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Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 1:21 am
by SLEEPY ANGEL
2BassetMom
and
Rustsmith---
I know what it's like to be anchored down by a cat sleeping in your lap.
My ID here is "SLEEPY ANGEL" because my Siamese is named Angel---
and when I'm up and walking around because of RLS, there's my Angel walking
WITH me--- and he looks oh so SLEEPY! He wishes I'd get back in bed...

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 2:05 am
by Yankiwi
Sleepy Angel, that's a really cool name and it's fun to know how it came about. Mine is pretty obvious – I'm a Yankee-Kiwi and proud to say a citizen of both countries as of last year. It only took 30 years to get around to becoming a Kiwi!

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 12:22 pm
by legsbestill
I love 'Yankiwi' - am so dozy it took a while for the penny to drop ... got the kiwi part and was thinking about you the other day when was in Feldenkrais (thinking maybe you should consider taking it up as your husband enjoyed it so much - it is very soothing) and suddenly got the 'Yank' part. Was your husband a yank too?

We have introduced a kitten into the house and I had visions of Sleepy Angel's arrangement - gently dozing (jerking and squirming) with sleepy cat contributed to the soporific atmosphere. But the kitten - now nearly fully grown - is completely bonkers - never rests, tears around the house leaving destruction in its wake - loves humans - seems to live to be in our company but bites us and scratches us persistently - carefully so as not to break the skin but enough to be deeply unsoothing. It has however given a whole new lease of life to our dog which had gone into a premature decline after the death of its fellow canine. The kitten torments the dog and they wrestle incessantly.

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 6:45 pm
by SLEEPY ANGEL
legsbestill---
Well, after all the cats that I've had (over 31 years) I can say that they certainly can DIFFER in personality. My "Angel" can do a bit of "biting" but not to break the skin, and his tail will whap-whap when he's not happy to be petted! Go figure!? He is very CLINGING and (as I say, follows me around like a dog might)--- very devoted, and willing to go without his sleep when I must keep walking... trudging along with me, poor thing. I feel sorry for a dog who has to cope with a cat !

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 7:39 am
by Yankiwi
My husband was from England. His parents moved to New Zealand when he was 10 so he wouldn't have to take the 11+ exams which decided the rest of your life. He also became a Kiwi when I did – after 60 years here! It was a very happy day. Every family (about eight) was presented with a native tree to plant in their own garden.

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 10:28 am
by badnights
eternityroad wrote:What I really fear, and this may seem silly, is to have to go to ER or get a knee replacement (I had knee surgery five years ago) and they don't give me my meds. Getting the squirms and not being able to move.
Not silly at all! That's my worst nightmare, and probably everyone else's here too!

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 12:40 pm
by Polar Bear
eternityroad wrote:
What I really fear, and this may seem silly, is to have to go to ER or get a knee replacement (I had knee surgery five years ago) and they don't give me my meds. Getting the squirms and not being able to move.

badnights replied:
Not silly at all! That's my worst nightmare, and probably everyone else's here too!

Oh, how I agree with eternityroad and badnights. A few years ago I made a folder with information about RLS and surgery. Also details of my own particular medication regime and how that could change for the worse if I was involuntarily sedentary. I showed it to my husband with instructions that it was to accompany me if I was ever admitted to hospital for whatever reason. On reflection, I should go locate it and keep it convenient.

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 7:01 pm
by Gaelyl
I have been on methadone for 4 years after requip sent me into augmentation . The fact that methadone is used for rls is unknown to most doctors...whoever they are. I could write a book on the horrible ways I have been treated by ER docs, to cardiologists, ....Recently, I went to ER for a fall I had taken. The ER doctor walked in and said "I'm Dr. so & so, Why are you on methadone??" in a very confrontational tone. i explained & he said "yeah, right." I had pinched a nerve in my back when I fell and was in extreme pain. When I asked for something for the pain....he replies "oh, I think you have your methadone." And he left me in pain. 5mg of methadone is not a significant pain med. I have learned you get your reliable, steadfast doc who prescribes the methadone (and pray he doesn't fall off the grid for some reason) and your very reliable drug store. Because walking into a pharmacy who doesn't know you, my guess you have .05% of getting it filled. The last nightwalker had a big section on info for doctors and healthcare providers.....I sort of copied and pasted a shorter version and I now carry it in my purse, so the next time a doctor questions my use of methadone, I will give him/her a copy to maybe educate a bit. Whether that will help (esp. when in ER). I guess I will find out. Trying to explain myself to doctors works about 50.50, but many just don't know. Guess if it educates a couple doctors, then good.

