Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have urgent eye surgery scheduled for next week. Unfortunately, when I called the office today to ask some questions, they told me that my electrophysiologist has still not given his go ahead for the procedure (in spite of multiple faxes sent). So, I called the electrophysiologist’s office and left a message. I still haven’t heard back.
I am getting a bad feeling about this. I had a mini falling out with this electrophysiologist back in September 2020. I had been seeing him for about a year for bothersome palpitations. I took three diagnostic tests — an echocardiogram which came back normal, an exercise stress test, which was “equivocal” neither completely normal, nor obviously problematic (but note, this test is notorious for false positive, especially with women) and a 30-day Holter monitor which showed some PVCs and short episodes of SVT, but otherwise nothing noteworthy (I was having problems, not of course they did not show up on the Holter Monitor). He told me to take magnesium, prescribed a beta blocker, and baby aspirin. But none of these helped.
Then, back in March (some months before the falling out mentioned above), I stumbled on my own extremely effective treatment. I decided to start exercising vigorously ! Whoa! Who would have thunk it? Vigorous exercise for heart problems? Weird, right? \sarcasm. Anyway, the exercise cleared up the arrhythmia and I went back to feeling perfectly fine. I also stopped taking the beta blockers and haven’t had any since the beginning of the exercise program.
Five months later, I had my annual checkup with the guy. I told the staff I didn’t feel like going, because I was no longer having the problem (not thanks to them, BTW). They absolutely insisted I go, because ... you never know ... you just should and all that. So, I went. Predictably at the annual check-up, the electrophysiologist dismissed my reports of feeling much better due to the exercise (I had gone from have 16 hours of palpitations a week to having a few seconds max) and instead insisted that I come in for a nuclear stress test. Basically, I rebelled and said no. Nuclear stress tests give the highest dosage of radiation of any medical exam (either 100x more than a CT-scan which itself is pretty bad in terms of radiation dosage). Also they are infamous for giving false positives and leading the patient into more invasive testing. I told him I wasn’t 100% against testing and that if my issue recurred, I would have the testing done. He was not pleased with this at all. I asked him if he seriously thought there was even a moderate chance that I had a serious problem and he said, No, he didn’t think so, but that I needed the test for “prevention” of possible future problems. (BTW, I am 56, with normal lipids, perfect blood pressure, no family history of heart attack or high blood pressure, just to give some context). I still refused and I could tell he was really pissed with me. Goodness knows what he wrote in my chart.
Fast forward to today. I am still feeling great. I have kept up the exercise program and am still basically palpitation free (I feel a skipped beat every now and then, but it is nothing at all like it was before. I don’t have hours of arrhythmia). I am still also off the beta blockers.
But now I am fearing that this electrophysiologist is being a Moderator cut: obscene language (excuse my French) and not approving my eye surgery .... or at least being extremely passive-aggressive. It has been radio silence from that office for a week. They have not answed my surgeon’s requests. And yet my eye surgeon will not go through with the surgery unless we get the electrophysiologist’s permission. I have called the electrophysiologist’s office myself and have not heard back. In my message, I told the nurse that I was still feeling fine, just as I was in September and that I would like to have the permission granted as soon as possible. Nothing of course ....
I am so angry about this. Back at the end of 2019, when I was having a lot of issues with the arrhythmia (and posted a lot about it here), I went through 6 weeks of concurrent chemo & radiation and no one blinked an eye about my arrhythmia. But now, I am feeling fine and not having the problem anymore ... and am trying to get approval for a 30-minute outpatient procedure under local anesthesia...and all of a sudden it is a problem?
Sigh. What to do? I am really worried that they will have to cancel my surgery because of this or reschedule to who knows when (this office does this surgery every two weeks) and it is an urgent surgery. Ok, not emergency, but definitely urgent. Also, I have already rented the specialized recovery equipment I will need for the week after the scheduled surgery and my husband has already cleared out his work schedule.
So, what to do ... besides sit by the phone, metaphorically speaking. There is no way that I am going to find another electrophysiologist and have him approve this surgery for me in a few days.
You declined the advised diagnostic tests and you are non compliant with your beta blockers and you want him to clear you? Are you serous?
By advising more diagnostic tests he is saying he needs more information.
You are increasing your risk by not taking prescribed medication.
Chances are the electrophysiologist reported to the anesthesiologist and the anesthesiologist has reservations about you getting put under. An electrophysiologist is a tech and doesn't make those decisions. This is best discussed in a calm manner with the ophthalmologist, who is the one making the final decision.
I'd be the first to say that too many doctors today are nothing more than overcredentialed physician assistants, but anesthesiologists and ophthalmologists are NOT in that category.
So back off.
An electrophysiologist is a cardiologist who specializes in cardiac arrhythmias
You declined the advised diagnostic tests and you are non compliant with your beta blockers and you want him to clear you? Are you serous?
By advising more diagnostic tests he is saying he needs more information.
You are increasing your risk by not taking prescribed medication.
TL; DNR I’m right; he’s wrong. Just having an MD doesn’t make you always right. Not having an MD doesn’t make you an idiot.
Longer: I stopped taking the beta blockers because not only were they not helping, they were pretty obviously making the problem (my complaint) worse. I have no history of heart disease in my family, I have normal blood pressure, normal lipids, etc. The only problem was palpitations (not afib, we checked). When I started taking the beta blocker the palpitations got more frequent, more severe, etc. almost right away. I literally only took the beta blockers for two to three days and these two to three days were much worse than my previous days. So, I stopped and felt better again. Then, I started exercising and felt even better. Much better. As in all better ... for months now. Don’t need a doctor to tell me what is perfectly clear.
