Open letter to my Dr

hetshup

Dear Dr,

I pretty much hate you and your staff. I have to wait 2 hours to see you and then you say hey! come back in three months, and make sure to take your vitamin D, which is the only thing that we are monitoring! And then send me a bill with no way to pay with my insurance, and then be open from 9-5 and closed from 11-2 for lunch. Then call me and be shocked, SHOCKED that I haven't paid my bill. I would love to pay my bill, but you won't help a sister out.

In conclusion, Dr. I would like to kick you in the Taco.


Hetshup

jeanacorina

Before I moved to Louisiana, I had HORRIBLE headaches pretty much all the time for years. I did some research and found that I had symptoms of tension headaches and migraines. So, I went to the doctor.

First, I went in to make an appointment because I had a phobia of calling people on the phone. I asked the nurse if there were any appointments available that day or anytime the following week. She said the doctor could see me in about 20 minutes if I wanted to wait, so I did.

The doctor comes out and has some weird attitude and told me that they don't take walk-ins anymore. I was like "I came to make an appointment and your nurse said you had this one available." He said "Next time you need to call ahead."

WTF? If I want to drive across town with the intent of doing something I could do over the phone, that's MY business. Take up the same-day appointment thing with your nurse.

Secondly, I said "I have symptoms of both tension headaches and migraines, so I'm not sure what's going on." I told him my head hurt pretty much all the time.

He looked at me like he didn't believe me and said "Does it hurt right now?" Uhh, yes!

He checked my eyes, ears, and pulse... then said "Well, you have symptoms of tension headaches and migraines." Well, no crap! Who'da thunk?

He also asked me "If I make you an appointment for a neurologist, will you actually go?"

This guy had never met me in his life! Am I crazy?

I said yes, of course I'd go. I DON'T WANT HEADACHES ANYMORE. Why else would I even be there? Here's your $25 copay thanks for NOTHING.

I didn't go to the neurologist, btw. I cancelled the appointment when I moved to Louisiana. Miraculously, my headaches were cured when I moved! I dunno how. But no more headaches.

oceana919

Ah, I have a love-hate relationship with doctors.

When I first started being "symptomatic" in January 2008, I went to doctor after doctor, trying to figure out what was wrong. They would latch on to one specific symptom (whether it be the pelvic pain, or the upset stomachs, or whatever) and would give me a diagnosis that was pretty much a shot in the dark. I got everything - IBS, acid reflux (how acid reflux has anything to do with pelvis pain, I don't know), gastroentiritis, etc. They put me on every medication under the sun, send me home, and charge my insurance company for a specialist appt. At one point, I had been on antibiotics so often and at such high dosages that I had no bacteria left in my digestive system. Not to mention, because my symptoms seemed to be at least partially GYN-related, they insisted on doing a pregnancy test every single time I went in, even when I made it clear that it was scientifically impossible to be pregnant. At one point, my insurance company called me up and asked if I was TTC because I had so many claims for preg tests in the span of 6 months.

Low and behold, I got no relief. That's when they started throwing scary words around, like "cancer". At one point, a doctor suggested that I was having signs of early ovarian cancer, two weeks after my grandmother had passed from the disease. The doc couldn't understand why I broke into absolute hysterics in the middle of her office.

The worst doc, however, was a family medicine doc that I encountered days before my graduation. I went in, again, because it had gotten to a point where the pelvic pain was so bad, I had trouble being in a sitting position. He listened to me rattle off my symptoms, made me do another pregnancy test, then came back with a questionaire. He made me fill it out and came back. His diagnosis - it was psychosomatic. I was making myself sick. I just needed to relax. He prescribed me an antianxiety and shooed me away. Two days later, three hours before I have to go to my graduation ceremony, I'm back in the office with an undiagnosed kidney infection. It took everything not to reach out and slap the doctor when I passed him on my way out.

In the end, after a few rounds with a urologist, an OBGYN, and the local ER, I was diagnosed with endo and put on the correct treatment plan. However, I had to go through literally 18 months of hell, over $5000 in uncovered medical bills (you don't even want to know what the insurance company covered), and tons of unneeded medications to get there.

That one doc was the worst though...I understand that there are some people that can manifest an illness pyschosomatically. I understand that some people can stress themselves out so badly that they make themselves sick. However, it hurts pretty deep when someone tells you you're imagining the pain you're in, or that you're doing it to yourself. That's one of the biggest problems that women with endo encounter - because people can't actually see what the illness does to you, a lot of times, it's assumed that you're imagining it, or you're overexaggerating. It leads to a lot of women being afraid or ashamed to get the treatment they need.  

Lol...yeah, I'll just hop off my soapbox now...

PaigeMcC

That sucks, ladies! I have a wonderful family doctor whose known me since I was in the womb.  He just took BF on as a paitent and we lurve him.  Maybe I can clone him and send him down...?

