What's going to happen when I see my Doctor?

I've had a lot of people ask me what will happen if they were to go and see their doctor about their mental health and the honest answer is that there is no set outcome that I can promise. But there are certain things that they will (hopefully) do if you go.

First of all, I strongly suggest going to see your doctor if you're struggling as they are in the best place to help you with remedies for your condition. I'll be honest in saying that not all doctors will understand nor are they trained in depth about mental health (this is something I'll rant about another timet) but please don't let this stop you from seeing a professional as there will be one out there who understands. It's about perseverance and unfortunately that is just the way it is at the moment. In my personal experience it was my third doctor that finally really understood me. Of course I was extremely disheartened and angry that I was not being understood, but I wasn't going to let it put me off because I knew I had to get better in whichever way I knew how. 

My experience of my GP probably won't be the same as you, but I can impart what I experienced as I'm sure they all have to follow a similar procedure. When you get into the consultation room, they will ask you what the problem is as per any other consultation at the doctors, it's up to you to tell them what's wrong. Now, I know this is hard but you've really got to try and explain to them the extent of your problems and if that's too hard you could always write it down before hand and give it to the doctor when you get into the consultation room. From what I remember I got asked the usual questions in relation to symptoms and anxiety and depression and a lot of the time I had to fill in a questionnaire or scale determining my severity of anxiety and depression. I didn't get given mediation on the first instance, and in my eyes that was better as it led me to try everything but before I had to resort to it as my last choice. I had a rather unsuccessful first time going to the doctors about my mental health, but in reality they will hopefully either ask you to come back in a few weeks, or give you guidance to counselling or medication or something on these lines. 

Please, please don't put off going to see the doctors as it could be so important to you. I know you may be scared but it's key to get you better as soon as possible. Thousands of people are and have been going through it. Remember that a doctor is just like you, a human! and as 1/4 have a mental health condition in any one year, your doctor could be having their own battles. 

Best Wishes,

Mental illness is a physical illness

Mental illness is often separated from physical illness and thus is often seen to be invisible and not real. But it seems that some fail to recognise that mental illness can give rise to physical symptoms and thus can be under the physical illness umbrella in that sense. 

Anxiety can give rise to physical symptoms that we can feel within ourselves such as tingling and feeling lightheaded alongside the very 'real' fear that we are experiencing. But, they can also present symptoms that people may see from the outside such as sweating, going cold, clammy and shortness of breath. Similarly, depression can lead to looking grey in the face, wearing darker clothing, not sleeping or sleeping too much and eating too little to overeating. For illnesses such as schizophrenia, although only part of it may be the voices that someone hear's in their head, these voices can lead to particular actions in reality which other people can observe. 

What comes from inside our heads which can feel and is very real, can present real physical symptoms on the outside which people can diagnose. They present physical symptoms, just like high blood pressure would or having a broken leg. A doctor could tell you if you were having a panic attack. Yet there are still people out there who fail to believe it's real or to simply get over it, even though physical symptoms are presenting themselves, usually which cannot be controlled. Weirdly enough these kind of statements are not said to someone who has high blood pressure, even though a lot of the time the physical symptoms visible on the outside are limited depending on the severity. 

It's time for people to pay attention to the realness of the situation. Mental illness is always physical, whether it's the symptoms or the fact it affects our reality and it shouldn't be treated any less of that which is on the list of a physical illness.