Doctors - AAAaaarrrgggh!!! (A Rant...)

(Warning! What follows is a rant about doctors - but

this *SHOULD NOT* be taken as a reason for anyone

else not to see one!!! This rant is a response to some very

upsetting things that have been happening to me during the

last 8 months, and from frustrations resulting from trying to

find out what is going on!)

My history with doctors...:

- Early childhood diseases brought the doctor's visits

to the house (yes, I'm that old...;-), and the inevitable

"shots" of Penicillin for colds and the flu (this is now

known to be both a useless treatment for viral diseases

and also harmful in that overuse tends to reduce the

efficacy of this antibiotic in the general population), with

the usual struggle and painful result which traumatized

me and left me with a needle-phobia that I still have...

- About age 4-5 through early teens, leg pains brought

on more trauma with blood tests to (unsuccessfully)

find the cause - attributed finally to "growing pains",

whatever that is...;-)

- In late teens, the above problem plus joint pains

brought the opinions that it was either "in my head"

or that it was arthritis. It turned out to be likely that

the cause was a lower spine problem resulting in nerve

pinching - but this obvious answer escaped most

doctors (and care with sitting and standing positions

generally removed the problem for many years,

though lower back problems have returned in the

last few years as an issue [with "crunchy-bones", leg

pains and numbness, and sitting discomfort]).

- Also in late teens, bad acne led me to a

dermatologist who treated it with x-rays(!), cortisone

shots(!), and exposure to strong UV(!). Dangerous

quackery!

- Kidney stones that first appeared in late teens

were treated with large quantities of fluid (sweetened

with Saccharine, later thought to be a carcinogen...),

and the advice to avoid all dairy products(!) and

other sources of calcium. (BAD advice, with dangerous

results - good thing I couldn't leave ice-cream alone! ;-)

- (Insert here various relatively small things like being

told that "new glasses prescriptions require a period

of adjustment" [which is nonsense], when the

prescription was obviously wrong, etc.)

- A podiatrist treated me for a "heel spur" with two

orthotics that were unusable and expensive, meanwhile

admitting he did not know what caused the problem.

Three years into having one, it went away when I

figured out the cause, which led to understanding the

(self-administered...) cure. Fortunately, I avoided the

cortisone shots and surgery that were to be the doctor's

subsequent steps (a "boot" is used by others, which

results in muscle atrophy) - and none of these

treatments is necessary...

- A condition which causes peripheral "lightning" in

the eyes brought me to an eye specialist who assured

me that I was OK (which was correct at the time), but

the numerous fixed "floaters" that resulted from this

condition have lasted for years and have interfered

with vision. I went to two eye specialists who insisted

that these were temporary, and only on the eye outer

surface, and they gave me various drops, etc. to help

minimize this. Both were wrong (I know what I see!),

and one even added that I had Rosacea (I do not).

A good local optometrist confirmed what I already

knew...

- A request for a PSA test several years ago brought

the response from a doctor that this was inadvisable,

since it was too unreliable (I wished later that I had had

that test, to have a reference number...). That same

doctor complained about the quality of my health

insurance, though I spent a large proportion of my

income on it at the time - and it was "disaster" coverage

only, which provided only for high-cost doctor-bills and

procedures (which did little for me financially, but which

did pay doctors who might not otherwise get paid...).

- More recently, a request for a PSA test (with a fairly

low "score") unexpectedly resulted in a cancer scare

from the urologist (this one is still unresolved, with a

later lower score delaying a biopsy), but an inquiry

into a past UT infection cause ("men rarely get UT

infections" - which I know to be untrue...) resulted in

three 6mm kidney stones being found (a non-acute

problem, and I was not surprised...), with a quick

"run-up" (due to a misunderstanding) to two general

anesthesias with two lithrotripsies about to happen

when I said "no". Unfortunately, three months later,

after drinking more than usual quantities of fluids in

an attempt to reduce the size of the stones, another

sonogram revealed that I then (fairly suddenly...!) had

about three times as many stones, and that the original

three were larger(!), making lithrotripsy more difficult(!).

No blame was here for the urologist for this, just

shock and surprise, with no idea how this could have

happened - but with no information forthcoming from

the urologist during the appointment about how this

could have happened in such a short time, and a

refusal by him to talk with me by 'phone afterward

about this...

- After being sent to an ENT specialist for nasal-blockage

due to possible allergy or chronic sinus infection, he

asked me if I wore a beard "to conceal a small chin",

and he seemed as interested in measuring me to check

this as in exploring the original reason for my being there.

- Fairly recently I had a "heart event" which turned

out to be an atrial arrhythmia, which was treated

fairly effectively - though a local heart specialist,

believing that my heart vessels were clogged and that

I may have had a past heart attack, wanted to do

a heart catheterization to look at the heart vessels.

Unfortunately, if problems were confirmed, he could

not do the usual angioplasty or stent while inside, and

I would have had to have a second(!) catheterization

elsewhere (not a good thing to do!). Fortunately, I

went elsewhere first, where they found no problems...

In the process of this, I was seen by at least three heart

specialists, NONE of which noted to me my enlarged

heart(!), or inquired into its cause(!). I found out about

this only by reading my records. The nurses noted my

sleep apnea and difficulty maintaining normal blood

oxygen levels even when not sleeping, but this was not

noted by the "heart doctors". My neurologist finally

caught the sleep apnea, and treatment has resulted in

the "skipped beats" going away, a reduction in BP

(with increased proportional difference in the two

numbers), a very noticeable reduction in heart size

(after only three month's use of CPAP gear), and the

likely avoidance of eventual clot, stroke, and heart-failure

problems (I still do not know the effects of the OSA

on my brain, which may have been considerable...).

- About the same time, I also began having various

neurological problems (muscle-control problems of

various sorts, some seizure-like events, and speech

problems). None of my other health issues stopped

me from doing much of anything, but this has - and I

have been able to do little, or concentrate on much

of anything, since this started. Having consulted three

local neurologists, I've had everything said from "I

don't know" (which I respect as an answer), to

"it's in your head", to "you have a multitude of brain

deformities that set you up for this", to "it may be

a movement disorder", to "it may be misplaced sleep

stages", to "it may be a form of epilepsy". With a

"diffuse" and complex set of symptoms that fit nothing

readily, and with a field as broad as neurology, I'm

not surprised that I do not yet have a firm answer,

but one supposed "expert" in a nearby city was

particularly bad - he apparently read little of the

supplied records and history, and with only a brief

examination of me, declared that "it was all in my

head", and proceeded to brow-beat, bully, and

belittle me, and to essentially make fun of my speech

and my condition for the rest of the appointment.

Here, again, with the aid of the internet, I'm beginning

to understand my own condition, and with the help

of a (long-distance) neurologist friend, without whose

help I would now be stuck in neurological "Limbo",

I am receiving treatment that appears to be effective...

Bottom line: if you have an acute condition that is well

known and researched, treatment is likely to be swift,

generally competent, and effective; if you have an ailment

that is well known and easy to identify, but not thoroughly

researched, treatment may or may not be adequate; but

if you present a diffuse, difficult to identify set of

symptoms for a condition that is not well understood

or easily identified, treatment can range from barely

adequate to terrible (and it can even be worse than the

ailment).

Ah, well, such is the state of medical treatment early

in the 21st century - with it still as much "Voodoo" as

science, and with some given with care, and with some

provided poorly (or with harm), if at all...

(End of rant...;-)