Quote Originally Posted by WarKitty View Post
Well, I was using that as an example/analogy for the same issue in mental health. It's a lot harder with mental health though, because far more frequently the reaction to "I tried that and it didn't work" is to act like you didn't try hard enough. Or in some cases to outright ignore the problem. Actually, I've had that one happen with physical health too ("Oh so the allergy meds make you irritable? Why is that a problem?").

That's a big deal to me. If I say "X side effect is unacceptable to me," I expect that to be taken seriously. I may have different weights of quality of life than the doctor has, but I expect treatment to take place according to my weighting of what's important, not someone else's idea. I just feel like the whole system isn't really about helping me be the sort of person I'd like to be, and more about making me compliant and measuring up to someone else's idea of normal.
I definitely understand and have seen the same effect on the mental area too. I still think that perhaps some sort of documentation as to what you've tried and how that's gone might help. Otherwise, well, they don't know you. They might just lump you with the kind of patient that doesn't want to cooperate.

I don't think that they really want to make you compliant and measure up to someone else's idea of normal. I think they genuinely are kind of used to doing things X way and when something that looks like it can be done X way comes to them, they have to try that first. Not everyone is comfortable looking for alternate ways to do things. You can usually see this a lot more easily in the physical aspect, but it does apply to the mental aspect. I really do think that some kind of documentation on what you've tried and how it's worked for you might even help give them the necessary insight to better be able to help you.