Dr too slow? Go to the hospital?

[justMongo]

The echocardiogram should reveal issues that might have been caused by Rheumatic Fever.
I think you're now on the right path and asking the right questions. The doctors should be able to give you better answers soon.

[dd777]

Unanswered questions seem to be in order.. Why it's taken so long to do anything. Has he refused medical treatment. Has your insurance or non-insurance required you to see this particular lackadaisical Physician.?
Hopefully, the new Physician (pulmonary) will indeed see the severity of your husbands unhealthy condition and forge ahead on the matters more quickly. Hopefully, for the best..

Great questions!! Thanks for asking

My husband has gone through many rounds of attempting to seek diagnosis and treatment. He has tried lots of western medical approaches and eastern and naturopathic approaches. He even moved to Arkansas to live full time with a friend there who is a massage therapist and reiki healer. his day was stress free with nothing to deal with other than trying to be positive and open his mind to healing .... but i have to admit, unfornutatly he does not share my spriritual view of the universe and our own roles in creating our experience in life and tends to be quite a pessimist --- he would call this being a realist! haha! I firmly believe he puts too much negative thought into his health which in turn creates a negative health experience.

Sine I have known him over the last 15 years he has circled back and forth between not wanting to see doctors because he had given up and being willing to try again. He is exhausted emotionally from being told it is all in his head, or from doctors being confused and giving up on him.

It is also complicated by chronic pain issues. we don't know what causes the chronic pain (although we have recently found evidence of calcium build-up and narrowing of the passages where nerves go through, loose joints causing frequent dislocations, cysts and other abnormalities and is seeing a physical therapist twice a week now --- i know i know, the number of symptoms are long and i havent even barely touched the surface of them all - its crazy).

Shortly after our son was born about 3 years ago he decided to go on pain medication to increase his ability to be an active and participating father. The pain management aspect of things makes it very complicated in many ways - both in terms of regulations and emotions and also potential complications. My husband has an extreme personality, is very sensitive to what he assumes other people think of him so he has refused to increase his dosage even once since he started taking the medication. he has also refused additional perscriptions for "break through pain" even though drs keep prescribing it him. he cares very much that drs not treat him like he is drug seeking - which most of them inevitably do. it causes a lot of anxiety for him. he is currently tapering off to make sure we get accurate test results and can effectively get a better view of any complications they could be causing.

But i have seen a massive shift lately (the last 5 months or so) in both his symptoms (getting much worse, very rapidly) and his attitude (improving). He has shifted from being a victim to just wanting to live a full and happy life whatever that might mean. He is "all-in" right now. Last October we even moved our family into a tiny 1 bedroom apartment in his father's attic in order to afford the health care costs of doing everything we can try find some answers.

The dr is he is seeing currently is who he was able to find that was willing to work on a pain management program with him without having a diagnosis. the dr believes him and treats him like a real person. before these latest test results he was willing to continue the pain management plan while they explored diagnosis. so he has been hesitant to insult or bypass him in any way. the only reason he started seeing this new dr was because his last pain management dr moved out of town and was a 4hr drive away.

---

The echocardiogram should reveal issues that might have been caused by Rheumatic Fever.
I think you're now on the right path and asking the right questions. The doctors should be able to give you better answers soon.

Thank you so much for your attention. my social circle is small right now so it is good to even just vent a bit and know that my concerns aren't necessarily over reacting!!

[dd777]

dd777,

Your husband might want to purchase a glucometer and start measuring his blood sugar in response to the foods he eats. That is how I knew I had a problem in spite of doctors not being concerned even though I recently joined the pre diabetic club.

By doing this, he'll learn what foods cause big time spikes vs. the ones that don't. For example, oatmeal, which is thought of as a diabetic friendly food by some in the medical profession caused me to have a 78 point spike which is not good. Fats and a moderate amount of protein do not.

I would also google the diabetes daily forum as I have found those folks very friendly and helpful.

Best of luck.

49er

Thank you for your suggestion! His dr finally prescribed one today and he is supposed to pick it up tomorrow. drs have seen blood sugar issues for at least 5 or 6 years so i don't understand why it took so long. I've been pushing him to get one for soo long but he doesnt always listen to me! i even got him one from my mom and then he said the strips were too expensive. i am insisting now that he picks it up and i WILL be the nagging wife if i have to!!! (booooo)

[Dawei]

dd-- For my money, JustMongo has offered some helpful thoughts and ideas. About your hubby's upcoming Echo, I can tell you this test will truly shed light on exactly what's going on with his heart. I've had several of them before, during and after heart surgery. It's some amazing technology, and since the pt. is wide awake during this painless procedure, I have been able to see what the echo sees and learn a little by chatting with the tech running the test while it's in progress. So, I believe you can feel confident that it will show the doc what's what with your husband's heart. BTW--my heart surgeon used repeated Echos during my surgery because it shows him exactly how the heart is functioning. He told me he also called for one more just before starting the sewing me up procedure to double check that all was indeed well.
As far as feeling loyalty to a particular doc or fear of hurting his/her feelings if you decide to see another doc for a second (or third) opinion, don't worry about such thoughts. If the doc is that thin skinned (and I'd doubt very many are), he/she will get over it. Meanwhile, it's you (or in this case your hubby) who wants the best medical care. So, do what you need to in order to get that desired high level of concern and care from a doc. P.S. I have a tiny insight into the world of docs, since my DW is one.