He didn’t need more information as you say. When pressed, he finally admitted that they just wanted to do the test as a baseline — to see where I am are now. Yeah, I get the whole baseline concept. But since I have no evidence of heart disease (palpitations are not evidence of heart disease or even an indication that I have heart disease — the idea is that if I do have heart disease, it makes the palpitations more dangerous). As I said in the previous paragraph, I have no family history of coronary artery disease (my Mom who is 85 doesn’t have any heart issues and my Dad never had CAD, just afib when he was 75), I am still young (mid 50s), a woman, slender, fit, exercise vigorously with no cardiac symptoms (although my leg muscles do get sore), have perfect blood pressure, good lipids, etc.
They have no reason at all to suspect that I have a blockage somewhere (I also did the echocardiogram at it was 100% normal). The thing is that he cannot prove 100% that I do not have a blockage until I take the test (supposedly; although there are a lot of false positive and false negatives so I’m not even sure that will tell us anything.)
And, I do not want massive amounts of radiation beamed my body for no good reason.
But maybe I should just stop thinking because I don’t have an MD, admit that I know nothing at all and do whatever my doctor tells me, because my life will just be sooooo much better that way!
I called the electrophysiologist’s office back and got to actually speak with sometime this time. Then I called the retinal surgeon’s office again. It turns out that I had forgotten one of life’s important rules: Never suspect ill will until you have ruled out incompetence, which I did not do. Actually, there is also a corollary: Never suspect incompetence unless you have ruled out other extenuating circumstances.
In any case, I do have the clearance, but the electrophysiologist’s office faxed the clearance (more than once?) and the retinal surgeon’s office swears they never received it (more than once?). Anyway, I communicated with and encouraged people in both offices and left them to sort it out, mentally filed the affair under Not My Job, and went on with my day.
With this pandemic I find my doc's office workers screw up more than usual.
But anyway, I had a similar problem reaching my docs office for an approval so I went through my insurance co. They called the doc's office and the matter was solved within a day. Next time.. but hopefully they're wont be one, go over their heads.
Never feel obliged to stick to your doctor. I know it can be awkward, but leave him/her if you think he or she is in the way of your wellbeing. Find a good doctor who will help you!
Never feel obliged to stick to your doctor. I know it can be awkward, but leave him/her if you think he or she is in the way of your wellbeing. Find a good doctor who will help you!
Yeah, I know everyone gives this advice. But seriously, this guy is my 3rd electrophysiologist and he is a lot better than the other two. One of my other two EP’s spent most of the first visit assuming that my current complaint was afib ( I had had one single afib episode in the past, under sone pretty unusual circumstances) and trying to get me to sign up for an ablation ASAP. But it turns out that what brought me to his office wasn’t afib, it was a kind of sinus arrhythmia. I don’t like EP’s who push precedures and I really don’t like EP’s who push procedures for something that is not even a current complaint.
Also, one big problem I have is that, although doctors in general vary in some ways, they mostly follow standard practice. And it’s not like I want a doctor who does not follow standard practice as a rule. However, standard practice is not always based on science, nor is its “guessing” always correct. And it’s pretty easy to see when it’s not (I haven’t consulted it in a while, but there is some site online that tells lists all the research supporting various treatments and grades the quality of the research.) Another part of standard practice is the push to get everyone on board with so-called “preventive” medicine. I could rewrite a whole nother post about that.
So, if you happen to not personally get along with your doctor or if you find that your doctor is not following standard practice, then sure, get a new doctor.
However, if, after having done your research, you do not agree with current medical standard practice - in some respects, but agree in many, it is basically impossible to find a doctor you are always going to “get along with.” What often happens with me is that with new doctors we go through a honeymoon period, then we have a strong difference of opinion about something, then after some tension, my (good) doctor accepts my way of thinking on certain issues and we proceed. So, I think I am still on the potentially working it out phase with this doctor.
Given that I have a gazillion and one things to do in the remaining few days before the surgery, including driving 5 hours to and from another city (where my cancer center is) for my quarterly follow-up cancer scans, emotionally dealing with the results if they are not great, assembling, preparing and gathering various pieces of equipment, necessities, food, entertainment, etc. for the 7 day post-eye surgery period when I will have to remain face down basically 24/7, cleaning and organizing the house to minimize the occasion for tripping and falling after the surgery, and yet find a way to go into surgery feeling calm and rested, I simply do not have the time to also drive all over the place hand delivering documents (and exposing myself to more Covid-19 in the process). So, I will have to find a way of communicating urgency and coaching the office staff over the phone, if need be.
Sorry about your cancer.
Normally when I have a surgery scheduled, I know in advance so have been lucky that way that I can do all I need to do in time for the surgery such as when I had my big lumbar fusion in 2006. I knew I was going to be down months.
Thankfully my house pretty much runs itself as long as I keep my daily stuff up like putting laundry in when I wake up. Wiping bathrooms down as I use them. It makes being down a lot easier. I'm the type of person that everything has a place in my home so I didn't have to worry about tripping. My biggest issue was my 1st outing after surgery, some kid pushed a shopping cart where my fusion was.
I had my computer hooked up to the TV back then with a cordless keyboard and mouse. Too bad we didn't have smart phones back then.
I still would have driven to both of my doctors if I had to. Normally it would be one trip to the incompetent doctor that said they did fax it. I would have gotten it from them and faxed it myself to the doctor that needed it. My farthest doctor is 40 minutes from my house with my GP 15 minutes away.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
