who the hell gives these doctors their licenses?

[SweetDommes]

Holly went to the ER today because she has a heart arrhythmia ... the doctor who saw her told her that "you can't hear an arrhythmia" which is total bullshit, because I have listened to her heart, and it has an irregularly irregular rhythm (for those of you not in healthcare, it's important to know if it's regularly irregular or irregularly irregular ... ) as well as skipping a beat now and again. Of course, in their 6 second ECG nothing showed up, nothing showed up in the bloodwork, nothing showed up in the chest x-ray (although, honestly, a chest x-ray on her is a waste of time and money ... x-rays don't like to go through boobs that big). The doctor listened to her heart for less than 30 seconds, which I could have told him wouldn't tell him much ... he needed to listen to it for at least a full minute - but of course, he's the doctor, and I'm only an RN who lives with her and has been taking care of her for the last 4 years, so I know nothing ... I had been taking her blood pressure all morning - spaced out about 10 min apart ... it fluctuated 20+ points in either direction, both systolicly and diastolicly - but that also means nothing ... and the fact that her BP went from 110 to 153 in less than 45 min wasn't a concern to them at all ...

It really pissed me off because at the end of all of this ... I've explained to them what I've been doing and what has been happening to her - Holly explained how she feels and that it doesn't happen all the time, but at random - and they basically told her that it was all in her head and gave her a script for adivan ... stupid fuckers ... the BP changes are not in her head, the fact that I've heard her heart go from racing (well over 120bpm) to very slow (aprx 40bpm) within seconds is not in her head (or mine), and the fact that I've heard her heart skip a beat is not in her head (or mine). I absolutely loathe dr's who insist that the little window of a patient that they see is all there is to that patient ... nothing else could POSSIBLY be going on ... *grumble*

ok, done with my rant for the moment ... I may start it up again though, depending on how her dr appt on tuesday goes ... bah

 

[DustyWolfe]

Doctors can be really stupid. It took them months for me to get diagnosed with my arythmia problem. It finally took a tilt table test for them to tell me I had Neurally Medeated Syncope.

But the road to getting that diagnosis consisted of at least one horrible doctor that told me I was stupid for being transgendered. And then when she took my blood pressure she said I was lying because it was normal, (uh I was pissed off at her by then).

Try to get Holly in to see an Electrophysiologist and proceed to turn that ER doctor in to the board of Medical Examiners.

 

[SweetDommes]

Try to get Holly in to see an Electrophysiologist and proceed to turn that ER doctor in to the board of Medical Examiners.

I saw one of the nurses that I used to work with and told him that we went to the ER ... he said "our ER?" and laughed ... *sigh* He did, however, say that the dr that she is supposed to see for a followup is good, and will send her to someone else if he can't figure out what is wrong.

Um ... dumb question though ... what is an electrophysiologist?

 

[DustyWolfe]

I saw one of the nurses that I used to work with and told him that we went to the ER ... he said "our ER?" and laughed ... *sigh* He did, however, say that the dr that she is supposed to see for a followup is good, and will send her to someone else if he can't figure out what is wrong.

Um ... dumb question though ... what is an electrophysiologist?

Well, I'm glad that she will be seeing someone good after all.

They deal with arythmia problems actually. For example, Syncope caused by low blood pressure. Like for some people when they stand all their blood pools in their legs and it makes them pass out. They of course deal with other stuff to.
Is she getting dizzy or anything?

 

[SweetDommes]

She gets dizzy, short of breath, she's been gaining weight because she can't do much of anything, she collapsed while trying to get dressed for work today (which is why she went to the ER), and they are saying that it's all in her head ... ug

 

[DustyWolfe]

She gets dizzy, short of breath, she's been gaining weight because she can't do much of anything, she collapsed while trying to get dressed for work today (which is why she went to the ER), and they are saying that it's all in her head ... ug

Wow, this sounds alot like me. If you want to rule out alot of unnecessary stuff you can ask about a Tilt Table Test (TTT). It does sound like she may possible have a similar problem to me. If she does it's treatable with medicine.
Buy her some gatorade, have her drink lots of it. If it's a low blood pressure (at times) problem they are going to put her on a high sodium, high fluid diet.

 

[SweetDommes]

She has no electrolyte imbalances, so gatoraid isn't likely to do much, and she won't drink it anyway - she thinks it's gross (and I agree with her). She already drinks tons of fluids, so that isn't an issue ... as for being low blood pressure - it fluctuates from high to low so fast that she needs something to stabalize it, not raise or lower it ...

