Latest / Voices for Voices® / Your Psychiatrist Can't Help If You Don't Tell Them This | Episode 495

Transcript

Your Psychiatrist Can't Help If You Don't Tell Them This | Episode 495 · Voices for Voices®

• 0:01
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Hi everyone, it's Justin here, Voices for Voices.
• 0:05
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Uh, thank you so much for joining us on this show, whether you're watching and listening here in the United States or abroad.
• 0:13
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Uh, thank you so much.
• 0:15
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Uh, if you can help us out, follow us on our social media accounts.
• 0:20
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Um, if you're able to uh reach out and uh let everybody know uh in the contacts your phone, maybe 25, 50, 100 contacts in your phone, let them know about the voices for voices, TV show and podcast.
• 0:39
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: We greatly appreciate that.
• 0:41
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Um, and again, thanks for uh making us a uh primary uh source of uh genuine human uh human events, uh being a human, going through the hard times, going through the less hard times.
• 1:04
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Uh today we're gonna talk a little bit about uh a little bit about mental health, like we usually do.
• 1:14
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Uh this is a little bit of a different angle um than we looked at before.
• 1:22
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Uh so one of the things that can happen uh having a mental illness or another another challenge is the amount of uh of a prescription uh that your doctor or my doctor has written to take to use uh for a myriad of reasons.
• 1:57
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So we talk about the mental health side, why I'm gonna get into that right now.
• 2:04
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So I've talked about how I have certain medications that uh I have been prescribed by my uh provider, psychiatrist, and and with it comes cutoffs, right?
• 2:28
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So what do I mean by cutoff?
• 2:32
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Uh I mean that some prescriptions you're able to get like a 90-day supply, which is nice, right?
• 2:43
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And then others you're only able to get a 30-day supply, and those are for different reasons.
• 2:50
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Controlled substances and um and the like so I was running low on one of my prescriptions, and so I I reached out to uh my prescriber that what they do is you call in, or sometimes um on the app, you're able to you know request a refill.
• 3:30
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And and so I was having trouble logging into to the app.
• 3:37
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So that's another that's for another day.
• 3:42
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Um so I needed a new password, so not not really surprising.
• 3:48
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So we uh we we I was getting low on on this one particular medication, and so I called in to the office like I usually do.
• 4:02
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Uh if I don't do the app, so this time, like I said, having trouble working the app.
• 4:09
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So I called in to the office to request a refill.
• 4:13
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I got a call back, and uh the members at the office said, Justin, um, you know, your medication was last filled on this particular date, and it was for 90 days.
• 4:32
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So you should still have quite a bit left.
• 4:38
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And so I started thinking, oh, okay.
• 4:44
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Uh they said they called the pharmacy, and and so I hung up uh and I looked.
• 4:54
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And yep, right there was the date that the pharmacy had mentioned to the office.
• 5:02
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: The office relayed that information to me.
• 5:04
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And so, how does this all affect mental health?
• 5:09
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Well, number one, for us that have to take medication, it's not a fun thing to do.
• 5:17
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I don't I don't know anybody that looks forward to taking any kind of prescription medication.
• 5:26
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And so I was like, oh my gosh, the pharmacy is saying this, the office is saying this.
• 5:37
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Uh so I'm looking all over, I'm looking all over.
• 5:43
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Um, and I couldn't find it.
• 5:48
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And I looked at the size of the the container of the bottle, and then I looked at the I I had I had I had one day left of this medication by this point.
• 6:02
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And I was like, I don't think 90 would have even fit in this particular bottle.
• 6:12
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Um so I just started you know questioning myself, and of course, my my mental health goes straight to anxiety, stress, and the like.
• 6:26
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So um, you know, going through the coping mechanisms and um and luckily I had a uh an appointment with my psychiatrist that was coming up, and it was on like the last day of this medication that I was gonna be taking.
• 6:54
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So think of it as you have enough for today, but you don't have enough for tomorrow, and then this is uh ongoing prescription, so just think of it like that because that's what it is, and so I was just I was just beside myself because I'm like this isn't like oh, I'm missing a day.
• 7:25
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: This was oh, I'm missing almost 30 days supply.
• 7:30
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So since it was for 90, I don't see the additional 30.
• 7:38
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I have one left.
• 7:40
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And luckily, this is why I try to tell people no matter who you are, where you're from, where you live, we're all human beings.
• 7:55
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: We put on our clothes the same way for the most part.
• 7:59
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Um if somebody has a uh you know, a prosthetic or the like it, they're they're still they're still doing it.
• 8:14
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Uh just uh just a little bit different.
• 8:19
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: That's why I said it like that.
• 8:21
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Because I'm trying to respect everybody uh and and and not point any fingers at anybody or me by that account as well.
• 8:38
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And so I have this appointment, my anxiety and stress is kind of peaking, and and so luckily my uh psychiatrist was able to fix what was a problem, and so I tell people getting back to about a minute ago when I said that.
• 9:13
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So coming back into this part about what I what I try to share with people, I think everybody needs a therapist.
• 9:23
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Um I get a lot out of it.
