While trying to go to sleep & trying to find a comfortable position last night I thought of this:
What is your worst experience with a rheumatologist?
Here is mine.
The first and last one I went to was in UAB (University of Alabama in Birmingham). She was a REAL witch. She was in her early 30's late 20's. We had to drive 1 1/2hrs for my visits and then it was an all day thing.
She wanted me to walk a mile a day!!! I could not even walk a mile when I was in high-school for PE. The PE teacher would send me to the library to write reports when we had to walk a mile, so I could keep my grade at a C.
She would always ask if I was walking my mile. I would try to make excuses. I had valid excuses, they really had nothing to do with me. My daughter was 2yrs old at the time, hubby was at work thu the day, the only place to walk a mile was around the neighborhood, our neighborhood has many drunks that like to drive. I did not want to take my 2yr old with me to walk a mile and take a chance of getting hit by one of the local drunks.
At one of my visits with her, she called me mushy & flabby. At that time I was only weighing 145lbs and 5'2". To me as long as I could still fit in a size 14 I was doing good.
I went to her one last time and she upset me with her reply of why I got denied SSI and to her she said it was probably because I wouldn't walk the mile like she asked. And then she sent me to get my blood work done and I was sitting there for over an hour, so I got up and left and never went back and didn't want to.
Rheumies Bite BIG Harry
I'm sorry that you went thru that jealousy. You want me to go hunt her down and slap her for you? I will! That was very mean of her to laugh at you like that. Hey she might have been one of those that are only happy when other people have pain & misery. I really don't like my Rheumy and would like to change...but she's been mine since I was diagnosed and knows everything about me. That's why i'm a little hesitant to change. What I don't like about her is her attitude that she's better than everyone else. Last time I went, she didn't even listen to what I had to say. She was 45 mins late coming into the office and was probably behind her appointments and she kept on cutting me off! As well, she had a med student with her, so her attitude was even worse that day. Do you know what else?! OMG! I was supposed to start taking Enbrel in maybe September, but didn't because I wanted to get some sort of drug plan. I still don't have a drug plan so I'm paying out of my own pocket since February. Anyways, she asked me why I wasn't on Enbrel. I told her that I was looking for insurance to cover it because it's so expensive. Not sure how much it is in the USA, but here it's 00/2weeks supply (not to mention all the cost of the other drugs!). I told her how much it cost and she plainly says, that's not that much. I just stared at her blankly. Of course it's not a large sum of money for her...she's a specialist! You know she only works 3 out of 5 days and only until 3pm. Not only that, but EVERY single time I've gone (so it's been like 5 years), she's ALWAYS had her nails done. French manicure! Anyways,
Thanks for letting me let that out! I haven't had a real bad experience with a rheumy. The closest thing I came to was a rheumy I went to ONCE. And I probably would have been very angry with him, except that his looks made me laugh, so I just never went back. He sat there looking like a mad scientist out of a cartoon, tall and balding, with his white lab coat and his little, teeny spy glasses, and told me that he didn't think I had RA at all, that it was all from the Fibro. Even after reading my history from the other rheumy I'd seen for the two years previous. Never mind that I had swelling along with the pain. I had switched to this guy because he was closer. That was my last visit to a rheumy, and shortly thereafter they pulled my SSI. That was about 2 years ago. I've found another one, a female, that's only about 20 minutes from my house, and will have my first visit with her next week. If she doesn't work out I'm not sure what I'll do, because I just can't drive for over an hour to get to my original rheumy, who I did like. Cris I had to switch doctors a few years back because of my insurance. I was heart broken because I had been with this doctor for 8 years. He knew me well, all the nurses knew me well and it was 5 minutes from the office. But lord knows I can't pay a deductable expense to get my labs done so I changed. I researched doctors and choose one that was young and we could grow together. I love him. He's wonderful...and his nurse (It's the same one everytime) seems like an old friend. When she calls me she just tells me her first name. It's awesome. If I am in pain; all I have to do is call her and they'll call me in something right away because they know me and know I wouldn't call if it wasn't nessesary. Don't stay with these doctors that treat you like crap and don't make the effort to give you their undivided attention when it's your turn to see them. Don't waist your money there!! We have enough to deal with....you deserve a good doctor that you like. I've got one. In 1982 I was hospitalized by a Rheu... because nothing was working and I was flaring badly. They did that in those days. He stopped all my meds and was waiting for them to leave my system before starting over with the same meds. I decided that I wanted a second opinion and my Orthopod agreed with me, even though he had referred me to this Dr. He set me up a consultation with another Rheu at another hospital. My Rheu found out that I was going to seek a second opinion and he walked into my room and told me that I was no longer his patient and then walked out.
Barb
My worst was about 2 years ago, I hadnt been able to get to one for a
while because I was bed ridden. So I finally got transported there by
ambulance which dropped me! So that was horrible. Then I meet her and
right away she is just looking at me with this face. I knew it wasnt
gonna be good. I was already emotional because I was in horrible pain
and I had been dropped and was completely stressed. So then instead of
telling me my options on how to improve my situation she starts talking
about how horrible this and that is. My hands have a lot of damage and
she was squeezing my hand and saying "you know your hands will be like
this forever now right?" I started getting more emotional after that. I
already knew that but she didnt have to say it like that. Then I asked
her about going into some sort of inpatient physical therapy and she
LAUGHED at me.. hah I swear if i were healthy enough I woulda slapped
her! She said that unless im willing to pay out of pocket that will
NEVER happen. Ugh. I was so mad! Well I never ever went back again to
her, and if I see her walkin down the street I swear Im gonna kick her
with my good leg! hehe Anyway my new rheumy seems awesome. Positive
outlook, and shes aggressive with treatment. :D
hugs wayney
i haven't had a bad experience since i was a kid....i now wil;ll walk out and not return if not treated well...but i remember when i was an impressionable pre-teen i had one that would bring in all his students and have me in a backless gown prancing around for him to say words like 'advanced case' and bad jooints' goping to be deformed etc...i felt like a sideshow ftreak in front of some of these young cute docs...i didnt realize til my 20's that i AM a cute chick and not a freak....i still would like to approach the centre and let them know that self-esteem is as important to a patent as is there care!!!!!!!!!!! i remember being the case the students all got to see. but for
some reason...it stopped by the time i was in my teens. oddly, my
self-esteem grew when i hit my teens rather than dropped. but i
think that was becasue i had made some pretty understanding friends by
then.
seeing students when i was a kid made it real easy for me to ok
allowing the students in the labor and delivery room with me. i
think they were hoping for a delivery that was a bit abnormal but they
didn't get it! and believe it or not...a student in the lab was
responsbile for one of the easiest blood draws I've ever had. no
bruising....no pain...i didn't even mind that they didn't send her all
of the paperwork at once and she had to come back for a second stick.
hugs wayney
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