[Rose76]

About a year ago, a psychiatrist who had seen me just once or twice (I can hardley remember,) discharged me from the psych clinic and said my regular doctor (of 5 years) could manage ordering my psych meds. Not much of a challenge, since I just take one psych med in a modest dose. Now my regular doctor has transferred out of doing primary care, and I've been assigned to a Physician's Assistant as my primary provider. This person hasn't arrived yet to the clinic where I go. So I have yet to meet this person. I forget if it's a male or a female.

I feel discarded.

My physical health isn't as problem-free as it had been most if my life. Recently, I got treated for a bleeding ulcer. That issue may prove somewhat chronic, according to one GI doc. And I've gotten quite depressed lately, after having done pretty well emotionally for a good extended interval.

Only one psych med ever helped me. I upped the dose on my own, but had to stop that when I developed a cough from it. (That has happened before, due to drying out my throat . . . and I think it dries my trachea. I cough up crud from it.)

A few weeks ago, I went to the emergency room with severe intestinal pain. (I've got some chronic issues with that.) After waiting there a few hours without seeing a doctor, I just decided to go home. The problem went away.

Between the mental and the physical, this is the most health concerns I've ever had.

And I don't even have a doctor (that I have even met.) Or I guess I should say "provider." I'm not even deemed as needing a doctor assigned to me.

I feel like I'll never trust a doctor/provider again.

[gayleggg]

I'm sorry you are getting bumped around. Unfortunately, that seems to be the way that healthcare is going. My husband sees a nurse practitioner and likes her better than the actual doctor that he did have. He says she pays more attention to what he says. But I can understand your frustration.

[TishaBuv]

You just have to be aggressive to get help and attention, which I know is so very hard to do when you are depressed. We are all falling through the cracks.

[Rose76]

I think you are both right. This does seem to be the way of the future, and, yes!, you do have to advocate for yourself.

I spent months telling various "providers" and doctors that I had heartburn that seemed like the "mother-of-all-heartburn." I saw a physician's assistant, my own MD, another primary care MD, a specialist GI doctor, who did an upper barium-swallow study, and a speech therapist who was trying to teach me how to not swallow air with my food. My doctor told me to just keep taking Pepcid. Finally, I went twice to the psych clinic saying I was losing my mind at night with severe restlessness.

It was a psychiatrist who finally diagnosed me as being severely anemic. (Night-time restlessness is a sign of severe anemia, which I never knew.) As the psychiatrist advised me to do, I called my primary care clinic. They said they had no openings for quite awhile. So I said, "You mean to tell me I'm supposed to get treatment for severe anemia of unknown origin from a resident in psychiatry? Isn't there something wrong with this picture?" So I finally heard from my own doctor, who sent me for intravenous iron and for an upper endoscopy. That's where the found the bleeding ulcer.

I'm lucky I didn't collapse on the street somewhere. I had told them at my primary care clinic that it felt like I was being stabbed in the chest. "Yeah, just keep taking the Pepcid."

My doctor sits in front of a computer monitor, and he stares at that the whole time I'm trying to talk to him. As he was typing away, I was telling him that my "heartburn" is terribly severe. He said, "Yeah, it'll do that ." So I go home and continue bleeding internally for a couple more months.

Well, he's gone now. He did call and say, "I'm sorry I wasn't more available to you." I thought, "You could at least look in my direction when I'm in the office with you."

I swear: From now on I'm bringing a good magazine with me to all doctor appointments. If the doctor keeps staring at the computer monitor, while I'm answering his questions and reporting my problem, I'm going to shut up and start reading my magazine. Then when he notices I'm busy reading, I'll say, "Let me know when you're done reading the computer screen. Then we'll talk." And I won't look at him, till he/she looks at me. Maybe I'll even say, "Hang on a minute, doctor. Let me just finish this article I'm in the middle of. I'll be with you shortly."

I've read articles saying that this is a real trend - doctors spending most of the office visit interacting with the computer, rather than with the patient.

I guess I'm nuts, but it felt good to get that off my chest.

[eyesclosed]

Rose u are so right u pay a lot of money to feel like this. It's close to emotional abuse. If u file a complaint then it will get worse. I drive to another city for my health care because of the same type of attitude they have. I have thought about this and have a solution some type of pay you if i get better plan. pay based on your heath condition after they see u. They would be more concerned because now they have money involved unfortunately I can't see happening.

[Rose76]

Thanks, eyes. I like your plan. At this point, they would owe me money.

[Artchic528]

Yeah, I can totally relate to this. I get shuttled around from one doctor or nurse practitioner to another from time to time. Since I have trouble trusting even people I've known for a while, you can imagine that building up the trust in the ever revolving door of care providers is a bit....too much for me. So I just try and give whomever I'm seeing a brief synopsis of what's going on, but never go into any real depth.

[Rose76]

Yeah, I hear you. Especially with psych issues. I'm just saying enough to get my scripts renewed.

There is a principle called "Continuity of Care," which they're supposed to promote by minimizing the number of changes in providers. That's become a joke.

AND, as someone who worked in healthcare, I know that open, effective communication is the lifeblood of good healthcare. I would be extremely slow, now, to confide anything sensitive to anyone. Partly, it's fear . . . . and, partly, it's: why bother?

Most of the time they're not listening. Then they don't really work together and connect the dots.

My doctor told me to take Aleve for my tendonitis. The speech therapist told me that could be aggravating my heartburn. (NSAIDS promote bleeding in sore areas.) She was thinking smarter than my doctor, who btw is a teacher at the local medical school.

You just don't know who to turn to . . . who to trust.

A year ago, I was at Urgent Care and, then, the emergency room with bad belly pain. Two Nurse Practitioners at UC and a resident doctor at the ED told me it was nothing serious. A paramedic in the ED said she thought it was more serious and talked a different doctor into ordering an MRI. It showed I had diverticulitis. You never know which person is going to have the most good sense.