Treated like an idiot!

[heameljon]

My GI doesn't know what to do with me anymore so he recommended I go see a Crohn's specialist. I couldn't get an appointment until today, I have waited 4 weeks and endured increasing symptoms - joint pain, tummy cramps, 20 plus visits to bathroom, fatigue, you name it I have had it.

I get to hospital, it took 20 minutes to find a parking spot, I am stressing out, I get to the place 15 minutes early, they take me back and I wait in the exam room for an hour and 15 minutes and a twenty something intern walks in, not the miracle worker specialist my Doctor is expecting me to see. She questions me like a police officer questioning a criminal and every question felt like she was talking down to me. I am sorry I don't remember having a GI series in 2008, I know I should better remember the things I have had done but seriously I have had so many CT exams, endoscopys, colonoscopys, etc. And apparently the chart she had said I had one so I guess if it is in the chart then maybe I did! Every thing she said to me was like she was explaining to a two year old. I have had CD for almost longer than she has been alive, I have a Master's Degree and have published a thesis paper on Crohn's Disease. Needless to say I grew frustrated. I refused the TB test, Hep B and Hep A
tests she insisted on giving me. I have no problem taking this info back to my Doctor and having him order the tests but I was there to speak to the miracle worker doctor not be talked down to. I am not ashamed to say I started crying and said something about not even wanting to be there except my Doctor wanted me to be, too much stress the past month boiled to a head. She then told me she needed to do an exam and was leaving the room so I could undress. She came back with the miracle worker Doctor. I think I scared her with my melt down.

I have had CD a long time and have learned that if I don't feel comfortable with a Doctor I won't continue to see them, I have also learned that I know more about what is happening to my body more than anyone, I have also learned to say no to tests I think are unnecessary. This young intern has a bad bedside manner and I feel badly for any patients she will have in the future. I love , love, love my GI. He might not know everything about CD but he is willing to ask someone else for help to help me and he talks to me and treats me like a human being. Because of this he is a keeper.

 

[Grumbletum]

I'm sorry you had to go through this but thank you for telling us about it. I hope that intern has learned a lesson from it. I think many of us can be a bit in awe of our doctors, don't want to be seen to be self diagnosing etc which can often lead to a longer and stressful road to the right treatment.
I hope the miracle doc is going to live up to his reputation

 

[Samboi]

Some docs are clowns.
When I went in for my emergency surgery - the admitting physician asked how long I'd had CD for. When I answered 20 odd years - she looked perplexed.
"Two years?" she asked - trying to clarify.
"Nah - 20 years" I answered.
She still looked perplexed. "What - since you were a baby?"

Because I hitched a ride to the hospital with my mum - who was in the room - the doc assumed I was a teenager!!
I was flattered. She was embarrassed.
I'm in my forties.

 

[xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx]

Its difficult when you see a different doctor for the first time. Especially when you get on well with your GI who you are used to.
I saw a surgeon in my university town, rather than my home town where I am rigistered with my GI so he didnt have any notes on me. Then he didnt believe a word I said - questioned everything! It felt like he was trying to make me feel stupid but I answered back everything with experience/medication/tests I have had done. He even had the cheek to question an allergy I was diagnosed with at 18months old! I'm doing my dissertation on allergies I think I know about them having had one most of my childhood!
I also broke down in that appointment! He tried to be nice to me as I left. I had a follow up appointment in the post which he didnt mention. So I called up to cancel it and the person on the phone was like, 'If i cancel this appointment and you need to come back you will have to get another referral from you GP' I said 'Thats fine' I'm not planning on seeing him again thank-you-very-much!

 

[Angrybird]

Hey there, I really hate it when this kind of thing happens and I am glad you put your foot down about the tests. Also NO ONE knows your body better than you do so and if a doctor made me feel the way you did no way in hell are they seeing me again! One little trick I now do is when I have an appt and I am being weighed by the clinic nurses I have a little word and make it clear who I am willing to see - either my consultant or a specific registrar that I have seen a few times and really like No way am I seeing a different doc everything time I go and having to start from scratch with what has been going on. There is no feeling of continuity with this and I then don't feel confident that things will get sorted. What will be happening now for you?

 

[Mountaingem]

I was in the hospital a few days ago and of course got a new doctor, since mine was vacationing for the holidays. He stood there with my test results IN HIS HAND which said I have c.difficile and a white count of 21,000 and said "We think this could be IBS." WTH???????? When I asked him for the results he was really vague and gave me the "you are an idiot" look. I was so mad it was visible because he changed his tune in a hurry!

I hope you get everything staightened out and wish you better days ahead-hand in there!

 

[shamrock15]

File formal complaints with the hospital and demand resolutions. One thing I have found out so far is that "Crohn's specialists" may know something about the disease, but get very confused if it doesn't conform exactly to their specifications. I fired my GI - he was supposed to be "the best" in the province of Ontario. He was clueless. He wouldn't prescribe anything for my active crohn's while I was waiting for 5 months to start my remicade, and then he wanted only to vary the dosage. Sometimes complaints get the message across - it closed an endoscopy clinic here in Ottawa where the doc wasn't properly cleaning her equipment.

 

[Beach]

Oh, agree, it can be little fun seeing a new doctor and often frustrating. Hope you find someone you get along with to work with you in your best interest. I've had to turn down tests also. And have found best to not crack jokes. Not all, but seems to many doctors lack in humor.

Personally, for me it got to the point that I did not want to go to the hospital any longer. Figured by one point that they could do little to help me. All I got was the run around and frustrated. But my family insisted that I see doctors. They kept thinking there was a miracle cure somewhere to be found. So for their approval, and I had still a little hope too, I began insisting that someone in the family go with me to talk with the doctor to see for themselves. Which became rather odd, as the couple of times where the two of us went to see the doctor, the new doctor would then have another physician colleague come into the room to talk with my father and I.

I feel I lucked out though in finding a diet that works well for me. I eat a paleo or a low carb diet. Eating that way has done my gut well and fingers crossed, will continue to keep the doctors away.

 

[Terriernut]

Interns can frequently act that way. They havent got the experience to realize what 'reality' is like.

I'm glad you actually saw the Crohns specialist after your meltdown. Dont be put off seeing HIM, the true specialist by the interns behaviour. You can simply say..NO, I need the specialist. After all....that is what you are PAYING for. And dont take no for an answer. And yes, you should mention the interns 'bedside' manner problem!

I am afraid I've 'broken' in a few interns myself!

 

[heameljon]

It is so sad this day in age that we all have had so many bad experiences with medical professionals. Shamrock15 I had a similar experience when I used to live in Syracuse. Doctor wouldn't treat my active Crohn's. I just found out last month that that Doctor has since had his license suspended for mistreating someone else!

I am going to mention the intern's poor bedside manner when I see my regular GI on Friday as he will be speaking with the specialist about my care, hoping it might hit a nerve if the complaint comes from a peer.

I am so happy to have somewhere to come and vent and know there are people that have been in the same place I am.

 

[seaofdreams]

It's disappointing that it's getting hard to find a good doctor who actually gives a crap about their patients but I'm glad to hear that you've found your GI who sounds awesome.

What do you have your Master's in?

 

[heameljon]

Medical Anthropology, my intent was to use it to help patients, especially with problems like this but I haven't figured out how to do that yet.