I have very little patience with rudeness at the best of times, but I have particularly little patience with rude doctors.
I had the flu over the weekend - went home sick from work on Saturday, and stayed home on Sunday - and while I wasn't on the verge of death, I have a sufficient number of uni things coming up that I would rather take my sick days from work now, for minor illnesses, than let them develop into major illnesses which will interfere with my study (which is prioritised significantly higher than work).
Since I'm on a permanent part-time contract at work (and hence have paid sick days), I'm generally meant to get doctor's certificates when I'm sick -- something which is obviously problematic on a Sunday. I went to the doctor today, feeling much improved by my day of mostly sleep yesterday, but still not feeling my usual sunny self. My sore throat had gone, but I was (and am) feeling lethargic and feverish -- and when I get feverish, I get dizzy spells. Always have, ever since I was a kid. I once joked to my mum that I'd fit right in in Victorian England, if for no other reason than that I'd be really good at the part of being feminine which requires one to faint at the slightest provocation.
At any rate, it's an established pattern, and I'm familiar enough with it to know that when I'm sick, I need to be more careful than usual about not leaping to my feet suddenly, and that staying in bed is the easiest way to make sure that I don't pass out face-first into a brick wall (or the side of my shower, as in the example this morning) -- and that's why I went home from work on Saturday, because my manager thought I was going to pass out in the middle of the store. The problem is that it's a pattern which it's hard to prove or disprove, and while it says PRONE TO FAINTING in big, red letters at the front of my medical file at my family GP's surgery in Canberra, I don't have a regular GP here who could make such useful notes in their file. Instead, I go to the uni health service, where I don't always see the same doctor, and where their record keeping is sub-standard.
Case in point: I went to the doctor today, and had set up an appointment with a doctor I'd seen before. Turned up shortly before the appointed time, waited until awhile after the appointed time, and was asked if I was dead-set on going to that doctor. I said I wasn't bothered, since it was hopefully only a quick consultation about a medical certificate, and hence saw an older immigrant guy that I'd never laid eyes on before.
I followed him into the office, sat down and explained the situation: I've had the flu, was off sick from work on Saturday afternoon and Sunday, still don't feel great, dizzy spells, blah blah blah -- need a medical certificate for work. I got a lecture about how they're not allowed to back-date certificates (illegal?), and that he could only give me one for today onwards if he found symptoms which would keep me off work today. Sounds positive, huh?
He had me stand up and walk over to the bench-y thing, so that he could look in my throat and ears -- I got dizzy standing up, mentioned it, and got a sneer in acknowledgement. Nothing was found in my throat or ears so he had me pee in a cup (I thought they only do that for diabetes and pregnancy tests and stuff??) and felt my neck and told me that I had no symptoms that would prevent me working today, and thus he wouldn't write me a certificate.
'Take some cold and flu tablets,' he said, 'and bucketloads of fluids.'
'What about the dizziness?' I asked.
'Well, the dizziness,' he said, 'I don't know anything about the dizziness. You've really had dizzy spells?' The implication here, although he didn't say it, was that dizzy spells are an awfully convenient symptom to have, since they can't really be verified unless I actually physically pass out -- something I prefer not to do, especially not to just prove a point.
'Yes,' I said. 'I get them when I'm sick, especially if I'm running any fever. Have done since I was a tiny kid. The doctor last time did make a note of this. I'm prone to fainting and dizziness because of my blood pressure.'
'Ah, yes,' he replied, 'your blood pressure. I see here that it's a little high. That shouldn't cause dizziness.'
Uh, no. There are two (related) things wrong with this conversation.
My blood pressure is unusually low, so low that every time I have it taken, the nurses ask me if I'm feeling alright, and warn me that I should be really careful when I stand up lest I pass out. I then explain that my normal blood pressure is generally around 80-85/50 (bottom of normal is 90/60 and average is about 120/80), that I inherited it, along with my slightly-lower-than-normal body temperature and my wordiness, from my grandmother, and that whatever number they've read out to me is not worth worrying about. It's pretty clearly spelt out in my chart.
Yup, there is one high blood pressure reading in there. It's from a day when I turned up with a nasty sinus infection that I'd let get out of hand before going to the doctor, and I'd taken the Sudafed my dad had recommended for it. Since I'd been having headaches with my cold for about a week, I never connected them - or the overheating, or the pounding heart - to the pseudoephedrine in the Sudafed, and put my inability to sleep down to my inability to breathe, thanks to the sickness. They took my blood pressure -- the first time I'd had it done since I stopped going to the doctor with my mum and started keeping track of my own stuff -- and noted down that it was 'a bit high'.
