Skeptical Doctors Compound The Problem - Part 2
   Written by DD Rose - Consultant on Infectious Pathogens
    Restorative Health Research Plus™ - www.rhrplus.com

 

From Page 1, Continuation...

KT:  Go to a teaching hospital?

DD:  My immediate answer is NO; but, there are positives and negatives in considering this. IF you don’t want the run around, spare yourself the agony.

If you find yourself in a situation where you have no choice but to go to a teaching hospital, cut to the chase and ask to speak to the senior resident or Attending doctor. Don’t assume that the person in the white jacket is “the doctor” because you’ll be in for a rude surprise with mounting frustration.

This is a typical and brief scenario of what you’ll encounter at a teaching hospital. You see a medical student (sometimes); the student turns over the case to a 1 yr intern; the intern turns over the case to a resident; the resident turns over the case to a Chief Resident and/or FINALLY a practicing doctor! In each of these turnarounds, you’ll have to explain your story again because they are not going to convey all the information to the next person until it has been officially determined that you have something that they can work with. The other problem is that when you mention parasites, they want to see if your story corroborates and/or to determine if you have delusional parasitosis.

Whatever you do, don’t go to a teaching hospital during their annual graduation turnovers with new students and residents. If you have a senior resident working on your case, it is likely that it maybe dropped because they’re focused on graduating, believing that someone else will pick things up (maybe). It is a crazy time for them and it takes about a month or so for everyone to become acclimated. June/July are the official graduating months, but the months between May - August might be a more realistic time to avoid a teaching hospital.

The above is the downside of a teaching hospital. On the other hand. . . they can be a great experience for everyone all around. The upside is that there is the convenience of all the diagnostic tools on the premises of a teaching hospital. If you have nerves of steel and you have an interesting case, you might want to “volunteer” yourself to be a case study. Your doctor and/or resident does the research, testing, and gets credit for it along with a publication (you’re anonymous to the world); you, on the other hand, will have the pleasure of silently teaching the physicians about this problem on a wider scale. Sometimes lessons learned indirectly have greater impact, than direct learning experiences. Who knows where this may lead you in the future.

KT:  What would you like to see people do to help themselves? Is there some way to better educate physicians?

DD:  Good questions, again. I’m working on something more pertinent that will help people and physicians, I think. Education is the biggest factor in all of this.

At this point, I think we must take the responsibility of sharing information with physicians. They don’t have ALL the answers and neither do we, but there needs to be some kind of balance or well-thought collaboration when it comes to health issues! I did this with the first doctor that I saw. At the time, I could only find 2 articles on parasite resistance involving cases in Africa; little or nothing on scattering (it happens) when parasites migrate outside of the GI tract. It is a “hot” topic for me because the damage of what was done, and I’m always interested in proving my point because this is dangerous to not know. (I was given medication that caused the scattering.) I became a much better researcher, finding plenty of information on parasite infections. I wish, I had the information a couple of years ago. I still have little information on this because the learning is very extensive, but I must continue to forge ahead.

A good feeler in discussing matters with your doctor would be to ask them, “I’ve been doing some research in reading scientific publications if I brought in something would you be interested in reading it? I’d like to get your opinion and see what you think.”

Also, you may want to ask another critical question, “If I find something that is extremely important, may I talk to you directly? Can I fax something or use an email address? I promise that I won’t abuse the privilege.”

This is good collaboration because you’re not telling them what to do and he/she will take you more seriously. Also, it will give you a heads-up to see where their mindset is. If you get stonewalled with the “I know everything” attitude…. you know what to do!

Again, many thanks for your insightful inquiries. Bravo!!!!

Forum Postings #2

DD:  A few thoughts came to me while thinking about your situation and your appointment tomorrow:

• You certainly need to find out what they KNOW first. A key question you need to ask is, what is their experience in dealing with parasites?
• Follow-up with, when was the last time they've physically saw a parasite? (If they say in med school or in a book... well, I think I don't need to say too much more.)
• What type of tests -- serum or stool?
• What is their experience in treating someone with the symptoms you've exhibited?
• How long is treatment protocol? What is used?

Listen very carefully to their answers.

Again, I hope all turns out well with a pro-active approach.

KT:  As always - thank you... I'm on pins and needles. I've been trying all day to get everything together and I keep forgetting to breathe. These questions are simple, and seem so obvious, and yet I forgot them. I'll get back to you tomorrow. Thanks!!! K

DD:  I know how it is, but I've worked around a lot of doctors too. Look forward to your post!

Another thought down the road if the ID person doesn’t help you.... look into a Tropical Medicine doctor. They seem to have more experience than the average ID doctor.

KT:   Hello there! I wanted to let you know my visit with the infectious disease doctor was very interesting. He was the first physician I can recall to say that I'm not crazy and there are lots of things - virus, bacteria, parasites or even as yet unidentified organisms -that could be causing my problems. He met with me at length and ordered a number of tests to rule things in/out. So far, mainly blood work and a series of stool samples. I spoke with him today and all the results are not yet in. So, we will speak next week again, and make decisions about what to do next at that point.

DD:   That's fantastic news! I've been thinking about you and had wondered what was going on with you. You have an interesting case and I hope they get to the bottom of it. Keep us posted!

In my article Something Was Bugging Me there are additional questions that you might want to consider while looking for the right physician to help you.

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