More than a year ago I made a New Year's resolution to find a new family practitioner. I felt like my current GP just didn't listen to me. And she never did anything to make me feel better. She made me feel like a hypochondriac. I go to the doctor maybe twice a year--when something weird is going on or I am so sick I think I'm about to die. And her advice is usually something along the lines of "take a Benadryl."
It was so bad that the last couple of times I was sick, I went to urgent care (and paid 3x my copay) because I knew they would actually give me something to make me feel better.
And way back when I broke both ankles, and she discovered that I have low bone-density, she decided that I could no longer have my prescription for Protonix filled because it is contraindicated for low bone density.
I have terrible, awful acid reflux. Vomit in my sleep and aspirate it, bad. Can't even drink water some days (yes, literally) bad. Lumps of food stick in my throat bad.
She said, take Zantac, raise the head of your bed, modify your diet. I did those things. Zantac didn't work, DH HATES having the bed raised (but it is), I don't drink coffee or soda or eat anything with red sauce. And it is still terrible, and she still she wouldn't give me anything.
So finally, finally, today I went to a new doc. And as soon as I told him my symptoms he said that I needed a scope. And her ordered a bunch of labs, including a test for an ulcer-causing bacteria that no one has ever looked for before. And he put me back on the Protonix, even with the low bone density.
And with all that--even getting 5 vials of blood drawn and facing a so-not-fun endoscopy in the future--I left the doctor's office happy. I was so stunned that I didn't have to convince him that my situation was truly bad. That I needed to be fixed. I didn't leave feeling like I was some kinds of drug whore (I didn't even take pain pills after I gave birth to twins, but old doc wouldn't give me so much as an antibiotic.)
Why is it so easy to advocate for others and ignore ourselves? I would never put up with this treatment of a client or my children.
2 comments:
I'm with you... Man, if I'm sick enough to go to the doctor, they better prescribe me *something.* I don't care if it is just a virus, give me some prescription cough syrup or something.
Hope your scope goes well and you find a cause for all your troubles! That sounds miserable.
I am not as bad off as you, but family history of GERD and on NSAIDs all the time... now I am on Imdur. It helps a lot--esophogeal spams is what they think is going on... usually prescribed for angina. For a while I was tired of taking so many pills and went off it, realized quickly how much it had been working...
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