posted
The thread about wierd symptoms is a great one- and cave76's response to our fellow lymie being dismissed with "benign vertigo" really cracked me up.
So here we go: What is the most outrageous thing YOU ever heard come out of a doctor's mouth?
Posts: 424 | From Houston TX | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
Here is a good one. I went to a neurologist because I was having very bad muscle spasms, trouble walking, slurring speech etc. She told me I needed to exercise everyday, but not just a little exercise. I must exercise until I am drenched with sweat otherwise my spasms would not go away. She said in when I see her in 6 weeks I would be fine. The nurse was shocked at the way the doctor was acting and she didn't know what to say so she said if you need a cheap gym go to the YMCA. I walked out of the office not knowing if I should laugh or cry. I cried.
Posts: 260 | From Long Island, New York | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I went to the emergency room with palpatations and irregular heart beat, huge swollen knees and ankels...he said "you need a vacation..you're fine." I thought I was losing my mind...Quack Quack said the duck!
Posts: 364 | From Chicago, Il USA | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
LOVE THIS POLL!!! It needs to be made into a book!!! OK, here's mine:
I'm at my "get to know you" visit with my new PCP, hoping for an open mind on my journey to wellness.
I say "I just simply don't believe Lupus is the ONLY cause for these symptoms. I do not test DNA positive for Lupus, the only thing I have is an elevated ANA and that could be caused by many things".
Her response "The only other thing would be AIDS".
Withing 24 hours my HMO had me switched to a new PCP. They were appalled by the incident.
[This message has been edited by Curley911 (edited 12 July 2002).]
What are the odds of you being bitten by a tick that has Lyme.....
Duh I Dunno, I only spent every waking moment of my life MTN Biking, and Rock Climbing in the woods of Northeastern P.A. for the last 10 freakin years.
I should have said...
The odds of me catching LYME are better than the odds that you would be able to diagnose it if I did....
May The Force Be With You....
Obi Wan
Posts: 128 | From Nanticoke, P.A. U.S.A. | Registered: May 2002
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Nancy2
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 95
posted
Doctor #6 told me to "take this antibiotic for 10 days and forget about it" (the Lyme that is)!
Posts: 1487 | From New England | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
i needed this laugh; I just had an awful night after a e r visit; wanted tested for epstein barr--"they don't do that test here" also "we don't have lyme in south c." Well, now I feel better. Enjoyed laughin at the other posts; we all need to write a book about the wonderful ducks we have met over the years of lyme etc.
Posts: 560 | From PA | Registered: Apr 2001
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Shoregirl
Unregistered
posted
After 2 yrs with lyme and babesia(spelling)The 4 wks of doxiciilan was enough to take care of it.Another year gone by same duck now says I have false positve results I can`t have it I`am just deppresed and I need to stop going on the computer. The problem now is that my deppresion is forcing me to stay on computer with you hypocondriacs!So much for the Ducks of the world!!!!!
posted
This is easy for me....after explaining some of my bizarre symptoms to a nuerologist he asked me if I was married or had a boyfriend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was so furious I threw the sample of antidepressants he gave me on his desk and walked out. Not that I didn't need them..but can you believe he said that????
Posts: 97 | From Simpsonville KY USA | Registered: Jul 2002
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Katydid
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1128
posted
A brilliant M.S. specialist told me over and over that I didn't have M.S. -- yep, no question.
When my Lyme tests came back positive (several tests from different labs), I told this doc about it. He replied, "We haven't seen a documented case of Lyme in Texas in many years".
When I told him that I had also tested positive for the co-infections babesia and ehrlichia, he made a complete about-face, stating, "Remember, M.S. is still in the differential".
Heaven help us!
P.S. Oh Boola, I hope you hit that doctor!
Posts: 1745 | From El Paso, Texas | Registered: May 2001
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posted
My father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. When I asked his dr about Lyme disease, I got the standard answer - "We don't have Lyme disease in South Carolina."
Later, a wonderful Dr in New Jersey diagnosed Lyme affecting the central nervous system, causing the dementia. When we got home, I told the local dr about the diagnosis. I wanted to sound knowledgeable, so I used the medical term Neuro-borreliosis. He looked surprised and asked "Where did he come in contact with barillium gas (sp?)" Floored, I said, "No, tick bite...Lyme disease.." He stammered, "OH, I knew that, I knew that."
Yeah.....really!! Quack, Quack
Posts: 4638 | From South Carolina | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
I logged on tonite to post about my husband, but couldn't resist replying to this!! A great thread...
I have a two way tie:
#1: My children's EX-Pediatrician: "Most adults who think they have Lyme actually have something else." This was after he had grilled me about why I felt a need to have my daughter tested when she was exhibiting many symptoms of Lyme and my son and I were already being treated for late stage Lyme....I made the mistake of pointing out that not all Lyme patients present with swelling knees.
#2: My ID duck: "You can't possibly have Lyme, but your bullseye rash sure throws me for a loop."
Posts: 962 | From Charleston | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
I was telling ond doctor that I worked on a horse farm and horses ship in an out from all over because he said "no lyme in kentucky" We were stabled right next to a farm from New Jersey at the show where I got bit. i had a huge bulls eye rash on my neck whch grew larger over 4 days, then I got a bad still neck and fever. went to an er close to the horse show and they found the tiny tick still inside me having a feast! they put the tick on a piece of scotch tape and showd it to me under a microscope. they sent me on my way with some topical cream for the rash.
when I went to my regualr doctor the following week he said it couldn't be a lyme tick here in KY. This was in 1989, I guess back then they had signs near the state lines for ticks to jump off the horse vans fro New Jersey. haha.
