Need to vent

[OttawaGrl]

So I have a GI who is suppose to be the best in my area. Actually he is suppose to be the best for the province. I only happen to get him as a GI cause he consulted on my last surgery. Anyways I have seen him a few times. Right off the bat he admitted to not knowing much about LC. He said it was rare and it usually only occurred in males over the age of 50.

I was also diagnosed with Right Colonic Diverticulitis and was told I had an intussusception. My GI was the one who put me on budesoine, but that didn't help me at all. I finally found this website and was able to get my bowel movements under some control with going GF,DF,EF. When I told my GI that eliminating those food from my system helped, he said it was impossible and it was all in my head.

I told him I was still in a lot of pain on the lower left side of my stomach. He did more test, said it was most likely the intussusception and that I was too young to do anything about it! I argued with him on this. He said he technically couldn't suggest this but I should bring gluten back into my diet and make myself sick and go find my own surgeon, if not, there was nothing else he could do to help me.

Needless to say I started looking for another GI. I found one through my Aunt. She is a patient of his and a good friend. She asked me to get a referral from my regular doctor and she would hand deliver it to the new GI. So I did. And my doctor also requested my old GI's notes.

I picked up those notes yesterday and was livid! I couldn't believe what the notes said. First off, I found out not only do I have an intussusception, I have THREE different ones! It also said he suggested anytime I had any type of pain or inflammation I should go right away to the ER for another CT scan so they could pin point the intussusceptions and prepare for surgery! I WAS NEVER TOLD THIS! Any time I had pain I would call his office and he never called me back!
The notes also said he suggested all these tests and medications but I refused medical help!

I am so mad! I can't wait to get rid of this GI and get a new one! I just went through three weeks of extreme pain and constipation. Anytime I ate any type of food I would wake up on the floor. I was passing out from the pain. I called him and never heard anything back. And I was so tired of going to the hospital and them not doing anything because all they do is call my GI, give me pain meds and send me home... so I didn't go. Then last saturday the pain just disappeared and I was able to eat again.

I am so frustrated and just needed to vent...

[tex]

Hi Tracy,

I had a similar experience. Following my colonoscopy, my GI specialist never told me about the stenosis (narrowing) in my sigmoid colon. 5 years later I had to have emergency surgery resulting in a colostomy because of a blockage there. After I recovered from the surgery, I went by the records office at the hospital and picked up a copy of the original endoscopy report, otherwise I would never have known that he reported it 5 years earlier..

These days, I get copies of medical reports ASAP. I guess such arrogant and incompetent doctors think that we're too stupid to understand such issues, or they think that what we don't know can't hurt us, so they don't bother to tell us. As the old country and western song goes, "May the bird of paradise fly up their nose. May an elephant caress them with it's toes." LOL.

Obviously your original GI specialist is highly overrated. He's not only incompetent, but he's a fraud, and an arrogant ass, to boot. Since the fraud part includes the falsification of medical records, I wonder if that might be classified as a felony offense in Ontario. It would be in most states in the U. S., but getting a conviction is much easier said than done, since it usually boils down to the patient's word against the doctor's word.

I hope your new GI consultant is the exact opposite, and he will prove to be very helpful.

Tex

[Jeanemcl]

Frustrated???? That's all??? This stuff is hard enough to deal with when everyone is nice!!! So sorry. Hope this next GI helps.
Jean

[DJ]

Obviously your original GI specialist is highly overrated. He's not only incompetent, but he's a fraud, and an arrogant ass, to boot. Since the fraud part includes the falsification of medical records, I wonder if that might be classified as a felony offense in Ontario. It would be in most states in the U. S., but getting a conviction is much easier said than done, since it usually boils down to the patient's word against the doctor's word.

Tex

I strongly agree. This doctor sounds like an ass. I don't know about Canada but such events can be reported here. Does your medical system have an oversight agency that assesses safety? Here a doctor could be reported to a licensing board or the licensing board could provide guidance. If a doctor works within a system, such as a hospital, the hospital would be reported to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). They hold the purse strings and make the rules here and they are taken very seriously.

I hope that your new GI is better.

[JLH]

I hope and pray that the new one will be better.

I thought it was older women who supposedly get MC the most.

Added from Mayco Clinic site: "Age and gender. Microscopic colitis is most common in people ages 50 to 70 and more common in women than men."

[DebE13]

Sorry for your frustrations. I thought I had some bad experiences. Yikes, your story beats mine hands down. Glad to see you moved on and didn't take his iodiotic advice. I used to leave the doctors office fuming when they didn't take me seriously. At one point, every time I ate, I got sick. I insisted it had to be food and turns out it was- just about everything I was eating at the time.

I still get advise from my GI to eat bland foods like cream of wheat and toast if I have an upset.

[UkuleleLady]

I thought it was older women who supposedly get MC the most.

Exactly, that's what my GI told me over and over as if I was some anomaly getting this at 38.

They really know very little about this at all.

I can only wish you good luck in finding a new one.

Nancy

[Lesley]

And my doctor told me that he looked for it because it was found mostly in older females! Shows what they know.

Your story is chilling. Doctors like that need to be reported so that people are aware of what they are doing. And even if you can't sue it is good to bring such awareness.

[sunny]

Boy Howdy! This guy must have graduated at the bottom of the list! Glad you vented! Grrrr! This is totally unacceptable, but I have had a few such gems in my journey. I'm so sorry you had this fool for a healer.
Sunny

[Lesley]

Sunny - in my experience very few doctors are healers. In fact they couldn't be further from it.

[DebE13]

I was dx in my 30s too. I've most of them to be like cats in a litter box- just cover things up a bit and walk away.

[JenniferS]

Wow, I am so sorry! :( I am blessed to have a very thorough and communicated GI, one who combines diet with meds. Then again, I'm pretty sure she has some form of IBD, based on things she's said. And she's connected with a university.

As an aside, I just turned 39 yesterday, and I was diagnosed last Oct. I think there's probably many with lc/cc that go undiagnosed as it can only be found with a biopsy. And as ironic as it may seem, I know of friends who've had colonoscopies for D with no biopsies taken! Seems to me those folks should be reimbursed the horrendous fee!

As another interesting aside, my biopsies and blood work were negative for celiac, but my current GI put me down as a celiac (on my med. chart). Which I'm glad, as because of this, the dietician explained the ins and outs of cross-contamination. I had no idea!

[OttawaGrl]

Thanks everyone for your support. I was truly frustrated and livid when I found everything out yesterday. I plan on making a complaint against the doctor.

I am just getting so very very down with all this, I feel like I am running in circles. I am really hoping to get an appointment with this new GI. Another friend of mine at work is also a patient of this new GI. He had an appointment with him this morning. So he mentioned everything to him about me as well. This new GI is going to get so annoyed with hearing my name he will have to accept me just to have people stop pestering him about me!

I would just really like answers on these intussusceptions. I know they are suppose to be unusual to see in adults and I have 3 of them. The more I read up on them, the more I want it taken care of right away. They have known for three years I have them and still they have done nothing. I just want some answers... and results hopefully.

Thanks again for letting me vent!