I'm kinda stumped by our Medical Profession (fracture, x-rays, pain)

[cremebrulee]

yanno, I'm an ol timer, coming onto my mid 60's. And I can remember going to a family doctor, and that doctor was able to not only tell you what was wrong, but treat it, no matter what it was....Doctors in my day, were kind and caring...professional and intellectually were usually right on the money when it came to diagnosing. Also, if they didn't find what was wrong, they'd keep on trying, sending you for more tests...

I've encountered quit the opposite in the past 10 - 15 years....here's the story...and please feel free to tell me if I'm wrong...

I had a girlfriend who had speech failure, dizzy spells, she couldn't think right or articulate her words properly. There were other symptoms, however, she went to doctor after doctor for two years, until they finally found out what was wrong. But in the course of seeing a neurologist, he was so arragent, he told her there was nothing wrong with her????? and was very rude to her?????

Another girlfriend's husband was really sick, they kept running him to the hospital in an Ambulance, and he'd end up staying in the hospital...now when I'd ask her what the doctors thought was wrong, and they were in they're 80's....she'd say, "They don't know", and they'd send him home, until one day he ended up in the hospital and died. But no one knew why??????

Another younger friend, just overturned her ankle...she went to the hospital...they took x-rays, but...and get this...they don't know for sure, if it's a break or not, and told her, she may have also tore, ligaments. So, she called a specialist...and they can't get her in until tomorrow? Ok, so what if it's broken? I mean, what is wrong with doctors today?
Why are they so arrogant, when we're paying them for a service....
Do they think they're Gods, b/c they surely act like they think they are?
And why, when something is wrong with a patient, (and this has happened to a lot of people I know) they go to the doctor due to symptoms, and the doctor performs tests...ok, so the tests come back negative, and not only does the doctor not call, but leaves it drop and doesn't perform any other tests.??????

I have a friend who has a rash in her mouth, for over a year, and she went to a dentist, who said she needed to have her teeth scaled...(boy did he take her) so she had her teetch scaled, and the rash never went away, so she pursued it by going to other doctors, and to this day, she still has it, and doesn't know what it is. I mean, this really seems odd...that a doctor wouldn't keep on searching and testing until they find out what it is?

I just don't get this, especially today, with our technology? And yet, have we really come that far.

Please understand, as in everything else, there is good and bad, but, I'm just taken back by some of the attitudes of some doctors, and that they don't follow thru with a patient? Doesn't make sense to me...I mean, they take an oath?

[stan4]

The hedging on the diagnoses thing is because of lawyers and lawsuits.

I don't know what you mean about the rest. Most docs I know are caring and compassionate. There are always some arrogant ones, but the majority really care about their patients.

p.s. A fracture that is so subtle that it can't be seen can wait a week for a specialist. Next day sounds pretty good.

[cremebrulee]

Originally Posted by stan4

The hedging on the diagnoses thing is because of lawyers and lawsuits.

I don't know what you mean about the rest. Most docs I know are caring and compassionate. There are always some arrogant ones, but the majority really care about their patients.

p.s. A fracture that is so subtle that it can't be seen can wait a week for a specialist. Next day sounds pretty good.

Hi Stan, thanks for your reply....
I understand what your saying about the diagnoses part, but why do they take tests, and nothing shows up, so they don't take it further? They just drop it and wait for the patient to come back again and again...?

Maybe it's the area I live in, but we do have some compassionate ones, as I've changed and started going to more women doctors who seem to have better bed side manors...but, some of the doctors I've been to, are really very arrogent, and you feel like a number, nothing more.

On the fracture, I'm worried about her, b/c if it is a fracture, can't it start healing on it's own, which might not be such a good thing? She did it Sat. or Sunday? And believe me, I'm definately no doctor, but our local hospital has such a bad name, not to mention, if you need to go to they're emergency room, be prepared to spend the entire day there...it's awful...

[stan4]

That's because most of what shows up at the emergency department doesn't qualify as a life-threatening emergency. So sorry if you have to wait till someone with a heart attack or stroke is stabilized first before someone tends to an ankle sprain.

