Psychiatrist is retiring and I am devastated.

I found this out last week and have been wanting to post about it but had to think.
I have been with this doc for 20 years. She has seen my whole family but she primarily is my doctor. This is not about transference, or inappropriate closeness with her she is just a really good doctor. She scraped me off the pavement and put my back together. She has been with me through 2 more kids, deaths, hospitalizations. When her office stopped taking insurance she still took mine.

I would guess she is about 73 or so. When I started with her she was in her 50's. She has a hard time walking now and I always wondered how long she would practice. Her receptionist called me last week to tell me in person. She said letters are going out to all her patients with referrals.

She is doing it ethically. She is seeing patients through the end of the month and the office will stay open until Nov 30 in order to accomodate for refills and finding new doctors.

I am so scared. I am scared I will not be able to find a new one. I am scared I will find a new one and the new one will change everything I take. I have been stable for 15 years or so now. I sobbed when I found out.

The receptionist put me in to see her this Thursday. She is seeing the rest of the family on a saturday this month.
I am going to ask her to draft a letter explaining my treatment and medications and that nothing should be changed. That I have been stable and a good patient. Does that sound like a good idea?

Who has gone through this and has it worked out? I will also be asking for my medical records. I know that no matter what I will find a new doc. If her referrals do not work out, the family therapist told me she has a few that would be able to get me in. But what if a new doc doesnt take my insurance? This doc has sometimes only charged me two copays even though she had seen four of us in one day.

My medications are tricky and very specific and could be considered complicated due to how they have to be written and filled in order to have my insurance cover them.

I take some medication doses that are either on the higher end mg wise or atypical. I really am upset about this so all thoughts, advice and support is welcome.

Yes, good PDocs are hard to find. There is a shortage in many communities and because of this, in a lot of places, you have to make an appointment well in advance of the date you actually get seen. All you can do is try new ones and if they aren't a good fit, keep trying others. Some doctors won't even accept you if you don't have "acceptable" insurance. At times, I haven't had any insurance at all and the offices would say that the PDoc didn't see patients without insurance. Thank goodness this doctor was there when you needed her.

I'm so sorry. I don't have any advice but I can understand how you feel because when a previous therapist left the agency I was completely devastated. It took me well over a year to stop crying every day but it does get better.

When i was referred to another pdoc, attempts to change my meds were immediately vetoed because they were contraindicated with my existing conditions or meds (like high blood pressure). I and previous pdocs had already considered and rejected them.

I think if you are stable, and knowledgable, and with your gastric bypass (absorbability issues etc), you should be able to maintain your dosages. A letter from current pdoc explaining all that is probably a good idea. Good luck!

For the past two years or so, my GP has been writing my psych meds per my last pdoc AND an independent evaluation by a depression clinic team of 3 drs.

One thing I can tell you is that don't feel devastated. You can try meditation that will help you relax. Try the thing that you feel really passionate about.

That sounds really hard, Sarah. I'm sorry you're going through it and I understand your anxiety. While I was not with my last psychiatrist quite as long as you, I was with her for 12 years. I had to stop seeing her because the agency where she works does not take insurance and when I started going to school full time, I couldn't afford to pay out of pocket anymore during the times when I wasn't doing well and needed to see her more than once every few months (the transition of relocating and starting to go to school full time was really hard on me and she wanted to see me all the time - she saw me remotely).

Anyway, I do miss her. The therapist I see referred me to a psychiatrist who works in the same suite as her. This psychiatrist is fine. She only changed things because I was spiralling and my old psychiatrist had also been trying to figure out how to help me. She did not just switch all my meds around. If I remember correctly, lots of nightmares were happening at the time, so the first thing she did was just add a medication to help with that. She has not taken anything away except when I have said I wanted a change. I think good or even just halfway decent psychiatrists - and they are out there - tend not to change things if the person is stable, even if the meds are a bit atypical. For example, when I first started seeing my old psychiatrist, I was on 800 mg of seroquel, 60 mg of Adderall, and 120 mg of Cymbalta, and taking two different mood stabilizers. That's kind of crazy. That dosage of seroquel is really excessive especially considering I'm not psychotic and never have been. I've also never met anyone who has had such a high dose of Adderall. The Cymbalta dose is not excessive, but it is the max dose. Taking two mood stabilizers when I am not bipolar was also kind of weird. But did my psychiatrist just go in there and yank everything away? No. She did encourage me to go down on the seroquel, but she didn't insist. I resisted for a long time, which I regret. She also didn't take away my crazy amount of Adderall. Years later when I became aware and discontent with my physical dependence and low level mental attachment/addiction (based on fear) of it and weaned myself down to 40 mg, that's when she reduced. When I went off the mood stabilizers, it was my choice.

My current psychiatrist didn't give me a hard time about the Adderall, either. She agreed when I wanted to go back on one of the mood stabilizers I had previously been on. She hasn't made a fuss when all the meds we've tried to replace my Cymbalta, which stopped working after 14 years, didn't work and I stopped taking them. She's a good psychiatrist. But... she's not my old psychiatrist. My old psychiatrist could remember my history almost better than I could. She remembered every medication I had been on and how much. I don't know how, and I don't think it would be fair to expect my current psychiatrist to be able to do that, too. I know I couldn't do it if I were a psychiatrist! Still, I miss having someone like that.

