What is the deal with these doctors???

Karen I definately hear you. We are having a problem with Elijah’s drs
and for the past few years I have been having to teach my Dr’s things,
almost diagnosing myself!

To be short, I had LES spasms that would not quit. I told every Dr,
nurse I saw that I knew it was my LES. No one listened and kept telling
me it was my dx of fibromyalgia. I’ve known fibro face to face for 5
yera snow nad KNOW it was not that. After 3 days in the hospital
without adequate pain relief, I had to yell “WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO
LISTENING TO THE PATIENT?”

They sent a G.I. Dr (with a few nurse back-ups LOL) and he dx’d LES
stricture..wrinkiling of the LES and pills, food was getting stuck in
it. He did a scope, dilated it and I came home Thanksgiving eve.

I did have one more problem with it Thanksgiving Day, but I called a
few people to pray with and for me and right while I was praying with
the second person a warmth spread through my back, to the LES and it
completely resolved itself!

I should have prayed in the first place 🙂

I guess there’s a time for everything.

Many Dr’s don’t seem to like educated patients, or patients who ask for things.

Some have ego’s that will not allow them to listen, ponder and maybe agree to try whatever it is we are asking.

I am not always convinced that even I am right, and I will listen and
consider what they say. Being a RN and knowing anatomy and in
particular, my anatomy I always try to figure out what is happening to
me before I go tot he Dr’s and let them make an educated guess that may
or may not be right.

When I was having the LES spasms, all the Dr’s tested me for gall
bladder problems. With the first Dr, I thought, could be, I did have a
fatty meal once before one of the attacks started.

The tests were negative, but still no one would listen to me. They
seven sent in s general surgeon who came and wuickly poked my abdomen,
said ‘Good” and went to leave.

Hello, what’s good?

Oh it’s your fibromyalgia.

It’s my LES, do you do LES’s?

No

I was so sick I could not even advocate for myself most of the time I was there.

Elijah’s Grammy2006-4-30 16:38:3

Christine, I have a problem with Drs in general unless they are the
type who will listen and discuss an issue intelligently with me.

I understand that MARCI is just one place with there own studies and conclusions.

It looks like the “standard of care” for possible pedi reflux goes in stages.

First, try thickened formula, then change formulas, then give zantac,
when that doesn’t work change to pepcid and give reglan, then have a
barium swallow which dosn’t always show the reflux if they are not
refluxing at the moment.

So it has been 6 months of going back and forth to the PEDI who finally after 5 sent him to the Pedi GI.

We (Amber, Elijah’s mom and I) saw Elijah’s pedi and pedi GI within 5
days of each other last week as his symptoms were getting worse.

The pedi, who we saw almost weekly for GERD since Elijah was 2 months
old, also thought that since Elijah didn’t spit up much breast milk
or formula and he was gaining weight like gangbusters, thought it
couldn’t be too bad.

She gave Zantac, adjusted the dose a few times, then pepcid but told us that PPI’s are only given to babies over 6 months old.

When he was 6 months old, she still would not prescribe a PPI but set
aElijah up for an appointment with a pedi GI, 2 months away.

The pedi GI finally prescribed Prilosec and failed to tell us that it
could take weeks to start working but did not want him to have pepcid
too. He was miserable and in a lot of pain screaming for hours.

After a week mom did start to give him pepcid 4 hours after the Prilosec but the kid was still miserable most of the time.

With Ambers permission, a week before we were to see the pedi GI, I
wrote a somewhat professional letter telling her what we wanted her to
do for Elijah and I faxed that with the MARCI information.

I was nervous thinking she might pull the “I’m a a Dr you can’t teach me anything”

In the end she did change the PPI to Prevacid Solutab like we asked and
thanked me for the MARCI information. She did not however follow the
MARCI guidlines.

She mentioned that new reasearch shows that using H2’s (Pepcid, Zantac)
for breakthrough acid attacks did not work, although I have heard many
hear say it did help.

Then she said her husband has bad GERD and he always needs to take
twice the amount of PPI to get relief. So when Nexium didn’t work for
him in the one dose that it advertises, she decided not to prescribe it
at all.

So she used her husbands experience with PPI’s to treat babies by not
prescribing Nexium, yet she would not accept the experience of Dr’s in
her own specialty and mothers all over the country? Hmmm

I wish I thought of calling her on it while we were at her office.
Elijah’s next appointment is in 2 months but she said to call if there
are any problems. So maybe I will use her own words against her if she
refuses to an increase if Elijah needs it.

The crazy thing is that she said she knew that higher doses of PPI’s were OK but she doesn’t like to over medicate babies

HUH?

No, lets just make him suffer for over 6 months.

He’s doing great now, except at night, but we might try Gaviscon at
night as it advertises that it creates a foam barrier that helps
protect the esophagus and prevents acid from refluxing.

It has the same ingredients as Mylanta but has something like sodium
alginate (which I think might be derived from seaweed/algae but that’s
just a guess)

It’s kind of expensive though, over $10.00 a bottle so we haven’t bought any yet.

I’m so sorry you are having problems with Dr’s. Maybe next time fax or
mail in the info before the visit asking he/she to read it before your
next appointment

I faxed the info to her office in Boston and it was in Elijah’s record when she came down to Dartmouth.

I think I will also fax the info to the Pedi suggesting maybe she ought
to really look into the PPI’s for babies with reflux so they don’t have
to suffer like Elijah did.

Of course, Elijah was always the perfect gentlman at every visit so the
pedi never saw the screaming in pain or heard the acid reflux etc.

Dr’s and nurses are taught to listen to their patient and since
Elijah can’t speak, the adults in his life have to, so why don’t they
listen to the moms/dads/grandparents? Maybe it’s because too many of
them don’t listen to their own patients anyway.

I fixed that with my primary by emailing the boss of the practice with
my complaints.My primary was REALLY nice to me the next time I saw him
and THANKED me for coming back. No more attitude!

Has anyone ever “interviewed” other pedi’s to see if they would consider prescribing adequate meds and dosages?

I’ve always read that you can get a 15 minute free interview with any
Dr to see if you and the Dr have the same “philosophy.”

[QUOTE=Elijah’s Grammy] Many Dr’s don’t seem to like educated patients, or patients who ask for things.

AMEN!!!! In ALL specialties!