Doctors fail me yet again
On October 9th, I missed work again due to george, so I went to the doctor that day to get the doctor’s note to excuse me from work, per HR’s request. At that appointment, the new doctor that I appointed to be my full time doctor told me that next time she saw me, she wanted to do a full physical and really take stock of hte medical conditions going on. She asked if I ever had depression, based upon what she saw in my file (I’d been on Lorazepam for anxiety). I told her yes and she felt for some reason to really delve into my depression issues. I told her I don’t really HAVE a problem with the depression right now. No matter, it’s important, she says!
Oooookay. So I made my appointment for October 23rd…
Today I was almost denied the doctor visit because the front desk people told me that my man’s medical insurance carrier said I already had a physical in December, 2006. In reality it was a new patient appointment which, per my new doctor, “ran out of time because you had a lot to cover, and so it was billed as a physical”.
I told the front desk that no blood workups or anything was done – just the history. oh well! It’s done!
I told them to see me today anyway so they put it down as ‘other’ exam. That’s not the worst part.
The new doctor I hired gave a cursory glance to all the copies of my medical history that I’d made her – stuff relating to the car accident, the neck and back issues resulting from said car accident, the depression, the endometriosis and the gluten allergy, as well as pancreatitis. She said she wouldn’t keep most of it, and said that most of it is NOT RELAVENT!!!
She made suggestions that I try other hormones for the endo, despite me telling her NO, I will NOT go down that road again.
I told her that the pancreatitis and gluten allergy stuff needs to be in my file because it’s stuff that shows I have a weak immune system, and is likely also working hand in hand with the endometriosis, which is also said to be an autoimmune disease. My doctor said that trying to understand my body is futile because it’s all speculation and theory as to if endo is an autoimmune issue and can be tied/aggravated by the gluten allergy, which is also an autoimmune issue… she told me to stay with pain management doctor instead of going to her about neck/shoulder pain.
So she’s fired! By the time I got out of my appointment, the office was closed. I’ll be calling the doctor’s office tomorrow to request copies of my medical records back.
I feel that the problem is that doctors hate seeing my mountain of paperwork – it’s like I’m a threat to them. They like to treat one symptom at a time, not the whole person – not the whole history – it takes up too much of their time.
Oh, and they overcharged me too, today. They insisted each visit is $30. I told them no, it’s $15. They insisted I had a balance of $30. I paid it, plus today’s visit, which I told them I would ONLY pay $15 for, and told them I’ll look into it. SURE ENOUGH, IT’S FECKING $15. Bastards.
The main thing I have to remember is, I don’t NEED to see this doctor regularly anymore now that I’m not under the thumb of the company requiring it. I need only specialists, and the specialists I’m seeing (GYN, acupuncture and pain management) do not require this doctor’s approval – I can just go to them.
Regardless, today just sucked. SHE’S the one who requested my history, then said most of it wasn’t relavent. I wasted my time, my printer paper and printer ink on that bitch.
My next appointment with the acupuncturist is tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes.