Topic: doc's office says "just live with it" ackkkk
randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
i coughed all night last night and got no sleep. my chest is so sore....
so today i called the office and said i need to make an appt, i've got the flu or something. get this....
the receptionist said "we are absolutely packed, no openings till next week. what are your symptoms?"
so i told her the ole story. she says i'll check with his nurse -- who i vehemently dislike...
she comes back and says "___told me to tell you you get this every couple of years, you're over the worst part, you've got another case of bronchitis. so just live with it and if you start COUGHING UP BLOOD OR RUNNING A FEVER OF OVER 102, GO TO THE ER. we've got a waiting room of people just like you and no appointments.
excuse me????? i almost started to swear like a gunnery sergeant. i was so mad.
i just said, "well i guess that's pretty clear" and hung up.
i hate that d____ nurse....
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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Do you have a walk in clinic that you could go to to get checked out? I don't know how you can just deal with bronchitis.
-------------------- The advice I give, should not be considered medical advice. My opinion comes from years of research and experience. Posts: 233 | From Somewhere | Registered: Sep 2009
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Starfall1969
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 17353
posted
I am so sorry to hear that.
Some of these nurses are just a-holes in training, or maybe they're the ones who train the other a-holes.
I'm sorry, but I know it's a rough flu season and a lot of doctors' offices are swamped, but to be that nonchalant about your illness is just unconscionable.
If this is something you get every two years or so, what do they do for you then? Do they give you something for it or just tell you to deal with it?
If they usually give you something, why couldn't they phone it in to the pharmacy?
And as for the go to the ER line, in my area, they are telling people NOT to go to the ER. Wait, you said coughing up blood--yeah, that's ER, but for a fever over 102, here they'd give you an earful and send you home.
Again, I'm really sorry you're dealing with a dork of a nurse on top of feeling lousy.
Posts: 1682 | From Dillsburg, PA | Registered: Sep 2008
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
as for past behavior (when i got to see him), they'd give me tussand pearls for cough and i told him they don't work, so then he said go buy delsym cough syrup, sit hot water baths, use dehumidifer, etc., other than that, nothing.
he said if the mucous got blood in it, or was very very dark yellow, then he'd give me something.
i'd had this every oh about 3-4 years, so i do have a history of the same ole thing.
but gads, i dislike this nurse. she's a young sort of know it all type and treats me like a dang child. she talks very slowly when she talking to me and i want to ask her if she has a speech impediment....
i think it's just time i found another doctor who has a nice good looking male nurse...
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
lol randi. Might as well have eye candy while we're sick and miserable.
-------------------- The advice I give, should not be considered medical advice. My opinion comes from years of research and experience. Posts: 233 | From Somewhere | Registered: Sep 2009
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posted
Randi, I don't know if this will help but here is the medicine recommended to me by the Physician's Assistant at a walk-in Urgent Care facility I went to when my doctor's office was "too busy to see me." This combination of meds worked waaaay better than any combo I've ever tried and have since recommended to anyone who will listen. ***PLEASE NOTE this was prior to my current TBD diagnosis and meds. I do not know how your current meds should be considered. I am NOT a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.
And Benzonatate 200 mg (Tessalon Perles)(Prescription needed) I just re-read you post and it looks like you said the Perles didn't work for you... hmm. That really surprises me. It stopped my cough when I felt like I was coughing up chunks of lung. lol Maybe it was the combination of the two that did the job.
I also LOVE to rub Vicks vapo rub on my chest, neck and under my nose. I don't really know if it truly helps or if it just a pampered feeling, since this is what my mom used to do to me when I was a kid with a cold.
Remember, plenty of liquids and rest. I hope you feel better soon.
Posts: 212 | From Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: Jul 2009
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
no, no, this is my primary care doctor, not my LLMD.
i only go to the llmd for my lyme treatment, everything else i go to this office.
i'm sure my llmd and his nurse would never do this.
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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ping
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6974
posted
randibear - Sorry to hear this. I've just gone through a similar, unfortunate experience much like this with Appendicitis, no less! My PCP yelled and blamed it on me! All kinds of trash. Suggest you attempt to do what I'm doing: Find another PCP. It's difficult to tell how a new one will react in this sort of situation, so don't be surprised if you have to move on to yet another.
It seems that not only has the medical establishment forgotten, but the public has forgotten that "we pay them for a service". If the service is bad, don't go back again.
I realize this is oversimplified, randibear, but my recent experience AND TBD sure sheds new light on these situations.
Best of everything to you.
ping "We are more than containers for Lyme"
-------------------- ping "We are more than containers for Lyme" Posts: 1302 | From Back in TX again | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Gosh, so sorry you have to deal with that sort of B.S...Health care just keeps getting worse and worse..
Makes ya just wanna go back to school to become an MD so you can treat yourself!
I just had my PCP tell me my recent blood work was "normal". Then when I got a copy I find out that my White Cell COunt is Low and my T4 is low. Like how is that "normal" - especially when I am feeling so sick.
I agree..just go to a walk in clinic or CVS has that Minute Clinic and I have found the NP's to be pretty good and easy to work with.
Hope you feel better soon. TG
Posts: 376 | From New Jersey | Registered: Jun 2009
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lymeinhell
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4622
posted
That's pretty rude of him.
Randi, just read that if you need to stop the hacking coughs, rub Vick's vapor rub ON THE BOTTOM OF YOUR FEET.
Haven't had to try this yet, but thought I'd share.
But if it's bronchitis, please don't let it go. A walkin might be the way to address it.
-------------------- Julie _ _ ___ _ _ lymeinhell
Blessed are those who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed. Posts: 2258 | From a better place than I was 11 yrs ago | Registered: Sep 2003
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sutherngrl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 16270
posted
I wonder if the doctor actually knows that the office staff or nurses are telling patients this. Sounds like a law suit waiting to happen. If they refuse to see you and you are a regular patient, that just doesn't sound right to me.
Whenever someone tells me something like this, I will ask their name, and then say something like, "so if something serious happens to me, I can say that you(say their name here) told me".....whatever they just told me. They will think twice about turning you down for an appointment.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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ping
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6974
posted
quote:Originally posted by sutherngrl: ...Whenever someone tells me something like this, I will ask their name, and then say something like, "so if something serious happens to me, I can say that you(say their name here) told me".....whatever they just told me. They will think twice about turning you down for an appointment.
Great idea!
-------------------- ping "We are more than containers for Lyme" Posts: 1302 | From Back in TX again | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Randibear call and ask to speak to the office manager. If they are talking to you like that then they are talking to other patients that way also. Tell the manager what the twit said and maybe they will get a an inservice on telephone etiquette. I don't like nurses like that either.....
Posts: 383 | From Ar | Registered: May 2007
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