how does this sound

[DRAGON]

I have had anxiety and panic/ mixed depression/anxiety for many years. From 96 to 2004 I had a CPN in my old area because I had a complaint against my local psychiatrist (details towatrds bottom of this post) From 2006 to end of 2007 I saw a Consultant in a neighboring town (same NHS Trust though) for simply talking every b6 weeks about 20 mins . no drugs, no actual treatment. had a right long dispute about my access to mental health services recently and wrote on the forum about it. In a nutshell I asked to be rtransferred back to my city mental health team. They offered me a consultalnt though whose wife works at the same Trust in the same unit (as a psych) and I had previously complained against her so I refused to see that Consultant and asked for another. As a result they discharged me. After a lot of letters and a complaint to the M.P they caved in an offered me a fresh appointment with another Psychiatrist with and say they want to assess me for OCD. No one ever thoight of that before in my case, and the Psych who I asked to be transferred from had between times many months later has written to the GP and made out he discharged me himself on the basis I had no psychiatric problems and that the Trust should refuse to see me !!!

I have yet to see the new psychiatrist for the assessment which will focus on OCD. However, reading between the lines it seems they are referring to the numerous complaints and hundreds of letters I have written over the years in connection with healthcare services, and that they know I got sacked from previous jobs for complaining. Presumably this is being seen as potentialklly OCD BUT and there is a big BUT. If the Psych decides that my conduct is not compulsive, but is rather voluntary, I think I will be ruined. I have IB and DLA and professionals over the last 15 years havce been as a mixed anxiety depressive case with panic and some obsessional tendancies. If they now follow the lead of the psych who I finished seeing, and say I have no primary mental health problem, and obviously no OCD would be the same thibng, then it follows I will be seenn as a calculating troublemaker, probably lose my benefits at next reviews, and kept at a chilly arms length by the medical profession for the future. Do you folsk think this sounds dangerous, they only offered the consultation after the MP intervened and have put in a letter that " you may not" require secondary services. They kept refusing the appointment for 4 months until he intervened, and quite obviously DID NOT want to see me at all, hence cannot see them being very helpful. I once saw a Psych at the Trust back in the 90's who made some mistakes in recording what in said, those errors were potentially jeopardising my benefit claim and I asked for corrections. She then wrote to the clinical manager refusing to change the note and stating she felt I was trying to engage her in a crimninal conspiracy to defraud. |So having complained against her (getting eventuallty an apology) complained against another Psych in same team, and then refusing tom see that psychs husband, I am now obviously (so obviously) a legendary patient in that Trust. I feel that to see the Psychiatrist now is a big leap, a dangerous one, probably contrived for them to reinforce their rec ent refusal to see me. For them the ultimate way to discredit me now is to make out I have no categorisable mental illness and avioid dealing with me

Any advice out there, on whether (a) this sounds like a potential OCD scenario
(b) what generally do you think of the situation and any guidance ?

Cheers

Dragon

 

[mad as a hatter]

cam.t give u advice on if u got ocd only the pdoc can do that but i had similair problem 2 u they took my pdoc off me 2 moved her 2 a diff area and she was the only 1 that was willin 2 c me regulaur i made a complaint against this and tried 2 get 2 c her again but found myself hittin a brick wall with the complaints manager and the then mental health team manager they where adamant i go c new pdoc after they put teemendous pressure on me i relented but i eventully moved area and had new gp in the area thatmy pdoc was in but they still wouldn,t let me c her even tho i was obviously strugglin with the changes 1 the junior doctors said i never needed 2 c a pdoc once a yr maybe this sent me into total anguish and i eventually gave up taken meds ended up in hospital 2 cut a long story short they relented and i now c her again tho i,ve got probs with her at the mo she,s the best 1 i got as long as i stay in same gp practice so i know a little bit how ur feelin some these people shouldn,t do this job cause at time mh services r total joke hang on in there as this pdoc might haven,t diff out look on things and u might get somewhere with them good luck

