"Offered SSRI medication for pretty much every ailment"

What was good?

When I joined this practice in 2009 I found it to be clean, appointments are easy to make, even on the same day, and I had my first appointment with a really fantastic GP, he listened, he was very patient and understanding, everything you would look for in a great doctor.

It can be hard to get through on the phone at 8am (the time you have to call if you need a same day appointment), but eventually you do get through. However sometimes the automated service cuts you off & the phone goes dead, perhaps 1 in every 8 tries to get through will go dead.

What could have been better?

A while back (within 2010), I attended an appointment with another doctor here regarding problems sleeping. I had waited a while hoping the problem would rectify it's self, but it didn't.

After explaining the issue, I was met with the response that I was 'not getting any sleeping pills' even though I had not asked, and would probably have been reluctant to use them anyway! I just wanted to make sure I didn't have another health problem that might be causing me sleepless nights. The doctor told me that my age, 24, meant I wasn't getting any medication as I was too young.

I not only found this insulting, but I felt like I was being treated like a drug abuser and that all young people were also drug abusers. I have no history of abusing medications, but I felt as if I was being looked upon as someone who would pick the prescription up then stand on the street corner selling pills to all & sundry!

Obviously this doctor had never been 3 weeks without sleeping.

I have been offered SSRI medication (antidepressants) for pretty much every ailment I have seen a doctor here about, including menstrual problems. I don't know how they can be so harsh about sleeping medication, yet on the other hand be freely willing to prescribe psychiatric drugs which I feel are just as, if not more dangerous & addictive than tranquilisers! I am not depressed, so I feel these drugs are being offered to me in a very irresponsible manner by doctors here.

Just because a drug has low abuse potential doesn't make it a cure-all. I think that SSRI pushing like this reminds me of how the Victorians believed a pill of mushed up herbs could cure the plague.

I also feel doctors here take the attitude that when I refuse the SSRI medications, I am refusing treatment. I have been refused a referral to a gynecologist for further investigation of my premenstrual/hormonal problems. I strongly feel this brick wall situation has arisen from me refusing to accept what I think they believe to be 'front line' treatment, SSRI medication.

I haven't felt like attending another appointment here since, and I have been considering moving to another practice, as I never wish to encounter this doctor again, or be pressure sold medications I do not need.