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 8:42 pm
by ViewsAskew
You are so right, Gaelyl. Welcome to the board!

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 8:57 pm
by Polar Bear
Gaelyl = This makes me so angry, we are patients, we suffer, we are not standing on a street corner trying to do a deal !!
How dare we be judged.

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 10:29 pm
by Rustsmith
Gaelyl, welcome to the board. Yesterday I had to go to the ER because of a very unusual headache that did not respond to my migraine meds or to my daily methadone. Unlike your experience, when the nurse came in to get my medical history, she asked why I was taking methadone and when I said that it was for RLS she replied "Oh, I know that that is. My grandmother has it. I knew what she had, but it was impossible to tell the doctors how to diagnosis her problem". When the ER doctor came in, he just accepted it.

However, there was a big sign on the wall of my treatment room that gave the hospital policy for pain meds. There was one section about what "we usually will not do" and one of the lines said that they would not provide methadone or suboxone for missed doses. So, essentially if I were in a car accident that occurred prior to my daily methadone pill and ended up in the ER for a number of hours, they would not provide me with a pill even if I started going into withdrawal. What sort of care is a hospital providing if the will treat an emergency but at the same time are willing to let a patient go into withdrawal? The will treat one physical problem but are willing to let another very painful condition go completely untreated simply because of company policy and politics? What ever happened to the Hippocratic Oath and do no harm?

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 7:31 pm
by badnights
gaelyl wrote:The last nightwalker had a big section on info for doctors and healthcare providers.....I sort of copied and pasted a shorter version and I now carry it in my purse, so the next time a doctor questions my use of methadone, I will give him/her a copy to maybe educate a bit.
That's a great idea. I have to do something like that. I am so complacent because I mostly (these days) deal with doctors who "get" it, but what happens if I'm in an accident or have some other problem, especially in a different city?

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 6:03 pm
by ViewsAskew
badnights wrote:
gaelyl wrote:The last nightwalker had a big section on info for doctors and healthcare providers.....I sort of copied and pasted a shorter version and I now carry it in my purse, so the next time a doctor questions my use of methadone, I will give him/her a copy to maybe educate a bit.
That's a great idea. I have to do something like that. I am so complacent because I mostly (these days) deal with doctors who "get" it, but what happens if I'm in an accident or have some other problem, especially in a different city?


I used to carry something in my wallet - and when I changed wallets awhile ago, I removed it. Time to go find that...

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 11:27 pm
by leggo_my_legs
Rustsmith wrote:There was one section about what "we usually will not do" and one of the lines said that they would not provide methadone or suboxone for missed doses. So, essentially if I were in a car accident that occurred prior to my daily methadone pill and ended up in the ER for a number of hours, they would not provide me with a pill even if I started going into withdrawal. What sort of care is a hospital providing if the will treat an emergency but at the same time are willing to let a patient go into withdrawal? The will treat one physical problem but are willing to let another very painful condition go completely untreated simply because of company policy and politics? What ever happened to the Hippocratic Oath and do no harm?


Astute analysis. :roll: Type a note stating that your doctor wants you to be given your methadone dose if you are hospitalized unexpectedly, then have your MD sign it, make sure your diagnosis is included in the letter, dose of methadone, etc, then have it put in your file in the local hospital & keep one in your wallet or wherever.

If that doesn't work at the time, proceed to the stink-making stage! Complain to the supervisor, patient advocate, hospital ethics committee, and JHACO. You could also try to sock it to 'em in an advanced healthcare directive, but that would only help you if you were incapacitated I think. But I think it makes it harder for them to deny it; it's a legal document. :D

Re: Horrible attitude from Primary Care Physician

Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2017 7:37 am
by click4it
Wow, good information here. It amazes me that when something has worked for years is suddenly scrutinized and made to feel we are doing simething "bad". I quit smoking, dont drink and quit klonopin a few years ago. I only now take hydrocodone once a day which helps a lot. But now every month I have to worry it will be stopped now that my doc went on leave for 3 months.