Next week I have a doctor’s appointment for a routine check-up. I haven’t had a checkup for at least 5 years (and I think it was more like 7). I don’t go to doctors, not because I don’t like them, but because they don’t seem to be very effective for me.
I have had plenty of problems that either went undiagnosed or mis-diagnosed. The people that have made correct diagnosis are not what people consider true medical professionals; chiropractors and physical therapists. There is a lot that I could write that would make my position more clear, but I am not writing a post about myself, so will leave off.
Our fried Terri had a heart attack last weekend. She had more than 1, she had bunches of them over a 10 day period.
A little more than 2 weeks ago, she went to the doctor complaining of chest pains. He informed her that she had bronchitis and gave her antibiotics. She dutifully took the antibiotics and endured the chest pains for a little more than a week.
Saturday morning, she woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep because of the pain. She waited several hours, until her husband woke up then asked him to take her to the hospital – maybe they could give her stronger antibiotics to get rid of the bronchitis.
At the hospital she told them her problem and that she needed something to make the bronchitis go away. They took her blood pressure and hooked her to a monitor. Blood pressure was down to 78/40 and the monitor showed worse.
She had a stint put in one artery that morning and will go back to have a stint put in another artery in a couple of weeks. Her heart is severely compromised because of the many heart attacks that she had over the course of the week. She tells us that the pain that woke her up Saturday morning was mild compared to what she had endured all week.
She is a couple months younger than I am. She works two jobs, takes care of her family, has taken her Mother-in-Law into the home and takes care of her. She is stress personified and her family history is one of heart problems developing in the early 40’s.
For whatever reason, her doctor couldn’t figure out she was having heart attacks. Instead, he made the decision that bronchitis was the probable cause since it has been very common in this area for the last couple of months.
I am bitter about her experience and with that, I don’t know why I am bothering to go in for a physical. I still have no reason to have confidence that they could ever diagnose an actual problem, much less find a potential problem
What an awful story. Research shows that doctors tend not to think "heart attack" when the patient is female—especially a young female. She would probably have grounds for a malpractice suit, assuming she wanted to go down that road. I will say a prayer for her. Good luck at your exam next week.
Posted by: Jackie | January 28, 2005 at 09:39 AM
Thank you for thinking of her!
Posted by: bogie | January 29, 2005 at 05:41 AM
Bogie, I pray that Terri is recovering and has found a doctor who can actually offer her ongoing care instead of ongoing negligence. Having just been through my first exam in several years, I hope that your experience is as painless as mine.
Posted by: Essay | January 29, 2005 at 10:21 AM
You didn't ask, but my advice to any woman is to find a primary care physician who is also a woman. My experience (and it is confirmed from research) is that male doctors do not take women patients seriously. And let's face it that there are things about a man's physiology that a woman doesn't really understand at a "gut level" and things about a woman's that a man doesn't really understand at a "gut level".
Personally, the physician that I have been seeing for about 10 years, now, is the best that I've ever had--and she is the third primary care physician that I've had who was a woman. She teaches at the local medical school, so sometimes she wants to have someone else observe our appointments (and, early on, before I had even met the doctor, I was asked if it was OK if I saw a student--NO!) She doesn't pretend to know everything, she "works with" me in figuring out what's going on (granting that I might know something about my own body), and shows me pictures or text in books that explain the answers to my questions. One very important item: she is about your age and assures me that she will be there for me for some years (I tell her that she dares not retire until after I die!)
My wish for you is that you can find an intelligent physician like mine. (I'll not let her move up there!)
Posted by: Cop Car | January 29, 2005 at 11:33 AM
P.S. On my first visit, Dr. S. sat down with me to thoroughly cover and document my medical history. She asked if I wear my seat belt (and I'm sure that she would gently have explained why that is important if I had told her "no"), do I take calcium supplements, how is my brother's health, how is my parent's health, am I sexually active, do I get enough exercise...in addition to just asking about illnesses or surgeries I may have had.
On subsequent visits she has looked back to see her notes from the my previous visit or two and asked, "How are you doing with the...(whatever it was that we had talked about)?"
Dr. S. even "observed" and asked questions of a specialist whom she had called in to perform an in-office biopsy for me--so that she could learn from the specialist. Can you tell that she is impressive to me?
Posted by: Cop Car | January 29, 2005 at 11:49 AM
Cop Car - I'm glad you found a good primary care doctor. Even the women doctors I have had have not impressed me
Posted by: bogie | January 30, 2005 at 09:32 AM
Well, I understand that. Not every doctor is impressive be they female or male. I had one doctor who was a woman that I didn't think that much of. My physician in Albuquerque was better than the men that I'd seen, but not as good as Dr. S. Dr. S. is just so cool that I wish we could clone a bunch of her!
Posted by: Cop Car | January 30, 2005 at 03:24 PM
The longer I live the more I hear about Doctors who get it WRONG. Once in while you hear about a good one.
A few years ago I took ill in Florida (and you know what they say about Florida doctors) and was very fortunate to have a doctor who persisted because he said, "something else is going on here." After many tests he found out what my problem was. Was I lucky!
Millie
Posted by: Millie Garfield | February 02, 2005 at 10:48 PM
Millie - It's great when you find someone like that!
Posted by: bogie | February 05, 2005 at 06:38 AM