So, You've Been To See A Lot Of Doctors

Friday (November 14) I had a couple of doctor's appointments, one of which was to be seen by a cardiologist for the first time. When you've been feeling dizzy, faint, having fluctuating blood pressure, a racing heart, and chest pain you kind of want to get it checked out. Naturally, they checked my vitals and weight like and good doctor's office would. My vitals, while sitting, was 94/58 with a heart rate of 70. Now, these are considered normal vitals, but on the lower end. I do not run marathons here, people! I can barely do palates in my living room!

Anyway, it was off to sit in a room...

When the doctor came in, her opening line was, "So, you've been seeing a lot of doctors."  Instantly that put me, as the patient, on the defensive. It is not my fault that my general practitioner passed me to my neurologist who then passed me to my ENT who then passed me BACK to my general practioner who then passed me to the cardiologist. If I had a magic wand, machine, or potion that could show them what was going on, I would us it, but those such things do not exist, so I get to play the game of Doctor Roullete and hope for the best!

After giving her a quick run down of my history, about how I suddenly got sick out of the blue in 2010...blahblahblah...then told her about how my blood pressure an go from something like 94/58 at one appointment to 120/65 at the next within 20 minutes (all within "normal" range, but there's a fluctuation)...how when I stand up sometimes I feel like I'm going to faint...how I have "blackout vision" accompanying these near fainting spells...how I have had episodes of a racing heartbeat...how I'm ALWAYS a cold. 

Her attitude and demeanor changed...

Right there in the office I was given an Ecocadiogram (EKG), hooked up from stem to stern with wires as they monitored my heart:: it was normal. She ordered me to wear a heart monitor for two weeks starting the day before Thanksgiving (Happy Thanksgiving To Me!) in the hopes of catching one of these episodes (which she should) on the cardiac monitor. She also referred me to go to Kaiser Sunset to have the tilt table test done to see how my body responds to the change in position (that should be interesting!)

She asked if I had any questions or concerns and I told her that I feel like doctors think I'm a hypochondriac and that I've voiced that concern a number of times. She said that I've got legit things going on, so not to worry. I inquired about the possibility of this craziness being Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and she said that it's quite possible considering what I was describing. I have gastroparesis, peripheral neuropathy, and migraines which points to possible dysautonomia/POTS. So, after the testing, we'll see what the outcome is. 

It's just interesting to me that, coming into the appointment the doctor might have assumed I was doctor hopping or something. Using words like "so, you've been seeing a lot of doctors" doesn't really make a patient feel like you're going to believe what they have to say. I think, however, that after she listened to me, saw my history, saw my blood pressure for the day, felt how cold I am, and heard my family history (BAD heart problems) her perspective was changed.

Doctors need to be mindful of their word choices regardless of who they're dealing with. In this case it was someone with chronic illnesses. But words can hurt. Even something as simple as "So, you e been to see a lot of doctors."