Posts: 97 | From Simpsonville KY USA | Registered: Jul 2002
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momtoeight
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 2215
posted
Our family doctor told me while lookin at the bullseye on my thigh:
"you don't have lyme - you just need to stay off the internet" I responded with "how else can I learn - I don't happen to have a medical library in our home" He says "Your not suppose to have a medical library - that is why you come to me. I AM THE DOCTOR with the education"
And the next time that he just happened to see us he took my husband aside and said:
"I believe that she believes that she is really sick, and I think that I could help her (wink, wink) I could prescribe just the thing to settle her down"
Unfortunately I cried before I could get out of his office!! Just hate that man knowin he got to me!
Posts: 2344 | From middle of nowhere | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
The one that really got me was my all time favorite duck (the excuse for a doctor who misdx my EM rash)
He dismissed all my symptoms that were coinciding with my EM rash as due to stress..but then he asked me what was something that I really wanted lately..something that would make me happy..
I thought for a minute...but was really put off by it..didn't know where he was going with it...and I said that I had been wanting to see Les Miserables in SFran..
well, he wrote a med script out to me and told me to give it to my husband...it said something like "take your wife to see Les Mis"...he said that that would make me feel better.
I never felt so humiliated in my life...I remember breaking down in the car telling my husband..he just made me feel like such a hypochondriac..it was absolutely awful and I will never forget it! meghan
Posts: 561 | From Carmel CA | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
Sent to rheumatology group at hospital (won't say which, but new Dr afterword said wouldn't send dead dog for autopsy there!) listened to all symptoms and stated "No matter what the tests say, at this stage if it was lyme all your hair should have fallen out". 14 years ago and Dr's are still uneducated!
Posts: 99 | From Monroe Township, NJ, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
Duck #1 - "Are you sure your not fighting with your Hubby"? Me: "Yes I am sure" Duck " I think you are fighting with hubby"
Duck #4 Me "everytime I go to my inlaws I have to sit away from them or across the room because I feel like I'm going to pass out everytime I am there" Duck replied "In-lawidus" I gotta admit it was funny but later figured out since the house is so small it had something to with the oxygen.
Duck #20 something "I don't know what is wrong with you and you are lucky that I ran all these tests. I have a patient that is just like you and she ended up in the hospital because she went blind , now we can treat her. Lets just wait for something to happen."
Posts: 864 | From Warrington PA USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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ArtistDi
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 2297
posted
The alternative doctor that I saw for over a year and diagnosed me with multiple chemi- cal sensitivity--( I suddenly developed breathing problems and chemical sensitivity, all was attributed to my profession as an artist and a home improvement. When I came up "equivocal" on a test that I persuaded him to give me (I asked for Igenex), he told me that no one with Lyme ever had chemical sensitivity. I definitely didn't have Lyme. I saw Dr. H and retested for everything--Lyme, Erhlichia and mycoplasma came up (Igenex and PCR).
Posts: 1567 | From Hatfield, MA, USA | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
!! After six months of being desperately ill, barely able to walk, covered with a rash over my chest,back and face, slung over a chair because I was unable to summon the energy to sit, my long-time family Dr said he was going to send me to Dartmouth-Hitchcock because maybe it was CFS, he really didn't know what I had. Then, with such a smirk, he said You know, of course, what you have is classified as a somatoform illness.
The alternative practitioners were no better, it was just put in "new age" terms that there was some hidden reason for my illness.... psychological, spiritual, some undealt with issue of my childhood, etc. You are sick therefore you have created a defect in some way, blocking your body from its natural radiant state, out of harmony with the universe...blah blah.
momtoeight
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 2215
posted
Oh my gosh, Oski!
I had forgotten the prescription our doc gave my husband in the ER the night that I was there with my chin frozen to my chest!!
And they couldn't get an x-ray cause when they had me stand by the table and start to lay it down, I screamed with the pain.
The xray tech wrote "patient was very uncooperative"
I still have the prescription:
//Jane is to rest on the couch and be fed Bon-Bon on a silver platter by her lousy husband. Her husband is to wash the clothes and dishes, clean the home & take care of the kids.//
Yep - that did the trick doc - NOT!!!!!!
Posts: 2344 | From middle of nowhere | Registered: Feb 2002
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bg2711
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1865
posted
Oh, this is such a good topic!! Lets see when my daughter first got sick 10 years ago( she was 8 yrs. old then) and was in the hospital after the spinal tap they did on her, he said "There was nothing ORGANICALLY wrong with her and I over nurtured her and she needed a shrink!!
Last year my daughter, now 18yrs. had a seizure so she was sent to a neurologist who told me that after two weeks of antibiotics she would NOT HAVE ANY NEUROLOGICAL problems related to lyme that would have caused her seizure ten yrs. later. That she was cured of lyme and I should let her get on with her life. Oh my God, I was gona punch this guy, ya right no neurological problems after 2 weeks of antibiotics, give me a break. Yep, those ducks ya gotta love em or hate em!! Barb
posted
Oh, I have a good one. Two years ago I found a tick attached to my abdomen. I called my doctor and asked if I should take antibiotics. He told me no, as there is no lyme in our area. Just wash the bite and let me know if you get a bull's eye rash. I never got a rash, but three months after the bite I came down with all the lyme symptoms in full force. Fast forward a year later....I go to another doctor and test positive for lyme. Thinking I should let my previous doctor know that there is lyme in the area so maybe he won't make the same mistake again with someone else.... I call him. I wasn't angry about what he had told me about there being no lyme in the area, as I thought he just didn't know, and if I shared the fact that I now had lyme and probably was reinfected by this tick, he would want to know. Well, he attacks me with, "I KNOW THERE IS LYME IN THE AREA, I HAVE HAD IT THREE TIMES." Is that not disgusting! SandiB
Posts: 991 | From USA | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
After dozens of doctors and tests (except lyme) and no diagnosis for my incapacitating illness, I went back to my PCP and told her something was seriously wrong, I wasn't able to work, and I was not getting better. I asked her to test for lyme since she was already drawing blood. Her response.... "Why, you don't remember being bitten". She didn't order the test, I guess the expense was coming out of her pocket and not my insurance. By the way, I live in an area where lyme is epidemic.
Posts: 75 | From Westchester, NY | Registered: May 2002
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posted
I think my fav was being told I was having sinus migraines. I was not having pain of any sort...what I WAS having were temporal lobe seizures. Several a day.
stay off the internet is always a good one.
Everyone has that buzzing noise in their head, you've only just become aware of it. Yeah, I believe that.
posted
Remember, all Ducks are going to tell you to stay off the iternet because most of the time you are misdiagnosed. Even my LLMD advised me not to read into things to much as each case is different, however he commended me for obtaing the knowledge regarding the LYME. I agree that sometimes people read into stuff to much, but that is human nature. If these Ducks were more sensitive during the 3 to 5 minits they spend with you, you may have more confidence in them. However, YOU are responsiable for your own well being and your own treatment, and these Ducks merely PRACTICE medicine on you. Information is the key, and it makes thier job more difficult if you are informed.
May The Force Be With You...
Obi Wan
Posts: 128 | From Nanticoke, P.A. U.S.A. | Registered: May 2002
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bik77
Unregistered
posted
Dr. #1:
"After three weeks of 200mg/day Doxy, 99-44/100% of my patients get over Lyme for good."
This was from the guy who told me that his office has seen approx. one new case per Dr. per day (in the summer months) over the years.
Let's see: 1 x 3 Dr.s x 60 days x 6 years = 1,080 cases
ENT: Jordan is not sick, his mother just thinks he is.
PEDIATRICIAN: Make him go to school unless he is on his deathbed.
ID: If you have Lyme, you will test highly positive. Even if you have Lyme, it is only a nuisance not a serious illness. Two weeks of antibiotics will cure it.
ID: Doctors on the East Coast set up clinics just to treat Lyme and make money.
NEUROLOGIST: All kids have headaches and most of the time we don't know why. They usually are worse during the school year.
GI: Some kids have stomachaches and we don't know why.
PEDIATRICIAN: Could he be depressed? Go see a Psychologist. PSYCHOLOGIST: Go see Pediatrician because not enough medical tests done.
ID: No reason to test for Bartonella and Babesia in Minnesota.
posted
Here are my favorites ... at the beginning of my illness (before I knew it was Lyme), I went to one infectious disease doctor who told me that too many people diagnose people with Lyme and that it's becoming a fad and therefore he wouldn't diagnose me with Lyme. He said to just eat a more well-balanced diet (Note: I am an Exercise Specialist at a gym as well as a graduate student studying Exercise Science) ... my eating habits were obviously not my problem!
Then I had a neurologist say that I was too stressed out and that this was all just stress. He then called my Mom into the room and blamed her for stressing me out (Let the record state that I was not under stress ... except for the fact that I was so sick and didn't know why! ... and my Mom has never pushed me or stressed me out) ... it's amazing doctors like these exist ... so scary!
Posts: 265 | From Stamford, Ct, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Oh, I forgot to add my favorite misdiagnosis at all ... this one's priceless ... I was away at college when my Lyme first surfaced. I had gone out to dinner with some friends and then about 4-5 hours later was lying in bed and woke up in a cold sweat, so dizzy and woozy, nearly paralysed and shaking on my left side of my body with all sorts of neurological symptoms going on in my body ... most of which I can't even remember clearly anymore. I remember my roommate rushed to get our floor RA who then called 911 and an ambulance came to get me to take me to the ER ... I spent the night in the ER and was told that it was just a bad case of food poisoning!!! (mind you ... I didn't throw up or have any stomach symptoms though!) The ER doc also added that these types of "food poisonings" often occur when people eat fish and told me not to eat fish ... I guess it didn't matter to him that I had no fish that night or any other night for that matter (considering I'm allergic to it, I would never go near the stuff to start with!) What a moron! It scares me that colleges are giving doctorates away to such airheads!!
Posts: 265 | From Stamford, Ct, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Boy there are so many I don't know what to choose...
1. No I won't order a Lyme test, sooner or later the HMO is gonna "ding" me for ordering all these labs" Poor baby, his bonus check was at stake. I work at the hospital and see this boob on occasion. I walk with forearm crutches due to permanant nerve damage and have a PICC line in- " wow, you don't look to good, what's going on?" My answer " some idiot Dr refused to test me for Lyme and it turns out I have it and now I'm screwed for the rest of my life." No reply from the jerk.
Neurologist ( king of the stupid ducks) " You are extremely anxious and need to go on Prozac" I asked why I had no reflexes in my feet and he replied " not everyone has reflexes in their feet" Huh???? When I requested my medical records it said all my reflexes were normal and my gait was "unremarkable". Hmmmm, I guess he didn't notice the footdrop on the left or that I can't stand up from a chair due to weakness.
posted
Theres so many. Dr.#7 (Your blonde with blue eyes and your from Europe)you dont have Lyme Disease you have MS. Dr,#8 Are you sure your not have problems with your marriage.I'll give you some anti-depressants take double the dose and you should feel better Dr's 1 to 14 The ticks in Tennessee don't carry Lyme Disease it's all in your head.
Posts: 821 | From nashville tn usa | Registered: Sep 2001
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I can NOT believe this!!!!!!!!! Especially about the boob doctor. Why are these doctors so dumb? What ever happened to the hippocratic oath they take? It makes me soooo mad all of these stories. Thank God for our LLMD!!!!!!! We would truly be lost without them if not 6 feet under. They are literally saving our very lives.
Liz
Posts: 364 | From Chicago, Il USA | Registered: Apr 2002
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This actually happened to someone I used know. Sadly, the outcome was tragic.
Mom goes pumpkin picking with her kids. Daughter has Lyme and was in treatment for it. Sometime after returning home, daughter goes unconscious and into a coma. Daughter is rushed to the hospital where her LLMD practices (about 20 miles away). Enroute, she goes into complications so the ambulance turns around to taker her to the nearest hospital to be stablized because her life was at stake.
At the hospital she was taken to there is a self-proclaimed LLMD who believes that you are cured of Lyme after 28 days of antibiotics. Since the daughter had already been under treatment for Lyme for a longer period of time, the self-proclaimed LLMD poo-pooed the real LLMD's diagnosis and told the mom that her daughter really had a viral infection. Mom pleaded with the doctor, but was treated poorly. Doctor treats daughter with antivirals and daughter is still unconscious and in a coma. To placate mom, the self-proclaimed LLMD did try the daughter on IV antitbiotics and she showed some improvement but he didn't buy into it because "you're cured of Lyme after 28 days" and continued with the antiviral because he didn't believe she had Lyme. She was eventually transferred to the care of her real LLMD who proceeded with aggressive antibiotic therapy. She eventually regained consciousness (don't recall at which hospital that took place) only to be wheel-chair bound and no longer capable of coherent speech. Her mind still worked but she was no longer the same child. She was more like a child with cerebral palsy. The damage had been done.
The daughter passed away from complications several months later. Mom wanted an autopsy performed. I was told that the autopsy revealed that her little body had been infested with Lyme Disease.
So much for the "28 days and you're cured" theory.
Posts: 749 | From New Hope, PA | Registered: May 2002
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posted
Hmmm...I can't really decide..theres a few. Anyways... after I'd been sick for about 4 months STRAIGHT (coughing, fevers, unable to walk some days...unable to use my arms other days)....hehe... doc finally told me on about the 5th visit in 6 weeks that I had "Flu syndrome"...thats not too outrageous I guess... but pretty funny since it doesnt exist! The most outrageous thing I think I ever heard...was when my doctor looked at me after I'd been in congestive heart failure for 3 months (and my cardiologist was telling my parents not to expect me to live more than a week at the most)...when I was 12 years old...and he said "Well...I can tell just by looking at the muscles on your arms that your just really out of shape and you need to exercise more." HELLO.... for the past year I had been figure skating 3 days a week/5 hours a day!! hehe...anyways...that one threw me for a loop! (it was a general doc that told me I was out of shape...not my cardiologist)...anyways.... thats probably the most outrageous one I can think of Along with the one about my mom having "munchausens syndrome" (spelling?) ..you know..the one where the parent poisons child and then brings child to doctor so that parent can get sympathy from doctor...? YEAH...RIGHT. What are we anyways... antibiotic ADDICTS?
..That last one was sad... guess it says a lot about docs these days doesnt it? ------------------ Lishka
[This message has been edited by Amareo (edited 14 July 2002).]
[This message has been edited by Amareo (edited 14 July 2002).]
posted
After i went in with lyme sx and a nice little bullseye, my duck told me that he was sending me in for a cat scan with contrast because i looked thin and that coupled with the night sweats led him to believe that i had hodgkins diease..(he actually told me this)...never mind that he knew i was an endurance athelete and spent alot of time outdoors..they blew out my vien with the iodine during the cat scan, and later i gave the duck my positive results from igenex along with dr.b's guidelines for treating lyme...by the way i dont have hodgkins disease, just lyme babesia and bartonella...greg
Posts: 740 | From frederick,md,usa | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
In 1987 I was very sick....I had all the symptoms of lyme, but hadn't been diagnosed with lyme. A friend who was trying to help me, recommended I go to an internist at the local medical college. When I went to the internist, who happened to be the head teaching doctor, they put me in a room on a cold metal table. I remember sitting there for at least a half an hour freezing in only a hospital gown. Finally about five med students and the internist came in ....they prodded and propped every inch of me....they were so cold to me, but the worst thing was they talked like I wasn't capable of hearing them. Examining me like I was a specimen on a metal dish. Talking among themselves they left the room, and a nurse came in an drew about 6 tubes of blood, I was so weak I almost fainted. The nurse wasn't much more compassionate than the doctor and the med students. I went home ....and a week later as instructed I called the doctor's office. I was having an awful time trying to get him to return my calls. I wanted to find out the results of my test. When he finally returned my call, he sounded very annoyed and just came out and said, "You have lupus." I was so stunned, I didn't answer for a few seconds, when I started to ask him about my illness, he abruptly cut me off and said, "What do you want me to say", and hung up. After that experience I didn't go near a doctor for ten years. SandiB
Posts: 991 | From USA | Registered: Aug 2001
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KayJay
Unregistered
posted
"you don't have lyme. you need a psychitrist. there is one on the floor above me. let me call now and make an appt for you. ARGH! needless to say i said "no thanks" and left the office never to return.
