I finally found a rotten doctor | Arthritis Information

 

I posted the other day that I have to change cardiologists, because mine is taking a year long fellowship.

Sorry Kathy, that's horrible.
If it helps, and I don't know if it will, you also get all kinds of accusations when you are thin. When I complained of fatigue I had a doctor tell me that if I ate more, I'd feel better. I went in with a sore throat (my kids had strep) my doctor took one look at my throat and asked me how long I'd been bullemic?!!!! What!!?
Luckily I really like all my docs now. And as an extra bonus, my RD looks a little like Anderson Cooper
Hang in there!My all-time worst experience was at the student health center in college.  I went in because I had strep throat.  I had strep throat frequently, so I knew that this was strep and not a "cold."  103F fever, headache, excruciating sore throat w/white spots, swollen lymph nodes, etc... Anyway, the "nurse" (and I use that term loosely) immediately started lecturing me.  She told me that if I wouldn't have been out drinking the night before I wouldn't be hung over.  I was speechless.  It took all my strength not to call her a bitch.  After I took a deep breath I told her "I'm no "nurse" but I do know that a night out drinking would not cause a 103F fever, swollen lymph nodes and white spots on my throat."  I told her I had a history of strep (it was in my chart) and that the usual course of action in my case was a script of 2g penicillin/day for 14 days, while waiting for the culture results (no rapid strep test there).  Well that set her over the edge.  I then got another lecture about using antibiotics to treat colds, yadda yadda yadda...  I ended up leaving without a script, awaiting the result of the strep test I knew would be postive, and then wound up in the ER that night.  I was delirious and incoherent and my friends had rushed me to the hospital.  Imagine my surprise (NOT!) when the strep test at the hospital came back as positive for strep.  24 hours later, after appropriate antibiotic therapy I was feeling a thousand times better.

From then on if I had to go to the health center, I signed in under "injury" instead of "illness" to avoid the nasty nurse over on the illness side. JR, I know you're not "into" the infection theory of RA, but strep is one of the 3 leading bacteria implicated.

I had strep throat many times as a child.

Your new cardiologist sounds like she must be related to my first Rheumy.  Total jackazz.  Bedside manner of a table lamp, and all the compassion of a drill sergeant.  When he told me (at the time I was 37 raising two children alone) that I should check out the crippled elderly patients in the waiting room on my way out and see if I still felt bad, I was appalled!  I had a seizure as a reaction to the first NSAID he put me on (indocin), which left me incapacitated for nearly 36 hours before having the presence of mind to call his office.  His reaction?  "Don't take any more of it till your next visit".  I told him what he could do with his medication, his waiting room cripples, and his entire practice...and dared him to bill me.  I never heard from him again.  I can't believe the ba$tard graduated from medical school!  AHHHH!  Ah well...you know what they call the guy who graduates last in his medical school class, don'tcha.....  Yep, they call him "doctor".  That's why we have to be discriminate when choosing whom we are willing to trust with our very well being. 

Anyway, I think you're doing absolutely the right thing... only don't waste time finding another cardio...  you don't want to interrupt the good care you were getting before your doc left. 

Wow- so sorry for that bad experience you had. I agree find a new doctor.
My son was grilled by a pediatrician in the same manner about just what he ate. He did it in a semi-joking way but I still thought it was insensitive and rude. Especially to a kid who knew he was overweight and probably had enough to deal with other kids being mean about it. I swear he ate the same as my other son who is stick thin.

Kathy,

This is my usual experience with doctors unfortunately.  I don't know where they all come from but I really wish they would go back there and learn some manners.  they should have to trade places with us for a year and see how it goes.

I think there are just way more patients than they bargained for, all very sick and not really getting better. and maybe  they are burned out. not everybody went into the medical field to save lives initially.  it is in demand and it pays well or the opportunity to be paid well is there. I think a lot of people choose this profession for the wrong reasons and it shows.

I must say your post is an eye opener for me, I had started to believe the male doctors were the ones I needed to avoid, they seem apathetic when I am trying to get help for the condition or pain. Obviously, that was just me generalizing.

Nonetheless, I am sorry about your experience. she was rude to say the least.

Shelly632009-01-12 16:33:29WTBRAF... My pediatrician gave me a lecture about saying no to "chips, ice cream, soda, and cookies", when my african american daughter had a slightly higher BMI than average. My other aa daughter and all my half asian kids are skinny as sticks, but this daughter carries a LOT of muscle. She's really solid. So really, I asked him, "do you think its our eating habits, or could it be her body type?" He wrote down in her chart that she was obese anyway. Because she is a former foster child and receives state assistance, the public health nurse had to call and counsel me about better habits for my "obese" child. Boy did I give her an earful! I do love my pediatrician, but I think many doctors fall into the habit of looking at the "numbers" not the patient.Done with this placeLibby22009-02-10 01:12:59Glad you gave her an earful! This same son (grown) was just now diagnosed with under active thyroid so who knows if that wasn't the problem all along. Another minus is the way that throw the growth percentiles around- Oh you are off the charts in weight but 20% in height. HELLO- is it really necessary to announce? The mom here is under 5 ft. so is it really any wonder? No kidding...One of my bio babies was diagnosed with failure to thrive because she seldom even makes the charts. I couldn't believe it. How long have you known me and my husband anyway? When your dad is 5'6" and your mom is 5'3", you're not likely to play pro basketball. So my family has been every possible combination of badness, too fat, too thin, too short....etc etc

Sounds like the first visit I had with a doc I thought was going to be my new PCP after my old one left many years ago.  I thought the guy had a sense of humor as I heard him joking around with the nurses outside but I was wrong.  I was joking around with him about how many alcoholic drinks I had per week.  This was before MTX so I was sort of safe here.  He proceeds to verbally lash me about that, how he objected to my tattoos and piercings and that if I insisted on killing myself why did I bother going to the doctor? 

Yikes, Bob!

When I asked my rheumatologist about drinking beer while taking plaquenil, her advice was simple: have fun!
Sorry about your negative experience.  I've had a few of those myself with docs.   Good luck in finding a good one.  I now see an Osteopath who is wonderful.Since we are into bad experiences, I'll share one of mine with you. I developed severe preeclampsia with my 3rd daughter (never the first two so this is highly unusual). I ended up with an emergency C section, 6 weeks early. Anyway, I gained about 95 pounds with the pregnancy, 50 of it that last month. 3 days postpartum, and I had not seen the baby once because I was on a mag drip and she was in the NICU, the on call obstetrition came to see me. I had lost 55 lbs the first three days. He comes in and sits on the edge of my bed and looks at me and says. Wow, you don't look like a monster anymore. I started to cry, as I had not seen my baby and I was going through the whole hormone withdrawal thing. To this day, every time I see him, I think of that day. Totally insensitive.Wow - what a complete ass, lorster. Fight, Kathy, Fight!  You know your body better that ANYONE else!  The doc was a real jerk.  Don't let the I second waddie.  Medical morons.  Some actually do believe they are God or God's right hand man/woman and can't be challenged ..... what a lot of rot !!  I was brought up to play a very active part in my own therapy and that means if I don't understand what they are saying they have to tell me again in English .... I witness a lot of disrespect shown to overweight women. I live in a state with an obesity rate of around 11 percent so being overweight is greatly looked down upon. I don't see as much disrespect shown to obese men. This is just what I have observed personally. It is sad. This doctor has probably never been overweight in her life and has no understanding of the struggles.
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