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  • Doctor shopping (sigh)

    I moved to this city a little over 3 years ago and felt I had hit the jackpot with doctors on the first try. (My husband wasn't so lucky with his pick, but that's another story.)

    My primary care doctor was fantastic, professional, the works. Happy Cookie.

    I found a psychiatrist that helped me out and I think I was in such a low place with my depression at the time, I wouldn't have been surprised if she sprouted angel wings. She only ever prescribed me one thing and that's technically a sleep aid because I have crazy insomnia, too. It just happens to have anti-depressant "side effects" that I believe have proved helpful. (That and getting actual sleep.)

    Fast forward to now. My primary care doctor has gotten really popular and apparently never learned when to stop taking new patients. If you get sick, you will end up seeing someone else in the practice because she won't be available. If you try to make an appointment, you have to wait...6 months. Yes, 6 months for a doctor's appointment.

    The psychiatrist I was going to is an integrative medicine doctor just like my primary physician. I like that they're open to natural remedies but at the same time will prescribe meds where they're truly needed. (Please no fratching on this. That's just the balance I've found for myself.) More and more, she's been trying to get me to buy weirder and weirder remedies from her and it feels we spend more and more time in the limited time sessions I'm paying out of pocket for with her just trying to sell me stuff.

    Also, it seems she doesn't respect our appointment times any more. I see her once a month and we always make an appointment for the next session while I'm there, so there's a month's advance notice. So why is she calling me a few days in advance of appointments AFTER work has made the schedule around said appointment to try to get me to do it on another day because there's an event she forgot about that she wants to go to? This keeps happening and it happened again this time. I'm fed up with it.

    This was the last straw. I'm getting off my butt and going doctor shopping. Here's the plan:

    1. Find a primary care physician. I'm starting with a practice that has a lot of really good reviews online and from what I've seen, people often don't bother reviewing doctors unless they had a bad experience. Initial appointment has been made.
    2. I'm hoping this doc can prescribe my sleep aid since it's not technically a mental health medicine.
    3. The next step is hopefully one of the psychologists in the practice will be a good fit for me. If I can get my meds from my primary care doc, I think I can make more progress with someone who's more of a therapist.

    Wish me luck. I'm nervous.
    The original Cookie in a multitude of cookies.

  • #2
    Good luck! finding a good dr. is tough. I hope this group works out well for you. Thankfully i am disgustingly healthy, so i only need to see my primary every year or so for a physical. but I drive a good 45 minutes (I moved and he did too since i started going to him) and he's awesome.

    my parents had issues when they moved from NJ to VA; esp since they were Medicare, and the area they moved to was considerred rural for medicare reimbursement, so many docs were not taking on any new M patients. Thankfully my dad found a specialist he needed ,who also helped with his general needs, and my mom was able to get into see her friend's doc, who she had asked if he would take on my mom. Which is good since he is wonderful. If I lived there, I'd go to him.

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    • #3
      Good luck! That's too bad that everything started out so well and now seems to be falling apart.

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      • #4
        Related to my thread in Off Topic, I have finally fired the psychiatrist. She told me something I was taking was safe during pregnancy and it wasn't. She told me all of my homeopathic remedies were safe. It wasn't true. It sounded wrong, but I also knew that she knew what I was taking.

        Later on, a nurse practitioner at my new primary care office looked up what I was taking. Apparently, some of the ingredients were so unsafe during pregnancy they've been historically used to END pregnancies. I didn't take enough to cause harm, so there's no evidence this miscarriage is related, but that was scary.

        I called and fired her in a voicemail and told her not to call back. She called back and left me a voice mail (no way I was answering) and she's emailed me 2 or 3 times since. How unprofessional can you get?

        She also handled the therapy side of my treatment, so now I have no therapist during all of this.
        The original Cookie in a multitude of cookies.

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        • #5
          Given that these meds are unsafe for pregnancy, if you plan to continue taking them, you should also use a birth control method to make sure you don't get pregnant while on them.
          Don't wanna; not gonna.

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          • #6
            Maybe she's not being 'unprofessional' but instead wants clarification and to explain her position. It's possible she did consider the meds safe for a pregnant woman taken at the levels you were on. -shrugs- You won't know until you open the e-mails.
            Figers are vicious I tell ya. They crawl up your leg and steal your belly button lint.

            I'm a case study.

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            • #7
              I opened the emails. They were full of her assuming it was another medication, not the one that had a problem. I'm not going to argue with her. This really was the last straw. My first post in this thread talked about other issues with her.

              Then, just yesterday she sends me a text like we're buddies or something. It's getting creepy.
              The original Cookie in a multitude of cookies.

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              • #8
                Quoth Cookie View Post
                I opened the emails. They were full of her assuming it was another medication, not the one that had a problem. I'm not going to argue with her. This really was the last straw. My first post in this thread talked about other issues with her.

                Then, just yesterday she sends me a text like we're buddies or something. It's getting creepy.
                Tell her if she sends you another email or leaves another voicemail you will:

                1) notify law enforcement you are being harassed and
                2) file a formal complaint with the Medical Board.

                That should back her off.

                Oh, I would tell her in a certified letter. Don't call. Save all the emails; the voicemails if possible. They are evidence.
                Last edited by Sapphire Silk; 12-06-2013, 02:10 AM. Reason: forgot something
                They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

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                • #9
                  I have everything. If she doesn't get a clue, I'm going to be direct next, then report after that. Thanks for the tip, Sapphire Silk.
                  The original Cookie in a multitude of cookies.

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                  • #10
                    My PCP seems to be in a slightly similar boat to yours. Or rather, his whole practice is falling victim to this .

                    Generally if I'm feeling sick, I'll see any of the doctors at the practice. To manage my mental health, I will contact one particular doctor. We have been with this particular practice since I was BORN. Oddly enough, the doctor that I USED to see I don't see anymore but still practices at the clinic . (he's also getting on in years so I think that's why)

                    The instance of me seeing multiple doctors for whatever reason has backfired on me a couple of times though-the most recent instance being the good doctor prescribing me an antibiotic that I'm allergic to. It EVEN SAYS SO ON MY RECORD THAT I'M ALLERGIC TO PENICILLIN (we have no idea what the actual reaction IS, but it's been on my record for as long as I can remember and we do not want to test it out)
                    The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

                    Now queen of USSR-Land...

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                    • #11
                      Cookie, if you miscarried while taking that medication, go STRAIGHT to a lawyer and file a malpractice lawsuit. If she did this to you, God knows how many other women she did this to.

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                      • #12
                        The medication did not cause the miscarriage. I took one dose (it's an as needed med) and it wasn't near enough to cause the problem. Also, turns out the pregnancy was ectopic. Nothing she could have done would have caused that.

                        She did just email me today again. Time to tell her to cut it out.
                        The original Cookie in a multitude of cookies.

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