My apologies Mr Cane, I think I am a little agitated at the moment with this taper
@blindingaffinty , its always tricky here on BL to discuss subjects when many people in BDD and TDS are from the US and I live in the UK.
There are many differences in our medical system, I am not a medical person neither do have any direct involvement in providing any kind of medical treatment and I don't have much in the way of knowledge of the system you have in the US. However fro discussion here and from visiting the US on a number of occasions, from Mississippi to Boston and other areas, I may have even strayed into Canada at one point
I know the differences are significant.
I think ther are 2 important points to be made that, in this case are pertinent:-
* If I ring my Doctors and state the issue is and emergency they pretty much have to provide me with an appointment within 24Hrs, this may not be with your doctor of choice but they have government set targets that they must meet as long as you state it is an emergency. For anyone reading this in the UK, do not allow some power crazed doctors receptionist to try and wriggle out of this one, you do not have to discuss your medical issues with them, just say it is matter you will only discuss with a doctor and if you don't get on with your doctor see another. I don't see my official Doctor at all because he is an arse (thats ass to you guys over the pond
)
* The prescribing of Benzos for is very limited and for anxiety you would be lucky to get script for more than couple of weeks worth tops, depression and anxiety are treated mainly with SSRIs in the first instance moving on to Trcyclics and others if the SSRIs prove ineffective. It is very rare for anyone to get a long term benzo script IME. Treatments like CBT are also provided via referral from a doctor but waiting lists are around 3months for such treatment.
If you have the money you can have private treatment or indeed private medical insurance which would pay for such treatment, you will in many cases get the treatment quicker, weather in all cases it is better is debatable TBH, it really depends on what you condition is. Personally I do not have private health insurance but that is a personal choice.
And just to be clear before anyone starts to suggest we have system that is free, clearly that is not the case, it if funded via taxation which is not optional i.e. if you have private medical health insurance it has no bearing on your tax, although it does mean that those who do not work and pay tax get access to that system as well.
So back on topic there really is no need to self medicate, I've tried it everything from cocaine to whiskey to 5-HTP and a whole heap more, I would have been much better off just going to my doctor, its a bit like trying to fix your car with a adjustable spanner (wrench) and a hammer when your next door neighbor is a car mechanic, you might get lucky and fix the problem or you might at best take the skin off your knuckles and be no further on.