Emotional Support Sisters

Have you ever been to a doctor, and they recommend a treatment and the treatment doesn’t really work? I have. And guess what? I don’t go back. If the doctor doesn’t listen to me? I don’t go back. If they belittle me? You guessed it, I don’t go back.

I call this Doctor Shopping. I have done it a lot. I do it until I find the fit that works for me. I know that not all doctors have all the answers, and that is fine with me, as long as they admit it. For instance, my primary care physician openly admitted to not knowing something and then said “But I’m willing to help you find someone who does.” Guess who I’ve been seeing for 9 years now?

I have had other doctors tell me that there is nothing wrong with me and that I am just a tired mom. I never went back to those doctors again. I have gone to other doctors and told them the treatment I am using is no longer working, and they do not offer anything better or different. They got chopped too.

I have gotten pretty good at researching what is going wrong with me, learning about the potential diagnosis, and then finding the specialist that might help. If I get the information wrong, then the specialist can usually point me in the right direction. This saves me a lot of “you’re just a tired mom” crap.

A great example of this recently is my allergies. Until recently, I have been on the same allergy treatment for 15 years. About 5 years ago it wasn’t working very well, and the allergist I went to did nothing other than suggest allergy shots, an option that wasn’t affordable. I went to alternative medicine and got some relief. Recently, however, I started breaking out into hives with no pattern as to what was causing them. Some additional symptoms lead me to believe it could be mast cell activation syndrome. I found a doctor who specializes in allergies and mast cell activation syndrome and set up an appointment. It was one of the best appointments I have ever been to.  He listened, addressed my concerns, and started me on all new medicines. He explained why we were and weren’t testing for certain things. He also explained that if treatment didn’t work we would continue to test for things and take more drastic treatment steps.  I can forgive the old allergist for 2 of the medicines because they didn’t exist then, but the other 3 medicines have been around for over 20 years. I felt better within days. Symptoms I didn’t know were from allergies went away. Turns out that I do not have mast cell activation syndrome, but in the allergist’s words “I was well on my way towards it.”

Don’t feel like you have to stick with a doctor. Sometimes the fit is not right, and that is ok.

Missy

PS. If you do doctor shop, make sure you keep track of diagnosis, treatments that worked and didn’t, procedures, and testing.