 

[KP1]

I think you need to sit down and work out what you think you need and want from the mental health services and maybe try and get an advocate. I don't know how you do this but others here on the forum might.Continual battles with them won't help your mental health and at some stage you have to stop fighting and draw a line on the past.
KP

 

[Twylight]

I think OCD is often accompanied by: anxiety/ depression/ paranoia

Some examples of Ocd are:

Constant handwashing - constant checking of appliances to make sure the're switched off.
When driving you'll be over conscious of every noise in case you've accidentaly hit a person or an animal - after the journey you will be considering whether to go and search the road for injured creatures.

 

[Dollit]

I don't think anyone here is qualified to give you advice on this situation. We don't know the people involved (including yourself) and we have only your take on things. It's better to ask advice from someone who is truly independent.

As for the OCD - try here http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalheal...sivedisorder/obsessivecomplusivedisorder.aspx

 

[jamesdean]

hi DRAGON i'm thinking has i write this post u have had a couple of replys,
the thing is no body likes complaints be it the local supermarket or the nhs, i have tried 2 explain this on the forum b4 people r vey fond of thier jobs (in the most) n love the companys they work 4.
u have got some serious issues with the mh services & some of the things u say they have written r quite exceptional, do u believe u have ocd?
u obviously have 2 fight 4 whot u believe in but @ some point u have 2 accept something like kp1 says.
that said when i made a very serious complaint n had 1 of the top personal travelling 50 miles a day to investigate, my notes from that point mistreriously went missing, that could of caused a great deal of distress.
n lastly let me just say i had to once make a complaint about a top proffesor in physical health because he took my sexuality has my problem b4 my health condition n do u know he had such an awful reputation for being "i'm the boss n i'm always right never really valuing others comments(patients) me n him became great m8s, sometimes there is no logic!
take care jd.

 

[DRAGON]

a few points.

Firstly thanks to those who replied so far. Secondly in repsonse generally.

1. I take the point that fighting on and on is bad for the mental health anyway
The other side is correcting things that are obviously inaccurate or challenging unfair treatment is also sometimes neccesary both in interests of the record and the self esteem

2. Much appreciate the link to the Royal college item Re: OCD

3. I have an open mind re: OCD. One of you asked if I think I have it. I know only a doc can decide but here is my take Quite possibly I have it, but non in the stereotypical way. I have obsessional thinking no doubt, and end up having to go through the ritual of writing .... thats what they might say of me mayvbe. On the other hand, some people are just that way inclined. Hard sometimes to distinguish between natural personality traits and mental illness, bnoth can be distressing. Sometimes obessional dedication to a cause or activity is what we need to succeed at it. I can say I like routine, same walks same bike rides and I time them all and note the points at which I get to waypoints on route. But anyway, I used to be an athlete so what does one expect. I do not wake up in the night thinking of my issues with the health services nor do I struggle to get to sleep because of it. I do not have any problems like a lot of folks with checking stuff is locked, or things being placed a certain way or anything remotely that way.

The problems re: healthcare. I would say in the last years I have written a few hundred letters in relation to my concerns and disputes over access to services. My previous GP considered my conduct to be "pathological" but offered no support just threatened to remove me from the list. I write the letters because I feel they are needed, it is a compulsion, but then there may be periods of months or years between any particular campaign.
I have big problems with trusting and often (sadly) my instincts about any particular professional, how they are likely to behave are correct. Rarely but occasionally I have been pleasantly surprised. My previous CPN of 8 years was fabulous. Never a clash of swords there.

Anyway there it is... OCD sufferers what do you reckon ?

 

[Twylight]

My OCD has always been linked to Consequence

I'm an Electrician and I treble check everything I do - Because of the Consequence of Fire or personal injury to others.

Being an athlete you might have OCD , but it is linked to a slightly different Consequence; IE - your health/mental health