Sleep doc told me oxygen desaturations were "insignific

[mindy]

In my opinion the key is ONE doctor who sees you as an ENTIRE person, NOT just a sleep problem, or a set of lungs, or a digestive tract, etc, etc. The key is ONE doctor who keeps track of ALL your test results and medications and works WITH your other doctors to coordinate everything. Mine happens to be a General Practitioner. He gets copies of ALL my results. We work good together and w/the specialists as a TEAM. (Obviously NOT w/the specialists referenced above tho!)

Yea, Slinky! I agree totally. I've had family medicine docs who were bright and knew their limits and I've met internal medicine docs who didn't know how to deal with people. And the reverse. I don't worry much about whether someone is a specialist or not .... I go by how they treat me and my medical conditions. There are good folks everywhere and then those that aren't as great .... that's just the human race.

I don't like all of the docs I've ever seen but I don't like doctor bashing .... it's no different IMHO than having a lousy math teacher and thereafter bashing all math teachers. Docs are like the rest of us -- not perfect but generally I feel I'm better off with them on my team than not.

Mindy

[MrGrumpy]

Well, the doctor who told me I didn't need to know WHY he was ordering a test was an Internist.

The doctor who told me I asked too many "unnecessary" questions was a sleep specialist.

The doctor who looked straight past me and said to my husband "she's worrier, isn't she?" was a colorectal surgeon. (10 years later, still no surgery and was in remission or symptomic remission since then until just recently).

Ah! I forgot: the pulmonologist who told me to stay away from PubMed and medical journal abstracts and articles because I "wouldn't understand them".

In my opinion the key is ONE doctor who sees you as an ENTIRE person, NOT just a sleep problem, or a set of lungs, or a digestive tract, etc, etc. The key is ONE doctor who keeps track of ALL your test results and medications and works WITH your other doctors to coordinate everything. Mine happens to be a General Practitioner. He gets copies of ALL my results. We work good together and w/the specialists as a TEAM. (Obviously NOT w/the specialists referenced above tho!)

I understand totally what you are saying about wanting to be treated wholistically and as a person and not a set of body parts. However, just keep in mind that relying on a Family Medicine doctor for very much is probably not smart. As I mentioned above, their training is just too diluted. Personally, I believe Family Medicine doctors are potentially dangerous in the sense that their training is so watered down and spread out over so many areas...its impossible for them to know very much as a result.

I used Family doctors for years and got absolutely nowhere. IMO, they are next to worthless except for "boo boo medicine." Adults with serious chronic medical illnesses need Internists as their primary care docs.

I do agree with you on one thing though. Family medicine docs tend to have better patient relations than Internists.

Fred

[Bonnie]

A good family doctor is smart enough to know his/her limitations and a good patient is smart enough to know that. A good family doctor will listen, test and recommend. A smart patient will question, research and make informed choices. The perfect fit between any doctor and any patient should be the end result with mutual respect without condecension nor rudeness on either part. If you don't like what you're hearing, leave but keep your dignity as you walk out the door. Frustration and anger should not get in the way of your health.

There are good people and bad people in every occupation but when it is you or your family's health or life at stake, you should be in partnership with health professionals you trust.

[mindy]

The best doc I ever had was a family medicine doc was was really good at knowing his limits and also knew exactly the right specialist to refer one to when needed. Just about a perfect combination!

Mindy

[Needsdecaf]

I understand totally what you are saying about wanting to be treated wholistically and as a person and not a set of body parts. However, just keep in mind that relying on a Family Medicine doctor for very much is probably not smart. As I mentioned above, their training is just too diluted. Personally, I believe Family Medicine doctors are potentially dangerous in the sense that their training is so watered down and spread out over so many areas...its impossible for them to know very much as a result.

I used Family doctors for years and got absolutely nowhere. IMO, they are next to worthless except for "boo boo medicine." Adults with serious chronic medical illnesses need Internists as their primary care docs.

I do agree with you on one thing though. Family medicine docs tend to have better patient relations than Internists.

Fred

I have several good friends in the medical field, including ones that I watched go through Medical school, residency, etc.

I find what you posted to be very insulting to doctors who are GP's or Family Docs. Their training isn't "watered down", it's just not as advanced as some. These people are still qualified docs. The doctor who treated my son is "only" a family doc, and she has far surpassed herself on things that were a little more threatening than "boo-boo's".

There are good docs and bad docs. I think a huge part ofthe problem is the insurance industry, as they force docs to spend FAR less time per patient than is really needed. But that's a completely different rant.

I am sorry that your initial doctor experience didn't work out. I firmly believe that if you don't have a good rapport with a doc, regardless of their expertise or qualifications, then you should move on to another one. A key part in the treatment process is the doctor - patient relationship and the ability for information to be passed from one to the other in a competent manner. That goes BOTH ways. If your current doc can't do this for you, then I completely respect getting another doc.

Good luck.

