There’s a problem!

If you get a migraine thinking about having to go to the doctor…. there’s a problem!

If you go to the doctor, and they don’t listen…. there’s a problem!

If you get worked up and cry because you have to go to the doctor… there’s a problem!

If your doctor writes the opposite of what you say in your chart… there’s a problem!

If you can never get through to your doctors office… there’s a problem!

If your doctor won’t recognize that there’s an issue…. there’s a problem!

If you know more about your illness and issues… there’s a problem!

If going to the doctor is like going to a hateful workplace… there is a problem!

Now my list could go on and on, but I may just end it there, of course I’ll think of more later, and my mind never shuts up. Oy! Why won’t you be quite for once! I am seriously pondering if it is even worth going to the doctor anymore. If it causes nothing but headaches and frustration, why bother? Well, mostly because I need their testing equipment, not that they run the right tests in the first place anyway. For instance, for the last seven years I have been asking and pleading with them that ,y mid back is causing most of the problems , they did one test, one in the very beginning, and that’s it. I swear they are missing something. Ever since they have said they would do MRIs and scans of my mid back, but then did my low back area multiple times and my neck. I have even went as far as to ask every doctor I’ve seen “okay, what area of my back is this (pointing to,my mid back) 3 out of 4 doctors have said mid back! Ok then, that’s where the pain and pressure is, scan that part ok? Yes we will. Wrong again!

There’s a problem with the medical profession these days. They are so worried about getting as many patients in as possible, that they make you wait in the room for 10-15 minutes, just to,spend 5 minutes with you, not letting to,ask the questions you want to,ask or explain what all is wrong. Last visit, I was actually told “I’m sorry we are out of time” what is this a psychological visit, isn’t that what they usually say? Those hour visit go by in a blink also. But other doctors schedule 5 minute visits, that’s not enough time for anybody.

We all know doctors don’t like being told how to do their job, so,how do you go about getting the right tests done? How do you get them to,check for certain things if they won’t listen? I find it very sad that we know more about our illness and/or issues than the doctors do. Now I am a researcher, if I don’t have anything to,do, want to waste time or am bored, I will be looking up information. Now I don’t believe everything I read online, and I’m not trying to self diagnose myself, but here is a lot of accurate information out there and it’s not hard to find. Or you can talk to people that are going through the same thing.

I had gone to my gastroenterologist thus past week, well I saw his physician assistant actually, they’re not much better than doctors. I explained my concerns and was told the next step they were going to take. Now this did not involve what I was concerned about, so I asked about it again, and was told that the issue was not related and can not be cause by the last surgery I had (which of course I learned later by talking with other who have the same issue, but the doctor should have know about it, since it’s a common issue). You’re right, the surgery didn’t cause this issue, but it started the day or two after the surgery, and can be cause by the acid reflux I’ve been experiencing for the last 14 years. So of course I left frustrated with doctors and with an procedure to check things out, but unfortunately that won’t be done until December. There lies another problem, I understand that doctors are very busy, especially specialists, but then you would think they would get more help, because I don’t feel that they think our concerns are a priority. I understand that with limited doctors there are limited times available for visits and procedures, because there are so many people having issues.

So if you don’t get answers from your doctor, where do you go? Well if you’re like me, you join a Facebook group related to the issue and ask questions there and talk to others dealing with the same thing, and you search the web for information. Now getting information this way is not meant to diagnose you or anything like that, but it does help figure it all out when the doctors won’t explain it all properly and tell you what could be causing the issues.

I believe there is a major flaw in the medical profession, doctors used to sit with you and explain everything better. They used to allow more time for visits, and try to figure out what the problem is. Now I don’t have the desire to go to medical school or the energy for it, but they seriously need to take a class on how to talk to and handle patients. They spend all this time learning the rules and how to do the procedures, which are changing and have new stuff added daily, but they don’t learn how to handle patients. Yes they are the ones who are supposed to,figure it all out as to,what is wrong with us, and that could be made harder because of all the information made available t9 us on the Internet, along with those that believe everything they read and self diagnose. In al, seriousness and as one doctor has told me, we know our bodies the best, we can feel what is going on with it. We may not know what exactly it all is, but we can tell when something is wrong and we have to be the advocate for ourselves and speak up when the doctors fail us.

I will never stop speaking up and fighting the doctors. Yes, I will giver up for a couple days because the frustration gets to be too much, but I will start up again and keep at it until the answers I need are found. If the doctor you are seeing gives up (which most of mine have) or they are just too incompetent to fight and figure it out, ditch them and get a new one, but don’t feel bad about it, you are fighting for you because someone needs to, when they won’t.

Have you found a good way to get doctors to do what you think you need done?