I've been giving this topic a lot of thought since waking this morning upon reflecting over my experiences the past few weeks.
Those who visit the chat room and speak with me in there with any regularity already know that I've been horrendously ill for over a month now. I've been suffering immeasurably with severe cold and flu like symptoms for weeks, with no relief. At one point last week I did finally see a light at the end of the tunnel, and a break in my ailments, but two days later they all returned with a vengeance.
At first I took my concerns to my local doctor. He did a quick glance over, determined I had a virus, and released me. No tests, no lab, no x-rays, nothing. Just dismissed it as the flu and sent me home. Twelve days later I had my 4 month exam with my diabetic doctor in a neighboring city. I expressed my concerns over my maladies to her, thinking that since she was so worried about my general health in terms of how it affected the management of my diabetes, she may be more symathetic and take a closer look into what was going on. Nope. Again, no tests at all, she merely stated "it's going around" and that it would 'eventually' go away.
That was almost two weeks ago, and I am still suffering now with the same symptoms, only now they are even worse. In desperation I finally decided to get yet another opinion and dragged my sickly carcass into Urgent Care, where I had the extreme fortune of being treated by a young, fresh out of medical school Physicians Assistant. It was to my great pleasure that after listening to all my complaints and doing a thorough physical exam that he felt something was seriously wrong and ordered x-rays and a plethora of lab work. After aa entertaining hour or two of breathing treatments by an awesomely hyper and hilarious Respiratory Therapist, the doctor came back in with the results. It turns out that I have an Upper Resperatory Infection, A Sinus Infection, and a Urinary Tract Infection....
ALL OF WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WEEKS EARLIER BY THE TWO DOCTORS WHO DISMISSED IT AS A VIRUS AND SAVED ME WEEKS OF UNBEARABLE SUFFERING!! UGH!!
*ahem* Sorry bout the outburst. I am understandabely just a wee bit pissed off. Thankfully I am now on a very potent anti-biotic (Levaquim), an Inhaler, Codeine cough syrup, and a prescription decongestant. It has only been 24 hours and I already feel like a new woman (and then some 😀 ). Not 100% yet, obviously, but it's wonderful to just have some energy and alertness back, and not pass out coughing everytime I try to breathe.
But all of this got me thinking. I have seen friends, family, acquaintences, and myself go through this very scenario too many times to count. They are obviously seriously ill, but upon taking their ailments to their doctor, they are told it's only a virus and nothing can be done and dismissed. With the new forceful awareness being put on the importance of using anti-biotics sparingly, as to not cause a body to build an immunity to them, it seems doctors don't want to prescribe them at ALL. It's now a well known fact that if you DO have a virus and only a virus, and anti-biotic will not help. But it's a disturbing trend I see that doctors immediately dismiss your symptoms as that of a virus without even checking for bacterial infections. I understand the caution in prescribing a med when it's not needed, but if there IS cause for it, people could be saved a lot of unnecessary suffering by taking a quick round of anti-biotics.
Has anyone else noticed this trend? It disturbs me that we are paying out of our asses for medical insurance, with no leveling in sight, yet most of the time we are receiving poor to sub-par medical care. This can not be good. It paints a very ugly picture for the future of medicine.
When did so many doctors stop caring?
Mimi
Those who visit the chat room and speak with me in there with any regularity already know that I've been horrendously ill for over a month now. I've been suffering immeasurably with severe cold and flu like symptoms for weeks, with no relief. At one point last week I did finally see a light at the end of the tunnel, and a break in my ailments, but two days later they all returned with a vengeance.
At first I took my concerns to my local doctor. He did a quick glance over, determined I had a virus, and released me. No tests, no lab, no x-rays, nothing. Just dismissed it as the flu and sent me home. Twelve days later I had my 4 month exam with my diabetic doctor in a neighboring city. I expressed my concerns over my maladies to her, thinking that since she was so worried about my general health in terms of how it affected the management of my diabetes, she may be more symathetic and take a closer look into what was going on. Nope. Again, no tests at all, she merely stated "it's going around" and that it would 'eventually' go away.
That was almost two weeks ago, and I am still suffering now with the same symptoms, only now they are even worse. In desperation I finally decided to get yet another opinion and dragged my sickly carcass into Urgent Care, where I had the extreme fortune of being treated by a young, fresh out of medical school Physicians Assistant. It was to my great pleasure that after listening to all my complaints and doing a thorough physical exam that he felt something was seriously wrong and ordered x-rays and a plethora of lab work. After aa entertaining hour or two of breathing treatments by an awesomely hyper and hilarious Respiratory Therapist, the doctor came back in with the results. It turns out that I have an Upper Resperatory Infection, A Sinus Infection, and a Urinary Tract Infection....
ALL OF WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WEEKS EARLIER BY THE TWO DOCTORS WHO DISMISSED IT AS A VIRUS AND SAVED ME WEEKS OF UNBEARABLE SUFFERING!! UGH!!
*ahem* Sorry bout the outburst. I am understandabely just a wee bit pissed off. Thankfully I am now on a very potent anti-biotic (Levaquim), an Inhaler, Codeine cough syrup, and a prescription decongestant. It has only been 24 hours and I already feel like a new woman (and then some 😀 ). Not 100% yet, obviously, but it's wonderful to just have some energy and alertness back, and not pass out coughing everytime I try to breathe.
But all of this got me thinking. I have seen friends, family, acquaintences, and myself go through this very scenario too many times to count. They are obviously seriously ill, but upon taking their ailments to their doctor, they are told it's only a virus and nothing can be done and dismissed. With the new forceful awareness being put on the importance of using anti-biotics sparingly, as to not cause a body to build an immunity to them, it seems doctors don't want to prescribe them at ALL. It's now a well known fact that if you DO have a virus and only a virus, and anti-biotic will not help. But it's a disturbing trend I see that doctors immediately dismiss your symptoms as that of a virus without even checking for bacterial infections. I understand the caution in prescribing a med when it's not needed, but if there IS cause for it, people could be saved a lot of unnecessary suffering by taking a quick round of anti-biotics.
Has anyone else noticed this trend? It disturbs me that we are paying out of our asses for medical insurance, with no leveling in sight, yet most of the time we are receiving poor to sub-par medical care. This can not be good. It paints a very ugly picture for the future of medicine.
When did so many doctors stop caring?
Mimi
The MetalHead
