doing is sitting in the waiting room. The therapy and doctor appointments are only for me. But I tell Dr. L about the discussions Master and I have regarding all this stuff. And Dr. L said that he's glad that my Husband is so supportive and encourages me to talk about my feelings, the reactions I'm having, and how I think my therapy is going.

So a gold star to Master from Dr. L! Yay!