 

[DustyWolfe]

She has no electrolyte imbalances, so gatoraid isn't likely to do much, and she won't drink it anyway - she thinks it's gross (and I agree with her). She already drinks tons of fluids, so that isn't an issue ... as for being low blood pressure - it fluctuates from high to low so fast that she needs something to stabalize it, not raise or lower it ...

Hmmm that's interesting. I hope that they figure this out soon. I know she has to feel absolutely miserable

 

[Bandit58]

Master has a lot of health problems.....diabetes, end stage renal failure, arthritis in spine and shoulders just to name a few. We have spent a lot of time in and around hospitals in the last couple of months.......He spent 24 hours in the emergency room with peritonitis until there was a bed available

The number of doctors who concentrate on their own speciality without seeming to take the health of the whole patient into consideration amazes us. For instance, the renal doctors don't seem to know much about diabetes, despite that being a major cause of kidney disease.......He has to go to various clinics - renal, pain, skin, endocrine - instead of just one place where all His health problems could be worked on together......the mind boggles......

*here's hoping they get Holly's problems sorted soon*

 

[SkyBluAngelEyes]

I’m not familiar with you or Holly, but my sympathies are with you.

They gave you a script for Ativan for an arrhythmia? Are they nuts?

Does she take other medications?

Have they tried a holter monitor by chance? An echo?

This doctor didn’t even get an apical pulse for one minute?

Girl, where do you live and remind me never to go there. I’ve never worked cardiology, but it almost sounds like it’s a lot more than an orthostatic hypotension thing.

 

[graceanne]

I hate doctors. They've got their heads stuck so far up their asses that they can't see what's in front of them.
I have crohns disease, which means I have ulcers in my colon. I bled from my colon for 1 year before my dr gave me a referal to a GI (a intestine doc). By then I was so sick that they had to hospitalize me for 1 week to recieve 3 units of blood (my STUPID dr told me that I was bleeding from hemroids!). I had lost 50 lbs (in 2 months), and I was put on a high dose of prednisone (which aggravated the heck out of my diabetes). In the next six months, they tried repeatedly to take me off the prednisone, but everytime I'd start bleeding again. Luckily, with the help of remicade, I finally got off the prednisone, and was getting better. The thing is that they neglected to mention that my body would sometimes have trouble digesting pills, including birth control. HOW THE HELL COULD THEY NOT TELL ME THAT? *shakes head* But it all boils down to stupid doctors who should have their licenses taken away. If my doctor had sent me to a GI immediately, I wouldn't have nearly died.
There, that's my rant.

 

[incubus'_sub]

Well, she does obviously need investigation into her problems, but sounds to me as if the cardiac symptoms are just that, symptoms of another problem. ERs are really for emergencies, so why not go to a Dr of your choice, explain all the symptoms in context, and ask for a full workup. With the weight gain & thirst diabetes should be ruled out. As someone has already mentioned a holter monitor would be a good idea, they are excellent in that they pick up the periods of arrythmia over a 24 hour period and combined with the required activity diary (you must tell the absolute TRUTH), can often provide the much needed clues. It is possible also to drink too much, so maybe regulate & reduce her fluid intake for a few days. Just how much weight has she recently gained & how fast was the gain? Did it correspond with additional calories (again, be honest here) & reduced physical activity? Sudden increase in body mass will always put an unexpected load on the circulatory system, takes it a while to catch up if you like, & will sometimes cause otherwise unexplained arrythmia. Emotional issues can also have a direct effect, remember the ancients used to believe that the emotions lived in the heart for that very reason.

Good luck in finding a decent Dr who has the time to investigate & please don't be too harsh on the overworked, stressed out ER staff.

 

[Vixandra]

ER Docs are great for thier specialty- emergencies. If you're having a heart attack, a diabetic emergency (Hypo or hyperglycemia), lost a limb,etc, they're great at that kind of thing.
Throw anything "more complicated" at them and they're lost. That's not what they've trained in, not what they've speciallized in. Personally- I want my ER docs to know ER stuff, my Cardiologists to know heart stuff, etc. Things work better that way.

Still... sounds like you got one of the stupider ER docs (I hate those) and you should report him.

Halter monitor's a great idea. My hubby gets one annually because of a congenital heart condition- has a sleeping heart rate of 32! Normal for him but rather trippy none-the-less. That'll also clearly show any irregularities she's having. Might suggest that you do a 48 hr test instead of a 24, just to catch anything and everything.

Stress and environmental factors can drastically change BP too- if she got startled by a cat or scared over her last reading, it'll change the next one unless she's had a chance to calm down between the two.
*hugs*
Hope you guys figure out what's going on soon.

