Off to the doctor for me this morning. It's not going to be fun. She wanted me to try an additional medication and the pharmacy slathered the bottle with "May cause drowsiness/Do not drive or operate heavy machinery" warnings.
This, after I thought I had raised my concerns that the last time she tried this, the (different) stuff had made it nearly impossible to do my job and had put a stop to all my hobbies. Look, it's great to keep the ol' machinery made out of meat running, but if the process hobbles the software that runs it, what's the point? And it's great to get regular medical attention -- but I pay for that by working and if I can't work, well.... She's not going to like this line of thought. "Big picture" concerns don't mean much to her and she expects her dictates to be followed. So I may be looking for a new doctor.
Since her office is not available for anything on short notice -- they want to you take your bad cold or non-urgent injury to the doc-in-a-box -- and she usually pooh-poohs any health concerns I bring -- I can just about count on the swollen knuckle, sore joints and fatigue being shrugged off -- I don't suppose it will be all that much a loss.
In all the time I've lived in Indianapolis (and nearby), I have only had two doctors I liked and trusted. Lost track of one of them years ago when I was between jobs; he's the guy who diagnosed and treated the rheumatic fever fare-up I had nearly forty years ago. The other one fell ill and died much too young. I really miss him -- he was an absolutely up-front, cards-on-the-table guy, entirely confident in his medical judgement and willing to hear patients out and discuss their health and course of care. He was a self-admitted hold-out in a world of assembly-line medicine, a man wryly amused that it took a staff of five to run his office, not counting nurses and himself. The likelihood of ever finding another physician like him is somewhere between zero and none.
Um, Roberta, there isn't any difference between zero and none. Snork.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
ReplyDeleteI'm fortunate in that I've had the same GP for 15 years or so (and he was wife's before that). He listens and is willing to research alternatives, but not afraid to call BS when he feels it's warranted. For instance, ,one med we discussed has documented issues with mental fogginess up to psychotic events. I said no way and he hasn't brought it, or anything similar up since then.
Unfortunately in the past year I've lost several of my "regular" specialists to retirement and moving to new locations, and my dentist died. The replacements have been so far (so good) but it really seems to be a crap shoot every time I have to go looking.
Still, at least it's much more stable than the Russian Roulette of what ever doctor you drew at the base clinic on any particular day.
I've had the same GP for nearly as long as I can remember (well not really true, I probably started going to him around 40 years ago). Unfortunately that means he's pushing into his 70's and I will probably have to find another doctor in a few years. My wife has been going to his practice partner since she was a child, and she has the same problem. This actually scares us both.
ReplyDeleteMy doctor tends to be so busy that the doc-in-the-box is about the only viable solution if I need something right away. Although his staff do try to work me in if they can (there are always cancellations), and I've only actually had to resort to the DiB once, because they couldn't even work me in that same week. (It was the height of cold and flu season last year, and I had an ear infection.)
Anyway, I wish you luck finding another, more responsive, more caring doc. At our stage of life and with the current state of the medical profession, it's a daunting task, I fear.
I got fantastically lucky in my choice of GP (after having a stinkeroo, and firing her, and going 15 years without one). Mine's a DO, which I know makes some people side-eye, but she's quick to refer for problems she doesn't handle, she listens to me, she doesn't push unnecessary stuff on me (when I turned up hypertensive, at first she wanted anti-anxiety meds, on the grounds I struck her as "too tightly wound" but when I refused that, because of the whole "can't drive while the dosage is dialed in" thing, she tried something else, that worked - turns out my problem is more organic than psychological after all).
ReplyDeleteShe also doesn't hound me about my weight, but instead promotes exercise (which I already do) and sensible eating (ditto).
I will admit I'm not in love with her insistence that I have a baseline colonoscopy this summer, but....she's probably right on that.
DOs are good people. And getting a baseline colonoscopy is also a good idea for people of a certain age. I had my first at 48 when I had a bout with diverticulitis, and between that and the presence of polyps, I'm on the five-year plan.
ReplyDelete