[Slinky]

I've got a GREAT Gastroenterologist now. And I've told her repeatedly she is wasted as a specialist, she should be a GP or FT.

I've got an absolutely TREMENDOUS Endocrinologist - and I've told him repeatedly he is wasted as a specialtist, that he should be a GP or an FT. He just laughs and says one in the family is ENOUGH. (His wife is a GP).

We encountered a WONDERFUL ob/gyn resident in ER several weeks ago for my granddaughter. I told her she was going to be wasted in ob/gyn. She took it well.

But all three tend to look beyond their speciality, keep my family doctor totally informed, even to writing Copy to Dr XXX on their procedure and blood draw scripts, and they all LISTEN and RESPECT my decisions, even when they don't agree w/my decisions. It was my family doctor who helped me find these specialists. And when he referred me to someone once that was NOT a good match and I told him so, he respected that as well.

As far as I can see from my personal experience, it wasn't insurance that was so much a problem as it was the advent of HMOs and PPOs in place of fee for service that started this downward spiral in medical care in the USA. Its a lot easier to run to the doc for any and every little thing if you don't have to pay for that office call. And the burgeoning of insurances getting into health insurance coverage causing the necessity of more and more clerical staff to keep up w/the paperwork. The latest trend in our area is for doctors to outsource their billing to an outside billing service. Some are even outsourcing their dictation. Where has adding yet another middle man ever decreased costs over the long haul??

[MrGrumpy]

I've got a GREAT Gastroenterologist now. And I've told her repeatedly she is wasted as a specialist, she should be a GP or FT.

I've got an absolutely TREMENDOUS Endocrinologist - and I've told him repeatedly he is wasted as a specialtist, that he should be a GP or an FT. He just laughs and says one in the family is ENOUGH. (His wife is a GP).

We encountered a WONDERFUL ob/gyn resident in ER several weeks ago for my granddaughter. I told her she was going to be wasted in ob/gyn. She took it well.

But all three tend to look beyond their speciality, keep my family doctor totally informed, even to writing Copy to Dr XXX on their procedure and blood draw scripts, and they all LISTEN and RESPECT my decisions, even when they don't agree w/my decisions. It was my family doctor who helped me find these specialists. And when he referred me to someone once that was NOT a good match and I told him so, he respected that as well.

As far as I can see from my personal experience, it wasn't insurance that was so much a problem as it was the advent of HMOs and PPOs in place of fee for service that started this downward spiral in medical care in the USA. Its a lot easier to run to the doc for any and every little thing if you don't have to pay for that office call. And the burgeoning of insurances getting into health insurance coverage causing the necessity of more and more clerical staff to keep up w/the paperwork. The latest trend in our area is for doctors to outsource their billing to an outside billing service. Some are even outsourcing their dictation. Where has adding yet another middle man ever decreased costs over the long haul??

Sounds like you have some sort of romanticized idea of the value of Family doctors to me. I realize there was a time, decades ago when medicine was simpler, that people had Family doctors and relied on them heavily. But things are so complicated now. Everything is high tech and specialized. There is just too much stuff for someone to know unless they are specialized.

All I know is that I learned their training is way watered down compared to Internal med doctors. Their training is way watered down for children s medicine compared to pediatricians. Why put so much emphasis on them when a good specialist can probably do a better job?

Family medicine and Internal medicine doctors usually have a "local" standard of practice. Depending upon where you live, that standard can be pretty good...or awful. Specialists, on the other hand, are held to national standards as specialists communicate with other specialists across the country on the latest stuff. Specialists are also held to higher standards within their specialty compared to GP docs.

So why bother using a GP doc as a gastro doc or a sleep medicine doc when specialists usually will do a much better job?

Fred

[GumbyCT]

So why bother using a GP doc as a gastro doc or a sleep medicine doc when specialists usually will do a much better job?

Specialists, on the other hand, are held to national standards as specialists communicate with other specialists across the country on the latest stuff. Specialists are also held to higher standards within their specialty compared to GP docs.

Have we come full circle? Isn't that what really started this thread? Using a GP as a sleep doc?

[ColinP]

So why bother using a GP doc as a gastro doc or a sleep medicine doc when specialists usually will do a much better job?

Specialists, on the other hand, are held to national standards as specialists communicate with other specialists across the country on the latest stuff. Specialists are also held to higher standards within their specialty compared to GP docs.

Have we come full circle? Isn't that what really started this thread? Using a GP as a sleep doc?

Wasn't it a lung doctor? Seems a bit contradictory to me.

[superjet]

I was just wondering how my bff Mr Grumpy is doing nowadays.

[rested gal]

<---- waves to the jetty-jet-jet and kicks him in the shins ....

[elg5cats]

um, I thought this was a bump up for Liddelbrook and questions about his pulse oz results..............um, not. What an interesting read!!!...............anyway Superjet..........you might want to take a look at
viewtopic/t45494/Help-with-interpretati ... sults.html and offer
Liddelbrook a little of your expertise..............don't just fly by!!!!!

elg5cats