Thought I'd give an update. I'd been with Rogers for somewhere around 29 years and I mentioned last…read moretime I was there all the issues I'd had with his staff and making appointments before and he said that the next time I ran into a problem getting to see him to tell them it was important.
I did. Nothing happened.
TL;DR - sleep drug withdrawal, severe months long depression, inability to get an appointment or call back over the course of three weeks.
In 2018 I was put on a drug to help with sleep (Pramipexole,) that midway through 2019 I found was screwing with my brain in not helpful ways. Imagine suddenly having the inability to remember anything for more than a few seconds and wondering why you'd taken some actions.
The sleep drug prescription was done by a sleep physician he referred me to and when I decided to quit that drug (as I like remembering more than a goldfish,) that physician told me to contact Dr. Rogers if there were any problems in getting off of this. OK.
There were problems. I called Dr. Roger's office, spoke with the answering service, was told they'd leave a message to get me in, and two or three days go by and I've not gotten a call. I called on Thursday or Friday and talk to someone and told her what was going on, basically I was having withdrawal complications from a dopamine agonist and I was so depressed at this point that I felt I should actively seek help.
She said she'd get me a spot and call me back later. That was the last I heard from her. I called on whatever the second day they were working the next week and talked to another woman, she said the previous person was just going to call me if a spot opened up, uh no.
Told her the issue that I was currently extremely depressed and was waking up to want to go back to sleep, sitting around staring at nothing, and this was not like me. She said sometimes we all need a break. I told her this wasn't a relaxing break, I was depressed to the point I recognized it due to getting off this medication and needed to talk to Dr Rogers.
I was hung up on once, I'm not sure if my phone disconnected or it was them. I was told she'd look for something and to call back.
The next call was 26 minutes long according to Sprint. Once again I was attempting to make an appointment, and once again I just got nowhere. I mentioned I was actually concerned at this point because this was going on for weeks. My phone died at 26 minutes in while I was on hold.
Now, a couple of months later I'm ok. I was most likely experiencing dopamine agonist withdrawal syndrome which could have been mitigated. Maybe not, I had to self-diagnose here because I couldn't get in.
I spent about a month and a half doing nothing more than wanting to sleep and resenting anything that kept me from it. I had no desires for much of anything.
The only thing I didn't tell them in an attempt to see Dr Rogers was that I was suicidal. This is because I wasn't. I'd run out of desire for anything and was only operating out of a sense of self-preservation in attempting to get in.
I've never received a phone call.
It looks like I made 8 phone calls during that time. Probably spoke to people 4 or 5 times. 31 minutes. Trying to get an appointment, telling them exactly that I was depressed, it was not normal, this was important, and being put off by the front desk.
So yeah, I liked Dr Rogers. But there's evidently no way to see him even telling the front desk people what he asked me, and I got told that sometimes everyone needs a break when I told her I was depressed due to a medication withdrawal.
Really is sad, because I feel like my entire relationship with this doctor for the past few years is finding there's a front desk wall built and maintained to keep patients from getting to actually talk to the doctor.
But yeah, someone says they're depressed the correct answer is not "everyone needs a break sometimes."
Dr. Rogers, really do appreciate what you did, I tried to get to talk to you, really I did. Hope this finds you well. I've taken the hint that you're busy or the staff doesn't like me and moved on.