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posted
My duck actually wrote me out a prescription that said "Go out and have some fun"!
Posts: 438 | From SE Michigan | Registered: Jul 2001
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Ann-OH
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2020
posted
Years ago in the Bull's-eye newsletter I asked people to submit outrageous things about Lyme disease said to them by doctors.
This was in the August 1993 issue - I called them "Infamous Quotations" -
(Ed. note: The following are doctor's comments as reported by the patients to whom they were made. The quoted physicians are all practicing in northeastern Ohio, many at most respected medical institutions. Some are neurologists, rheumatologists or infectious disease physicians; others are pediatricians and family practice doctors.)
"You can't have Lyme Disease in Ohio"
"There have never been any cases of Lyme disease reported in Ohio" (there had been about 400 at that time)
"You don't LOOK sick!"
"It's not Lyme disease, it's LIME disease!"
Doctor: "You don't have Lyme disease" Patient: "How do you know? Doctor: "I went to Harvard."
About a child: "She can't be too sick; she's smiling."
"I have no idea what you had, but whatever it was, you're over it now."
"There is no such thing as Lyme disease."
"A hundred years ago, she would have been termed a sickly child."
To a child: "I think you are depressed and need a psychiatrist who will put you on anti-depressants. And you're just going to have to learn to live with it."
"If she doesn't have arthritis, she doesn't have Lyme disease"
"You couldn't have Lyme disease. Lyme disease is susceptible to penicillin and you had 10 days of penicillin in 1988."
"Even if it is Lyme disease, it wouldn't make any difference because there is no treatment for Lyme disease."
[Ed. comment: Do we need any further demonstrations of the need for physician education about Lyme disease????] (end of article.)
How awful that for the most part, the picture has not changed in the past 9 years!!!
posted
Rheumatologist who is an "expert" on lyme disease told me that the presence of lyme in my blood work was proof that I did not have lyme. My lyme titer was 1.44 and I had 4 bands positive. He told me that this indicated I had lyme antibodies and was immune to lyme. He then told me I was doing myself a great deal of harm by not going to a neurologist.
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matmemom
Unregistered
posted
OH, I forgot to add that as he was telling me to leave his office after I questioned his "diagnosis" there hanging on his door was an article written by Dr. Allen Steele.
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heckyeah
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 603
posted
I had a classic EM rash ~1990 but doc said it was a "bee sting." I told him that I had had a bee sting before and this was NOTHING like that. So he said "ok, then it's a spider bite."
In 1996 when I was finally crippled by all my various "stress/over-exercise induced symptoms" and doc sent me to an infectious disease doc who was also a "lyme specialist."
ID Doc said my lyme elisa was positive but my western blot was negative so I don't have Lyme. It couldn't possibly be lyme anyway because I didn't have swollen joints (just excruciatingly painful ones). At this point, he looked down my throat and said "ah ha!! You have Fibromyalgia!" I'm not kidding.
When my condtion continued to worsen and I started having what were apparently petit mal seizures at the wheel of my car (the id duck and the neuroduck wrote in my records that these were "falling asleep"), they did some more testing to rule out epilepsy and MS. When those tests were "negative" the ID duck said I also had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
He said to "just go back to work" (at this point I could barely walk at all) and that I "should be glad I [don't] have AIDS." How do you respond to a comment like that??
(I definitely think that Boola wins the Suckiest-Thing-a-Doc-Ever-Said Award with that psycho racist comment.)
------------------
Jen
Posts: 1082 | From Upstate New York | Registered: Jan 2001
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tree
Unregistered
posted
quote:Originally posted by Susie Jo: !! After six months of being desperately ill, barely able to walk, covered with a rash over my chest,back and face, slung over a chair because I was unable to summon the energy to sit, my long-time family Dr said he was going to send me to Dartmouth-Hitchcock because maybe it was CFS, he really didn't know what I had. Then, with such a smirk, he said You know, of course, what you have is classified as a somatoform illness.
The alternative practitioners were no better, it was just put in "new age" terms that there was some hidden reason for my illness.... psychological, spiritual, some undealt with issue of my childhood, etc. You are sick therefore you have created a defect in some way, blocking your body from its natural radiant state, out of harmony with the universe...blah blah.
Dx lyme 7yrs ago pos blood, etc., after 3 yrs oral abx new pcp said "no more abx" due to 28 day rule. You all know the drill...
6 mos later new onset seizures, pcp said, "I think that your problem now is Lupus, "The Great Imitator"
2 yrs later vasculitis shows up on brain MRI, pcp said, "I think your problem now is MS, "The Great Imitator"
5 mos later pos lyme titer on spinal tap pcp said... any guesses, "Just like I thought, you have neuro lyme "THE GREAT IMITATOR"
to which I replied, hey I think I've heard this before somewhere. I know I'm 'a little foggy', but I'm sick, I'm not stupid.
