I’m in disability circles on social networks, and the general agreement is that if you are too knowledgeable about your condition, they’ll label you as a hypochondriac or similar.
My experience was complaining about being tired, and the doctor told me it was depression.
It ended up being myasthenia gravis.
The axiom “if you hear hoofbeats, don’t look for zebras” pisses me to no end. Yes, some diseases are rare. But don’t assume that you will never encounter them.
Yes.
Occasionally you do meet a zebra.
Once got a line about how rare multiple food allergies are in adults from a doc who didn’t know me. I said yeah, I knew it was rare, but I guess I had a winning lottery ticket in that department.
I did find that handing over an 8.5 x 11 sheet with my allergies and the symptoms produced by each (because they’re not all the same) went some way towards reducing that sort of thing, as well as saving time (for me and the doc, not for the person who now has to type everything into the e-records)
When I was in the hospital for surgery last August they really did have a red allergy alert bracelet on me ending with “see next bracelet” and a second one to finish the list.
Our current provider is a PA-C and she’s amazing!! She listens and doesn’t assume. On two occasions, she sent one or another of us to the ER and that was exactly the right thing to do. She also adds personal notes to our files so when we see her 6 months later, she’ll not only discuss our medical issues, but ask about the grandkids or a vacation we’d planned.
BUT before we found her, there was the guy who, I swear, was afraid to get close to me. He literally held his stethoscope at arm’s length as he “examined” me. I’d gone to see him for back pain that I think I might have caused by lifting or turning wrong. He never had me stand up or move or reach or do anything to demonstrate range of motion or what exactly hurt - he just wrote a prescription for pain meds. Thanks, doc.
The 'scrip went into the trash as soon as I got to my car, and I never went back to that practice again. Jerk.
Ugh. Congrats on getting diagnosed. My mom had myasthenia gravis.
Hey, hey, this thread is for complaining. Folks will get the idea that some professionals are competent if you say stuff like that.
It’s also the reason I’m seeing a god-damned doctor. If all I need is someone who can look up the most common cause of my symptoms on Google and read off the recommended treatment I can do that myself, hell a suitably trained monkey can do that. I’m seeing an experienced medical professional because it might be “zebras” not “horses”
Way too often as a female patient. The doc I have now actually listens to me and I’m hanging on to her despite our disagreements about various medications.
I was once told to take Vitamin D for chest pain issues. Seriously. Amongst other brush-offs.
Hey, I also have a Master’s degree in Science. 