Frustration...

[Ree]

This isn't asking for medical advice.
It's a vent about the fact that I really do not have a choice of a decent medical caregiver in my area.
My family doctor is the same doctor who delivered me in 1960!
He delivered my older siblings (his first set of twins) in 1957, and he was just out of medical school.

He is old!!!
I suspect he is in his late 80's, if not close to 90.
He seems to have no intention of retiring.

The problem is, there are no new doctors accepting patients in my area.
Every time we get one, the slots fill up too fast.

There is possibly one doctor taking patients, and from what I hear, he is a very good doctor. My brother quit going to our family doctor (the same one I have) and he has started seeing this other doctor, and he thinks he is great.

The problem for me is that I have been to him with one of my former foster children, and English is not his first language.
It's not a racist thing. I genuinely have difficulty understanding and processing when I am speaking to people with a strong accent. (Whenever I get customers with an accent, it's the same. I end up making them repeat themselves over and over and they get irritated. I have to find someone to help me out because I really do have trouble. I don't know why.)
I would come out of the visits and try to explain to my foster daughter what he had said, but I really didn't know.

Unfortunately, I may have to bite the bullet and make the switch. My own doctor can't live forever, and I am really not happy with the care.

I have been fighting some kind of bug for almost 2 months.
I have a cough and chest congestion that won't clear up, and my voice keeps going on me.
Everybody is nagging me to get to the doctor, but as I see it, it's a waste of time.

Earlier today, I came across a bottle of meds he had prescribed for me last year, at this time, but I only used them for about a week.
When he prescribed them, my stress levels were off the charts.
I was having anxiety and depression and I wasn't sleeping.

All I asked for was something I could take when things got to be too much, so that I could calm down, or, barring that, I asked for something to help me at least get a full night of sleep.

He prescribed "Mirtazapine", which, as I read it, needs to be taken in an ongoing basis in order to be effective, and not hit and miss as needed.

That's not what I asked for.

The thing is, as Christmas is approaching, and after a very stressful few months, I can feel my anxiety and depression creeping up on me, and the lack of sleep is starting to wear on me again.

I was considering taking this medication again to see if it would actually help.

I did a bit of research, though, and now I find out that it raises cholesterol levels. Ummm...I guess my doctor forgot that he had also prescribed Lipitor for me because of my cholesterol.

So, if anyone with the knowledge has read this far and not gotten bored, if I put aside the "cholesterol" issue for now, would it even safe to take a medication that's a year old, but has been properly stored?

I suspect I will be making an appointment very soon to see my doctor, such as he is, but I just needed to vent a bit, I guess.

[PandaHat]

There will probably be an expiration date on it, but to be honest, I would recommend seeing your doctor or at the very least a pharmacist. It's important that doctors know exactly what you're taking so they prescribe new things safely/monitor interactions between what you're already on.

I would suggest you bring up your concerns about it not being exactly what you asked for. He has a reason for giving you what he's given you. It might be a communication error, or it might be he's trying to treat the underlying problem rather than just cover up the symptoms or it may be there's not anything that's particularly great that you can take hit or miss (for example, a lot of the prescription sleeping tablets are highly addictive, and that might be something more trouble than it's worth!). Whatever the reason is, it's your body, you have a right to know what and why you're putting something in your body. I'd also bring up the Lipitor and the issues with mirtazapine raising cholesterol. Together you can work out if the benefits of taking the latter outweigh the risk of potentially raised cholesterol.

A lot of people find it helps to take a note in of their problems/questions, to make sure they remember to ask everything. Don't be embarrassed or worried about doing so or having to ask lots of questions. Part of his job is to educate you and if there's no dialogue, he might end up prescribing tablets that you don't really take (like the mirtazapine from last year) and that's a waste of both of your times from the consultation and money from whoever paid for the pills.

[Sapphire Silk]

As long as the medication has not passed its expiration date, then it's safe to take it, as long as it's been stored properly (which you've already said it was). Do you have any refills? I'm not sure I would start taking a medication, only to have to stop taking it. That's not safe, either.

Definitely find another doctor. Better to have some control then to have to see whoever you can get or end up in the hospital because you've waited too long.

I would not take the medication if it passed its expiration date. Some medications can change chemical properties, which is why they have expiration dates, and this can lead to unpredictable results (ie, either it won't help at all or you could get very sick from it).

[PepperElf]

if your doctor has any employees under him you might want to see if they can recommend another doctor for when he passes on. asking him directly may be a bit touchy though cos i'm not sure how to really politely say... "so doc, who do you recommend for me when you kick the bucket?"

i know my mom has a great doctor - she followed him after he left one practice and started in another. whenever he recommends her to go to someone else for specialized services, he always picks ones he knows to be good doctors.

likewise i think if he was leaving for good, he'd give mom a recommendation of doctors to consider switching to

I did a bit of research, though, and now I find out that it raises cholesterol levels. Ummm...I guess my doctor forgot that he had also prescribed Lipitor for me because of my cholesterol.

is RIGHT!

one thing i'll say is that... it's never a bad thing to actually ask the doctor about medication - or even question him or her on ones they issue.

Even mom's good doctor sometimes forgets to write her scripts out as "Dispense As Written" and has to be reminded.

[Ree]

if your doctor has any employees under him

That's the other issue about going to my doctor.
He has one nurse working for him.
I cannot stand her.

Several years before my husband died, I was visiting my doctor because of anxiety issues.
My mother, who was a major hypochondriac on the best of days, was having real medical issues, and she was beginning to wear on me.
I had mentioned to the nurse that a huge part of my problem was that I didn't drive and so I was kind of stuck and at the mercy of everybody to get around anywhere.
She lectured me on how easy it was to get a driver's license, and how there was no reason I couldn't get one.
After that, on every visit, she would start out by asking me if I had ever got my license. I did try many years ago to learn to drive, but I developed a major phobia and never did finish. Naturally, every time she mentioned my driving, my blood pressure spiked.

Then, when my husband died, I went to the doctor to get a form for a leave of absence from work until my nerves calmed.
The first words out of her mouth were, "It's just too bad you never learned to drive."

Like I needed yet another reminder of what a shitty predicament I was in.

So, every time I visit my doctor, and she does my preliminary workup, my blood pressure is ALWAYS much higher than it was when I went in.

[PepperElf]

The first words out of her mouth were, "It's just too bad you never learned to drive."

At that point I feel you would be perfectly justified in saying back, "It's too bad you never learned to mind your own fucking business."

[LillFilly]

I found a problem with older doctors, such as yours or mine, that they were not keeping-up with changes in medication/testing/current information. My doctor was using a very outdated BMI chart that had me listed as 'morbidly obese.' He would refuse to consider any problems I might have as being something other than what he had previous experience with; he just wouldn't listen. Oh, and any problem was always a 'female problem.' You can't deal with that sort of outdated though process, especially when you have to trust that person with your health. The forgetfulness you mentioned does NOT sound good at all either.

Perhaps switch to the new doctor with the accent, but ask for written instructions from him too.

[telecom_goddess]

I'm glad I'm not the only one scared of driving. I've never had a full license (just a moped one many years ago for a bit). It scares the crap out of me and I will never do it.

And that nurse needs to mind her own business as to whether or not you drive!