Starphoenix
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 2402
posted
I recently began treatment, and I've had Lyme for 17 years. I've heard so much ridiculosity in that time! Three recent events come to mind. My now-former PCP, who was wonderfully supportive when she thought I had Lupus, scoffed at the possibility of Lyme and even went so far as to wonder if I was sick at all! She thought I may be sick because of all of the medications I've been taking. HELLO! I told her that I've been sick for 17 years and taking meds for two. I was given meds because I'm sick! I couldn't believe she would question whether or not ANYTHING was wrong! She thought changing my diet and losing weight would do the trick. My new, soon-to-be-fired, PCP doesn't believe in the PCR result! Even though I've had the Blot (not technically positive, but positive nonetheless) and a positive blood PCR, he wanted me to have another Blot. He didn't believe it. He had so much erroneous information. He wouldn't argue about it. (Of course. I was right!) He even questioned my respiratory diagnoses and thyroid diagnosis (like "can you say 'hypochondriac'?"). I was in the ER the other night. (Our apartment building is loaded with mold--long story--hope they condemn it so they have to move us. We're low income and can't just find another place right now otherwise, and no one in power is taking it seriously, it seems.) I'm concerned about having an invasive mold infection (been here awhile, didn't know how bad it was, am on steroids still after Lupus diagnosis because of weak adrenals, have been on oral chemo during the time here, and have Lyme and both restrictive and obstructive lung disease), but the doctor said I read too much! When I asked about Aspergilliosis, he said, "You don't want that." Another one thinking I'm a hypochondriac! No, I don't want it! I'd sure like to know if I HAVE it, though! Steph
[This message has been edited by Starphoenix (edited 15 July 2002).]
Posts: 1318 | From Shohola, PA | Registered: Apr 2002
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Ann-OH
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2020
posted
I had a doctor tell me I read too much. I told him I had a license to read - a Master's degree in English. Ann - OH
Posts: 5705 | From Ohio | Registered: Jan 2002
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Ok, went to a psychiatrist after 2.5 years of worsening unexplained illness. I begged him to believe that I was physically sick. I said I felt so "desperate" for people to understand, for a doctor to help me figure out what was going on... I said I was not suicidal (have not history or act or intention) or homicidal ("). He said: "THERE IS NO WAY SOMETHING CAN BE PHYSICALLY WRONG WITH YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM IF TESTS DON'T SHOW IT." Nevermind he knew nothing of the tests done or anything. IGNORANCE!!!
Then he said, I think you need to be hospitalized in the adult crisis unit. I left before he could degrade me further.
Lastly, my most recent duck before I FINALLY found a wonderful LLMD saw me present with a case of bad tremors in her office. Two nurses tried to hold me down on the exam table to stop the shaking (not seizure). She said "ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE JUST NOT SCARED TO DEATH?" And, then "COULD YOU HAVE EATEN SOMETHING BAD?"
OH my Gosh! These things still enrage me. I have always been so rational and then to have this stuff said to me has made me feel so hopeless and lost. Thank God for my present and only LLMD!!!!
Wendy
Posts: 443 | From Santa Rosa, Ca USA | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
-"You just want to have Lyme because it is in vogue!" (like cancer????????????)
-"Don't call or ever come in again! Be your own doctor. In 6 or 7 months you should be better."
"How often do you have orgasams? What is the percentage? When you have your movement disorder with your husband, can you stay on the bed? Wow, honey, you look great after losing all of that weight....(while staring at my ample chest....knee to knee and sweating bullets) No I didn't have the energy at the time to report him!
-"you have pseudo-seizures. (Fake seizures) Don't bother to come in again. "Stay off the internet. Get on with your life and stop focusing on what you can't do!"
_"You have had enough antibiotics to have killed a horse ...If you ever did even have LD"
and sooooooooooooooooooo much more duck talk. The stories are amazing...I just might print them out for my neuro!
Take care everyone-we will make it! There are still some good docs out there! Don't lose hope! Shall we all print this out and mail it to some professionals? What's the poll on this one?
posted
First of all, I really feel we need to see the humor in this...somedays, you need to really look hard, but it helps.
Your lists of funny comments just go to show how uneducated physicians are about this. I hope this changes in the future for all of us. I for one am working on this for all of us.
No matter what anyone tells you, educating yourself, on the Internet or in a Medical Library at your nearest hospital is a GOOD thing.
If you cannot talk with your doctor...find another. I find that good communication with your doctor is 80%+ of your treatment.
No doctor can know everything. If they say they do, leave as soon as possible.
I am on leave as a RN that is a patient educator of patients with kidney disease. I welcome the patient to my office that has looked up information...it gives us a place to start, or a place to correct falicies. Even if they are into alternative medicine, I say, as long as it can't hurt you, I would never say never. It is like this with Lyme. There are too many Dr. that are too busy to listen or are afraid to burst their egos...at what a cost to their patients. They have to work WITH you.
Yes, keep track of these comments. One day when the research shows they have it all wrong in the year 2002, wow, they will say, I should have been a better listener of my patients.
Now, I am seeing a great Dr. of Infectious Disease that is trying to get me retreated with Rocephin. (insurance woes). But one neurologist told me only that I didn't have Lyme...no other reason or diagnosis noted,or what I should be tested for and another diagnosed me with Trigeminal Neuralgia... did not even hear me tell about vision problems, joint difficulty...was told that Lyme neurologically only give a Bells Palsy (droopy face) and I did not have Lyme...even though I pain, numbness, weakness...
They need to stop thinking they have to make a snap judgement on the first visit...my doctor now does not do this and listens to what I find in my research.
And I really thing boola's doctor should be brought before a state Medical Misconduct Board...unbelievable.
Posts: 36 | From Akron, PA USA | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
On my 35th birthday a doctor said..."your symptoms are weird...could be MS, have a great weekend." Needless to say, I didn't have a great weekend or birthday!
