Doctors.

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Yesterday was my second trip to the doctor regarding what I beleive to be PMDD (extreme PMS). I get very ill each month, both mentally and physicaly and this can go on for up to 2 weeks. It's more an ovarian cycle condition than a premenstrual one. Although I get worse the closer my period gets. Your talking all my usual AS stuff multiplied by 100 plus a new set of manic style symptoms.

Anyway dispite me telling this doctor that I get physicaly ill each month, like I explained to him last period my throat felt like it was full of rocks & closing up, it got so bad I almost called 999 because I thought I couldn't breathe.

This doctor is adement that there is nothing physical wrong with me, he's basing this on ONE set of bloods which came back negative, that was just for things like thyroid etc. All they're prepared to offer me is citalapram, which has side effects EXACTLY the same as my PMS symtoms.

He knows I have AS, I explained I've had reactions to medications that have been so bad I've smashed things up, carved words into my arms etc. He just said he was 'stumped'. I have asked about seeing a gynecologist or endocrinologist, but they refuse to reffer me.

The GP's don't have the time it takes to help me fathom this, your in & out in 3 mins. How can I even start to give a full picture? I hate doctors, but I managed to get myself there hoping I might at least be reffered to an expert in this sort of stuff.
I don't even think they'd reffer me to a psych since I refused these drugs. I'm already addicted to codeine & ibuprofen pills, which this citalapram even has a caution with! What do they expect, for me to just stop taking it?

I really DO NOT want to land up dependent on another drug, I get addicted to things very quickly and once I'm addicted I cannot stop. I've done it with alcohol and now codeine.
They're pretty blah about that too, no advice on how to stop.
I even included in my patient info thing when I joined this GP surgery that I had a bad reaction to the pill, prozac and a whole host of other meds in the past, with really serious consequences.

I still beleive (as much as I don't want to) that doctors are paid huge payloads from drug companies to push this stuff, regardless of our wishes. They then refuse to help you as your 'refusing treatment' by not accepting medication. How the hell can you get round that?
I really could use some propper investigation, I haven't even been checked for things like endometriosis and PCOS, all of which can cause my type of symptoms.

There's a million hormonal conditions, and a million AS symptoms that could all be behind how bad I feel, but I can't get past the cabbages to get to the kings or so to speak. If the GP won't reffer you, thats the door locked to any professionals who might be able to help. These doctors are playing god, and I'm getting into more & more of a state with each 'cycle'.

A GP doesn't know a lot about anything, they know a bit about everything, so I think if they're 'stumped' then it's their duty to pass me on to someone in the right field. The GP should be like the bus, they drive you to where you need to go, not dabble in things that are way out of their league, like prescribing strong and dangerous drugs to someone who already has a pretty serious problem.

I think reacting badly to meds has something to do with the way the AS brain is wired, drugs that effect a NT brain won't have the same effect on and AS brain because it does not run in the same way, like putting diesel in a petrol car.

Any ideas would be welcome.

This is awful. I have a friend who has had to fight just as hard for her health going through our local state health.

Do you have to have a referral to go to a gynaecologist? Can't you just take your savings and make the appointment yourself? You have what sounds partly like dysmenorea (not sure if I spelled that right). A friend of mine had it and was lucky because her father is a gynaecologist.

PS: My uncle is a doctor, my father's cousin is a doctor, two of my cousins are doctors and one of my cousins has a degree in psychology. Between that entire lot of medical professionals, all of whom are fairly fond of me, somehow none of them ever noticed that I had Asperger's and ADHD! I just don't think they really know what these things look like in patients.

I don't think AS is very well known amongst general practitioners or ordinary psychologists. The reason I got diagnosed was because I saw a psychiatrist who specialises in ADHD, and he then referred me to a psychologist who specialises in ADHD.

And you are very right about the fact that medication prescribed for one thing in neurotypical people often has a different effect on Aspies. My psychiatrist said something to that effect yesterday.

Not unless I had a lot of money and could go for private healthcare. It's not like that in the UK, the only way to get most things is via the NHS, who seem to be more bothered about pushing pills than actualy solving a problem.

I refused this anti depressant mainly to protect my partner and I told the doctor this, who I live with, from probably getting his house smashed up or having to watch me harm myself or worse. I know what I'm capable of with PMDD alone, add a drug to the mix that has some very serious side effects which are exactly the same as my PMS and who knows what I might do.

Each month I have urges to do some of the most ludicrous things, like eat glass (not because I want to hurt myself, but because I have a craving for it!), I've wondered off in my nightclothes & found myself in places I had no idea how I got to. I have full on erratic mood swings, like one minute I can be crying hystericaly, and the next I can be laughing at thin air, all this is happening within minutes, not hours or days. I have a different personality each minute almost. It's very upsetting & really wears you down after a while.

Once my period starts it all vanishes in about 2 hours.

Yes, I meant private care (which is why I suggested taking all your savings...). I live in South Africa, and it's the same here.

Suggestion:

Are you under the care of a good psychiatrist at the moment, who understands AS and its co-morbidities? Because the psychiatrist, after all, was a GP before he became a psychiatrist, so he would know about the rest of your body too, and if you started with him, surely he could refer you to a gynaecologist if he was not able to deal with the problem himself?

Wow, those minute-by-minute mood changes and disorientation (not knowing how you got there) sounds very similar to what my colleague went through with extreme ADHD. She became very ill and got herself voluntarily hospitalised. They misdiagnosed her with bipolar disorder initially, but eventually when they realised it was just the same childhood ADHD she had always had that was extremely out of control, she got better and she is now doing pretty well.

She also has some extreme menstrual problems. She's not Aspie, but she's married to one. If you don't mind sending me your e-mail address in a private message, I will pass on your details to her and ask her for advice. (She's not on Wrong Planet.) She really is very good with these things.

I can't see anyone else because the GP will not refer me, it's a money thing I think. it's cheaper to send me home with pills than pay any real interest to whats really going on.