To me, living with mental illness is analogues to being caught in a ripe tide. Panic sets in and you cannot accept help from those trying to give it to you.
A year ago, I began searching for a psychiatrist. NYC Psychiatric Associates was truly the only practice that answered my call. I was given an appointment in days, not months; their intake process was flawless.
To be honest I did not care for him at first – Dr. Meckles. Tactless, I thought. He was disheveled with messy red hair, not what I was expecting, telehealth or not. I was taken aback when he selected a medication for me at the end of our initial consultation. Surely, my condition was more complicated than that. We parted ways.
Two months later, Dr. Meckles reached out to me, unprompted as if he knew from experience that I would be ready to hear him and I was. I convinced myself that there was a method to his madness, that he must have treated hundreds, if not thousands of patients like me. I took a leap of faith and agreed to follow his recommendations. There were times where I was not easy to work with, surely, but he stayed with me every step of the way, on good days and bad, above and beyond.
Swim sideways. “Just take your medicine,” he said.
This last year has not been easy, nothing worthwhile ever is. Managing mental illness is not a spectator sport and I encourage you to be an active participant in your own wellness journey. Be patient. As you start to feel better, do better. You will see progress, maybe not in the moment, but in hindsight. Medication is just the beginning, not the end.
I will be forever grateful to have crossed paths with Dr. Meckles. After a lifetime of miss diagnosis, pain and suffering I am slowly but surely becoming the person that I once could only dream of being. I am back on shore with a lifeguard on duty.
The last time we spoke, after a year of working together, I saw Dr. Meckles smile - from ear to ear. And that meant the world to me.
Sailing away,
Maggie
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MARGARET H. | Jun 29, 2024