Is it just me or do most Dr's suck ?

[Rickgren]

Hey all, was just wondering this. It seems that if my car is broke down, I take it to the mechanic and its fixed in 2 days.
My cardiologist and heart surgeon seem to be about the same as my mechanic. Now my crohns Dr's seem to bounce me from one specialist to another. Had 3 colonoscopies this year alone, 2 MRI. Been dealing with this for over 2 years and went from having a ulcer to having 8 fistulas. I get a new one every 3rd day. I have another MRI sch for the 28th and I get the feeling that nothing will be done about fixing this until feb. My ass isn't big enuff for many more of these damn things.

I'm just wondering if this is normal. I'm told thes guys are the best at this, but I get better advice from here (everything they told me I read here first)

Thanks for letting me vent

 

[KWalker]

In my experiences I agree with you, although there are many people on here who talk about how great their doctors are. I've "fired" my old GI and wouldn't send my worst enemy to him. Actually, they would probably get along well lol. I used to justify it for myself and actually feel sorry for them to have look at peoples asses all day but at the end of the day its them that chose that career and nobody should feel sorry for how much money they make...especially when there are some terrible ones. I wish I could get paid for not doing my job.

Also, as far as getting information from here. You have to keep in mind that (atleast I don't think) there are any doctors on this forum. Sure there is lots of great/informative advice on here, its just that, advice. People will give their opinion from their experiences and while that can be very helpful its important not to think that because they had that experience, everybody else will do..because there's a good chance you won't have the same experiences with crohns.

I use this forum a lot as well to help me learn, gain new opinions, and hear other experiences but when it comes down to it, none of us our actual doctors and going with what somebody says on here could possibly have negative consequences.

 

[Rickgren]

When I said I got as much advice from here as my doctors, I meant that my so called world specialist (who make all this money and picked this profession ) have no better ideas and have done less. Sorry if I sounded defensive on that. It just seems that every crohns doctor I've had (3) have no sense of urgency at all. I know all doctors are not like this. My cardiologist just seen me yesterday and he made room for a echo for today and a follow up to read it tomorrow. In my opinion, that's the way doctors should act. When you see a doctor, and your ass looks like it cought a load of buckshot. Or when yo have a colonoscopy and the sheets on the bed look like Freddy Kruger spent the night (this happened 4 months ago) they should move a tad faster to make it better.

 

[KWalker]

Oh I didn't think you came off as defensive, because quite frankly I agree with what you say based on my experience. I was just saying that we can't believe everything we read/hear, whether it comes from here or a doctor. Also, you need to do what YOU feel comfortable with and what works for YOU. When I came out and told people I wasn't on medication (since 2010) I thought people were going to hang me up and light me on fire like they did with witches back in the day lol. For the most part, my experiences work for me. Others would say they would die without medicine, while others would argue that certain medications are completely useless. Coughciproandflagylcough.

When it comes down to it, people can argue all day with you about your choices but they're not the people that have to deal with it. It happens without medicine, and even with side effects of medicine. People can give (constructive) criticism but they can't make you do anything.

Catch my drift?

 

[IAmTheWalrus]

Oh I didn't think you came off as defensive, because quite frankly I agree with what you say based on my experience. I was just saying that we can't believe everything we read/hear, whether it comes from here or a doctor. Also, you need to do what YOU feel comfortable with and what works for YOU. When I came out and told people I wasn't on medication (since 2010) I thought people were going to hang me up and light me on fire like they did with witches back in the day lol. For the most part, my experiences work for me. Others would say they would die without medicine, while others would argue that certain medications are completely useless. Coughciproandflagylcough.

When it comes down to it, people can argue all day with you about your choices but they're not the people that have to deal with it. It happens without medicine, and even with side effects of medicine. People can give (constructive) criticism but they can't make you do anything.

Catch my drift?

I'm on Cipro and Flagyl now, my fistula was acting up, so I jumped straight onto them, didn't want to deal with ANOTHER abscess. My bum has been through enough already. :lol2:

Four Xmas's in a row now that I've had backside problems .... don't know what it is about the second week of December that makes by ass act up the way it does.

Thankfully, it seems that the combo if C&F is working, even if the after taste in my mouth is enough to make one puke. Yuck.

 

[KWalker]

How long is your prescription? My longest was 2 weeks and they definitely worked while I was on them but as soon as my prescription ended they started to act up again.

 

[IAmTheWalrus]

It is only for a week, started Friday gone, the Humira is helping tremendously because before I started I'd have constant discharge, not much, but discharge none the less, and Humira stopped that by closing up my fistulas', it was more a precautionary act as for all I know it could have just been pain from walking but the pain was getting worse and I didn't want to chance anything.

