My daughter in law suggested I change family doctors to the one she and my son are using. I really hated to do it since the one I have had since moving to Texas was the only supportive doctor I have had! However, he is getting older and they won't bill for medicare as a secondary (they won't bill any secondary insurance).
Soooo I decided to give the new family doc a try.. so many of the new ones are "HMO trained" and as far as I am concerned they just want to get you out the door as fast as possible with a pill and a shove toward the door. Testing is usually out of the question for everything... even though I don't have an HMO...
Anyway, the new doc asked if I had ever had an IMT test and I said no that I had been to the cardiologist several months ago for a regular stress test, EEG, then to the hospital for a nuclear stress test and everything checked out fine.
He said that at my age it would be a good idea to have the thickness of the walls of the veins in my neck checked with an IMT. Since my insurance paid for it.. I figured what the heck..
Last week there was a spot on the news about women and heart attacks. It said women did not usually have build up/blockages in their arteries.. like men.. they tended to have evenly distributed deposits and should get different test. I was wondering if the IMT had been a waste of time and money.
Yesterday I got the results of my IMT and was I surprised... I have two blockages.. not evenly distributed desposits.....
Soooo next week I will be going to the hospital for a doppler test on my neck...
The cardiologist had ordered the most expensive tests and pronounced me ok... the new fam. doc is the one who found the blockages through the IMT test.... so much for specialists... geeze...
grannyh
Has anyone here had an IMT test?
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Hi Granny,
Did your cardiologist give you a C-reactive protein, (CRP), test? It would be interesting to see how that result correlated with the Intima Media Thickness, (IMT), test.
I'm certainly no doctor, but I get the impression that the IMT test is a very reliable test. (It's also relatively new). I think that it is sometimes used in cases where there is a question resulting from conflicting results from other tests, such as low LDL levels, but high CRP results.
I'm curious as to why your new doctor gave you that test, but evidentally he has some insight that your cardiologist didn't have. Or maybe he's actually concerned about his patients' welfare, enough to select tests for the benefit of the patient, rather than the benefit of his bank account.
Maybe your cardiologist treats patients the same way that my GI treated me, about five years ago. He may have seen indications of those blockages, but figured that you didn't need to know about it. It might be interesting to get copies of those test results, and compare them with what he told you. When I did that, I found the reports to be a real eye-opener.
Regarding your ".... so much for specialists... geeze... " comment, I suspect that one of the primary problems with many specialists, is that they think that they are specialists, and therefore don't have to devote much thought to what they are doing--it all becomes sort of a monotonous routine, after a while. A GP, on the other hand, has to actually do a little thinking, with almost every case, since he/she sees so much variety.
Wayne
Did your cardiologist give you a C-reactive protein, (CRP), test? It would be interesting to see how that result correlated with the Intima Media Thickness, (IMT), test.
I'm certainly no doctor, but I get the impression that the IMT test is a very reliable test. (It's also relatively new). I think that it is sometimes used in cases where there is a question resulting from conflicting results from other tests, such as low LDL levels, but high CRP results.
I'm curious as to why your new doctor gave you that test, but evidentally he has some insight that your cardiologist didn't have. Or maybe he's actually concerned about his patients' welfare, enough to select tests for the benefit of the patient, rather than the benefit of his bank account.
Maybe your cardiologist treats patients the same way that my GI treated me, about five years ago. He may have seen indications of those blockages, but figured that you didn't need to know about it. It might be interesting to get copies of those test results, and compare them with what he told you. When I did that, I found the reports to be a real eye-opener.
Regarding your ".... so much for specialists... geeze... " comment, I suspect that one of the primary problems with many specialists, is that they think that they are specialists, and therefore don't have to devote much thought to what they are doing--it all becomes sort of a monotonous routine, after a while. A GP, on the other hand, has to actually do a little thinking, with almost every case, since he/she sees so much variety.