PaigeMcC

Oceana - acid reflux can cause pelvic pain.  Don't ask me how but that was one of my symptoms, before I was diagnosed w/ acid reflux, that threw all the doctors off.  I won't go into details but it took 2 years and a battery of various tests to diagnose me (from age 11 thru 13 I went thru some medical fun). 

My fav. memory of the tests is a nurse taking me aside at age 12, before they did some gastro-scan, and saying "Hunny, I know you might not want to tell your mom but if you're pregnant I need to know.  This test could hurt a baby really badly if we do it while you're pregnant."  I just looked at her with this blank look and said in a totally serious voice "I thought you had to have sex to get pregnant.  I think you just figured out what's wrong!"  I thought she was going to smack my smart-arsed 12-year-old mouth but she didn't.  She left the room and never came back....mom said I offended her.  I thought it was HILARIOUS!

chipypony

I am probably the worst person to ask on my opinion of doctors. I am basically been a medical disaster since birth. However, here is my abbreviated medical story...

When I was little (1st grade ish) I had a lymph node that became really swollen and they ran every test under the sun to figure out what it was. My mom took me in to the hospital and a dr decided to biopsy the lyphnode, without any anesthetic and litterally took the scalpal and cut right into it (I thankfully had a high pain tollerence even in 1st grade)...needless to say after telling my mother it was either hodgkins lymphoma or a problem with my blood they found out it was cat scratch fever (which I still test positive for today). During this whole ordeal they also found I had a malformation in the base of my skull causing scoliosis and I had emergency brain surgery two weeks later when I was 8 because they told my parents I would be paralyzed...any way fastforward a couple more surgeries later to fix the scoliosis and I still have terrible leg pain and cramping in my leg like restless leg syndrome only not. Since 2nd grade I had been on every medication known to man from anti seizure drugs to muscle relaxers and have pretty much every test you can imagine (including the test where they stick long needles into your muscles) and I got to a point where my neurologist looked at me and said I can't help you you have to find a new doctor...still waiting for it to go away or be diagnosed and treated

PaigeMcC

Woah, Chipy that sucks!  I'm sorry to hear about your medical issues, hun. 

chipypony

You get use to it. I remember I wore an open backed dress to my prom and of course I have a HUGE scar down my back from my neck to basically my waist and everyone was freaking out...who cares its part of me, can't hide it. Thankfully my BF has been really understanding and doesnt mind all the scars and I am a horrible sleeper so he just rolls on me and holds me down, otherwise I think I beat him up in my sleep

PaigeMcC

That's great that you have someone so supportive!! What a great BF;)

KD+BC

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_open-letter-dr?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:64ef416d-cca4-4dfe-9442-b531119ccce2Post:a008e808-2ac2-4b73-ba5f-c3fab3c3e40b">Re: Open letter to my Dr</a>:
[QUOTE]You get use to it. I remember I wore an open backed dress to my prom and of course I have a HUGE scar down my back from my neck to basically my waist and everyone was freaking out...who cares its part of me, can't hide it. Thankfully my BF has been really understanding and doesnt mind all the scars and I am a horrible sleeper so he just rolls on me and holds me down, otherwise I think I beat him up in my sleep
Posted by chipypony[/QUOTE]

You sound like an episode of Mystery Diagnosis! That's awful!

chipypony

Funny you mention that, sometimes I watch that show just in case...I mean you never do know there might be someone who has my problem. Its kind of defeating when the doctor is like I can't help you and sent me to Yale, yale says, I can't help you either. I just hope someday it can be fixed, its terribly annoying

KD+BC

I don't have an experience anywhere near as bad as yours but I did deal with terrible gastrointestinal issues for about 5 years. 3 years in, a doctor finally diagnosed me but treated me with pills that made me sleepy. 2 years later I finally found a doctor who was able to treat me. I still struggle but it's under control. I guess the only advice I can give is keep going to new doctors. Hopefully you'll find one who can figure out what's going on!

paintgirl

Oceana - I hear your endo issue. I went to the emergency room because I collapsed from pain while out shopping. They patted me on the head and said, "Sometimes women have abdominal pain and we never find a reason. Maybe you're just upset about something." Ok. A. It wasn't abdominal pain - it was pelvic pain. Different, but that would require them LISTENING to me. B. Laparoscopic surgery let my doctor burn off several spots of endo and remove a weird cyst that the ER and several other specialists missed. Including an *hole urologist that if I ever saw in a dark alley would be really sorry he told he was going to use a local anesthetic for a test but then used NOTHING. I should report him to the medical boards.

After the surgery and a change in bcp, I've been symptom-free for a year. I'm not celebrating yet - I know it is likely to grow back - but I'll take the pain-free time happily!!