Among Friends

[RedTop]

I agree with looking for another provider, as obviously you are not comfortable this one.   

I will also say that you can bet your Margarita question is documented in her follow up notes from yesterday's visit, and any provider in that practice will read those notes and make their own assumption, since they will not go back in your chart far enough to get the true picture on your hepatitis diagnosis.    

Gone are the days when providers listened to patients, without judgment, and left the patients personal comments out of the chart documentation.   CYA coverage is extremely important these days, so a patient with hepatitis innocently asking about consuming a specific (usually alcoholic) beverage, will not go without notice.   

[hckynut]

@GoneButNotForgotten 

Guess I am missing something here. You are "frazzled" because you can't drink alcohol, or because your doctor is incompatible with you.

If you 2 do not "connect", why do you care what she thinks? Were it me, she would be "my former doctor". Now is your chance to get a different doctor.

What am I missing here? I expected from the thread title to read about a "life or death" immediate decision. Again, what am I missing?

I can send you positive thoughts, which I am doing. But "energy", that to me is something that takes work, and from the affected person. 

hckynut 

[Shanus]

@hckynut   Hello John. ITA, what's the "grief" involved? Usually threads titled like this are of a much more serious, urgent nature. I hope OP gets some suggestions for what I would have titled a DILEMMA. 

[Growing]

oh, I am sorry. Some responses have been negative and blaming of you. I have a busy and excellent PCP but she's misdiagnosed me twice now but the specialist found something different. Of course, the one specialist used an ultrasound and then changed his diagnosis so it took imaging- otherwise both would have been wrong. I have chronic illness too and my PCP is overwhelmed by all that I have. But I like her, she's thoughtful, she does the referrals and tests I ask her to do. I have a specialist who does lipids and he's fantastic and he found a hernia on me last week. He's sending me to a new gastro because my old one is unable to find things like this hernia or my other gastric problems. It hurts there and I've been saying it hurts to her for years. I am paying cash to see the lipids doctor cause he no longer takes my insurance. But he's fantastic as a doctor. Sometimes we just have to take our health into our own hands and guide these doctors. 

[ECBG]

Just a little advice.  I have tried to change to a certain female doctor (recommended to me by my former male dr., retired) for 3 years. 

I am still in the battle to get in there.  One lady in the office has been very harsh after the one that answers the phone tells me there is an opening.

At least I have a good recently new doctor that jouned the practice.  I would just like a woman, my dr. said we would really get along, and he knew me since I was 28 years old!

[speedy girl]

I would definitely make a switch while she is on maternity leave, she will likely never even know. You can always ask around to your friends for a reference as to who they see and like and usually you can find reviews on line too. Nothing wrong with shopping around to find the best fit for you. 

[decaf]

The only thing that's definite in your post is you don't like your doctor.  People change physicians all the time.  If you do change, your current doctor may be as happy about it as you are.

This doesn't qualify as a problem, if anything, it's an opportunity.  Try another doctor.

[Mimi NY]

I think this is a very good time to look for a new physician ir you feel uncomfortable and  especially if she will be on maternity leave,look at it as  if you were using a hairdresser that didn't listen to  you  and the  color or cut was a disaster you wouldn't   go back .

You seem to be upset in what you asked her I think you were honest before taking a margarita in bringing up the subject .

Remember if you know you aren't hurting your health that is what is more important then what she thinks or writes in a chart,you have to have a good physician /patient relationship and not feeling you are being judged.

[Jo1313]

Please look for another Dr...I was referred to a new primary..saw him once..he was a quack job.

He told me(he was serious he put it in his notes)to go to the PET store and this DOG med OTC. and that would "cure" my problem and  it was much cheaper than a prescription!! NOOOOooooooooooooooo way!!.I reported him to the hospital administrator.The quack was only repremanded!

Don't get me wrong..there are some alternative medicines that do work.

I ended up having an organ removed because it was cancer..No pet med was going to help that.

I have now found a wonderful new primary Dr.

[GoneButNotForgotten]

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@skatting44 wrote:

Hopefully, you are consulting with a Hepatologist or Gatroenterology group abt your Hepatitis.   Not sure if you mean that you had a positive test to Hepatitis B or C .  Some people test positive  for B or C but they do not have issues with their liver  nor have elevated liver enzymes . So, not sure of your case.  There are  medical treatments for Hepatitis . As far as drinking if you have elevated liver enzymes , any Doctor would not advise one drink or ten drinks . They would also caution you abt Tylenol and any other medication metabolized by the liver.

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Camille, I have a somewhat less common form of hepatitis--auto-immune herpatitis. It's being managed by medication but it's progressed on to cirrosis of the liver. They medical types keep telling me that having it progress to cirrosis isn't all that bad and I can live for years with the amount I have now. But that's what they've been telling me about auto-immune hepatitis--take your meds, do what you're supposed to do and ,you'll keep it under control. But it hasn't stayed under control, so I'm kind of uncertain what to do. 

And yes, I have a couple of gastro docs monitoring me.

I could go on and on but anyone who's tangled with the American health care system knows what I'm talking about.