One time at 20 years old (female, normal weight, on OCP, sat for 10 hours a day studying for finals- this was all disclosed) I went to my UHS for new onset shortness of breath progressively worsening over the past day or 2, present for 4 days I think. It got to the point I wasn’t sleeping because I couldn’t lay down flat without sitting up within a few minutes, hyperventilating gasping for breath.

At rest vitals: BP 105/70s HR 124 O2 86% room air RR 30 ish

anyway NP told me I had anxiety. I kept saying no, I don’t. She insisted. I said no but even if I did I will not take a medicine to treat it because I do not ever feel anxious and that’s what matters to me. Eventually she gave me a script for allergies since I had said I had a runny nose recently.

It was amitriptyline and she said to take it 3 times a day or more if needed. First note: let’s all be glad I didn’t accidentally overdose on a TCA bc wtf

An MA reported this visit to their medical director I guess when I left and a physician cold called me at 11 PM that night from the university hospital asking me to come in when I said I still couldn’t breath.

I had a PE

but the NP doubled down that I had no signs of PE or risk factors in her follow up interview about it. (? Don’t mind my Low sats, immobile for long periods hx, female, OCPs, tachycardic, hyperventilating) That I was a textbook presentation for anxiety (they must b getting diff textbooks)

Moral here is they will find one way or another to give you psych meds whether you adamantly decline them or not. and if you die in the process at least your non existent anxiety was diagnosed and treated!