Posts: 188 | From Highlands Ranch, CO | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
I am sooooo glad to know that there are others living in my parallel universe!! Let's see, most of these (but not all) come from the head Rheumatologist at a well respected university teaching hospital that "followed" my daughter waiting for an autoimmune disease to fully manifest itself enough to put her on Pred... "She doesn't have Lyme - she doesn't have the hot,red, swollen knees" "A positive IgM doesn't mean anything, especially since her symptoms have been going on for longer than a month, it's not a very accurate test and besides her IgG was negative (only 3 bands)if IT was positive, now that would be a TRUE positive..but it's not so it is something else causing the IgM postive...let's retest her in a month..." "There is no Lyme in Georgia so that makes the positive IgM immediately suspect"
This was a good one, after 2 days of horrible stabbing back pain when breathing, her ped said she was "over reacting" and I insisted on a chest x ray which she thought was crazy. When it came back showing pneumonia she said that my daughter "brought it on herself by refusing to take deep breaths...(uh, what happened when she was sleeping???) "A daily fever of 100 is not abnormal, send her on to school unless it is over l0l.5, she just needs to get with the program..she's depressed"... "Her labs are mostly normal and her symptoms are so subjective, she must be depressed, I think it's time to send her for counseling ...." yep, and on and on it goes...so easy to dismiss it all from your office when you are not dealing with it, physically and emotionally, from day to day....
------------------
quote:I have..many promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep..
Robert Frost ...and every Lyme mom out there who fights to advocate for her child..
Jessiemacmom
Posts: 65 | From Ga. USA | Registered: Apr 2002
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henson2
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 463
posted
The rheumatologist who said: "Everyone has trouble getting up in the morning. Who wants to get up and feed the kids their oatmeal?"
(I was 31 and had no children) (ha ha I guess she hated feeding her kids!) (Woops, showing a little too much of yourself, Dr.!)
arg82
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 161
posted
Okay, here's mine. I went to a walk-in clinic because I was having trouble breathing. I tell the doctor, "I can't take a deep breath" and he tells me "well, you don't need to take a deep breath." --Annie
------------------ "I'd run away But there is nowhere to go So I'll stand and fight And hope and pray That the best is yet to come And we ain't seen nothing yet." --Tracy Chapman
Posts: 2184 | From Rochester, MA | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
An ID Idiot Duck said "I think you have MS because my sister has MS". By the way, I just got retested by PCR, and it was Positive on the first try at MDL in NJ. Yippy!!! Now I can go back to the VA and show the idiot he was WRONG!!!
Posts: 65 | From My Mother | Registered: Oct 2000
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My wife went to her orthopedic doc for wrist pain. He said there is a cyst and go to the Korean plastic surgeon who removes cysts (he has a VERY good reputation!)
This is the truth - the Korean doc told my wife that one of her arm bones is TOO LONG, and that he wants to operate on her, cutting the bone to normal length!!!!!
He said, You haf bone too rong in yo ahm. I gonna cutta bone, den you gonna be in cast fo one yeah. Den you come back gonna feel real good!
posted
as far as duck's and amusing physicians... i hate to say this, but all authority is going "down". this is a sign of the times and neither good nor bad. while it is important to keep your head about you, we are -thru this list- as important as even LLMD's in this fight. the 95% of physicians in lyme will always be way behind us in information. the hard thing for us is to find ways of testing and authenticating the information. i went to a colorful shrink years ago and in the course of conversation he said ". If i still treated my patients from what i learned in medical school, they would all be dead by now." point is: med school maybe minus 5 years AND med school teachings 10 years beyond that. so, med school is at least 15 years behind the current situation. we are now in a situation of rapidly evolving current information where the problem is weeding out the unreliable.
Posts: 3 | From ithaca, ny | Registered: Jul 2002
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caat
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 2321
posted
I should be doing something else- but this thread is hilarious.
""-"Don't call or ever come in again! Be your own doctor. In 6 or 7 months you should be better. terter"""
Wow. Best advice I've ever had infered to me too...
""Shall we all print this out and mail it to some professionals? What's the poll on this one?
terter""
Oh yes! It should be edited, along with more stories and mass e-mailed (***spammed****) anonomously or with a fake authoritative return address (like harvard med school? JAMA news update?) to every single medical clinic and hospital in the country. All in the same week. Would start people talking.
My favorites-
"it's all in your head" me- (look to kill) her- "you need elavil!" (anti-psychotic)
another one- "it's all in your head" me- (look to kill) her- "you're aggressive!!!"
"you have a flu"
"your allergic to your shampoo"
------ recently; 1st office visit;
me "I think I have late syphilis, I'm staggering and can't read"
doc "are you sure it's not lyme?"
me- "no. But I'm not sure about syphilis either. those tests are only 70% accurate."
doc "no they're not' me "yes they are" doc "no they're not" me "YES they ARE. Please give me a treponomal test." doc "no" me "antibiotics?" doc "no"
2nd visit doc- "you were right, the syphilis tests are only 70% accurate. come back next week and we'll test you for both (trepenomal & elisa )." Me "thank you. you know I found out the lyme tests are only 30% accurate. Can I have a western blot? it's a little better" Doc "no they're not. No you can't. We don't do western blots." me- "can I have antibiotics?" doc "no."
I went & got my own antibiotics and started to treat myself. I also convinced the nurse to do a western blot. They sent it to unilab which doesn't do a full band report.
During the blood draw another doctor came in with wild eyes & yelled at me (yes- yelled) "this (lyme)is new to us. we don't know what we are doing!!!!" me- calm & polite- "well, that's ok. well, can we send this to Igenix?" doc "what?" me "Igenix lab. they have a lot of experience with this." doc still screaming "NO !!!" me "they're good..." doc "NO !!!" stomps out of the room.
