It’s crazy how some people think medicine is just “take this pill” and nothing more. I had a severe blood test phobia, so bad that I even delayed getting cancer symptoms checked for a year because I was so scared of the needles.
When I eventually got it checked and my gp said I’d need a blood test, I went into a panic attack. He prescribed me three lorazepam. One for the morning of the test, one for just before the test and one “just in case”.
I didn’t take them because I know I have an addictive personality.
Another GP told me to self refer to the local talk therapy. After three sessions I went from crying at photos of blood tests to being able to get two practice tests done with my therapist and then the actual test. Without getting dizzy, almost fainting or throwing up like I did as a child.
Medicine is and should always be about what’s best for the patient, not “here just take a pill.” Is anyone really going to say that I should have gone down the lorazepam route? Also the amount of times I’ve had SSRIs pushed on me when I didn’t need them. Once when I was 13 because I had autism related mutism. Instead of pushing my mum to get me assessed, I wasn’t even told that I could be autistic (he’d told my mum to get me tested for aspergers but she didn’t tell me till I was about 26), which is a big contributing factor to me being the basket case I am today.
This is not me deriding modern medicine, just pushing back against the argument that pills should always be the answer. Long term solutions are better than relying on quick fixes.
It’s crazy how some people think medicine is just “take this pill” and nothing more. I had a severe blood test phobia, so bad that I even delayed getting cancer symptoms checked for a year because I was so scared of the needles.
When I eventually got it checked and my gp said I’d need a blood test, I went into a panic attack. He prescribed me three lorazepam. One for the morning of the test, one for just before the test and one “just in case”.
I didn’t take them because I know I have an addictive personality.
Another GP told me to self refer to the local talk therapy. After three sessions I went from crying at photos of blood tests to being able to get two practice tests done with my therapist and then the actual test. Without getting dizzy, almost fainting or throwing up like I did as a child.
Medicine is and should always be about what’s best for the patient, not “here just take a pill.” Is anyone really going to say that I should have gone down the lorazepam route? Also the amount of times I’ve had SSRIs pushed on me when I didn’t need them. Once when I was 13 because I had autism related mutism. Instead of pushing my mum to get me assessed, I wasn’t even told that I could be autistic (he’d told my mum to get me tested for aspergers but she didn’t tell me till I was about 26), which is a big contributing factor to me being the basket case I am today.
This is not me deriding modern medicine, just pushing back against the argument that pills should always be the answer. Long term solutions are better than relying on quick fixes.