Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Totally Dysed

It's my blog and I can cry if I want to. It's nice to have a written record of the ups and downs I've experienced on my journey with POTS. Today was definitely a down day. I had my 2nd doctors visit with my new neurologist today. I guess they roll out the welcome mat on the first visit and treat you totally like poo for all the rest.

So I'm waiting in the examination room on the short little table with the thin paper draped across it, when the doctor opens the door and says "Happy New Year, how are you today?" It's a typical greeting when two people first see each other, so I respond "Happy New Year, I'm fine and you?", then he responds, "Good to hear your doing well with the medication increase, how are things going with side effect "A" and "B"?" The doctor is still standing at the door that is wide open and I'm sitting about 4-5 feet away from him on the examination table. I'm mortified that he has just shared something I consider personal and confidential to anyone that might be close enough to hear. At the same time I'm thinking that I didn't mean I'm feeling healthy fine, I was just responding to a simple greeting. I answered his question about the medication side effects, he then does the typical eye-hand coordination exam, eye following finger and little flashlight thing and listens to my heart. He heads for the door and asks about how the compression stockings worked, I tell him not so good, then he says I'll see you in about 4 months. His body language is telling me he's in a hurry and has no time to answer a long list of my questions. So I narrow my list to just two. I inform the doctor that I would like to ask a few questions. He remains at the door that is still open and waits for my questions. Again the body language is telling me to hurry up. I ask him about the neuropathy I'm experiencing and are there any long term dangers like there are with diabetes? He tells me there's nothing to be concerned about and begins to head out the door! I jump off of the table and follow him out. I say "I have another question, I'm having some trouble dispensing my medication." I pull out my bottle and explain my issue in the hallway in a hurry, he then changed my prescription to alleviate my dispensing issue and headed quickly down the hall. It almost felt like he was running away from me. He couldn't have spent more than 3 minutes with me and he was running on schedule. I was so upset my POTS symptoms set in and I had to hold myself up to make my next appointment.

I'll deal with this tomorrow when I've cooled down a bit, just needed a place to vent.

Dysed by my Doc,
Michele

3 comments:

  1. OH MY! I am SO sorry. I had a horrible experience with my neurologist as well. MY BP was so low, they couldn't get a reading and she said "yeah somethings wrong, you should probably just eat more salt to get it up". Hm, okay? I'm already on florinef & eat plentiful amounts of sodium!

    I don't understand why doctors feel the need to dismiss us POTS patients. It's very frustrating!

    Take care lady,
    xoxo
    -erinj0

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  2. Oh, that is HORRIBLE. But all too common a story. Sigh. I will share this with my daughter who is planning a career in medicine as a "what NOT to do when you become a doctor".

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  3. my family doctor was like that. if it wasn't for my crohn's specialist i never would've been diagnosed with pots. he always seemed in too much of a rush to actually exam any problems i brought to him. i'd tell him my knee really hurts, and he wouldn't even pull up my pant leg to take a look at it! i'd complain if i were you. it takes most of our energy just to get there, and then to be treated like that? where nothing is really accomplished? u deserve better!

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