• 9:33
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: A lot of people do, and it's it's still stigmatized to an extent, and the people that do stigmatizing, I know it's hard to do, but we've gotta ignore them, and we've gotta we've gotta rise up and say, okay, there's people over here or wherever, and you know, they want to make fun of people or whatever their deal is.
• 10:13
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I'm looking at it from a health and humanity per perspective that it helps me, it helps others, and what would be the worst thing that would happen if you if you talk to a therapist or counselor, what that whatever name you know that you want to give them?
• 10:48
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: What's the worst that happens?
• 10:50
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: You talk with them and you you don't click, so you look and find a different counselor.
• 10:57
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I mean, that's that's it.
• 11:02
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I mean, you get to make the call, the counselor gets to make the call.
• 11:08
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Is this gonna be a good fit or is it not?
• 11:12
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And maybe you go to two or three or five sessions until you figure that out.
• 11:20
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: But nonetheless, if it's not working for you, not working for the counselor, if you're just straight up honest about it, they'll help you find, or they'll at least give you some ideas of who you can reach out to to try and see if the other individual is a little bit more uh whether it's more understanding, uh they they let you share more, that they don't pry and probe.
• 12:09
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Uh, because it there's all kinds.
• 12:12
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Some give homework, some don't.
• 12:17
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: What do I mean by homework?
• 12:22
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Well, so you would have a session, you would talk about certain areas, and then there would be different exercises that you might have to do.
• 12:35
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Like, you know, write about a positive event that happened between sessions, write it write down a not so good or not so positive event that happened.
• 12:57
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And then you would come back to your session the next time and you'd talk about it and you would share that with them.
• 13:06
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Me personally, everybody's different.
• 13:11
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Um I opt for I I opt for, let's see, whatever the day brings, I guess is the best way to say it.
• 13:35
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Sometimes it's like I I need I need something so I can bring back the next time.
• 13:44
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And oh and always bring notes, always write things down.
• 13:50
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: That's one thing I've learned.
• 13:54
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I've gotten better at sometimes not, but it's because I've been doing the whole mental challenge um from 2017 on.
• 14:11
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And so I kind of have an idea of what I want to share, how I want to share it.
• 14:20
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: But there's times where I do.
• 14:22
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I bring notes, I bring, right?
• 14:25
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: It could be just, you know, a bullet point, or we can just put one, two, three, and then and put through you know, three different events or circumstances.
• 14:39
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Maybe they were hard, exceptionally hard, or this went well for me.
• 14:47
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Because what I've learned is when you're with a counselor, therapist, whatever we how we want to um you know, kind of designate them as if we don't write anything down, especially at the beginning, like if it's brand new to you, and it's like, well, what do I even talk about?
• 15:25
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Well, what's hard?
• 15:29
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: What what what situation, what event or events have happened that have been incredibly tough, or certain areas where you really thrive and do very well, and then because what I learned is time goes fast, right?
• 15:54
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So you could have an appointment at let's say 10 a.m.
• 15:59
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And let's say that you're not you don't write anything down, and you're you know, you're really nervous about the session and just worried.
• 16:16
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: That's how I started.
• 16:18
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: It's like like I want to share it and anything personal, uh, and then you kind of figure out like what what do I what what am I striving for?
• 16:33
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And as I've mentioned so many times before, there's not one of us, it's a perfect human being, so we all have flaws.
• 16:44
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And so there's gonna be situations, even situations that have happened a hundred, two hundred times in a row, and everything could be fine for those, and then you get to that next the next one, and all of a sudden it's like, oh, holy crap.
• 17:15
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: This is really driving my anxiety up, it's like I've done everything that I I've learned, but it's not working.
• 17:36
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And so when we write those things down, depending on on how often you would see a therapist, counselor, everybody has different cadences, which means you'll how often see once a week, twice a week, once a month, twice a month.
• 18:04
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And so something's happening like right now, and it's getting to you, bothering you.
• 18:12
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: It's driving that anxiety up and your appointment's not for two weeks.
• 18:21
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Well, a lot's gonna happen in two weeks.
• 18:24
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So I'd like to write that down because I'm probably gonna forget it come that two-week period.
• 18:40
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And this happened at the kind of beginning of my my journey, is then after the session's over, it's like, oh Justin, you missed this.
• 19:00
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: You didn't you didn't bring this up, and it was because I just didn't write things down at at certain times.
• 19:12
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So it's kind of like a little bit of not that you're staring at each other, but kind of like who's gonna talk first?
• 19:26
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Who's gonna share?
• 19:28
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And at some given point, yours or my counselor, therapist, we'll break the ice and usually how's it going?
• 19:45
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: How are things?
• 19:47
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Kind of these open-ended questions.
• 19:51
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: For me now, it's like when I hear that, it's like, alright, ready to go.
• 19:58
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Because I have a I usually have a pretty good idea of what I want to talk and share about.
• 20:09
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: But then there's times where I'm like, oh, I need to write that down.
• 20:19
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I I I'm gonna forget this.
• 20:21
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Because what may be big in the moment may pass.