 

[Xelebes]

Yeah, I can relate a bit. It took psychiatrists over 3 years to finally be able to diagnose my brother with Aspergers Syndrome (a branch of the Autistic spectrum) and by that time my parents were not willing to pay for more medication to limit the problems it caused. The first diagnosis was ADD and they kept seeing it as that.

Aggravating as it may be, I can kind of see why. In every profession, it may take a while to correvtly diagnose certain problems. Something more tangible for me to demonstrate is with sound design. Something is clipping and the obvious solution is to lower the volume but you spend forever trying to play with the balances and all that, dillydallying your way to the obvious solution.

I can see why such errors were happening, though reporting it in, as was mentioned time and time again before me, would be a wise action to take.

 

[SweetDommes]

I’m not familiar with you or Holly, but my sympathies are with you.

They gave you a script for Ativan for an arrhythmia? Are they nuts?

Does she take other medications?

Have they tried a holter monitor by chance? An echo?

This doctor didn’t even get an apical pulse for one minute?

Girl, where do you live and remind me never to go there. I’ve never worked cardiology, but it almost sounds like it’s a lot more than an orthostatic hypotension thing.

Here is the update

She is not on any other medications (although she does take a magnesium suppliment to alleviate her migranes). They ordered a halter monitor for her, but she would have had to have left work a 1/2 hour early to get it removed tomorrow (she couldn't wear it for 1/2 hour extra - it had to be EXACTLY 24 hours *grumbles about idiots and assholes*). She also called the doctor that she was supposed to follow up with - only to find out that a- he doesn't have an appointment available for anyone until October (she was supposed to go tomorrow after the monitor was removed) b- he isn't accepting new patients and c- he won't see anyone who does not have insurance. fuckers ... all of them ... gah!!

As for the rest of your questions - yes, they gave her a script for ativan - they told her that having the symptoms that she does is probably making her anxious which will make it worse, so she should take the ativan (we didn't even fill the script, btw). yes, they are insane ... and retarded. No they did not do an echo - they did the chest x-ray and apparently thought that was enough. No, the asshole did not take an apical pulse for a full minute ... if he had his stethiscope on her for more than a total of 45 seconds (including when he was listening to her lungs and bowel sounds .... ) I will eat MY stethiscope.

We live in Central Indiana, and seriously, if she had gone to the cardiac floor, they would have figured out what was wrong with her and fixed it (I used to work on that floor ... the nurses are great, and the doctors are almost as good). It's just the ER that sucks ass.

 

[snowy ciara]

He got his liscence from cracker jack box..

nodding wisely

Hope she's doing better tonight.

 

[SweetDommes]

She just got home ... let me ask her

"Alright ... I still feel like shit, but whatever ..."

At least she has a sense of humor again, and she doesn't look like death warmed over.

 

[catalina_francisco]

Holly went to the ER today because she has a heart arrhythmia ... the doctor who saw her told her that "you can't hear an arrhythmia" which is total bullshit, because I have listened to her heart, and it has an irregularly irregular rhythm (for those of you not in healthcare, it's important to know if it's regularly irregular or irregularly irregular ... ) as well as skipping a beat now and again. Of course, in their 6 second ECG nothing showed up, nothing showed up in the bloodwork, nothing showed up in the chest x-ray (although, honestly, a chest x-ray on her is a waste of time and money ... x-rays don't like to go through boobs that big). The doctor listened to her heart for less than 30 seconds, which I could have told him wouldn't tell him much ... he needed to listen to it for at least a full minute - but of course, he's the doctor, and I'm only an RN who lives with her and has been taking care of her for the last 4 years, so I know nothing ... I had been taking her blood pressure all morning - spaced out about 10 min apart ... it fluctuated 20+ points in either direction, both systolicly and diastolicly - but that also means nothing ... and the fact that her BP went from 110 to 153 in less than 45 min wasn't a concern to them at all ...

It really pissed me off because at the end of all of this ... I've explained to them what I've been doing and what has been happening to her - Holly explained how she feels and that it doesn't happen all the time, but at random - and they basically told her that it was all in her head and gave her a script for adivan ... stupid fuckers ... the BP changes are not in her head, the fact that I've heard her heart go from racing (well over 120bpm) to very slow (aprx 40bpm) within seconds is not in her head (or mine), and the fact that I've heard her heart skip a beat is not in her head (or mine). I absolutely loathe dr's who insist that the little window of a patient that they see is all there is to that patient ... nothing else could POSSIBLY be going on ... *grumble*

ok, done with my rant for the moment ... I may start it up again though, depending on how her dr appt on tuesday goes ... bah

