Class Dis ... MISSED!!

[hiddenmuse]

Dear Doctor -

When I come to you, and explain that I am having serious problem with my allergies - and it's gone beyond what used to be my personal worst and into symptoms that have long-term asthmatics nodding their heads in understanding ... I'd appreciate not being dismissed, and made to feel as though all that is wrong with me is seasonal allergies gone awry.

As someone that has dealt in allergies in their various iterations since childhood, I can attest that while they are better now than they have been in all my years in St. Louis - this coughing, wheezing, tight chest, getting-seriously-winded-just-going-up-a-minor-incline business ... it's NOT normal. It's not right.

Don't just listen to my chest/lungs with your stethoscope and say "I don't hear any whistling or wheezing - so it doesn't appear to be asthma". Don't just thrust a small bag with a month's worth of Zyrtec samples into my hands, write off my symptoms as "seasonal allergies - or possibly due to mold in the city" and send me on my merry way.

You didn't even get out a Peak Flow Meter to check my lung capacity. Did you not hear me saying that I was getting severely short of breath going up ONE flight of stairs, or on a short incline? When it happened to me about 6 months ago, I could understand - do you NOT realize that this is happening to me 35 pounds lighter, and quite suddenly?!?

Thanks to your dismissive treatment, I have decided to make an appointment with an allergist, for a second opinion - as well as allergy tests. A co-worker has even offered to bring in a spare Peak Flow Meter, so I can track my lung capacity readings on my own.

Not feeling much love,

Carly

Comments

[full4zaccordion.livejournal.com]

You should definitely go to another doctor and get a 2nd opinion. I mean, if your gut instinct tells you something's not right, your gut's probably right. I hope you get better, Carly! :(

[hiddenmuse.livejournal.com]

I'm sure that I will get better - in the meantime, it's just a real bitch that I'm dealing with the breathing problems and all until I can get into the allergist.

[luvlyssa.livejournal.com]

what son of a bitch. I had a doctor like that and it pissed me off to no end.. Listen to your gut instinct. and you REALLY should go to another doc... and since MOST docs don't act like that you may want to let the 2nd opinion doc know what the SOB doc said... :( Hope you feel better hon

[hiddenmuse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it did bother me. I know that doctors are "supposed" to have this image of being all-wise and all-knowing, but even that came across being like "I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing ... I'll just twist a few knobs, give you some samples ... don't mind the man behind the curtain and have a nice day."

[bruiseblue.livejournal.com]

I have had SO many bad doctors - push it til you get an answer you are satisfied with.

35 pounds? that's fabulous!! Go you!

[hiddenmuse.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've had good and bad weeks (depending on how well I stayed on WW that week, of course) - but it's 35 lbs. that I couldn't have lost on my own! :)

[moongirli.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear! My doctor (as I may have blathered about in my journal, I can never remember what makes it into print and hwat never leaves the confines of my brain) has a 'cause' - high blood pressure. And while that's all completely noble and it's great that she's concerned for me, my past four visits have turned into a lecture on high blood pressure and the risks and that and diabetes... When that's not what I even come in for. Any affliction I have or think I might have gets brushed off so we can talk about HBP, diabetes, and how much I weigh. Urk!

[hiddenmuse.livejournal.com]

Gah! I have no problem with a doctor having a pet cause - so long as it doesn't interfere with my course of treatment!

My first internist, when I expressed concerns about a knee injury that wasn't responding to Advil, just told me, "well - if you're not careful (and lose some weight), you're going to need to have knee replacement surgery." Yeah. That's not what I'm asking, ma'am -- I ended up going to an orthopaedic surgeon, who specialized in sports medicine, and found out that it's an actual injury - a cartilige tear/damage (chondromalacia ... I think that's the spelling) that was easily remedied with Celebrex.