Didn't know where to put this rant... i suppose it could have gone into the health forum but whatever, it's just me venting. So I go to get a physical this morning for a job I will hopefully be starting in 2 weeks. Anywho, the people from the job never gave me paperwork to bring to him, so he instantly started off pissed at me (not my fault). So after filling it out and waiting a bit, I go into the room and the nurse/receptionist tells me to disrobe 'cept for my boxers and she'll be back. Easy enough. She comes back, weighs me (198) and takes my height (6'1").. a little heavy but i'm by no means obese or anything. Then she takes my blood pressure while i'm just in my boxers and it's high (~150/100) (I kinda get nervous at doctors.. i'm a bit of a worrier) so i figured that was the issue. I know my resting heart rate is somewhere in the 70-80 range and i really had never heard of my bp being high before. So the nurse has me lie in the dark with the door closed to 'calm down'. Of course, having been just told i have high BP and laying in the dark in a cold room in my boxers, i freak out more, and when she comes back, it has lowered, but is still high (like 140/100). So she leaves one more time, and i hear her outside and the doctors saying he won't pass me yada yada, so finally he comes in, and takes it, and its still high. He asks if I knew i had high BP, i say no, and he assumes I'm lying. He says "get dressed and meet me in my office." and walks out. So i go in, and he grills me about it, I still plead I had no idea. He asks who my doctor is, and I don't have one, as I'm generally healthy and haven't been to the doc since i Moved to LA in September. This angers him further. I told him last I had it checked was at Tufts last summer at health services. He then proceeds to question their competency (this being Tufts, a school renowned for their Med School). He asks me my major, I say double major in Biology and Classical Studies. He says "classical what?" I explain that it's ancient cultures, etc. and he tells me its worthless. He then says I'll never be able to do anything with a Biology degree except teach. I say I wouldn't mind teaching, but that I want to go to grad school eventually, and he says "for what? what could you possibly do". THEN, he tells me that I should have just joined the police force instead of being a dispatcher (job I'm applying to) because "What else are you going to do with your life?" He calls the UCLA police department to inform them of my high blood pressure. Tells my investigator that I accused him of 'faking the reading' so that he could 'pad his pockets with extra money' and says he won't pass me. Absolutely ridiculous. All I said was "I believe your measurements and everything, but is there any way it could have been elevated for another reason (like me freaking out)" and he says no, no way. It's high. He hangs up and I'm speechless, so I'm like what do you want me to do? He says "get it taken care of, come back in a week or something and then I'll clear you." then get gets up and as he's walking out the door mumbles "adios muchacho" under his breath and leaves. I am SO. PISSED. I immediately went to the people back at UCLA, and they said they completely understand and have had trouble with this guy before, and are trying to get him removed from his 'physical-giver' position. They told me to get my BP checked somewhere else and see if it really is high, and then to let them know what happened. My BP may in fact be a bit high, as outside of work i'm admittedly not that active. I also don't eat the healthiest (never things like mcdonalds or anything, but sometimes we eat subway and things like that instead of homecooked meals) also my dad and my grandpa have had high BP. So it may be in all likeliness that it is in fact a bit elevated, but the nerve of this guy to treat me like a stupid, unhealthy, fool is just blood boiling. My bro is in med school so I'm going to have him check my BP tonight when I'm calm again and if it really is high I'll get it treated/start exercising more. Sorry, I just needed to vent. I've never had a medical experience like this before. just Unbelievable.
Its sad but the medical profession has its bad apples just like any other profession. I have headaches and neck pain all the time due to ligament damage in my neck.... We know I have damage there because I had a test done called a digital motion X Ray, which is basically an X ray on video, you can move the joints and it can all be measured as to how much they are moving and whether there is abnormal motion. In the neck anything over 1 millimeter is abnormal and I had way over that in multiple joints, several with over 3 mm of motion and one over 4 if I remember correctly. It was one of the worst cases that several doctors have seen. Well because the Neurologist I was going to had no idea what a digital motion X ray was he refused to even consider the findings and told me my headaches were "In my head", and was an overall *** about it. A couple months later I dropped into my sisters work and their was a guy there talking about a neck injury he had. He was going downstairs to do laundry apparently fell, and woke up at the bottom of the steps. He felt ok so he thought nothing of it went right on living. A month later he develops SEVERE neck pain and gets sent to the same neurologist that I went to. Turns out when he fell he had broken his neck and just never knew it. Doctor freaks out and while the guy is laying there on the table, unable to move properly due to pain and partial paralysis, the doctor cusses him out and tells him just how stupid he is for not having checked it out earlier. Tells him he will never walk again. It took a lot of surgery and other procedures along with physical therapy but the guy is now able to walk again with the help of a cane. He said he set up an appointment with the neurologist, walked in and said "I can walk" turned around and walked back out. He felt it was worth the $160 or whatever it was for that office visit just to shove it in that guys face.
I'm glad that guy can walk again. Have you gotten your neck troubles taken care of? I would hate for this to turn into a bash the medical profession thread, bc overall there are many amazing doctors and have even considered going to med school myself, but you are right, there are certainly some bad apples in every profession.
With the help of some very good people in the medical profession and a number of procedures its much more livable then it was and I can work now (though not full time) but I still have a lot of headaches and neck pain.
I have high bp. It's treated and I do fine. It goes up and down at times, but my Dr. said if it isn't a sustained high, it's ok. Mine runs 117/60 or 70 and has elevated to 150/100 on a few occasions in the past 11 years. I had a stroke 11 years ago, with no after affects, thank God. Stress and anxiety do cause it to elevate sometimes and then again, it'll just elevate for no apparent reason. If I eat pork mine raises. (that seems so dumb to me) Just keep it checked, but never when your having any anxiety. Pain will also cause it to rise. Try to find another Dr. who will work with you. My neurologist didn't put me on meds until he had checked it several times and this was after my stroke. I have really good through Drs. that I can trust. Good luck. High bp is scary when you first realize you have it.
Im in the same situation as you... I want to be a dentist. When I do become a dentist I am going to revolve my opinions etc. around the patient and not my own personal opinions... Sort of turn the my office back into a service industry where the customer is valued.
We need more Dr's and dentists like you. compassion and understanding goes a long way for a patient. they see all this stuff each day and it doesn't faze them. But when something happens to me, I get scared and I want them to understand. I'm lucky my Dr's do listen. I told them how un-fair it is. We, as patients don't know much and they try to skim over things or act like it's not important while we're having anxiety attacks over it.
Yeah now that I've had time to discuss it with my brother and roommate (both in line for M.D. PhDs) they agreed that if anything, the best start for me as a young person would be to eat healthier and exercise more. I'm fairly confident that lifestyle choices would be enough to alleviate any issues I'm having at the moment.
Sounds good to me. I'm glad you had some one you could talk to. I got, what my Dr. called cuff happy right after i found out. I drove my son crazy getting him to take my bp. I was so afraid of having another stoke. THEN the dr's said the stroke came from a clot that had broken and a piece entered my brain. The bp was an after affect. So, now, I just keep a reasonable check on it, take cholestrol (sp?) meds, watch what I eat and go on. Boy, it was terrifying at first. I had NEVER had anything wrong with me, not been in a hospital, except for having my son, and I was in a total panic forever it seems.