The next time I went to the doctor, a couple months later, I had my blood pressure taken again, since they wanted to make sure it didn't get higher, and they were surprised to find it at about half its previous level. They asked me all the usual questions -- did I feel alright, was I dizzy, had I been taking anything that might affect it, etc etc -- and I eventually said something along the lines of 'Well, I feel a damn sight better than last time it was taken, since I was on the verge of death from the combined effects of illness and treatment', and added that I'd stopped taking adult doses of cold and flu tablets since I get bad insomnia whenever I take them. Like, three largely sleepless days the last time I took Sudafed. The penny dropped.
Sudafed is full of speed, but its effects -- like those of any drug, I imagine -- vary according to the person taking it, and may be more or less pronounced. Looking it up, the main 'minor' side-effect of pseudoephedrine is restlessness and difficulty sleeping, but it goes on to mention that a very small proportion of the population are hypersensitive to the drug, and may experience insomnia, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure and tremors. Yup, I had all of those. No hallucinations, alas, but we can't have everything.
Anyhow, that 'slightly high' blood pressure reading was actually something more like 'dangerously high', given my normal blood pressure, and as a result, I have been Officially Medically Advised not to take anything with pseudoephedrine in it. This is definitely in giant red letters in my chart. And yet this doc wants me to take cold and flu tablets?
I don't know why I'm surprised. These are the same doctors that told a friend of mine, when she was worried that she had an STD, that she hadn't put herself at risk for infections like that by having unprotected sex.
That was the point at which I walked out. Fuck the medical certificate; I'm going to tell work that I have it on good, medical authority that I'm not sick, nor was I ever sick, and hope that my record speaks for itself (also that, next time I get sick and need a certificate, I do so on a day when the doctor is actually open).
(I've got a rant in my head about why I find it so much more offensive and upsetting to have a rude (if not incompetent, today) doctor than, say, a rude sales assistant, but I'm having trouble boiling it down to a pithy paragraph or two -- a necessary boiling-down, given the time of night -- and so I'm going to have to postpone it for a day or two until I have the time to structure it properly.)
I had the flu over the weekend - went home sick from work on Saturday, and stayed home on Sunday - and while I wasn't on the verge of death, I have a sufficient number of uni things coming up that I would rather take my sick days from work now, for minor illnesses, than let them develop into major illnesses which will interfere with my study (which is prioritised significantly higher than work).
Since I'm on a permanent part-time contract at work (and hence have paid sick days), I'm generally meant to get doctor's certificates when I'm sick -- something which is obviously problematic on a Sunday. I went to the doctor today, feeling much improved by my day of mostly sleep yesterday, but still not feeling my usual sunny self. My sore throat had gone, but I was (and am) feeling lethargic and feverish -- and when I get feverish, I get dizzy spells. Always have, ever since I was a kid. I once joked to my mum that I'd fit right in in Victorian England, if for no other reason than that I'd be really good at the part of being feminine which requires one to faint at the slightest provocation.
At any rate, it's an established pattern, and I'm familiar enough with it to know that when I'm sick, I need to be more careful than usual about not leaping to my feet suddenly, and that staying in bed is the easiest way to make sure that I don't pass out face-first into a brick wall (or the side of my shower, as in the example this morning) -- and that's why I went home from work on Saturday, because my manager thought I was going to pass out in the middle of the store. The problem is that it's a pattern which it's hard to prove or disprove, and while it says PRONE TO FAINTING in big, red letters at the front of my medical file at my family GP's surgery in Canberra, I don't have a regular GP here who could make such useful notes in their file. Instead, I go to the uni health service, where I don't always see the same doctor, and where their record keeping is sub-standard.
Case in point: I went to the doctor today, and had set up an appointment with a doctor I'd seen before. Turned up shortly before the appointed time, waited until awhile after the appointed time, and was asked if I was dead-set on going to that doctor. I said I wasn't bothered, since it was hopefully only a quick consultation about a medical certificate, and hence saw an older immigrant guy that I'd never laid eyes on before.
I followed him into the office, sat down and explained the situation: I've had the flu, was off sick from work on Saturday afternoon and Sunday, still don't feel great, dizzy spells, blah blah blah -- need a medical certificate for work. I got a lecture about how they're not allowed to back-date certificates (illegal?), and that he could only give me one for today onwards if he found symptoms which would keep me off work today. Sounds positive, huh?