 

[solid_sal]

Drs do suck. I switched my old GI because he had his PA do ALL of his office consultations. The PA did not listen to me. He believed the Crohns was gone even though I was still having symptoms. Now my new GI believes I do not have Crohns. But I just had an endoscopy and it showed erosions and ulcers in my duodenum (still waiting for biopsies). But he did take me off of all meds for 1 month.

Every doctor I have seen has been in somewhat of a hurry. They talk to me for like 5 minutes at most, give me instructions, and then off to the next patient. And appointments are far and few in between. Appointments for my GI are at least 2 weeks out. I believe if I had been given the proper care I could be feeling better in alot less time. As of now I am suffering and I have had just about enough. I at a point now where I am ready to tell a doctor off.

 

[Ihurt]

ughh, There are sooo many bad doctors out there. I have been chronically ill for the last 9 years with a bunch of crap and I have seen many, many doctors. I hate to say it, but out of all the doctors I have seen( probably over 45), well, maybe 3 of them I can say were actually good. It is sad, but good doctors are very far and few between.

Also from being sick with chronic illness for so long, one thing I learned is that most doctors, even speicalists are not very knowledgable when it comes to these orphan diseases. They are better with clear cut issues that are black and white. These diseases are so complex that I do not think they really know much about them. I mean all the doctors know is to give prescriptions and the surgeons only know about surgery and cutting you up. That is about it. One thing I also know is that the doctors/surgeons are never worried about consequences or aftereffects. Anyhow the most important thing I have learned since getting sick is that you have to be your own advocate and do your own research. NEVER take a doctors opinion or advice without researching it very well first. And always get more than one and ever 2 opinions...

 

[tots]

I think this is very common- I am pretty sure if I switched Docs I would have to go through the whole Dx process again!


I hope you feel better soon!

Lauren

 

[Ya noy]

Oh I didn't think you came off as defensive, because quite frankly I agree with what you say based on my experience. I was just saying that we can't believe everything we read/hear, whether it comes from here or a doctor. Also, you need to do what YOU feel comfortable with and what works for YOU. When I came out and told people I wasn't on medication (since 2010) I thought people were going to hang me up and light me on fire like they did with witches back in the day lol. For the most part, my experiences work for me. Others would say they would die without medicine, while others would argue that certain medications are completely useless.

I agree, and doctors suck. I've been to all kinds of doctors, who prescribed all kinds of meds. Very few were ever effective.

Even with my allergies. All the specialists I visited, all those 'scratch' tests, along with all those prescription meds. were a total waste of time and money. Only medication that actually works for my allergies is Benadryl, but it puts me to sleep. So I finally fired my doctors too and hired a nutritionist instead, which turned out to be far more effective--for me.

 

[DougUte]

My first GI did not check the Terminal Ileum when he did my colonoscopy.He also did not tell me the reason he did not check the terminal ileum because something was blocking the scopes path into the area. He diagnosed IBS, Even though I had 6 ER trips in 2 months prior to this.I was told it was possible for IBS to be that painful.

 

[kiltubrid]

I've had one GI doctor that sucked, and it's a hard situation because the doctor is supposedly the expert and, yet, you feel what they are telling you is wrong or that they are just not paying attention to what you are saying. It took me a while to fire her, too, because my GP wouldn't refer me to someone else.

I was lucky to start out with a really good doctor who set a very high standard and who taught me a lot about advocating for myself as a patient. Whenever I went to see him, he always asked "What do YOU think it is?" And then he gave three suggested treatments, laid out the pros and cons of each one, told me what he would recommend, and then let me choose. Of course, I always chose what he recommended, but it really helped me to see his thought process, and what my options were.

He left the practice, unfortunately, and the doctor my GP referred me to was awful. Luckily, I was in remission for most of the time I was seeing her and just went to her for an annual colonoscopy. When I started having symptoms again, I asked my GP to refer me to another GI doctor but she refused to do so. She instead encouraged me to have a "meeting" with the GI doctor to air my grievances, which I did and I think that only pissed the GI doctor off. The next time I had to have a colonoscopy, she told me to use visicol as a prep instead of the electrolyte solution, and it just about killed me. I called me original GI doctor and asked HIM for a referral. Not only did he remember me after 10 years of not seeing me, he recommended a terrific GI doctor with whom I have been ever since.

All this is to say, trust your gut, and don't be afraid to advocate for yourself. I found the book "Take This Book to the Hospital with You" to be very helpful in this regard. It hasn't been updated since 1997, unfortunately, but I would imagine that the basic advice about advocacy is still sound. I learned from this book, for example, that you can make an appointment to see two doctors at the same time so they can talk to each other in your presence. You can also make an appointment just to meet with your doctor, without an examination which generally leaves you feeling vulnerable.

Lastly, I don't think most doctors are bad, I just think many of them are overworked and don't have time to see patients as people. When you find a doctor that can take the time and really get to know you, they are like gold.

 

[Polaris]

I can't stand my current GI, and plan to switch asap. I don't think any of the doctors covered by my insurance are even close to great.