• 20:32
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And let's say if you're you're meeting your counselor in two weeks, there's probably gonna be a lot of other things, a lot of other events that are gonna happen in that two-week period.
• 20:51
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So the best thing, and I thought it was not silly, but you know, I remember you know seeing and still to this day, uh, you know, my mom, she'd always say, write that down, write these down.
• 21:18
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And she's great for m a whole lot of reasons.
• 21:23
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And one of them is she just makes lists.
• 21:27
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: A list for this, a list for that.
• 21:31
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And then when the time comes, she's like, oh, okay, this is this particular list.
• 21:44
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And so I need to um I need to you know pull this one out of the the pile and put put it right in front of me so I know what I need to do.
• 21:59
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So make a list.
• 22:04
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I used to think it was silly, like I can remember everything.
• 22:11
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Well, the older I get, it's probably a little bit less than that.
• 22:19
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And so if there's something, again, something major that you want to make sure to right, because that's her time.
• 22:31
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: That's her time set aside to talk to your therapist, your psychiatrist, or your general doctor, or your orthopedic doctor.
• 22:45
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Because if you don't ask, they're gonna move right on to the next patient.
• 22:53
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And it's not that, at least in my opinion, it's not that they don't care.
• 23:01
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: They just can't read your mind or my mind.
• 23:06
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: That's the deal.
• 23:11
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I can't read anybody's mind.
• 23:14
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I can't.
• 23:21
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So if I was a therapist and somebody well, my patients came to me, and it's one of those just it's really quiet.
• 23:33
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I'll start asking questions or just to have conversation.
• 23:41
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And for me, that's what it is.
• 23:44
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: It's having a conversation about, well, here's what's happened since the last time I've I've been in.
• 23:51
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And then we we we work and talk through it.
• 23:56
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Some of it I remember in my head, some of it I have to write down.
• 24:02
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I'm like, oh, I need to remember because there's what seems like a million other things that are gonna happen between now and that session.
• 24:22
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So talk.
• 24:27
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Talk to the therapist, talk to the counselor.
• 24:32
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: If you have a psychiatrist, talk to them, let them know how you're feeling.
• 24:40
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Especially if they're prescribing you medication.
• 24:44
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: It's hard.
• 24:48
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I get it.
• 24:49
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Because it's happened to me.
• 24:53
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: You know, and they it the doctor says, you know, let me know as soon as you know if you know you're having one of the side effects or something.
• 25:06
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And I'm like, who actually calls in?
• 25:10
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: But here's the deal: if you don't call in, then the doctor's not gonna know.
• 25:17
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: If you don't share with the therapist, the therapist isn't gonna know because the therapist can't read your mind either.
• 25:25
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So you just have to be for yourself, for your family, do the best that you can, which is oftentimes very hard to do.
• 25:45
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: But I will say the more you stick with it.
• 25:55
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I think this is my this is my opinion, I think be better off in the long run.
• 26:10
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Listen, everybody's got stuff that going on.
• 26:18
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Everybody's got things that it may look from the outside, like man, they don't get anxious or nervous or whatever term you want to add in.
• 26:37
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And again, it goes back to the how how does how do I look?
• 26:47
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Do I look okay?
• 26:49
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Do I look like I'm sleepy, I'm tired?
• 26:54
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: How how do I look?
• 26:58
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And it really comes down to when you see a counselor, a therapist, that it really just helps out immensely when you see somebody, whether it's in person or whether it's virtual.
• 27:27
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So take a look at it.
• 27:35
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Maybe it's for you, maybe it's not, but I would be doing a disservice if I was not talking about this particular topic.
• 27:48
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And so I went from you know, the medication situation.
• 27:54
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Like if I wouldn't have brought it up to my psychiatrist, I would be running, I would have already ran out of my prescription, and I would be having different effects that wouldn't probably be very good.
• 28:17
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Because right if you're gonna taper off, there's gonna be a schedule like okay, you maybe you take the full amount for a week, the second week you take half of the amount, and then a third week every other day, you take half of the amount, and so that I wouldn't have been able to do that because I had one left, and it couldn't be divided that many times.
• 28:53
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So speak up, stand up, be a voice for you or somebody else in need, and let's also let's celebrate all those voices all across the world, not just ours, but others all across the world.
• 29:15
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Thank you for tuning in again.
• 29:17
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Follow us on our social media, reach out to 25, 50, 100 contacts in your phone, let them know about the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast.
• 29:29
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• 29:34
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And if it so moves you, uh we are voices for voices, and we are a 501c3 nonprofit charity.
• 29:43
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: All donations and all books that are are purchased, uh, those proceeds go 100% to uh to be tax deductible uh for you on on your taxes here in the United States.
• 30:04
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: If you don't live in the United States, just check with your tax preparer and they will let you know.
• 30:11
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Uh, but usually there's some good tax benefits to um to donate to charity.
• 30:20
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So thank you for joining us.
• 30:22
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: We'll see you on the next show of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast.
• 30:27
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And this has been Justin Alan Hayes.
• 30:30
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Take care, everybody.
• 30:31
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Sending love and support to you.
• 30:35
  Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Bye bye for now.