Anyone want to trade doctors?

[Michelle Miller]

I'll go to yours, and answer all your health checkup questions, happily going about my way on your behalf after all that's suggested/recommended is 'eat better, get more exercise, yada yada yada', and you can go to mine...

My neurologist I see for my epilepsy...

My most recent visit, I swear was like a low-rent reality show version of 'House M.D.' After another few months on more medication that I probably couldn't spell...last time, the words 'Vagus Nerve Stimulator' came up, after the ever expanding list of medications got a few more unpronounceables that did nothing but alter my perception of space & time, and give me a skin rash that looked as if I'd been using a poison ivy based moisturizer creme, added to it, sending me into a fearful, almost panicky mindset of "Oh great, out come the steak knives..."

This time, it's more tests, another trip to Charlottesville, a PET scan and he says "Depending on what shows up in that, we can look into surgical options."

"Brain surgery?" I ask, fearfully wondering where the hole in my head would be...

So I think to myself, "You know, maybe having a little pacemaker implanted in me, and some extra wiring wouldn't be all that bad, House here wants to go grab a hole saw and start drilling for oil."

My neurologist says "Surgery? It's an unknown, until the scan results come back and we've gotten a chance to examine them, if they even show anything at all."

I swear, lie to me...make me feel better...don't mention stuff like that until the test comes back with a giant sign in the middle of one of the pics that has a bullseye on it saying "start here"...

So...anyone need a bit of...ok...a LOT of fearful excitement in their lives? Let's talk about a doctor swap...

[DonnaT]

Makes one wonder if your Dr. is working with a drug company to test new meds.

One of the best, according to a recent report, neurologists in the Washington DC metro area is my wife's Dr. Her surgery went well, but something has gone wrong recently, and it appears she's leaking spinal fluid from the brain. I figure the bone graft didn't hold, and she will have to undergo surgery again, soon.

[Carol Ann]

I'm sorry Michelle and Donna,
Just another reason I will not get cut on, my final operation was just a simple knee clean out and my knee hurts more today then it ever did.

Tell me why I woke up in a case from my hip to my toes?????

[Susan]

Michelle,

my wife suffers from epilepsy - thankfully controlled by drugs for the last 30 years, the only problem occurred when she had to change her medicine because we wanted children, the drug she was on at first held the risk of birth defects so we changed. That first year was the worst of our marriage as it seemed to take an age to get her resettled - while this was going on she was subject to wild mood swings which was difficult for me to handle.

However it was worth it in the long run. We have passed our silver anniversary now and have two children in their twenties who we are very proud of.

Good luck to you in all this - don't be afraid to ask for explanations.

[Anthony Simon]

Donna and Michelle, I'm really sorry that it's going wrong. It's said that Doctors (and I guess nurses) make the worst patients because they know that this sort of stuff can happen. For the benefit of the patients they adopt their best bedside manner - to avoid the horrible sort of doubts that they know about.

The way Michelle tells it, her doctor was wandering about in the dark when he prescribed the previous round of medication - and this time seems to be admitting that he doesn't know what he's doing (when he says nothing may turn up on the scan). It sounds pretty bizarre behaviour - I mean for a doctor to effectively say "I don't know what I'm doing". Because, apart from anything else, it's bound to upset the patient.

I dunno, maybe I'm reading to much into this, but it sounds a bit like he wants you to go elsewhere - for, at least, another opinion.

[Michelle Miller]

The way Michelle tells it, her doctor was wandering about in the dark when he prescribed the previous round of medication - and this time seems to be admitting that he doesn't know what he's doing (when he says nothing may turn up on the scan). It sounds pretty bizarre behaviour - I mean for a doctor to effectively say "I don't know what I'm doing". Because, apart from anything else, it's bound to upset the patient.

I dunno, maybe I'm reading to much into this, but it sounds a bit like he wants you to go elsewhere - for, at least, another opinion.

That makes sense, but I can also see where the man would be grasping at straws too. I've been on so many different medications over the years, the list is incredibly long, and nothing's worked on them for more than a few months at a time, and even that can't be confirmed, as my episodes aren't on the strictest of schedules...I can go 2-3 months, having 10-20 a month, and then out of the blue, go for 9-10 months, and not have so much as an aura precursor/premonition that I *could* have an episode coming.

It's literally enough to drive one crazy.

[Carolynn]

There is a reason Doctors and Lawyers refer to their business as a "practice". One of these days maybe they will be able to get it right all of the time.

Always ask questions if you are scared of casual comments from either business, and be ready to jump ship if you lose confidence in one. Second or even third opinions are good in cases of surgery. There are good ones and there are not so good ones.

Carolynn

[Absaroka]

I'm really sorry to hear about this Michelle.

In general I've been pretty happy with my doctors. In all cases where I've had surgery (both my knee and my sinuses) recover took far longer than they said, but in the end things improved, particularly with my knee, since I was unable to walk prior to surgery and after surgery I had a limp. Still when he said "full recovery" he perhaps needed to be more specific as to what that was. Likewise treatment for hyper active thyroid did not go as well as they said, but considering that without it I'd likely be dead I guess it went okay.

I've lost track of the times the doctor has just said "I don't know what's wrong" Personally I've appreciated their honesty

I also have a number of times asked the doctor for a copy of their report, usually to give it to another doctor. One of the things I've discovered is that treatment is often used as a diagnostic tool. As in if we do such and such and it works, then that means they had such and such.

That doctors would often be baffled is actually not at all surprising when you consider what a complicated design our bodies are, to say nothing of the complexities of the mind/body issue.

Still I remember years ago seeing a doctor after a random episode of anaphalaxsis. He basically said "you could have died and I don't know why or how to figure out why" It may have been the truth, but it wasn't terribly comforting....

Hang in there.

Zari

[Anita]

That doctors would often be baffled is actually not at all surprising when you consider what a complicated design our bodies are, to say nothing of the complexities of the mind/body issue.

I'd agree with Absaroka's statement. It's more in how they handle that bafflement that's going to matter--it's not like they can avoid it.

I'm sorry to hear about your own struggles to find a pattern in this, Michelle. My sister had to deal with epilepsy for a good portion of her 72 years.

Donna, I wish the best for your wife. It's not easy to accept that she has to go into surgery once again, for either you or your wife.

[Stephanie H]

Healthy living is a prime way of not see the Dr.
So is Gray Goose