Doctors, heal thyself
Doctors sure can be frustrating, can’t they? They want you — the patient — to work around their oh-so-much-more-important schedules.
That’s of course assuming you manage to talk to your doctors, since the more successful they become, the more likely you will end up being palmed off to a physician’s assistant so they can attend to more important matters, such as meeting with the endless stream of pharmaceutical industry representatives, who always seem to be sitting in their waiting rooms, large cases of drug samples in hand.
Even more frustrating is when you are a patient with a problem. If it requires a specialist, no matter how severe the problem is, they are so busy, that they often can’t squeeze you in for an appointment for months. They say to call back to see if there are cancellations. I guess it would be too much to ask that they call you when there is a cancellation, since they’d know first.
What’s even worse is if you have to get caught in the middle of doctors, whose egos prevent them from talking to one another, wanting you to be a middleman. I faced that situation this week. Because of my multiple sclerosis, I suffer from severe fatigue. I take a prescription medication to help keep me up long enough to try to get through the work day. Unfortunately, I have been suffering from major, devastating headaches and the new doctor trying to solve that problem thinks the anti-fatigue pill could be the problem, so he took me off it a week ago.
As a result, I’m dragging, so all week I’ve been trying to get the two doctors to discuss if there is another anti-fatigue medication that I can substitute so I’m not falling asleep at my desk. First, the headache doctor was out of the office until Thursday, so the M.S. doctor’s P.A. didn’t want to do anything until he could consult with him. Unfortunately, the P.A. neglected to tell me that he would be gone Thursday. On Fridays, the M.S. doctor’s office only does a half-day anyway, so my dad was stuck in the middle trying to play phone tag with these bozos. Then, when the headache doctor’s nurse finally calls, it’s to say they are phoning in a prescription TO HELP ME SLEEP BETTER. Sleep is not something I’m having a problem with, staying awake is. Do these people even listen to their patients?
Scott Schuldt, Staff Writer
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
I know exactly what you are going through. You haven’t seen anything until you’ve had to go to the doctors out at O.U. Medical Center. It took me 2 years to even get them to prescribe me pain killers and muscle relaxers. You would have thought I was the “druggie from hell” even asking for them. I suffer with Fibromyalgia, Osteopenia, degenerative disk disease, RA, IBD, TMJ and suffer daily with massively chronic pain. The procedure all the patients have to go through in order to get their meds refilled is the most ignorant thing I’ve ever seen. Everyone has to give their clinic 7 to 10 days prior notice on their refills and they STILL don’t get them to you in time. I have been at the clinic and have talked with many patients who have had to endure pain as well as other things, waiting on the doctors to approve their refills. One man I encountered had waited 8 days for his insulin!!!!!!! This goes on constantly with everyone. They absolutely do not care at all. I have been on my meds now for right at 4 years. Needless to say, the strength of the meds doesn’t even cut it now. I still take them because it helps “take the edge off” of my pain. I have told every single doctor that I now need a higher dosage and that I am having to take 1 1/2 of my pain pills now and they all tell me “oh that’s ok”. Well, no it isn’t, because then when I run out, you make me go without for anywhere from one to two weeks before you will refill them! I see a “regular” doctor there who prescribes my pain pills/muscle relaxers, and also see an Endocrinologist for a tumor in my left adrenal gland. I was due for my every 3 months ct scan in AUGUST. I have called and left 2 messages, with no return calls. I have a new “primary care” (regular) physician now and have no idea who it is! In the meantime, I am up this morning in so much pain I can hardly take it. I had tests done about 2 1/2 months ago testing me for diabetes and I still don’t have the results! I was to have had 2 tests done on my esophagus 2 1/2 months ago, and they’ve never even made me an appointment to get them done! This by the way, is typical at O.U. They don’t care about us out there, because the majority of people that have to go there have no insurance and are poor. I truly believe they are just trying to kill all of us off, so they are burdened with all of us. What other explanation could they have for treating their patients this way? I could set here for another 2 hours and tell you some true horror stories about how they run that place out there at O.U. Now I also have “normal” doctors I see, you know, the ones where you go in for your appointment and don’t have to wait for 1/2 a day to just get into the exam room, and I can have tests done with them and get the results within 2 days. And call them up any day and ask for a refill and get the refill the same day. Now why can’t they do that at O.U.?? You can complain until your blue in the face and nobody out there cares. In the meantime, we all suffer. I thought doctors were there to keep a person from suffering??