doctors who prescribe

Is anyone else in here aware of how quickly some doctors are to prescribe? I say beware. I've seen this happen in my parent's generation and now it's trickled down to the young.

People go to doctors for aches and pains and get pain meds thrown at them. I'm disgusted with the lack of true concern and interest in finding the real cause.

I guess I was reflecting because the anniversary of Mom's death is approaching. She was riddled with cancer, it had spread to her bones before she was diagnosed in an ER due to a fall at home. She had been visiting her doctor regularly. He continued to tell her she had a form of arthritis for MONTHS.

Mom was diagnosed in late August/early September with Stage 3 lung cancer that had spread to her bones/ribs. We have pictures of her at a family event in May and she had a heating pad on her ribs at that time. Four months prior! That whole summer her doctor kept pushing pain pills, blaming it on the humidity. Plus the fact that she had lost like 30 pounds! Now I feel stupid looking back, but she was under doctor's care.

At one point while she was in pain she ahd a colonoscopy and we were sure she was going to have colon cancer. The results came back negative. Now that I think about it, she was probably having bowel problems because all the pain medicine she was popping.

Anway, I guess my point is that if you think something is wrong...keep getting different opinions until you feel comfortable with the diagnosis. And don't take pain pills for too long a period of time without having tests done to find the real reason for the pain.

Maybe I should have been in the whine forum.

I'm sorry to hear about the painful experience you went through with your mother. It's hard not to blame yourself after the fact for not being more proactive. But like you said, you trust the doctor knows what they're doing. I'm still kicking myself for all the suffering my mom has gone through because of bad doctoring.

Bad doctoring scares the bijeeezus out of me. We are so immersed in heavy duty doctors now that a certain amount of trust must be required or get your own medical degree that it is scary.

I try to use instincets or intuition to ell me where to place my trust. That does not mean that I don't spend days holding back the tears because I got information that I don't know whether is true or not.

Our internist, whom we trust and trun to frequently, told us that he thought John's cancer was benign (prior to surgery) and that we should just go on living. Instinct told us to just keep looking for info. and the internist put us in touch with the premiere pancreatic surgeon in the world. So he did help but his initial advice would have killed John by now. Scary thought.

Faith is what I am running on. When humans fail you that is all you have anyway huh?

Lynn

So sorry to hear what happened to your mother. You are so right when you say that doctors are too quick to hand out medicene.

Also, sometimes doctors are insensitive and callous when conversing with a patient. I'm going to a Dr. now and the last time I went to him I was in awful shape with a cold/bronchitus virus. He was abrupt, didn't wish me well when I left and I exited his office thinking...He doesn't care about my health at all! He seemed much more concerned about my insurance than me.

Anyone had this experience?

Oh yes, doctors and their prescriptions are bad enough but I went in for a check up several years ago and the Cardialigist? I saw said I needed some kind of test. It was a scary looking thing they'dput me on, shoot me up with dye and take pictures. Cost around $3000.00. I said I didn't want the test but she said I should ave it done. When I went to the nurses station to make the appointment, I mentioned NO insurance and then left to be called later with a date. Remember I said I told Doctor I didn't want the test,l and she said, "Oh but its necessary." Guess what when they found out I had NO Insurance the necessity was gone and test cancelled. I was miraculously healed....Doctors/Pirates/Thieves are all the same.

I'm so sorry Dots...

I know before my husbands two back surgeries almost 10 years ago, the doctors gave him open-ended prescriptions for pain medication for almost two years before they would finally accept that there was something actually wrong with him. I feel justified in thinking that they are partially to blame for all the drug problems now. (Only partially though.)

My personal opinion is that all the pills mask what might otherwise be corrected by proper diet, exercise and proper monitoring the way we live our lives. I'm not saying that all doctors are bad, I just think that sometimes, really, n a lot of instances they don't really 'know' us, they only know what little we might tell them, or get across to them... and then they have to make some informed decision based on what we've told them in the brief time we get with them. How can they possibly make a really informed diagnosis?

I think what someone said was right - go back, get another opinion/s, and go back, until your gut feeling is satisfied that you're on the right path.

Kate

Ann, everyone's on a schedule these days. Especially the doctors. SOmething has to happen soon with health care in this country. Doctors now have to see so many more patients to make money because the reimbursements from the insurance companies are so low. SOme offices it seems like their motto is, "Get 'em in...and get 'em out!!"

Dreamer, you mention the pill masking health issues. This is how my husband feels. When someone is borderline diabetic, or the cholesterol is creeping up, the last thing that should happen is a prescription. It takes away the issue, but the patients never change their diet or institute the disciplines needed to address the health concern. Then, of course there are side effects of medications too. You often end up with another health issue as a result.

Chatty,have you ever found out if you should have the test? Did your symptoms go away? SHould you be getting another opinion?

I'm sorry to hear about your mom's experience, Dotsie, but unfortunately I feel this is becoming all too frequent. Doctors now seem, to me anyway, nothing more than glorified mechanics. It is rare to find one who actually sits down to listen and who takes a holistic, healing approach to medicine. Most of them are just in it to make as many bucks as they can. It is possible to find good doctors still but they are very, very rare anymore. Just another symptom of the general breakdown of our society and the moving away from the earth and all that sustains us naturally.

There is NO way I can be rational on this subject! Is it doctors or is it the insurance companies?

A friend had her uterus removed last Tuesday because she had bleeding tumors. This had been going on for *months*. I told her before Thanksgiving to have the tumors removed but her doctor - who was my doctor for exactly 1 visit! - told her she *had* to have a hysterectomy. Why? Because she didn't have insurance and he didn't want to be bothered with having her 'possibly' have to have the tumors removed again in a few years!!!

So this young woman - mid 30's - is in agony trying to recover from this extremely invasive surgery. And that's just the latest case. Most of us know people who have been misdiagnosed, etc.

GRRRRRRRR! I get SO angry at the medical and insurance system.