Posted 9/4/2010 6:58 PM (GMT 0)
Is it welcome to rant on here??? ;) I could use an ear or two.
So, this same doctor from my first post: I walked out on my last appointment. I am changing doctors.
A few weeks after the camera pill passed, my ulcer-pain went away also. I live two hours away (at college) from this doctor. I've had this doctor for less than a year after finally changing from a pediatric GI.
From the first time we met, I did not understand her "professional" personality and it seemed as if from the very start, she was looking for anything that could point me to surgery. (Last fall I was feeling fine Crohn's-wise, but had had problems with Acid Reflux, which doctor said it would be fine to take Prilosec OTC daily, every-day)
I had normal bloodwork done at the first appointment, but she called me in for a re-do: my Iron was "low". I have had an ice-chewing problem, but other than that, I had great energy!
After the second bloodwork, doctor said iron was "even lower" than about 2 weeks before. She wanted an endoscopy and colonscopy to "check up on the Crohns". Immediately at this time, she prescribed Ferrex (presc. Iron) and each time I tried to take it (am/pm, with food/without, etc) it felt like straightblades and nails going through my intestines.
After about a week of Ferrex, I could no longer take it and told doctor this when I showed up to colonscopy and at the endoscopy. She told me "it is VERY important that you take it", but didn't listen to how the pain kept me awake all night, whenever I took the Ferrex and I'd had the same problem with simple iron before that.
(Everything else is described in my first post, in this thread.)
After coming home from first session of summer at college, I am having severe (what I differ from Crohn's pain) ULCER pain. I was not ready to have an appointment with my doctor, because 1) I had felt somehow, she would blame me and 2) I did not trust her any longer. I looked up a diet online for "duodenal ulcers", which is specifically what doctor had told me was found with whichever one of the tests. Soluble fiber (whole grain) suddenly felt like the best thing in the world to eat...I felt great after the third day, which is when I finally went to an appointment to see this doctor.
In the waiting room, I was not livid with anger (as I had been the night before) but instead, I was thinking: what could she possibly do that would change my mind about leaving her? (Not to mention, she had just changed from a group practice and now has her own practice!)
I pre-pay my bill, the nurse brings me in (same nurse from everything that happened before), I try to explain to the nurse how much pain I've been in through the past week (felt FINE since the camera pill stress went away, but bad again, after about 5 months of GREAT), I explained how the ulcer diet was helping greatly and I had no pain but thought there should be something to help treat the duodenal ulcers. (Also, I am a very high-pain-tolerance person, but I know this was no blockage/Crohn's pain, but the same pain I had months earlier (with loads of stress) and thought: if I had an ulcer, this is what I would expect it to feel like). The nurse began to tell me about her vacation and before I was finished, she left and told me the doctor would be right in. (Also, I saw the doctor in the hall and said 'hi' but she looked straight through me and went into an exam room, our faces were 2 feet apart!)
The doctor has me wait 25 minutes, even though I knew for a fact that her only other appointment had just left.
Doctor comes in, smiling, saying "Where is that SMILE of yours?!" I force a smile. I explain everything to her. She only looks at my papers. I finally bring up the fact that I need a form signed for school about my health condition, explaining how a serious change in my chronic condition affected my academic performance in the beginning of the spring semester. Doctor finally looks at me, saying, "Well how can I believe that, if you never called or came here?"
Ummmm, I DID call. I called several times, especially during the whole camera-pill issue. I felt like I was dying somedays. Doctor snorts a laugh, "Well, then WHO did you speak to?"
Your NURSE. JANET.
"Well, you certainly didn't make an appointment and come here to see us? I have a problem signing a paper that says you were 'sick' when I don't have any proof?!"
I was extremely EXTREMELY pissed at this point, saying "Forget the paper. I didn't come HERE, because I was in school TWO HOURS AWAY. I was all I could do everyday to drag myself to class! And before all of the problems with the camera pill, I felt fine! I TRUSTED you to believe the camera pill would go through, because you KNEW I had had surgery before."
"I'm sorry you feel that way, but I can't know about how you were unless you had come here."
I explain how I just want to know how to treat the ulcers, explaining the diet (what I had survived on the past 3 days, enough to have a normal BM again)
She talks to me as if I'm slow, "Those diets are for peptic ulcers, honey, which are in the stomach, but YOURS are in-"
"Yes, I know, DUODENAL ULCERS, which is what I looked up online and the type of diet it suggested and it has made me feel better."
Doctor shrugs, "Well, what do you want me to do then, sweety?"
"I've heard that duodenal ulcers can be treated through antibiotics..."
Doctor smiles, "How do you know you have ulcers?"
"The pain I feel is not like Crohn's, it is a burning/stinging feeling here"
"You can't know what pain you have."
"Well, you had told me from the tests that I had ulcers." I'm angry-crying and glaring at her or the wall, well before this point.
Doctor: "Why are you so angry with me?"
"I don't trust you."
She leans forward, "I understand what how you're feeling, baby, WELL, not exactly, because I haven't been through it..."
I roll my eyes.
Doctor talks to me again, as if I'm even more stupid, "The tests we did showed A MESS down there, where you had surgery. And now you've felt bad for 6 months (NOT what I said, I said 6 months ago) and we tried the Entocort, but you mother told us it made you feel 'crazy'?" (This is NOT what I or my mother EVER said.)
"I think it's time for surgery."
***?! I said at least 5 times that I could not understand where this was coming from.
I explain (at least three times) how I was feeling fine after the Entocort stopped, but started having ulcer pain in the past 2 weeks. I had been feeling fine for 6 months. She and I argue back and forth (same points: she wants surgery, I want to know *** is going on...she wants to cut me open, I want to treat the ulcers I was told were found...she keeps repeating I have "a MESS" inside me) until I pick up my things and say "Well, I don't know what else to say, but thank you...have a nice day."
Now, weeks later, I have an appointment (Sep. 28) with a new GI. My mom knows someone who changed from my old doctor to this new one, for the very reason of pushing surgery. This person has also learned about a few other people who changed from my old doctor.
As my parents and I read over the records that this doctor made, we realize that this doctor was more crazy and un-trustworthy than I even realized. My iron levels were on the "low" side, but not enough to worry, according to Quest Diagnostics. (This was the reason all of this "testing" started, in order to find if Crohn's was coming back...she wanted to do surgery.) Her notes actually included the words "MESS" and "CRAZY", while our last conversation was noted as "Patient became very emotional when I explained that a medical condition was no excuse for poor academic performance." And as for the many times I explained that the Ferrex or other iron gave me severe pain that kept me from sleeping, she wrote each time: "Patient non-compliant with treatment."
On another note, the Ferrex said to not take it if a patient had ulcers. I believe I remember that the Entocort may have also stated this...maybe I'm wrong.
This doctor said that Prilosec does not cause iron-deficiency, but when I looked this up again, I learned that it does...along with the 6MP I regularly take.
Lastly, my brother-in-law has recently been treated for an H. Pylori ulcer (can be caused simply by improperly cooked/refrigerated foods, while our whole family has holiday dinners together at someone's house who has a very loose idea of what will be "okay" to not keep cold, etc.)
My doctor said she tested me for H.Pylori (I specifically requested, with explanation) during my colonoscopy, which she said came out "negative". I would like my new GI to test me again, through bloodwork.
Thank you to whoever reads this! I hope you all are doing well. Please share your own rants, etc. It is sooo good to get things like this off your chest.