Memzak I totally understand. I got diagnosed in ’02 with bipolar disorder (after a 2nd and even 3rd opinion) and ADHD 3 years ago, and things for me have been good (knock on wood). When I talked to my primary care doc about my belly issues waaay back in ’08, I am not kidding, we talked about my bipolar disorder for a good 20 minutes. I already SEE a doctor for that. I wanted to know about my belly. I am due for a colonoscopy. My mom was diagnosed at 49, so my sisters and I were told that we needed to start getting scopes at 35. I’m sure that after my consult, I’ll be scheduling for one. Yikes 
This experience has made me appreciate the doc I work for even more. She’s a gynecologist who works in Women’s Health. We don’t do pre natal, so we see a pretty wide variety of people. She treats EVERYONE with the same respect, dignity and empathy regardless of how ‘crazy’ they may seem to everyone else. She says that even if 90% of the time, a patient is wrong, 10% of the time they’re right. I’ve had women at our check out desk dissolve into tears as they tell me that my doc is the first person in YEARS who has listened to them and order a course of treatment. They weren’t looking for attention or pain pills, they were looking for answers. We’ve had women with very REAL health issues who had been pushed away because of overbooked docs or unsympathetic physicians.
The ‘god complex’ with docs still exists today and when they encounter someone who actually knows what they are talking about and asks questions, they get defensive. I tell my friends and family all the time to be ‘proactive’ in their healthcare and ask questions, if you don’t get an answer you like, ask someone else. Today kind of showed me why some people don’t ask again. You’re scared to death that you’re going to get shot down.
I also know that an Urgent Care is awesome if you cut your finger open or burnt your hand on your grill, not so hot for anything else, but I’ve been so dehydrated from all of this that yesterday I drank a GALLON of Gatorade and only had to pee once! I went for peace of mind and got anything but!
The day I took my mom to the ER, and she was subsequently found to have a tennis ball sized tumor in her colon, her OWN doctor’s office hadn’t called her back when she called with symptoms of a low grade fever and right upper quadrant pain. She laid on a couch for hours before I corralled her into the car and took her to the hospital. My fear at that point was her gall bladder. If only it had been her gall bladder! After her surgery, her doctor came down to the hospital to personally apologize for the staff not getting her in to be seen. More than likely they would have referred her to have a CT Scan and it wouldn’t change the outcome, but the fact that she wasn’t taken seriously when she called, and this is woman who could have had walking pneumonia and still found a way to vacuum the house, was shocking to me, and insulting to her.
REPORT ABUSE