Is There a Doctor in the House?

Whatever happened to that beloved family doctor? You know, the one that really cared about us; the smart guy with the degree on his wall who always knew best? The one we could always trust to give us truthful diagnoses and helpful advice and medicines? I don’t know about yours, but mine has turned into the CFO of a rather successful clinic in my hometown. He knows more about his bottom line and profit margins than he knows about healthcare in America today and mine in particular although I’ve been his patient for nearly 30 years. You’d think after fifteen or twenty years, he might remember something. Obviously not.

Over the years, he has put me hormone replacement therapy for thirteen years until the (gasp!) studies of 2002 showed that it HRT did far more harm than good (I took myself off of that); told me that after a mere three years of Fosomax, my frame would return to that of a 30-year-old (absolutely not true and I took myself off of that as well); diagnosed a heel injury as tendonitis and prescribed anti-inflammatories and three rounds of physical therapy. Three years later, two podiatrists, a heel surgery and an MRI, turns out I never had tendonitis. I actually had tendonosis and everything that I had been doing was exacerbating the problem. I went on-line to a running website, found a series of exercises and fixed the problem within four weeks.

You’d think that once in a while, this guy would actually hit the mark, but I’m left to my internet research once again as I am given the bum’s rush this very day out of his office with a new prescription for a reduced amount of a certain medication when there were indications that I was being UNDERmedicated. I even tried to ask him about that. He just mumbled and kept writing then after discussing his recent vacation with me, launched into a lecture on healthy lifestyle and losing weight. Wait a damned minute here! I have weighed the same for over 20 years, I belong to a fitness club, work out regularly and eat between 1500 – 1800 calories a day and have been living a very healthy lifestyle for over 25 years! His response to that was, “I don’t care how many calories you’re eating, drop them by 500 a day to establish a new baseline.” A thousand calories a day for a very active woman? Really. Sorry, doctor. I’m calling bullshit on you. Last time I asked him why I couldn’t lose weight, his response was, with a smile and a chuckle, “I hear this from post-menopausal women all the time. Start eating more protein, especially at night.” WTF??

Since I only see this guy about once or twice a year and mostly argue with him about my care, I like to take advantage of his audience and discuss any current concerns I might have. As an example, I wanted to discuss with him the pain in my hips to see what, if anything I should or could do about it. Also, I regularly experience anxiety and I wanted to talk to him about that. I’ve actually been hospitalized for anxiety-related chest pain before, but I doubt if he even knows that. He was obviously very annoyed with me as he rushed out the door to his next account receivable. I did not spend four whole minutes with this guy and since I don’t have insurance, I got to write him a check for over $200 for his good services.

Go ahead and ask me if I’ll ever go back to him. Go ahead. Anybody know any good naturopaths?