A Question And My Saga Response

I’m curious, here’s a question for today:
Do you like your doctor?

I really don’t like mine and keep saying that I’m going to switch. Our insurance requires a PCP so I have to go through their processes. After this experience with poison ivy, as soon as I think it’s over (or possibly before), I’m going to do that once and for all. I have another dr in mind already who is on our insurance. I hated it Monday when in a panic I had to quickly make a doctor’s appointment knowing that I would have less than stellar results.

It seems I have a love-hate relationship with doctors- I’ve had my share of quacks and my share of good doctors. I think it’s the ones that don’t fully examine the situation or diagnose without tests that drive me the most maddened. It happened with my TMJ- the quack orthodontist and other doctors that followed said I didn’t have it- until my jaw locked up- that amounted to five years of headache pain from my TMJ because of doctors that just couldn’t get it right. Then I had the bad TMJ doctor and followed by a wonderful TMJ doctor. Then in Corpus, I got a sinus infection that lasted over six months (I said I was allergic to marriage since it came on just a week after DH and I were married). The doctors kept treating like allergies and finally I went to another specialist (this was when our insurance would let me do that) and he had me tested for allergies- guess what! I didn’t have any. So then with that knowldege, the doctors were able to prescribe a treatment that worked.

My ob/gyn has done the same thing. He actually diagnosed me with PCOS without doing any tests including any glucose/insulin or other hormone tests. He just gave me diabetes meds that he thought would work. I hate that; and they didn’t. And, in fact, I haven’t returned for my annual exam in the past two years. (I have an appt with another ob/gyn next month- so don’t shoot me.)

I think the other thing that stands out about the doctors I’ve had that I liked- they talked to you like you were a real person and had good bedside manner. My current PCP this is not. I nearly kicked him during one conversation about whether I was pregnant because my period was so long ago- mind you, I’ve seen this guy for seven years and most of that time, each time, I have to explain that I’m not regular and that’s the norm for me. I finally got sick of it not getting through to him and told him we would be back soon for physicals because we were adopting. His response, Oh then you’ll get pregnant. . . I wanted to kick him so hard- only he wasn’t within reach. Good thing for him too!

Same thing could be said for the one the ENT specialists I saw in Corpus. When my sinuses drain I get cold sores in my throat. So, he takes his popsicle stick (ok this was longer, etc) starts touching them and naming which muscle they were on. I wanted to strangle him- they hurt- that’s the bottom line and I don’t care which muscle they are on.

I’ve also had some really great doctors. I loved my childhood dentist and my dental surgeon. (Just not the go between of the orthodontist). I loved the Minor Emerg Clinic we could use in Corpus. Those were some really great doctors who you knew know there stuff. If they were unsure, they would refer to an expert. Of course, we used them like a regular doctor- our insurance at the time would treat them like that and you could almost always get in within 15 minutes. No fighting through double booking or triple booking and after hours meant you didn’t have to get off work. And, I love my eye doctors. In fact, to this day, I travel the two and half hours into the big city just to see them. I have no intention of finding one near by. In fact, I once went three and half hours to see them. That was after seeing another doctor I would describe as quack. I knew I wanted to what I consider to be “the” opinion on my eyes.

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