He had me stand up and walk over to the bench-y thing, so that he could look in my throat and ears -- I got dizzy standing up, mentioned it, and got a sneer in acknowledgement. Nothing was found in my throat or ears so he had me pee in a cup (I thought they only do that for diabetes and pregnancy tests and stuff??) and felt my neck and told me that I had no symptoms that would prevent me working today, and thus he wouldn't write me a certificate.
'Take some cold and flu tablets,' he said, 'and bucketloads of fluids.'
'What about the dizziness?' I asked.
'Well, the dizziness,' he said, 'I don't know anything about the dizziness. You've really had dizzy spells?' The implication here, although he didn't say it, was that dizzy spells are an awfully convenient symptom to have, since they can't really be verified unless I actually physically pass out -- something I prefer not to do, especially not to just prove a point.
'Yes,' I said. 'I get them when I'm sick, especially if I'm running any fever. Have done since I was a tiny kid. The doctor last time did make a note of this. I'm prone to fainting and dizziness because of my blood pressure.'
'Ah, yes,' he replied, 'your blood pressure. I see here that it's a little high. That shouldn't cause dizziness.'
Uh, no. There are two (related) things wrong with this conversation.
My blood pressure is unusually low, so low that every time I have it taken, the nurses ask me if I'm feeling alright, and warn me that I should be really careful when I stand up lest I pass out. I then explain that my normal blood pressure is generally around 80-85/50 (bottom of normal is 90/60 and average is about 120/80), that I inherited it, along with my slightly-lower-than-normal body temperature and my wordiness, from my grandmother, and that whatever number they've read out to me is not worth worrying about. It's pretty clearly spelt out in my chart.
Yup, there is one high blood pressure reading in there. It's from a day when I turned up with a nasty sinus infection that I'd let get out of hand before going to the doctor, and I'd taken the Sudafed my dad had recommended for it. Since I'd been having headaches with my cold for about a week, I never connected them - or the overheating, or the pounding heart - to the pseudoephedrine in the Sudafed, and put my inability to sleep down to my inability to breathe, thanks to the sickness. They took my blood pressure -- the first time I'd had it done since I stopped going to the doctor with my mum and started keeping track of my own stuff -- and noted down that it was 'a bit high'.
The next time I went to the doctor, a couple months later, I had my blood pressure taken again, since they wanted to make sure it didn't get higher, and they were surprised to find it at about half its previous level. They asked me all the usual questions -- did I feel alright, was I dizzy, had I been taking anything that might affect it, etc etc -- and I eventually said something along the lines of 'Well, I feel a damn sight better than last time it was taken, since I was on the verge of death from the combined effects of illness and treatment', and added that I'd stopped taking adult doses of cold and flu tablets since I get bad insomnia whenever I take them. Like, three largely sleepless days the last time I took Sudafed. The penny dropped.
Sudafed is full of speed, but its effects -- like those of any drug, I imagine -- vary according to the person taking it, and may be more or less pronounced. Looking it up, the main 'minor' side-effect of pseudoephedrine is restlessness and difficulty sleeping, but it goes on to mention that a very small proportion of the population are hypersensitive to the drug, and may experience insomnia, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure and tremors. Yup, I had all of those. No hallucinations, alas, but we can't have everything.
Anyhow, that 'slightly high' blood pressure reading was actually something more like 'dangerously high', given my normal blood pressure, and as a result, I have been Officially Medically Advised not to take anything with pseudoephedrine in it. This is definitely in giant red letters in my chart. And yet this doc wants me to take cold and flu tablets?
I don't know why I'm surprised. These are the same doctors that told a friend of mine, when she was worried that she had an STD, that she hadn't put herself at risk for infections like that by having unprotected sex.
That was the point at which I walked out. Fuck the medical certificate; I'm going to tell work that I have it on good, medical authority that I'm not sick, nor was I ever sick, and hope that my record speaks for itself (also that, next time I get sick and need a certificate, I do so on a day when the doctor is actually open).
(I've got a rant in my head about why I find it so much more offensive and upsetting to have a rude (if not incompetent, today) doctor than, say, a rude sales assistant, but I'm having trouble boiling it down to a pithy paragraph or two -- a necessary boiling-down, given the time of night -- and so I'm going to have to postpone it for a day or two until I have the time to structure it properly.)
posted by beck at 9:27 pm
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