Wayne
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Going to contact cardiologist office on Monday for a copy of the results from the tests he did:)
The new family doc actually seems to care about his patients..my daughter in law is a nursing student and she thinks he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. There is one partner who works Saturdays and she says he is fantastic too..
grannyh
The new family doc actually seems to care about his patients..my daughter in law is a nursing student and she thinks he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. There is one partner who works Saturdays and she says he is fantastic too..
grannyh
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Dear grannyh,
Yay! I am so happy for you. It's such a gift to have a capable doctor. I saw the news report about women and heart disease too - kind of scary. Let us know after Monday what the next step is for you . . . Love, Marsha
Yay! I am so happy for you. It's such a gift to have a capable doctor. I saw the news report about women and heart disease too - kind of scary. Let us know after Monday what the next step is for you . . . Love, Marsha
Grannyh,
If the cardiologist won't/can't give you a copy of the report, contact the "Release of Records" office at the hospital. They can release a copy to you, of any report that you want, but you will surely have to sign a release form, to get the reports. (You will need to know the dates of the tests, in order to help them locate the various tests for which you want copies of the reports).
Wayne
If the cardiologist won't/can't give you a copy of the report, contact the "Release of Records" office at the hospital. They can release a copy to you, of any report that you want, but you will surely have to sign a release form, to get the reports. (You will need to know the dates of the tests, in order to help them locate the various tests for which you want copies of the reports).
Wayne
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Really glad your doctor found the problem before it made itself known in some really unpleasant way. Now I'm hoping my doc will send me for one. Hmmmmmmmmm. I guess policies vary by hospitals. I picked my copies up in person, and there was absolutely no charge, at my hospital. They did mention, though, that if I wanted them sent to anyone else, there would be a charge.
Wayne
Wayne
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Hi grannyh,
I'm wondering if perhaps your new doc didn't HEAR a bruit in your neck? Did he mention hearing anything with his stethoscope? I'll bet he listened to your neck, didn't he?
May have missed something from a prior post, but were/are you having any symptoms that could be related to the build-ups in your neck? Otherwise, I would assume this is related to the high cholesterol as a precautionary measure. Btw, is that under control with the new medication?
It sure is the pits having things that have to be monitored periodically. I'll be soooo glad when I no longer have to run down to M.D. Anderson for the leg ultrasound, and exam. It's such a hassle, particularly when I have coverage for Mom for such a brief time, and need to grocery shop, etc. sometime. I'm absolutely certain that thing's not going to grow back, but still have to do the 5 yrs before they'll release me. Hey, they give some people less than that for manslaughter!!
I need to re-check my lipids, like yesterday, and wanted to add the C-RP as one of my screenings, but again, it's hard to get away from here, and have had to take Mom in for fall-related stuff lately. She fell again right by her chair while I was trying to cook, and the skin on her forearm tore soooo badly that it bled all over her blouse. It really needed some suturing, but we just cleaned it and pulled the edges of the skin together as well as we could, and covered it. She even pulled apart another one that she got just removing a blouse where the sleeve caught, and it ripped apart right below the new one, even though it was under an extra large bandaide. I try so hard to take good care of her, and it just seems impossible to get everything healed up at once!
This time she just broke her fall on the way down on a knee or maybe both, and said that it wasn't nearly as bad as the fall she had three weeks ago -- didn't hurt like that, in other words. She wasn't supposed to have gotten up and I was watching her while I cooked, and all of a sudden, noticed that she wasn't in her recliner after looking away just a second. That's how fast she is.
I've gotten an extra long one of those belts so that I could fit it around the chair back with her in the chair, but she HATES to have it on her, and even had the belt pulled all the way around in front attempting to undo it, but if I'd not taken it off, she would've figured it out pretty quick, I'm sure. I couldn't convince her to think of it as just a seat belt so she wouldn't forget to stay put. I really only need it sometimes for like 5 seconds, so I won't have to drag her AND the laundry to the other end of the house to do the wash. It would be preferable to take her and then go back and get the dirty clothes, but the other day, I took her to where the hallway makes a turn so that she could see me all the way back to the clothes basket, then left the clothes at that "corner" taking her to the entrance to the den, dragged the clothes basket up to that door, took her across the den, etc., etc., until she could see me in the utility room loading the washing machine. Now you see why I wanted to belt her in for just a second, and then come back to her!
