Stoopid Doctor story

[cflame1]

My turn for a soap box:

Just before Christmas I started not feeling great, and so shortly after it I went to a walk in/Urgent Care clinic that I've been to before (on a Thursday night). This is a place where they don't tell you what they're prescribing, they just fax it to the pharmacy. I thought that I had a sinus infection when I went in, and yes, I did have one.

Typical doc sent in a script for an anti-biotic and so I started taking it, and still felt crappy a number of days later, so I went back to the doc to tell him that I couldn't breathe... he sent in a script for prednisone. The pharmacist says to take it in the morning and that I should be able to sleep that night (New Year's Eve and no I didn't do anything special that night). That night... I may as well have not been on the hose. Half the night I spent on the couch trying to sleep or in bed, hooked up trying to sleep. I looked at my numbers afterward... AHI 34. Needless to say that was the last time that I took that crap.

Went and saw a different doc at the same clinic... he takes me off the prednisone and sends in a script (without telling me) for a spray that has been known to make my nose bleed (I refused it at the pharmacy). The only thing that he talked about was putting me on more asthma meds (my asthma is very well controlled).

That same day... I walked into my sleep doc's office, she asked me what took me so long to come in (I told her this story), changed my antibiotic and got me some anti-histamine/decongestant samples. 24 hours later and I was feeling much better. She thought that the last GP was off when he was talking about the asthma meds (the sleep doc is also an asthma doc).

What I wouldn't give for a GP that would listen when I talk to them... and treat me like I have a brain. I know what it feels like to get better... and I know that I need to sleep to get that far, and that I need to breathe in order to sleep. I don't need a degree to know my own body.

[kteague]

Yeah, it is frustrating to not be heard or to be "dismissed" without even discussing the plan of treatment. Glad you had a recourse with your sleep doc.

Ok to vent - just a little twist on the usual stories on here - the sleep doc is the hero.

[lawdognellie]

Nothing worse than a doc that dismisses you without even listening to your entire list of symptoms before the prescribe meds. My GP and sleep doc were doing that for a while. My sleep doc finally told me that "excessive daytime sleepiness" was not in the purview of the sleep disorder/neurology dept. Huh??? She then told me to take it up with my GP (who was the one who sent me to the sleep doc after much harassment on my part). I finally had a mental breakdown (not really) and called my psychiatrist crying about how none of my docs would listen and how I was just fed up. On an ironic side note, he commented that in the 5 years he's been treating me for "depression" (i.e. fatigue) it was the first time he'd ever actually seen or heard me be depressed (go figure). He went out and found me a new sleep doc and explained to her that I'm not crazy and that there is something wrong with me falling asleep in the middle of the bar exam. She was the first doc who sat down and said, let's talk about any and all symptoms you may have or think you have and see if there is any connection. Low and behold I really was sick. She ended up having to redo my sleep study b/c the idiots who did my 1st one came up with results that make no sense. Okay, done with my tirade. In short, I sympathize.

Sarah

[Slinky]

Some of these educated idiots w/the fancy letters after their name can scare the heck outta you! It is so refreshing when you actually find a good one who LISTENS, and more importantly HEARS what you are telling them. Then, at least, you can have SOME confidence that they just might be able to help you!!!

[Sundown]

Doctors misdiagnose? You bet your britches.. lol.

August -
Took a shower, got some water in ear.
Ear clogged.
Went to Ear doc.
Ear looked fine. No redness.
Ear still clogged. Starting to feel weird and dizzy.
Three days later, was admitted to hospital for 3 days with Mastoiditis. This is basically what I was told:

Mastoiditis may be difficult to treat because it is difficult for medications to reach deep enough into the mastoid bone. It may require repeated or long-term treatment. Antibiotics by injection, then antibiotics by mouth are given to treat the infection.

Surgery to remove part of the bone and drain the mastoid (mastoidectomy) may be needed if antibiotic therapy is not successful. Surgical drainage of the middle ear through the eardrum (myringotomy) may be needed to treat the underlying middle ear infection.

Outlook (Prognosis):

Mastoiditis is curable with treatment but may be hard to treat and may recur.

Possible Complications

* Partial or complete hearing loss
* Destruction of the mastoid bone
* Facial paralysis
* Meningitis
* Spread of infection to the brain or throughout the body
* Epidural abscess

I was lucky, the antibiotic worked and was released after four days. I had to have a tube surgically placed in ear. It was scary as heck to be put on all the iv's and be told that I could even die from this. I loved how they said they may have to drill into a bone at the base of my brain to drain fluids... all along I knew my ear was infected, yet a "specialist" ENT didn't even care enough to do further tests because it wasn't "red enough."

[Slinky]

Yep, and then there's the ER doc who decided it was "just" superficial thrombophlebitis after an improperly diluted and administered IV. Thank goodness, another ER doc stopped in to check before I was released and decided that since she had had THREE STPs go "sour" on her in the previous 3 months maybe they should do a doppler ultrasound just in case. Uh, huh. "Just" STP my fanny. Blood clot in the vein from the armpit to the heart. 4 days in hospital on IV blood thinner and 6 months at home on oral blood thinners plus regular blood draws.

[Sundown]

Slinky... I hate IV's...especially watching the inch-long air bubble traveling through mine, slowly making it's way to my vein. I exclaimed to the nurse -
"Umm.. won't air bubbles kill you?" Her response "They have to be pretty big ones." Well hell... why have an air bubble in an IV at all? She also chuckled and said all patients ask her that. Well lady..what effort does it take to flush it out before it hits my vein? Thanks for the panic attack.