My advice to you would be to call the referrals ahead of time to make sure they take your insurance. Then make a first appointment before your current psychiatrist actually retires. That way, if you get a bad one, you have time to try another and still have access to a source of refills.

I'm sorry you have to go through this - it's so stressful, I know. Try not to put the cart before the horse, though, and panic about not being able to find someone who takes your insurance or who can handle your prescriptions. If she hasn't already provided the referrals, I would ask for the ones from your therapist or even look for someone yourself so that you can call and make an intake appointment. If the first person you call doesn't have an appointment available for a month or two, you can always make that appointment but also try to find someone with availability sooner than that and cancel if they work out. I would just try to get an appointment sooner rather than later for your own peace of mind and so that you can ensure you find someone you can work with.

I am so sorry you are having to go through this process. Losing my psychiatrist would have been much, much more difficult than losing a therapist. A truly excellent psychiatrist is hard to find, and one that you've been with for so long even moreso. I hope this works out for you in the long run.

Is it possible for your current pdoc, in addition to just transferring your records, to write out your treatment plan with justifications for that plan as something to pass off to your next pdoc? I don't know if they do that sort of thing, but it would seem helpful.

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. If she could write out the details and justification for why you take certain meds at those doses, perhaps along with what you've tried unsuccessfully in the past, you could share that with a new p-doc. If you have a med combo that's working, it doesn't seem to make sense to change it.


I'm very sorry she's retiring--that's a really long time to see a doctor, so it must be particularly devastating. I hope you can find a good one.

I'm so sorry this is happening to you. HUGS!!! I did have a pdoc move but the pdoc that took his place ended up being even better--he's the one I have now. I did cry over losing old PDOC but new PDOC ended up being even better. I hope that happens for you. HUGS! Kit

So I have bipolar with psychosis, the guy that scraped me off the floor I saw for five years or so then he changed hospitals to the VA where I could not go. It’s not quite so long as for you but I was really attached to the guy because imo he saved my life. But he set me up with a great albeit totally different pdoc. She never wants to touch my meds because I’m stable...in that regard she’s risk averse but I’m still stable and instead of seeing her every two months or so for a full session I see her every six months for a fifteen minute med management session. Big change but it works for me because of the stability....at the same time when I had a minor relapse she got me in right away. Also I have her voice mail number, not all docs will give you a number other than the front desk. So different isn’t always worse....

I'm sorry you're facing this. When my Pdoc retired, I, too, was shaken. He knew about my whole family, since he was also my father's doctor. But fortunately I was able to find a new (to me) Pdoc. The new one had been a student of the old one, so I feel very fortunate.
Not only would I ask for a letter such as you describe, I would also write everything down, so you don't forget to tell the new Pdoc anything. Gentle hugs and good luck.

My psychiatrist is 65. I started seeing him straight out of residency. I told him he's never allowed to retire. He laughed and said he plans on working into his 90s. I told him that's good. I'll be in my 80s. He said "we can get a lot of work done till then". He's amazing.

I feel your pain. My pdoc is moving his practice at the end of the year and going to cash only. He will be in a very pricey area (Palm Springs) so I'm not sure I can afford his cash fee which I don't even know what it is. He's been with me a long time. He has tried so many different medications for me. I don't want to lose him. HUGS Kit

I’ve been with my same T and Pdoc for over 8 years. My husband and I were going to spend a year in Florida and see if we wanted to move back permanently, 2 years ago , we only stayed 8 months. I got hooked back up with my providers as soon as we got home.

My T wrote out a easy to read 2 page summary of our work, his overall professional opinion of my struggles and strengths . He also noted there has never been an issue with Med abuse, alcohol or street drugs.

He listed that I have over the years been in patient at Vanderbilt university hospital in Nashville.

Anyway I meet a new Pdoc in Florida and we sit down , the questions began , I said wait , I have a letter from my Pdoc and T , it’s a quick read. Are you interested? Her eyes light up I swear lol

She read it and said I wish all new patients that have been in treatment and seeing a Pdoc and T would get a summary letter as it helped her immensely in avoiding questions already answered, yes she still asked me a lot...... but overall she got a quick understanding of me that might have taken many visits to flush out if ever.

I’m so sorry your losing someone so important in your life....

Yes ask for a letter/summary.

Side note I still carry a copy of that in my purse. Maybe one day I’ll need to show it to some uneducated medical professional???

If nothing else you will have a very important summary/letter/note from someone that has taken such care with you and your family for so long.

I am so sorry about your Pdoc retiring.

I know it’s rough.

I do have some encouraging words about the meds.

I was in a similar situation when I lost my first Pdoc, I was worried that I wasn’t going to find another psychiatrist who would keep me on my same meds. A few psychiatrists disagreed and wanted to change but a few were willing to keep me on the same meds.

Then last year I switched to my current psychiatrist and I’m still on my original meds plus I actually ended up liking this psychiatrist better than my first one! (It was a surprise to me because I thought that I’d never get over my first Pdoc).

So it worked out.

It’s definitely difficult but I know things will work out for you.

I can relate to your feelings about your PDOC retiring. Mine, who I had been seeing for about 25 years, retired about 18 months ago. He gave me 6 months notice to get comfortable with the idea. The clinic had a replacement who made it very clear that he was not going to be like my old PDOC which caused me some anxiety. He was right, he is not at all like my old PDOC. I don't like him but I can live with him. My options are limited. So, get that letter and stand up to your new provider when you know something will/won't work. I am truly sorry you have to have this experience.