Medical Professionals, Give Me Some Credit!

Before I say anything else, I just want to say that I have the utmost respect for medical professionals. I have a lot of family who work in the field, I've worked with some amazing people, and I still plan to go back to nursing school eventually (I'll be that old lady in your class making references and analogies between the homework assignment and some random story about my kids. Look for me there!)

BUT! As someone who's seen plenty of doctors during the course of my life, spanning a number of different disciplines (both for myself and for my siblings), I can tell you that for everyone one person you find that's really really great, you find ten that are worthless. (My particular pet peeve are pediatric personnel who act like they've never dealt with a child before in their lives, namely because I'm sure I could do what they are doing better than they are with only the minimal training I have).

What bothers me most overall, though, are the doctors/nurses/PA's/NP's/etc. who treat me like I don't know what I'm talking about. And when I say that, I don't mean that I'm trying to dispense medical knowledge. I mean that if I tell you something is wrong with my body, I expect you to take me seriously. I'm a big advocate for knowing your body and your limits, and I'm pretty good at knowing when something needs attention.

In their defense, I'm sure being a nurse or a doctor you see thousands of people who are absolutely imbecilic when it comes to dealing with their own health. I don't doubt that you end up cynical about the intelligence of your average patient. I've had my share of false alarms too, but at the very least, if my "cold" that won't go away after four weeks turns out just to be allergies, I can learn something from that, which means that my trip to urgent care wasn't a complete waste of either your or my time. I'll know for the future how to avoid it and won't be coming back again soon. (During that particular trip I got one of the best pieces of medical advice that I can't believe nobody had told me about earlier - the benefits of regularly using a sinus rinse. Doing so has changed my life, and now my sister's, since somebody else finally took my advice and gave it a try! I owe that PA, whose name I don't remember.) Please don't dismiss me immediately without listening to my story, because I may just be one of the few patients with something real to say. The majority of the time, my complaints are warranted and have at least some basis in reality. So please, try to treat all patients like they are worthy of listening to, on the off chance that they know what they are talking about.

Also, please don't dismiss what I say based solely upon your previous experiences. You may honestly have never had a patient who reacted negatively to a generic version of a medication, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't ever happened (all it takes is a quick internet search to find out that it has, because that many people sharing the same story can't be a fluke) or that it isn't currently happening to me. If I tell you that I have already tried to switch from a name brand to a generic and had truly AWFUL results, I need you to trust me, because I have no reason to lie. (I've been broke for years, trust me, nobody wants a generic brand drug more than me!) If you REALLY are insistent that I try the generic again, and I agree but say that I plan on calling for a new prescription if it doesn't work, then take my call when I try to tell you it isn't working! Don't string me along for a week, having various nurses leave me voicemails with ridiculous and conflicting advice, before I have to take more time off of work to come in and tell you in person what I told you the first time - it didn't work. My health is important to me, and with as much trust as I put into the hands of anyone who is taking care of me, I expect some level of trust in return, particularly when it comes to what I tell you of my own experiences. You can't confirm or deny what I am going through, and while I'm sure you have to look out for drug-seeking or other manipulative people, please try to trust me when I tell you how I am being affected by your decisions.

And finally, please don't put the cart before the horse - run your tests first and THEN give me your medical diagnosis! I went this morning for a throat culture because I thought I had strep throat. Again, the nurse didn't know me and I didn't know her, so she had no reason to trust my instincts except for the fact that the respectful thing to do would be at least to listen to them and take them into account. I told her my symptoms and she looked in my throat. She said she saw no signs of strep, but she (rather reluctantly) said she'd do the rapid test anyhow. I told her again that I rarely show the classic white spots on the back of my throat but that during the course of my career working with small children, I've had enough head colds and strep throat to know the difference. While the test is running, she is telling me to drink lots of fluids, take Advil, and use throat lozenges (DUH!) She gave me all the paperwork to send me packing and sent me to the waiting room to, well, wait :) After a few minutes, she brings me back into the room and says, "Did you say you'd had strep before?" Apparently, the test results looked like they were coming back positive, so she wanted to do it again to double check. Hey, I am all for thoroughness, but this was clearly being thorough because she didn't think it could be true. Well guess what, ladies and gentlemen? THE SECOND TEST CAME BACK POSITIVE! She was really shocked. I felt vindicated, but mostly really really awful (because, if you'll recall, I had strep throat, and that is miserable).

So I got my antibiotics and got in the car feeling, as mentioned, vindicated and yucky, but mostly I just felt angry. Because while most of the medical professionals I've ever dealt with were very sweet and well-meaning, the reason I ended up persevering in all those cases is because I know my body and I know enough about common illnesses and medical protocol (from my past experiences, I'm not claiming to have a medical degree) to know when to stand up and be assertive. So I'm upset on behalf of all the people who don't know enough about what they're being told to know when to object, or who don't know their bodies well-enough to trust those instincts that tell you when something is really wrong.

So to all of those doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physician's assistants, nurse practitioners, x-ray technicians, and everyone else that I can't remember to name who take the time to really talk and listen to their patients, and take what they have to say into account, I salute you. You have an incredibly difficult and important job, and you have managed to find a way to be the exception to the rule. You are my heroes, and I really aspire one day to be among your ranks. But to all of you who are going into any situation as a patient, I urge you to go in prepared to ask questions, be honest, and stand up for yourself and your own health.

In the meantime, my Advil is wearing off and it's getting hard to swallow, so I'm going to return to my "sick" spot on the couch next to J (who was also home sick today - don't come visit us, we're toxic!) and take some more medicine. Because right now I am listening very closely to my body, and it's telling me to go do that, so I will. What's that you say, body? I should also eat a cookie while I'm at it? I guess I'd better take that advice while I'm at it :)