I am a person that does not visit the doctor unless something is very wrong. I don't go for colds, I don't go if I think I have sprained something. I don't even go for bad cuts unless I can't get them to stop bleeding. One reason I don't go that often is that I have had several experiences that have left me less than satisfied with my health care.
Back in my 20's I had experienced a period of close to a year of dizziness, heart palpitations, and extreme fatigue. I was a person who took good care of myself. I ate well, got lots of aerobic exercise, kept my weight down, didn't smoke, and didn't drink that much. I had no reason to believe that my lifestyle was causing my ill feelings. At that time, I visited many doctors to try to figure out what was causing these debilitating symptoms. None of the doctors came up with any diagnosis for my situation. I was so discouraged.
I took it upon myself to do a lot of reading and discovered that Mitral Valve Prolapse fit all of my symptoms. I decided that maybe I had MVP and took it upon myself to do the things they recommended for you to do if you in fact had MVP. I drank LOTS of water, exercised, stayed away from caffeine and sugar. Guess what? My symptoms disappeared after a few weeks of this "treatment." I felt so much better. For years I didn't have any more of these symptoms.
Then, in my mid 30's I had a stressful year of moving out of state, young children, etc and started having heart issues again. This time, the issues seemed more severe. My husband took me to a renowned hospital in Boston and had a workup with a Cardiologist including a treadmill stress test. The doctor said they found no evidence of any heart condition and that in my case, a "little pill" read: tranquilizer, might do the trick. OK, so this man was telling me it was in my head! I am sorry, when you can feel your heart skip a beat, I don't see how this is in your head. Again feeling let down by medicine, I took it upon myself to figure it out and I realized I had stopped my exercise regimen and had not been drinking enough water. Back to it I went and again, the symptoms began to recede. No "little pill" necessary.
Fast forward to my early 40s. I started having gastro issues; I had constant stomach pain, all over my stomach, not just in one region. It really felt awful. This was another cluster of visits to doctors--urologist to rule out kidney, bladder issues, gastroenterologist to do lots of blood work, analyze my diet, etc. Many tests and appointments later, oila...I got the generic diagnosis of IBS. Irritable Bowel Syndrome is what they diagnose you with when they don't know what the cause of your problems are. It is a generic diagnosis with no meaningful treatment. Eat lots of fiber, drink water, exercise, lower stress. OK, I was already doing that. So again, I was not impressed or even helped by my doctor or any doctor I saw.
Last fall, I had a physical and received a pneumonia shot instead of a flu shot. I was not thrilled with the idea of an H1N1 shot because I had had reactions to flu shots in the past. Well, I had a whopper of a reaction to the pneumonia shot, it was arthritic in nature; I had joint pain and muscle pain all over for at least 10 days. I returned to my primary care Dr. to talk to him about it and he told me it couldn't be the pneumonia shot that did that to me, it must be a virus! A few weeks later, at the allergist, I mentioned this to the Allergy Dr. and he was SURE that I had experienced "serum sickness" from the pneumonia shot. He said it had about 40 components in it and if I had ever been exposed to any of them in the past, once I got the pneumonia shot my body's immune system went into overdrive and caused all the muscle aches and joint pain! HOOOAAAA! Finally someone confirmed what I knew to be true. That was a good feeling that someone confirmed it was not all "in my head" or some random virus.
I suppose all of these instances explain my lack of enthusiasm for going to the doctor. I almost never get any help from the doctor so why go? It seems that I always have to hash it out myself.
I had that experience again today. I won't list my age...I am still in my 40's suffice it to say!! Here I am, allergies in full swing even though I have gotten allergy shots for the last 7 years. They have helped me immensely in years past but this year, not so much. After weeks and weeks of nasal drainage, coughing and a throat and neck that feel, for the lack of a better term, "puffy," I went to my primary care doctor to make sure I had not developed a secondary infection. My swollen glands are obvious even just looking at my neck. It hurts in my ear intermittently. I HATE going to the doctor though because for some reason, I always get--"you are under too much stress," or ,'Just take this drug". Neither of these works for me.
I am a person that hates taking medication. My body is hypersensitive to everything I take; they all seem to make me drowsy, dizzy, nauseous, etc. So if it says "take 2" I usually only take 1. That being said, I went in to my primary care doc today to have him look inside my throat, ears, nose, listen to my breathing only to have him tell me they all sound and look fine. FINE? If that is the case, why do I feel so shitty? That is what I should have said. He really had no other explanation or recommendation other than to write me a script for Flonase. I filled the script hesitantly because Flonase is a corticosteroid. I am loathe to take that unless I REALLY have to. And I can say now that I read the insert, I am even more hesitant to take it. The list of contraindications and side effects etc, is really scary. This bottle will probably get relegated to the back of my closet while I figure out my diagnosis and treatment on my own. I should have gone to medical school!! My degree in Criminal Justice is just not helping me diagnose myself at all.
It feels I have been brushed aside once again by the doctor. What do I have to do to get a real diagnosis or to get him to pay attention and listen? Do I have to have TB? Brain Tumor? Is is that hard to listen to the patient and make an educated guess, something other than, "it should resolve when the pollen level goes down?" I am not aking for a miracle, just a smarter doctor, I guess!
If I were a hypochondriac, maybe I should expect this kind of treatment, but I am hardly EVER at the doctor's office. He hadn't seen me in 3 years until a I had a physical last fall. Maybe he is confusing me with Mrs. Von Munchhausen that comes in every 2 weeks with yet another random ailment.
The real bummer is in our current state of health care, there are almost NO reputable primary care doctors taking new patients. For every doctor that someone has recommended to me, NONE OF THEM ARE TAKING NEW PATIENTS. I fear the future. Not only will I be stuck with Dr. X for the foreseeable future, there is no end in sight for me to become a new patient of Dr.Y. And worst of all, there may be no new Dr. Y's coming out of Medical School. Who would want to go into primary care; the pay is low, the malpractice high.
I know there are some really good doctors out there. My son with Diabetes has a great doctor. I am happy with my Allergist. There are some examples of good doctors that my friends and family have used. In general, though, I feel that these days, you have to be your own health advocate, read up on your condition, ask the RIGHT questions of your doctor and be willing to contradict what they say if you know it to be incorrect. After all, they may be the expert (?) on the textbook medicine but you are the expert of your body.
As women, we more often get the impression that doctors think it is all "in our head." That serves to make us trust them less, use them less, and wait until we are really truly very sick until we go to them rather than using them to prevent any serious illness. This is something that needs to change. Tell me it is in my head if I have been there 10 times this month. One office visit every 3 years does not qualify me for "all in your head, or due to too much stress!" diagnoses!
Meanwhile, if you have a good primary care Doc in the MetroWest Boston area, preferably female, that is taking new patients, please let me know because I am really tired of this!!
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