3rd visit- doc " test is neg you don't have lyme." me "the tests are not accurate, & it isn't a full report on all bands." doc "yes they are" me "no they're not" doc "yes they are" me "can I have doxycycline?" doc "no." me "do you have lyme in this area? ...Do you treat lyme?"
doc "You have transitory viral menengitis. We will wait 6 weeks and see if gets worse. If it gets worse we will do more tests."
me "what?" doc "something is effecting your 12th (?)nerve. Lyme effects the 8th nerve. It's not Lyme." me "it's a bacterial infection..." doc "no it's not" me "then why do antibiotics make the neuro symptoms subside?" (look to kill. a look like what kind of doctor ARE you?) doc "they do?" me "yes. almost immediatly." doc "oh. antibiotics are an anti-inflamitory" me "no, it's a bacterial infection"(look to kill. a look like what kind of doctor ARE you?) doc "OK !!!! I'll give you antibiotics BUT IT"S NOT LYME !!!!"
doc agrees to give 200mg doxy for 4 weeks. She is totally aghast & freaked out. Refuses to write possible lyme in records. I don't what she came up with for the records.... must have been highly imaginative.
me "thank you." doc yells " I am NOT going to give a clinical dx for lyme." me "it's supposed to be a clinical dx. not a test dx according to the CDC even. Whether I have Lyme or not, you have other patients with Lyme." doc- "I hate antibiotics!!" leaves the room in a hurry. she is crying. ----------------
herbalist at same clinic; "stay off the antibiotics, they will kill you. we can cure this!"
me " which herbs cross the blood brain barrier? do you know?" herb, looks confused "we can cure you!" me "you don't know..." herb (screaming. no, really...)"you are going to make yourself very sick and it will be your own fault" or something like that. He screamed about whatever for about 10 minits. I just smiled at him. It was actually pretty funny. We came out of that room and the whole clinic was looking at us.
that's pretty close to word for word & I think in that order... the entire clinic had a serious nervous breakdown & it was as good as a monty python sketch. And as infuriating. The CDC dragged this area & it has the highest known lyme count on the west coast. And some of the most ignorant doctors.
Do I feel sorry for them? h*ll no. They are killing people by not treating them. they don't what they are doing and are too lame to find out. People are starting to avoid that clinic big time. There is no waiting time there. it's a great place to go for a common cold.
[This message has been edited by caat (edited 21 July 2002).]
Posts: 1436 | From Humboldt county ca usa | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
Everyone, All these stories are sadly funny. If laughter could cure us, we would all be cured after reading these ridiculous conversations with doctors. Someone does need to edit them and print them up in a pamphlet. The last story reminds me of a skit I saw on the Carol Burnett Show. Unbelievable! SandiB
Posts: 991 | From USA | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
The response to this poll has been really incredible. I found myself shrieking a kind of twisted "aaaagh!" as I got to the "punch line" of almost every one. We really should do something with this- I don't know what though, but let's think...... I see a really dark black humor in the circular nature of all these people being "invalidated" by these authority figures who are being paid to heal them. (Joseph Heller's novel "Catch-22" comes to mind.)
Like the Infectious Disease doctor who told me my fatigue was caused by my sudden post-bite need to take naps.
She then sent me to a Rheumatologist who gave me a 'scrip for a sleeping pill.
The ID doc told me to "Stay away from Lyme support groups, because those people are SO DEPRESSING"
(Can you imagine a doctor saying "Those cancer patients, what a glum bunch of fellows they are!")
The Rheumatologist asked me about 15 questions and seemed vexed that my symptoms were not falling into the RA profile. I said "Well I don't think I have rheumatoid arthritis"
She asked "What do you think you have?"
I told her that my problems had started with a bullseye rash that my primary physician thought was a Lyme EM.
She replied, " Oh no! Not that! You and everybody else WANT to have Lyme these days"
She charged me $350 for her 18 minutes.
And no I never took her sleeping pills!
Posts: 424 | From Houston TX | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
My doctor told me "I don't have time to answer questions - if you have questions, sign up for a class somewhere". He was not joking!
Posts: 111 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
oh man i just gotta get my 2 sens in here: the MOST outrageous thing that was said to me was not said to me but SCREAMED at me by one of the most well respected ID docs in Montreal:
me: how many Lyme patients do you treat a year? ID: "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANYTHING ABOUT LYME! GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!".
2. "There's no way you can have Lyme cause there's no Lyme in Quebec (yeah, duh, it's not a reportable illness, and doctors refuse to test for it. Of course there's no Lyme here, diagnosed and treated that is)
3. PCP: You are really depressed. me: of course i'm depressed. I can't move. PCP: Have you ever considered having a psych. evaluation done? me: (in my head)yes, actually, to try and figure out why YOU think i need a psych evaluation when YOu're the one who needs it!
4. me: (to a tropical diseases dr.)so here in this article you wrote in 1993 you say that the effects of untreated Lyme can be really horrible. So why aren't you willing to treat me? him: we have very strict guidelines concerning Lyme. me: I fufill all CDC diagnostic and surveillance criteria for Lyme. What guidelines are you talking about? him: i'm sorry, i can't treat you.
5. PCP: well, first i want to send you to do a neuro-psychiatric exam. it'll take about 8 months before you can get in. yeah, and 8 months later i WILL be demented from Lyme and will NEED it!
7. ID: you can only get Lyme in Connecticut (and he has new editions of Emerging Infectious diseases magazines sitting on his desk).
i could go on and on. anyhoo. sparkes
Posts: 246 | From montreal, & a west coast island | Registered: Mar 2002
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