[cremebrulee]

Originally Posted by stan4

That's because most of what shows up at the emergency department doesn't qualify as a life-threatening emergency. So sorry if you have to wait till someone with a heart attack or stroke is stabilized first before someone tends to an ankle sprain.

hadn't thought about that?
thanks Stan....

[EvilCookie]

I've had very similar thoughts. Honestly, probably the one and only truly useful thing a doctor has done for me is deliver my son - and even that was after they sent me home 3 times (!) because I wasn't far enough along to warrant occupying a room, even after I begged them as I lived 40 mins away and was in a lot of pain and throwing up. In fact, as I was curled over a bowl in misery, the nurse suggested that if we don't want to go back home we can go and walk around downtown, go shopping or go for dinner! I wanted to smack her.
Aside from that, I've been to the doctors numerous times with various bothersome symptoms, and after all the standard blood tests have come back normal no one ventured any suggestions or provided the least bit of help to try and figure out the cause. One pretty much implied outright that I was a hypochondriac. Upon googling some of these symptoms, I'm always amazed at how many people are out there that are suffering from extremely severe symptoms every day, much much worse than mine, with absolutely no diagnosis! It's craziness, there are people out there literally throwing up every single day, or passing out all the time, or having constant diarrhea (sorry!) - and no one will give them a reason though they've been to doctor after doctor. Reading this stuff just makes me both grateful it's not me, and terrified at the same time that one can develop these horrible symptoms and be stuck with them for life with no resolution. Lately, even my dentist is not able to diagnose some swelling and pain I've been having in my teeth and gums - and I thought dental diagnoses were straightforward! I've really become extremely disappointed in the whole medical field as I've gotten older...it seems less of a science and more of some kind of color-by-numbers template where if your case doesn't fit with the textbook, it's basically ignored.

[tickyul]

General Practitioners...............wow, I have had some terrible luck with these know-nothing/do-nothing dolts.


I think a big part of the problem is GPs do not really handle much in todays day and age.......refer most everything out..........what they don't refer out they screw up.

[PAhippo]

Odd-my feeling is just the opposite. The only specialist I felt knew or cared was the 2nd oncologist I went to.

I love the general practitioners I go to (husband/wife team; I'll see either one) but they know by now not to mention specialist to me.

[charolastra00]

I haven't had good experiences with doctors. Over the course of 5 years, I was misdiagnosed with everything from stress to chronic hives to celiac disease and even suspected lupus by 5 or 6 doctors and specialists, when in reality I had cancer. At one point I asked my PCP if I could have Hodgkin's, and she told me no because I had no palpable nodes (even though I had several other big symptoms). I was only 19 so I didn't know how to advocate for myself - I thought a doctor would err on the side of caution for cancer. In reality, Hodgkin's often starts in the chest (as did mine) and when I was diagnosed 4 years later at Stage IV, I only had two palpable lymph nodes whereas I had dozens of tumors in my chest (including a bulky mediastinal mass) and tumors in my bones and spine.

I've also had issues with my oncologist. He does not like giving all the information. I need everything - blood results, PET scan results, knowing my SUV, etc etc. He tells me things and expects me to take them at face value, rather than need to know why. That's frustrating. At the end of treatment, he terrified me with a relapse when in reality my PET scan SUV for the node in question was below the cancer threshold. I wouldn't have known that if I didn't demand to see the PET scan and if I hadn't known a bit about SUVs. I ended up getting a second opinion from the head of lymphoma (who is also a Hodgkin's specialist) at Dana-Farber to confirm.

I know doctors can't know EVERYTHING about every disease. That's impossible. But the fact that I saw so many specialists and no one caught my cancer until I literally had a tumor that took over my entire armpit is absurd.

There has been a lot of unkindness as well. When I first went to a new PCP with my swollen armpit and a lymph node the size of a grape that had popped up on my collar bone the same morning, she scared the bejesus out of me. Yes, what she was seeing was scary, but when a 23 year old who has just told you that she just started her first job and is 1000 miles away from family and friends comes to you and might have cancer, you don't yell at her. After getting my chest xray results the day I presented with my swollen armpit, she called and said, "It looks like you have lymphoma with swollen lymph nodes down your esophagus, lungs, and around your heard. If you have heart palpitations or have trouble breathing, go to the ER immediately because it could be your organs shutting down." My response was, "Oh, you mean the symptoms of the panic attack I'm about to have?"

