Treatment in the ER by docs...

Is it just me or do some doctors treat you like you are "crying wolf" when you go into the ER frequently? I came in and was given an abdominal ultrasound of my gallbladder and offered tylenol for pain of 8 on a scale of 0-10... Really?!! I told them I was controlling the pain with my pain meds and dose and she offers me tylenol. I feel like my gut it being ripped apart with a knife... Tylenol won't help that. I did get a small dose of morphine. I am just getting the feeling that because I don't look like death or am blue or bleeding that I am ok... I am not ok! That is why I came!! And this treatment is why I avoid going there anymore.

Needless to say instead of further testing or sending me to the main hospital (my husband could have easily driven me) for the HIDA test i stead of saying go home and call your GI doc tell them to do that test and see what they want to do... I am SO frustrated. I went there in pain to get little relief and no answer other than the gallstones I've had are still there and I should get this test. I am to the point I want to cry I am so frustrated with people not taking my pain seriously other than my GI doc but he's not in the office this week...

Andi87,
First and most important, Your GI has to have someone as back up, he / she is not a 1 person office. there is usually an on call person.

the recording on my gi's site has the usual legal disclaimer if it's an emergency call 911 or go to the emergency room. Get the additional contact information. Take control.

Second call and write to the hospital ER director, file a complaint.
copy the complaint to the state. create a history.

So many people go to ERs only for pain meds. The concern of freely writing scripts for pain is getting out of hand, doctors are catching the devil from not only the states but the medical boards. some docs hedge their bets and say no.

Be assertive get the contact numbers. But the kicker is temper control. Frustration and pain can cross their limits of perception.
Personally, I would have told them If I thought Tylenol would have worked I wouldn't have wasted my time coming in to the ER.

T

See if you can talk to your GI on the phone. Mine has a nurse and I can ask her questions and she either gets back to me or the GI gives me a call back. If I were in serious pain, I know he'd squeeze me in. Maybe if you can talk to the nurse or PA or someone other than the receptionist, you can get you in sooner. If you haven't already, I'd tell them you'd been to the ER and it did not help resolve your pain. Ask if you can be on a waiting list, or how you can get in sooner. Sometimes when you stress the severity of how you are feeling they will work you in.

Good luck!