I can empathise. I have the same condition and have had to go through the same BS everytime I see a new doctor. It is like they have something to prove and can't take your word for the fact you were diagnosed with the condition nearly 30 years ago, and then once again following surgery in my 20's. Many of them are also under the misguided notion that because it is a heart problem, it will naturally show up in their tests...they don't like to hear it is one of the most difficult conditions to prove through normal testing processes and is often reliant on seeing the patient at the right moment. I am further frustrated when they insist on testing but before running the tests, have you lay or sit in a cool environment for 30 minutes of more. The things which I can predict set off my symptoms the quickest are too much heat, too much stress, too much garlic, and sometimes exercise when I am not 100% healthy. Resting while waiting almost guarantees the results will show nothing. I have reached the point where I don't mention it unless I am having surgery, and manage the condition in the ways I have found work for me most of the time. Hope it all works out for you both and Holly finds some ways to level it out. She is fortunate to have you caring for her and having enough knowledge to know the condition is very real.

Catalina

 

[SweetDommes]

Yeah, the resting thing is what gets us too ... and actually, what you say (heat, stress, exercise) are the things that make Holly bad too ... and what makes it worse is that as she becomes less tolerant of activity, she gains weight, and as she gains weight, she becomes less tolerant of activity because of the heart condition ... so on top of being told that it's all in her head, she is often told that it is because of her weight and she should lose weight ... but the activity intolerance came first dammit *goes in search of a stupid doctor to kill*

In the meantime, as a nurse, I had a patient today that was admitted for hypothyroidism ... and the doctor did not prescribe her synthroid for her ... and did not return my phone call about it ... so the poor woman is without her hormone replacement that she takes normally, and I'm thinking that since she was already low, that's a HUGE problem ... but I did call the dr about it, and no reply.

 

[graceanne]

Also similar to my problem. I'm told i need to excercise by one doctor, and another says that I need to rest. And they all say I'd be healthier if I lost weight. They also tell me I need to eat more, because my body evidently thinks I'm starving and so my metabolism is really slow, but no one tells me what I'm supposed to do with the cramps I get from eating. So if I eat I'm in pain, and if I don't eat I'm in pain . . . I'm just fucked.

 

[bdsmToy]

My father is a cardiologist and I hear about that stuff all the time, how a RN tells him how to do his job, he ALWAYS listens to it as it could be the differance between the patient going on to live a prosporus life of death. But he also has vast knowlege over the RN and uses his discretion.

sorry to hear about your experiences.

 

[SweetDommes]

My father is a cardiologist and I hear about that stuff all the time, how a RN tells him how to do his job, he ALWAYS listens to it as it could be the differance between the patient going on to live a prosporus life of death. But he also has vast knowlege over the RN and uses his discretion.

sorry to hear about your experiences.

I'm sure that he does ... but when someone tells him that they have heard someone's heart skipping a beat at random, he probably listens to it for more than 20 seconds .... I understand that he "has vast knowledge" and "uses his discretion" but I hope to god that he isn't so concieted as to claim that an arrhythmia cannot be heard (after being told that the patient's heart skips beats at random) when it bloody well can be. I know that I don't have as much training as a doctor, but I am also not an idiot, thank you very much. The doctor in the ER (and seemingly now you) did treat me as though I was an idiot ... I know exactly what I heard, and a skipped beat is an arrhythmia.

 

[snowy ciara]

dude, do you stir your tea with your feet too?

Hope she's feeling better and you folks find a better Dr.

 

[bdsmToy]

My father is a cardiologist and I hear about that stuff all the time, how a RN tells him how to do his job, he ALWAYS listens to it as it could be the differance between the patient going on to live a prosporus life of death. But he also has vast knowlege over the RN and uses his discretion.

sorry to hear about your experiences.

I was in no way typing that in a condesending fashion, nor did I mean to, sorry if you felt that way. I am sure my father would have treated the situation different and would want more observation to make a decesion as to what path the patient can take. Not saying that you have no knowlege of this as you are a RN, and that in it of itself is a job that requires vast knowlege of general concepts.

 

[SweetDommes]

I was in no way typing that in a condesending fashion, nor did I mean to, sorry if you felt that way. I am sure my father would have treated the situation different and would want more observation to make a decesion as to what path the patient can take. Not saying that you have no knowlege of this as you are a RN, and that in it of itself is a job that requires vast knowlege of general concepts.

You may not have meant to, but you definately came off that way.

And I forgot to mention that not only am I an RN, but I've worked on the local cardiac intensive care floor for over two years ... I've been around this ... granted two years isn't all that long, but it's not like I was on the oncology or renal floors and just saw cardiac issues in passing or only in my clinicals.