David

[PoolQ]

so here is some personal experiences that may give you some perspective:
1. I am type II now controlled by diet. Diagnosed at over 300 glucose, no around 105 in the morning.
2. after the largest meal anyone can eat should not send glucose above 160
3. It took me 2 years to get it under control and all the nerve damage is gone.
4. A year ago December I got as close to a full heart attack as you can get without actually having one. Laid down at night and felt like heart burn. Sat up and no better, put feet on the floor and no better. Not total pain, just not like anything I had ever felt before. Woke my wife up and said " something is wrong here". Should have called an ambulance, but I really did not have any of the symptoms you hear about on the PSA's. Walked into the ER and they sat me down and wired me up. "You are having a heart attack right now". If I would have rolled over and gone to sleep I would have died. Point is if it's not catastrophic, you have some time. Pay attention to anything going on in the chest that is just not right.
5. My doctor said that any clamp on oximeter is not accurate below 60. The O2 is indeed low you just don't really know what it is.
6. Unless he has a massive heart attack, what did not kill him yesterday most likely will not kill him today. Be proactive and keep after it, but don't panic unless of course it is a heart attack.

My wife says there is a reason it is call medical practice. They do not know everything and the possible combinations are limitless. Read. Talk. Persist. Talk to others in the medical field, they may have a new idea or have seen it before. Doctors do not all know the same things. Sometimes when a Doctor cannot figure it out they will say it's all in your head. Most of the time they are right but often they are wrong. Even more often they personally just don't know.

People have come on these forums with all manner of issues and having taken all the test available. You get a feel for them and from what I can tell your husband truly does have something going on, it is not all in his head. PERSIST. Also don't fall for quacks that just want to take your money.

[otrpu]

My PCP has no hesitation sending me to a Specialist for care. If s/he didn't, I'd find another. If he hadn't. . .I'd likely be dead. As far as I'm concerned, that's how it should be. JMHO

Cheers,
otrpu

[DariaVader]

regarding the unexplained pains --- have you explored food or medication allergies? I have several for which the reactions range from myalgias (which were unexplained pain for a long time) to throat constricting anaphilaxis. Just a thought...

[trish6hundred]

Hi dd777,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Wow, you and your husband have been through a lot.
I wish you both good luck in getting his health problems straightened out.
Much success to you both and hang in there for more responses to your post.

[49er]

dd777,

Your husband might want to purchase a glucometer and start measuring his blood sugar in response to the foods he eats. That is how I knew I had a problem in spite of doctors not being concerned even though I recently joined the pre diabetic club.

By doing this, he'll learn what foods cause big time spikes vs. the ones that don't. For example, oatmeal, which is thought of as a diabetic friendly food by some in the medical profession caused me to have a 78 point spike which is not good. Fats and a moderate amount of protein do not.

I would also google the diabetes daily forum as I have found those folks very friendly and helpful.

Best of luck.

49er

Thank you for your suggestion! His dr finally prescribed one today and he is supposed to pick it up tomorrow. drs have seen blood sugar issues for at least 5 or 6 years so i don't understand why it took so long. I've been pushing him to get one for soo long but he doesnt always listen to me! i even got him one from my mom and then he said the strips were too expensive. i am insisting now that he picks it up and i WILL be the nagging wife if i have to!!! (booooo)

Good to hear.

If you google Misdiagnosis By Design, "The Story Behind the ADA Diagnostic Criteria", that will provide an excellent explanation. One thing the article did mention is many of the signs that people show that point to diabetes can easily be blamed on something else. By the time, someone gets a diabetes diagnosis, alot more damage has occurred.

PoolQ, on the phlaunt website, there is research showing that any blood sugars above 140 after 1 hour can eventually be damaging. On lowcarb RN's website and according to other folks, blood sugars for diabetics shouldn't go above 110/120 after a meal. Obviously, each person has to decide for themselves what makes sense in their own situation.

49er

[GrammaBear]

dd777,

Your husband might want to purchase a glucometer and start measuring his blood sugar in response to the foods he eats. That is how I knew I had a problem in spite of doctors not being concerned even though I recently joined the pre diabetic club.

By doing this, he'll learn what foods cause big time spikes vs. the ones that don't. For example, oatmeal, which is thought of as a diabetic friendly food by some in the medical profession caused me to have a 78 point spike which is not good. Fats and a moderate amount of protein do not.

I would also google the diabetes daily forum as I have found those folks very friendly and helpful.

Best of luck.

49er

Thank you for your suggestion! His dr finally prescribed one today and he is supposed to pick it up tomorrow. drs have seen blood sugar issues for at least 5 or 6 years so i don't understand why it took so long. I've been pushing him to get one for soo long but he doesnt always listen to me! i even got him one from my mom and then he said the strips were too expensive. i am insisting now that he picks it up and i WILL be the nagging wife if i have to!!! (booooo)

Good to hear.

If you google Misdiagnosis By Design, "The Story Behind the ADA Diagnostic Criteria", that will provide an excellent explanation. One thing the article did mention is many of the signs that people show that point to diabetes can easily be blamed on something else. By the time, someone gets a diabetes diagnosis, alot more damage has occurred.

PoolQ, on the phlaunt website, there is research showing that any blood sugars above 140 after 1 hour can eventually be damaging. On lowcarb RN's website and according to other folks, blood sugars for diabetics shouldn't go above 110/120 after a meal. Obviously, each person has to decide for themselves what makes sense in their own situation.

49er

Excellent advice and I wish it had been given to me before my diagnosis. I was one of 'those' people who was mis-diagnosed and my doctor was none too happy when I sought help from another doctor.