Meds

I saw a new psychiatrist last week and I like him. The reason I switched was because my company's insurance changed and my old psychiatrist wasn't on the new plan. Plus, she was basically just a pill dispenser - I started seeing her when I first moved to Brooklyn and wanted to continue on the same meds I had been on and I never did any real "talk" therapy with her.


The new psychiatrist , Dr. B, was referred to me by my new(ish) weekly talk therapist, C. I guess C is a clinical social worker but she may be a psychologist. I'm not really sure the difference.


Anyway, I like Dr. B. I had to fill out all sorts of paper work before I saw him and I included in that the multi page document I had written about my history of anxiety. Of course, he hadn't read it when I first saw him, but that was okay as we covered the highlights in our session.


So for now he decided to keep me on my "regular" meds, Paxil CR 75mg a day -- which he said was a very high dose, but I knew that. But he also prescribed me new meds - beta blockers - which are used for people with high blood pressure. The theory is that the new meds will help reduce the my body's normal fight or flight response and so I should feel less anxious. He told me to take one about 30 minutes before I want to visit the subway. Of course, he told me to take a test pill first to make sure I wasn't the one in a million person who ended up passing out from it! 


The whole thing with "visiting" the subway was C's idea. Basically she wants me to slowly get back into being comfortable in the subway, first by just hanging out on the platform and then eventually going at least one stop, and then two, three, etc. So far I've had "bad" experiences because I get anxious just being in the subway station, even though I know I'm not going to get on the train. So Dr. B thinks the new meds will help me with that general anxiety and help me to evolve into getting on the subway again some day.