Since ending treatment for cancer, she keeps telling me she "doesn't know what to do with me" and is really reluctant to consult with my oncologist about why my blood counts and hormones are wonky following treatment. I was on dozens of drugs and chemo for 6 months, didn't have my period for 10 months, and am under a lot of stress from having cancer so young and the financial ramifications - the last thing I need to hear is "Your hormones are all over the place and I don't really know what to do with you." Unfortunately, there are few PCPs with significant experience treating young adult cancer survivors.

[cremebrulee]

EvilCookie I've had very similar thoughts. Honestly, probably the one and only truly useful thing a doctor has done for me is deliver my son - and even that was after they sent me home 3 times (!) because I wasn't far enough along to warrant occupying a room, even after I begged them as I lived 40 mins away and was in a lot of pain and throwing up. In fact, as I was curled over a bowl in misery, the nurse suggested that if we don't want to go back home we can go and walk around downtown, go shopping or go for dinner! I wanted to smack her.

Thank you EC, I'm so thankful you replied, b/c I thought it was me...and I can't believe this nurse said this to you...??????? Don't get me wrong, I DO believe you, I just can't believe how unprofessional health care has become. And for what they charge?

Aside from that, I've been to the doctors numerous times with various bothersome symptoms, and after all the standard blood tests have come back normal no one ventured any suggestions or provided the least bit of help to try and figure out the cause. One pretty much implied outright that I was a hypochondriac.

I've heard this many times from people...especially older folks....

Upon googling some of these symptoms, I'm always amazed at how many people are out there that are suffering from extremely severe symptoms every day, much much worse than mine, with absolutely no diagnosis! It's craziness, there are people out there literally throwing up every single day, or passing out all the time, or having constant diarrhea (sorry!) - and no one will give them a reason though they've been to doctor after doctor.

You put it in better words then I, and it's a shame. One day, I was perfectly fine...picked up the dog from the groomers and stopped and bought a hoagie for lunch. Bought it home, ate it, and 20 minutes later, well, let me just say, I believe I got disentary for something from it, and I dehidrated so quickly I was in the hospital getting IV...the next day, same thing...I had the you know what's so bad, I wanted to just die...and no one would do anything...7 days of it, finally I phoned my doctor and she perscribed some meds that my neighbor went and got. It was so bad, I couldn't even take care of my dog....my neighbor took him home with her thank God! My cousin's husband was so mad, he couldn't believe they didn't keep me in the hospital.

Reading this stuff just makes me both grateful it's not me, and terrified at the same time that one can develop these horrible symptoms and be stuck with them for life with no resolution.

absolutely!

Lately, even my dentist is not able to diagnose some swelling and pain I've been having in my teeth and gums - and I thought dental diagnoses were straightforward!

don't even mention dentists....a lot of them, tell you, you have gum disease and need to get your teeth scaled, when most of the times, it's that someone is brushing to hard, and irritating the gums. I bought a water pic, and the new dentist I go to, cannot believe how good my gums look, I'm telling anyone out there, if you purchase a water pic and use it twice a day, you will have healthier gums and less cavities. It really gets some nasty stuff out.

I've really become extremely disappointed in the whole medical field as I've gotten older...it seems less of a science and more of some kind of color-by-numbers template where if your case doesn't fit with the textbook, it's basically ignored.

I agree...and don't ya just love it, when you go to a doctor, and they forget who you are, and it's written down on your chart, but they don't read it before they enter the examining room?

Years ago, my doctor delievered babies, performed all kinds of surgery, man, they surely earned they're degrees. Today, you have to go to so many doctors, and, they don't remember who you are....much worse, is, they don't care...I go for shots in my back, and do you know how much he charges for one shot? $800.00?

It is getting ridiculous, and I really get upset with how older people are treated...I mean it, it's like, "oh to hell with em, they're old, they don't have much time left".

I'm sorry, there are doctors out there who do care....but they are few and far between.