The next stage of Cardiology?

[pellicle]

Advertised on Facebook ... boy the Algo really knows me

I should begin my practice soon ... probably don't even need to register with the AMA

I need to fish around for an online PhD to call myself Dr Pellicle

 

[Gail in Ca]

This would be laughable if it wasn’t happening now. I think doctors are somehow encouraged to go to the psychiatric side of medicine no matter the symptoms and it’s unsettling.
My daughter was feeling so sick and her friend who was finishing up at ucla medical school told her to see a psychiatrist! She came to nor cal where I lived, saw a gp, and was diagnosed with C. Diff and actinomysis and took antibiotics for 6 months. Either of these bacteria’s could’ve killed her!
Now, if there’s pain the docs want to give mood altering drugs. When I saw a therapist after my separation/divorce, she suggested mood altering drugs. I refused,not wanting to change the chemistry of my brain because my 32 yr marriage was gone. Why are medical people buying into this?

 

[pellicle]

Why are medical people buying into this?

No idea, but Huxley appears to have been right

 

[pellicle]

When I saw a therapist after my separation/divorce, she suggested mood altering drugs

I have a very poor view on most therapists, it all began during the year I transferred from Science into Psychology (to have a break, increase my GPA and maintain my enrolment at Uni). I'd never met a dumber bunch of broken weirdos in my entire life (upto or since).

So I really understand how Werner feels when he says this:


as you may recall my time between mid 2012 and through 2013 was difficult. During that time I felt isolated and was concerned my "center" may have slipped; so I decided to see a psychologist to "see". She was outwardly caring but the least capable of caring person I'd ever met, she was utterly not in touch with me nor made any effort to understand me. She applied standard (sterotypical) phrases and approaches it felt like I was speaking with a 15 year old; yet she was about 40. It seemed to me that her main focus was on making me dependent, on a continuing income stream.

A friend of mine (who'd lost her son, who's loss was the reason for my psych year break) recommended I see a medium to engage with the spirits. I'd known Dianne was bent this way for most of my life but thought "what the hell".

While the visit itself was hilarious (and I do wish I had video of that to check if my poker face was as good as I believed) the woman was genuinely caring and you could see that her goal was to help me to cope and to give me something to hold on to to get back on my path again. Since her whole business model is based on "single meeting readings" and "word of mouth" she was focused on being supportive and guiding.

What a contrast.

With respect to psychologists; I have great respect for a few philosophers and one or two also happen to be psychologists; the rest aren't worth burning.

I wish you well on your journey of medical exploration and reconciliation with the possibilities.

Best Wishes

 

[Protimenow]

When doctors (well, not all) can't find an answer to symptoms, they'll sometimes just give up and conclude that the problem is psychiatric, instead of clinical. I ran into this when I was an undergrad at UCLA. It took a student to hear my murmur and convince the 'real' doctors that my symptoms weren't all in my head.

 

[Gail in Ca]

I ended up with a very caring therapist that was provided for free to caregivers of people in hospice. My Mom was 99 and finally qualified for hospice, not that she would pass soon but they reevaluated every 6 mos. This gave her covered items for her care that she was paying out of pocket for and the therapy was one of those provided items. It really helped me. My Mom lived to be 101 1/2!

 

[slipkid]

Oh man, just saw this thread.

After I had 2 stents put in I was put on metoprolol 25mg (I think that was the dosage). I've discussed my problems on that drug in other threads.

Anyways, as soon I was given that pill (along with plavix), while still in the hospital b4 discharge I went from feeling absolutely great and energized to feeling like I was underwater or the surface of a planet with ten times the earth's gravity. Just complete and utter exhaustion plus sleepiness.

The "plan" as it was for getting the stents and returning to work was to have the stents put in on a stretch where I had 2 days off in a row (Tues/Wed) then go back to work at my horrible factory job working 12 hour shifts on that Thursday,

However I found once I got home that I could do NOTHING other than lie around watching TV and sleeping all day long.

This went on for like a week or whatever, saw my Primary physician (and I had to pull my car off to the side of the road on the way there because I could not remember exactly where I was or where I was going or how to get where I was supposed to be going) then when he saw me he told me I was just being ridiculous and that I needed to get out of bed and go for walks etc etc.

So when I got home (incidentally at the end of the visit I was so tired I could not get up and had to ask to stay in the exam room lying down until I felt I had enough energy to walk/drive home etc, and I even fell asleep in there), I tried to go for a walk. After like a block I was so exhausted I had to sit down on the curb until I had enough strength to go back home where I said "**** THIS I'M GOING BACK TO BED" which I did.

Fast forward to the following week as this horrible exhaustion continued unabated so I contacted my primary Dr via their web portal, he spoke to my cardiologist, then he had the nerve to tell me "We feel you should go on Zoloft"!!

WTF!?!?! So I'm just "crazy", "depressed", nothing to do with the stents, nothing to do with the new drugs I'm on, patient needs to go on drugs to combat depression and get back to work!!! Another great example of bad medicine/doctors who use psychological causes whether they exist or not to explain everything they don't have an answer to (or in my case did not even want to consider despite the exhaustion I was having is a very well known adverse effect of beta blockers like metoprolol).

Anyways I told him no thanks to the Zoloft. Eventually after telling me to take the metoprolol in the evening rather than in the morning (making no difference to how I felt) they had me cut down the metoprolol in half and my symptoms immediately decreased and I could go back to work (however I still had some issues on that drug until I was able to stop it completely).

I fucking HATE Drs.

 

[Protimenow]

I have to wonder why your doctors just didn't switch you to something OTHER THAN metoprolol.

I've just had an experience with a dentist that shakes my confidence a bit - I'll mention this in a different thread.