Day 4 - Worst thing a doctor said to me

[Okcowgirl]

Well I gotta say, there have been a lot over the years lol
But the one that really hurt was a Pain Management Specialist. I had waited 6 months to see him and went in with very high hopes that he would help me (This was after 10 years of Fibro and Chronic Fatigue). I could tell right away that he just did not really believe me. At one point, he looked at his chart and said something like " you know Dr B (my family doc at the time) is just trying to help you". It kinda came out of left field and I wasn't sure why he said it. He made a few more statements like this and suddenly I realized he was looking at his notes from my Primary Care Doc - who really was the least helpful doc I had ever had and who basically did not believe in me. I guess she had written something negative about me complying with her "orders" because I didn't always follow what she wanted (for example, she prescribed an antidepressant which I quit taking it after 10 days because my stomach hurt so bad from it that I couldn't eat. She said I should keep trying to adjust to it! Um..noooo....lol. Anyway, she was annoyed when I stopped taking it.
I digress....lol.
The Pain doc then suggested that I go to Aquasizes. I told him I had tried to slowly add different types of exercise before and just crashed badly each time.
He then said " If you don't want to get better, you might as well go home"
OUCH
I did go home, crying all the way. I was brutally disappointed and my feelings were so hurt that he thought I didn't want to get better......when really that is all I did, all day every day - was try to get better. In five minutes, he thought he understood me.....from reading another doctor's notes.

 

[miffybunny]

The medical mill is a waste of time because they are operating from a faulty premise....i.e.: there's something wrong physically and the best you can hope for is to "manage" it or relieve symptoms. The goal is not to eliminate it. All this does is leave the patient feeling helpless, depressed and doomed. Physicians have no answers and have some vague idea that some of it is psychological so they view these types of chronic pain patients as a nuisance. Most doctors I saw could not wait to get rid of me. I was told to not come back, referred to neurologists, told "it's nothing", misdiagnosed with Lyme and RA etc... It's a merry go round in hell. I think most patients end up worse than when they started...PTSD from treatments, more fear which breeds more symptoms, poorer and in despair. Just sitting in those waiting rooms filling out forms rehashing your misery a million times over was traumatizing.

 

[Okcowgirl]

The medical mill is a waste of time because they are operating from a faulty premise....i.e.: there's something wrong physically and the best you can hope for is to "manage" it or relieve symptoms. The goal is not to eliminate it. All this does is leave the patient feeling helpless, depressed and doomed. Physicians have no answers and have some vague idea that some of it is psychological so they view these types of chronic pain patients as a nuisance. Most doctors I saw could not wait to get rid of me. I was told to not come back, referred to neurologists, told "it's nothing", misdiagnosed with Lyme and RA etc... It's a merry go round in hell. I think most patients end up worse than when they started...PTSD from treatments, more fear which breeds more symptoms, poorer and in despair. Just sitting in those waiting rooms filling out forms rehashing your misery a million times over was traumatizing.

Thanks for your kind response Miffybunny, it certainly is hard on a person, when already going through such a hard time. Blessings <3

 

[miffybunny]

You're welcome! Yes I totally understand and it's such a shame that the medical world causes "iatrogenic" types of conditions leaving the patient with worse problems than when they started. The good news is that you are at the right place now! I think if a person is lucky enough to "wake up" and look around them and think "what the heck am I doing here?? " they are really lucky because it means they stopped drinking the Koolaid and will take matters into their own hands.