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A doctor knew about Ferritin !!

Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 11:56 pm
by Polar Bear
Yesterday I had a GP appointment. I felt that a medication prescribed for blood pressure was giving an unwanted side effect and I was asking for a change of medication. Didn't need to see any particular doctor in the practice. We are able to make our appointments on line. Dr D was the only doctor with an appointment available and I nabbed it quickly because it could disappear right before your eyes. Dr D is only recently qualified and as luck would have it, it was she who had started me on the problematic blood pressure medication.

I mentioned the problem and she totally agreed. Changed me to a different medication and explained that what I had originally been prescribed was what was always prescribed first as it was cheapest. We talked of other things including lack of sleep which led on to the RLS. i have never ever spoken to this youn gGP about RLS and have actually only seen her twice, including yesterday.

She was printing out my repeat prescriptions and made the comment that she has two other RLS patients who are on Ropinerole. I mentioned that Ropinerole and DA drugs weren't always the best treatment (although they could be) and she says to me !!!!!!
And how is your ferritin - when was it last checked. ??????
I couldn't believe it. Someone who knew something about RLS, even if it was just an inkling, it was a start.
I almost danced around the room and told her I was so impressed - and that so many medical folk had no idea about ferritin.

She had been trying to educate herself for her two RLS sufferers. Having said that .... she wasn't aware that DAs should be prescribed lower than originally indicated a few years ago.
When speaking of my sleep and the possible alerting factor on ropinerole she asked if I would consider coming off ropinerole.
Ha ha ha-- I replied that unless she had a wonderful substitue to offer she would need to sedate me with a bottle of Black Bush (Irish Whisky) and tie me down.

What I have gleaned from my two appointments with her is that she is willing to learn, has some idea about it and knew about ferritin without my mentioning it. Knew it needed to be up around 75 for an RLS sufferer.

My heart is open and singing. There is hope. A doctor who cares.
In future I will seek Dr D for any appointments needed, for any reason, so that I can develop a relationship with her.
She's going to be a great asset to the practice.

I'll repeat - A doctor who brought up the subject of ferritin without prompting. Yaaaaay.

Re: A doctor knew about Ferritin !!

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 2:19 am
by Rustsmith
Congratulations. Now you have an idea of how I felt earlier this year when I found a PCP who was willing to learn and even took the initiative of sharing the paper on RLS and opioids with other members of the practice. After all the abuse that many of us have suffered with over the years, it is great to find someone who is willing to take the time to learn.

Re: A doctor knew about Ferritin !!

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 3:57 am
by 2BassetMom
I had a similar experience this week. I saw the nurse practitioner that I have seen in the past but haven't talked about RLS. I had to talk about it this time because I had no more refills on my Ropinerole from Dr. Poceta in CA. She knew about DA's and ferritin levels. I explained that Dr. Poceta wanted mine up around 100 and she was very interested. We had a good talk about RLS and she would like me to give her more information. What a relief! I can request her every time. She also has other patients with RLS.

Re: A doctor knew about Ferritin !!

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 4:44 am
by Yankiwi
I think younger doctors are more up with the play on RLS than the older ones, I'd definitely ask for Dr D from now on.
Not regarding RLS, but this year I started on January 1 with influenza, saw a GP who was fairly useless at the weekend clinic on January 7, still feeling very unwell (I'm very fit and active) went to the walk in clinic at my doctor's surgery and saw a young doctor who I thought was a locum from Ireland. She totally blew me off, I think she just looked at my age on the form I gave her. She said it would take six weeks to become well from the flu and the entire visit lasted about three minutes. That isn't right for almost anyone, especially someone healthy who is never sick. My illness developed into pneumonia and a haemophilus bacterial infection then bronchiectisus (a permanent lung disease). I've been to the doctor's nine times this year, mostly seeing one of my regular docs. I've had every test under the sun and none showed an underlying or pre-existing cause.
I found out this young doctor, who I thought was a locum, was actually a registrar (resident) and in the NZ system. I wrote a very long letter (edited three times) and the committee addressing complaints is taking it seriously. I shouldn't have lung disease.
At the same time I wrote a shorter letter commending another young registrar GP (from Scotland, I could hardly understand her on the phone, but she was lovely) because she really listened and tried to help me become well.
My long winded point is: maybe every bad appointment doesn't deserve a letter, but it might be nice to write a positive one for your new Dr D.
Apart from losing almost five months of my life this year and having a permanent disease, I'm feeling about 95% now which is great.

Re: A doctor knew about Ferritin !!

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 10:23 am
by Polar Bear
:thumbup: Yankiwi - That's actually a nice idea, and write to the Practice as opposed to directly to Dr D.

Re: A doctor knew about Ferritin !!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 4:17 am
by Yankiwi
… and write to the Practice as opposed to directly to Dr D.

Yes, even to the district health board. She needs to be recognised and it needs to go into her records.

Re: A doctor knew about Ferritin !!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 8:38 pm
by ViewsAskew
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Re: A doctor knew about Ferritin !!

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 5:58 pm
by Polar Bear
:clap: :clap: :clap: