Doing battle with doctors
Tue, March 10, 2009 1:04 AM
I am beyond livid with the medical society in the U.S.A. Twice now, I have been seen in the ER for pain so bad in my legs, I can hardly walk. My knees are swollen, there are bumps where there shouldn't be and even my regular MD has put in a request for an MRI on them. But these jerkwads at the ER have no flippin clue about people who live with a chronic illness or disease.
The last ER doc I saw today all but said I was crazy. Said my pain was all in my head. I looked him square in the eyes and asked, "have you EVER lived with chronic pain before?" He looked at me, stuttered and said, "No." I rested my case. I told him REPEATEDLY that I did not want medication for the pain, I have my own pharmacy at home. What does he do? Gives me even another script for painkillers and told me I need an antidepressant. Been there, done that.
I have since contacted my insurance company to see if they have any legal support they can give me. I want to write a letter to them (insurance company) and let them know what the past two years have been like for me - starting with a GI doctor who nearly killed me and another friend of mine to the last two rounds with the ER. Oh, and this last ER fool had the gall to ask me what I was doing at a facility that treated life or death emergencies. How did I classify this as one? Hello I can't walk. What more do I need to do, chop my legs off at the knees to get attention?
I'm venting, I need to get this frustration out. I suffer from insomnia and on Temazapan to help me sleep. I want off of the medication once and for all, but with the inflammaton in my instestine, hernia, GERD (chest pain) and bladder inflammation, the journey will be a long one and I figued if I can survive two years of this, I will see it to the end.. Thanks for listening.
Joined Mar 3, 2009
Sat, May 09, 2009 12:00 AM
Reply posted for ACA11.
I don't know where you live or what hospital you go to but 1 thing for sure is I don't want any part of your hospital or their ER. I've had Crohn's for 44 years and 2 surgeries. The first time I didn't know what was wrong and it went to far. The second time was 15 years later and again I didn't know what was going on. Now if I start feeling lousy and vomiting and can tell that I'm dehydrating, it off to the ER I go. I tell them right up front that I've go Crohn's. They do a CT scan and then set me up in telemetry for 4 to 5 days. I'm on antibiotics to bring down the inflammation. I start out on clear liquids and work my way up to solid foods before I go home. My Gastro and his team are involved from day 1 and monitoring me & working with the hospital doctors. I can't ask for better treatment. I'm on medicare and have an HMO. Marilyn
Joined Jun 4, 2008
Sun, May 03, 2009 12:00 AM
Reply posted for ACA11.
I'm guessing that you have Crohn's but either way it sounds like you are experiencing arthritis (most common in the knees) and erythema nodosum (red nodules on your legs). Both of these are common with IBD flair-ups. They also both go away when the intestinal issues are under control. Immunosuppresants rather than pain medication are going to work best for you, both to control these extra symptoms and to control the IBD symptoms.
Because IBD is typically not a medical emergency ER docs are not going to be as familiar with these diseases so you should probably not expect them to be that knowledgable about it unless they call for a GI consult. Your family practice physician or better yet your GI doctor would be better. If it is after hours most physicians have an on call doctor that would probably be more helpful than trying to go to the ER. It sounds like your disease is not under control and you are having a lot of problems communicating with your doctor. I would suggest looking for a different GI doctor.
I hope this helps. I wish you the best in finding a new doctor and hope that you can get your symptoms under control soon. Hang in there.
Joined Feb 22, 2009
Mon, March 23, 2009 12:32 PM
Reply posted for ACA11.
This may be a stupid question, but are you able to get into your regular physician for this issue, and can then avoid the ER?
nickrystalJoined Nov 7, 2008
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