Doctors that piss me off

The BBQ Pit
1

So my mom is 65 years old and has Rheumatoid Arthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis so she is pretty much in a dull aching pain every day of her life. About a week ago she had a regular appointment with her Rheumatoligist and had been having some intense low back pain. She has recently started taking a new medication which involves a shot every two weeks so her doc just gave her a steroid shot. She told mom that she was getting ready to go on vacation. Her first one in two years. About two days later the low back pain is getting much worse and this nasty rash shows up on her back, spreading fast, from her spine to the middle of her belly right around her waistline. A little research pretty much tells us she has Shingles.
This rant isn’t about the pain my mom is going through, it’s about the doctor that we made an appointment with that day because we had always heard that you had to get to a doc rather quick with Shingles and the pain was getting to be more than she can handle, and she can handle a lot. My sister goes to a group of doctors so we got her an appointment there and go. When this man walked into the room I promise you he had to be over 80 years old, which in and of itself really doesn’t matter but I would have thought that he would know better than to do some of the things that he did.

 First off he didn’t really listen to mom when she tried to tell him her history, just kept rushing us to why we were there.  Then when she showed him the rash he started poking it and I could see the look on her face and I told him in a very loud tone to quit touching her.  I really didn’t like the look he gave me.  He then started in about how it was Shingles, the rash would last for two weeks and then there would be “after pain” he kept calling it “after pain” and said it would last indefinitely.  I tried to get some kind of timeframe from him as to how long this would last and he snapped at me “I told you there is no way to know!”  He said he really wanted to treat this with no narcotics unless absolutely necessary.  He wanted her to try some pill and if she had no relief in 20 minutes he would send her home with some darvocet.  So he brought the pill in and walked back out.  I got her some water and we waited.

Mom said the pain was like star wars in her back and around to her belly. She said it felt like her nerve endings were fireworks and exploding. Mom has been in pain a long time. I know my mom in pain and I had never seen her like this. She was so tense and just shaking and pale and getting worse by the minute, so after 35 minutes we walk out, I take her to the ER and there she gets a shot of dilaudid and very strong script, along with some pills to help speed up the virus and prednisone.

My main frustration (other than watching mom go through this) is doctors who won’t give pain meds when it is so obviously needed. Why in the world would he try really hard to not treat this with narcotics when this is exactly what narcotics are for? Why do they make everyone feel like their trying to run some kind of scam just to cop some buzz? I know not all docs are like this but this guy really pissed me off.

Not much of a rant I know but damn this man is an asshat who really needs to consider retirement.

2

I’ve had shingles on my torso like that. That is the most painful spot with the exception of your face and eye (!!!).

It was the most intense and worst pain I’ve ever experienced, and I’ve experienced a lot (accident-prone). I would wake up in the night and cry like a baby. I was taking 9 Percoset a day. The doctor told me that before narcotics, people would kill themselves to get away from the pain, and I believed him. It lasted three weeks.

That doctor is a criminal. Plus, my doctor says if you get it right when the rash comes out they can hit it with big antibiotics and knock it out. But only right away. Get her back to the hospital ASAP. Good luck. And punch that doctor in the mouth for me.

3

Oops, I got so pissed that I didn’t notice you already took her to the hospital. Oatmeal baths can help, and I’ve heard great things about emu oil, for serious.

4

My main frustration (other than watching mom go through this) is doctors who won’t give pain meds when it is so obviously needed.

You’ve just described about 80% of the doctors in West Virginia. They’d rather let beat your head against the wall in agony than risk you getting addicted to a painkiller and then suing them, the bastards.

Me? Bitter?

5

Perhaps you mean antivirals – antibiotics wouldn’t affect shingles in the slightest, unless there’s some strange new interaction I’m not aware of.

6

There are a number of antiviral drugs (including Valtrex) that are approved for treating shingles.

I understand the rant, agree that some MDs are too slow to give effective painkillers (partly because of the fear of addiction), and hope your mother is spared further trauma from this. I would not assume, though, that the age of the offending doc is what’s responsible for his attitude. Knowledge and effective interaction with patients does not depend on (relative) youth.

7

Hmm…you must go to the wrong sawbones. Mine hands out painkillers like a Pez dispenser.

8

Si, antivirals is what I meant.

9

We did get her to the hospital on the same day the rash appeared and she did get the antivirals. She’s completed the set.

I know the age of the doctor has no bearing on his ability to be a doctor, it just seems to me that he would know better than to do some of the things he did, mainly pressing down on her skin where the rash is, that just made her pain even worse. I know they have to sometimes cause more pain to make it better, this was not one of those times.

10

They also have a healthy fear of being criminally prosecuted in the current political environment.

-lv