Problem is that her delusions and hallucinations scare her to death. At least she hasn't, thus far anyway, had any allergic reaction to the recently increased dose of anti-psychotic med, At least it's enabling her to sleep at night, and she doesn't get aggitated to the extent that she did. The aggitation part was something that came up rather quickly before the first time we started her on this new medication. Problem though is that with her antibiotic allergies, and iffy reaction to another, that leaves only Cipro when you take into account that with this stuff, the rest of them are contraindicated, and we'd really rather have a few more options than just the one antibiotic. I know there are a few others that come in low doses with low side effect profiles, but I'd hate to have to take her completely off of this one to start another. Sometimes there has to be a certain period of time off of the former medication before starting a new one, so I'm not sure about this one and the other one we were thinking about. I'd go bananas if she were taken off totally for any period of time. Might have to do it like, "two for me, one for you." if you get my drift!
Wow, this is toooo long!
Yours, Luce
I'm wondering if perhaps your new doc didn't HEAR a bruit in your neck? Did he mention hearing anything with his stethoscope? I'll bet he listened to your neck, didn't he?
May have missed something from a prior post, but were/are you having any symptoms that could be related to the build-ups in your neck? Otherwise, I would assume this is related to the high cholesterol as a precautionary measure. Btw, is that under control with the new medication?
It sure is the pits having things that have to be monitored periodically. I'll be soooo glad when I no longer have to run down to M.D. Anderson for the leg ultrasound, and exam. It's such a hassle, particularly when I have coverage for Mom for such a brief time, and need to grocery shop, etc. sometime. I'm absolutely certain that thing's not going to grow back, but still have to do the 5 yrs before they'll release me. Hey, they give some people less than that for manslaughter!!
I need to re-check my lipids, like yesterday, and wanted to add the C-RP as one of my screenings, but again, it's hard to get away from here, and have had to take Mom in for fall-related stuff lately. She fell again right by her chair while I was trying to cook, and the skin on her forearm tore soooo badly that it bled all over her blouse. It really needed some suturing, but we just cleaned it and pulled the edges of the skin together as well as we could, and covered it. She even pulled apart another one that she got just removing a blouse where the sleeve caught, and it ripped apart right below the new one, even though it was under an extra large bandaide. I try so hard to take good care of her, and it just seems impossible to get everything healed up at once!
This time she just broke her fall on the way down on a knee or maybe both, and said that it wasn't nearly as bad as the fall she had three weeks ago -- didn't hurt like that, in other words. She wasn't supposed to have gotten up and I was watching her while I cooked, and all of a sudden, noticed that she wasn't in her recliner after looking away just a second. That's how fast she is.
I've gotten an extra long one of those belts so that I could fit it around the chair back with her in the chair, but she HATES to have it on her, and even had the belt pulled all the way around in front attempting to undo it, but if I'd not taken it off, she would've figured it out pretty quick, I'm sure. I couldn't convince her to think of it as just a seat belt so she wouldn't forget to stay put. I really only need it sometimes for like 5 seconds, so I won't have to drag her AND the laundry to the other end of the house to do the wash. It would be preferable to take her and then go back and get the dirty clothes, but the other day, I took her to where the hallway makes a turn so that she could see me all the way back to the clothes basket, then left the clothes at that "corner" taking her to the entrance to the den, dragged the clothes basket up to that door, took her across the den, etc., etc., until she could see me in the utility room loading the washing machine. Now you see why I wanted to belt her in for just a second, and then come back to her!
Problem is that her delusions and hallucinations scare her to death. At least she hasn't, thus far anyway, had any allergic reaction to the recently increased dose of anti-psychotic med, At least it's enabling her to sleep at night, and she doesn't get aggitated to the extent that she did. The aggitation part was something that came up rather quickly before the first time we started her on this new medication. Problem though is that with her antibiotic allergies, and iffy reaction to another, that leaves only Cipro when you take into account that with this stuff, the rest of them are contraindicated, and we'd really rather have a few more options than just the one antibiotic. I know there are a few others that come in low doses with low side effect profiles, but I'd hate to have to take her completely off of this one to start another. Sometimes there has to be a certain period of time off of the former medication before starting a new one, so I'm not sure about this one and the other one we were thinking about. I'd go bananas if she were taken off totally for any period of time. Might have to do it like, "two for me, one for you." if you get my drift!
Wow, this is toooo long!
Yours, Luce
