Anxiety | First Doctors Appointment

Hey Guys x

About a week and a bit ago, I wrote a post about living with Anxiety, which you can view here.

I said in it that I had booked a doctors appointment, to see if I actually had an anxiety disorder or not, and what the next step would be.

I also said I'd write a post about it, because I want to keep you guys involved with this process.

So I had the appointment today, and I want to write about what happened and what the next step is. I hope that this helps anyone who is contemplating going to the doctor with an anxiety problem!

I also have to warn that, I was quite disappointed with the outcome of this appointment. But every doctor is different, every person's symptoms are different, every person is different and your outcome may be different to mine.

So, in preparation for the appointment, I made a mental list of my symptoms, as well as the types of situations that make me anxious and what I wanted from that appointment, which was primarily, a diagnosis of some kind.

Sitting in the waiting room, I ran through this list so that it was at the tip of my tongue when she asked me any questions.

She called me in and asked what the problem was. I told her and she asked my what my symptoms have been. I said the same things that I said in the blog post, stomach aches, heart palpitations, that kind of thing.

She then asked me how long I've been feeling like this, to which I replied that I've always been an anxious person, but it had gotten worse since I started university. Then she asked what kinds of situations I feel anxious in, and I said social situations.

Then she explained to me the fundamental thing - she couldn't give me a diagnosis because, according to her, there's no good test to determine whether someone's anxiety level is normal or not. However, my symptoms are consistent with an anxiety disorder.

At this point, I kind of deflated, wondering what the point of me going even was!

Then she asked me what I wanted the next step to be, and the options that she gave me were counselling or medication.

I said that I would like to try and beat this without having to turn to medication, if possible , which she agreed with.

She then gave me the numbers of two different counsellors, one specifically for 'young people' and one more general. Then she sent me on that way -  that was it. All in all, it took about 5 minutes.

I don't know what I was expecting, but this definitely wasn't it!

I rang both counsellors, one didn't pick up the phone, but I referred with the other one. They're going to call me within 10 days to book a phone appointment, which should take up to two weeks. They they'll put me on the waiting list.

It's going to be a long wait!

I hope this post has been helpful if you've been worrying about making your first appointment. My advice would be to do it, even if you're scared. Once you do it, it's no big deal, you just focus on the next step.

Thank you for reading!

Comment below your thoughts about going to the doctors for any mental health issue, including your own experiences!

Keep Smiling - Lou xx