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I have to find a new primary care this week. Just curious how many Docs you have seen(for Crohn's or IBD related issues). As a newbie to Crohn's, I have seen 11 in 2 years...Start counting...
How many M.D.s have you seen?
- Thread starter greatauntalta
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I think I've seen about 5 or 6. No one was treating me properly so the lead consultant ended up taking me on.
Cat-a-Tonic
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Let's see...
When I first got sick (in Oct 2009) I went to urgent care and saw a nice doctor who diagnosed me with viral gastroenteritis.
When I didn't get better, I went to my primary care doc who said that it is rare but possible to re-infect yourself with gastroenteritis, but that if it kept on then he would have me tested for stuff like celiac and Crohn's as it didn't really seem like gastroenteritis to him (my PCP is awesome by the way).
When I still didn't get better, my PCP wasn't available immedately for an appointment so I saw a different doc in his office who was nice and who ran a ton of bloodwork.
My PCP then referred me to a GI who I still see today. I haven't seen any other GIs besides him. My GI did have a student doctor with him a few times who was totally clueless.
I went to urgent care at least 2 more times that I can recall for IV fluids due to dehydration. Both of the docs I saw those times said it's all in my head/I should just learn to deal with it.
At one point during a wicked flare, both my GI and primary care doc were unavailable, so I saw yet another doc who was super rude and horrible.
Last year when I first started passing blood on a semi-regular basis, my PCP was once again unavailable so I saw yet another primary care doc and she kind of sucked at her job.
Oh, and for my arthritis, I saw a rheumatologist (worthless), an orthopedic surgeon (clueless) and a physical therapist (awesome but not technically a doctor).
That might be it? I think that's 11 doctors and one PT in the last 4.5 years. Or 9 doctors if you're only counting IBD-related doctor visits.
When I first got sick (in Oct 2009) I went to urgent care and saw a nice doctor who diagnosed me with viral gastroenteritis.
When I didn't get better, I went to my primary care doc who said that it is rare but possible to re-infect yourself with gastroenteritis, but that if it kept on then he would have me tested for stuff like celiac and Crohn's as it didn't really seem like gastroenteritis to him (my PCP is awesome by the way).
When I still didn't get better, my PCP wasn't available immedately for an appointment so I saw a different doc in his office who was nice and who ran a ton of bloodwork.
My PCP then referred me to a GI who I still see today. I haven't seen any other GIs besides him. My GI did have a student doctor with him a few times who was totally clueless.
I went to urgent care at least 2 more times that I can recall for IV fluids due to dehydration. Both of the docs I saw those times said it's all in my head/I should just learn to deal with it.
At one point during a wicked flare, both my GI and primary care doc were unavailable, so I saw yet another doc who was super rude and horrible.
Last year when I first started passing blood on a semi-regular basis, my PCP was once again unavailable so I saw yet another primary care doc and she kind of sucked at her job.
Oh, and for my arthritis, I saw a rheumatologist (worthless), an orthopedic surgeon (clueless) and a physical therapist (awesome but not technically a doctor).
That might be it? I think that's 11 doctors and one PT in the last 4.5 years. Or 9 doctors if you're only counting IBD-related doctor visits.
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- Jul 4, 2010
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I went to my PCP first - who did not know what it was, but knew it was not a simple case of "D", and referred me to a GI. This GI really sucked at this job. He ran blood tests and did my first colonoscopy. Instead of telling me he could not get the scope into the terminal ileum because it was blocked, he told me the colonoscopy found nothing abnormal and that i had Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This is after 6 visits to the ER in 2 months because I was in such awful pain. I had no idea what Crohn's even was.
Things settled down and I went along with the IBS diagnosis for several years. Seeing my PCP and getting all the wrong treatment because of the G.I.'s diagnosis. (Don't get me wrong, my PCP is great, I don't blame him at all for this.)
In 2010 I was back to making ER Visits. My PCP, and the ER, gave some names of G.I's to go to, but I was wanting to know who the best G.I. was. My friend at work, his wife is the nurse in charge of the ER at our local hospital. She recommended Dr. Poole very highly and I went to him. He correctly identified it as Crohn's disease and has been very agressive in his treatment of my disease. So yes, I have only been to 3 doctors, but it was definitely 1 GI too many.
Things settled down and I went along with the IBS diagnosis for several years. Seeing my PCP and getting all the wrong treatment because of the G.I.'s diagnosis. (Don't get me wrong, my PCP is great, I don't blame him at all for this.)
In 2010 I was back to making ER Visits. My PCP, and the ER, gave some names of G.I's to go to, but I was wanting to know who the best G.I. was. My friend at work, his wife is the nurse in charge of the ER at our local hospital. She recommended Dr. Poole very highly and I went to him. He correctly identified it as Crohn's disease and has been very agressive in his treatment of my disease. So yes, I have only been to 3 doctors, but it was definitely 1 GI too many.
theOcean
Moderator
I've been pretty lucky, so I've only seen two since diagnosis in 2011! Fired the first one, and the second took me on after looking after me in-hospital.
1 primary GI who diagnosed me & took me on as her patient (I absolutely love her). However when in hospital for a flare, I think I saw 10 different doctors including a GI surgeon that I fired and refused to let touch me.
I've been really lucky in terms of my doctors. I just love my current one.
SarahBear
Moderator
I've only seen three GI's. My first one moved, the second one I greatly disliked, so I switched to the third one who has been good so far. I also see a rheumatologist and gynecologist, as we're in the process of figuring out what problems are caused by or related to Crohn's and what are separate conditions.
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Saw a general doc, two GIs and a specialty doc that I had to drive MILES to see. The specialty doc is the only one worth the price of talking to. But the drive is so far. Ugh
