Bad doctor experience
FLClover
Sydney Member Posts: 1,445 ✭
So, I had an interesting appointment yesterday with a neurophysiologist. I got carpal tunnel syndrome last year after taking Letrozole, and have since changed to Arimidex. I still have tingly fingers, but I can feel things and my hands are stronger, so decided to get reassessed to see if I could avoid surgery (simple and short surgery but loooong recovery period). After the test, he was telling me the results, but was very confusing. He said I’m not an oncologist, all I can tell you is from what I know. But you’d need to get assessed based on your whole history.
Me: ok, so should I book another appointment?
Him: no! You’ve already done it!
Me: ...so then should I have the surgery?
Me: ...so then should I have the surgery?
Him: I can’t tell you what to do without a full assessment without taking your history into account!
Me: so how would I get that?
Me: so how would I get that?
Him: you’d have to make an appointment with a neurologist, like me, and get it checked.
Me: so then I do need another appointment, where the doctor could check everything and then tell me what to do.
Me: so then I do need another appointment, where the doctor could check everything and then tell me what to do.
Him: no! You don’t need another test! You’ve just done one!
Me: 😶.
Him: you’ve got this condition, it’s not going away, so based on what I know, I’m telling you fix it!
Me: ok, I know it needs fixing and surgery is probably best. But are there any known long term effects of the surgery?
Him: long term it will kill you!
Me: 😳😳😳😳😳😳😳
Him: you had bca, did you have surgery straight away or wait?
Me: straight away, in my case.
Him: you had bca, did you have surgery straight away or wait?
Me: straight away, in my case.
Him: so there you go.
At this point I decided to leave. Very confused and very down. Am I wrong to think you can’t compare ca with carpal tunnel syndrome? They don’t work in the same way. And not all bca patients have surgery straight away. But most importantly, he didn’t answer my main question, about the long term effects of the surgery and recovery time. He just mentioned the word no one wants to hear in a doctor’s office: ‘kill’. I googled afterwards and there are different ways to control carpal tunnel syndrome, none of which he mentioned. Also, my results were not worse, if anything they were better. But it was just the attitude. And whenever I tried to explain smth quickly, he’d cut me off straight away and waffle on for ages, then still not allow me to speak. Is it my imagination, or was this experience really bad?
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Comments
If at first you don't understand, even when you have asked for clarification, I'd look elsewhere. He may be brilliant but he can't communicate. And it won't be his fault if you misunderstand, that's pretty certain. He's not an oncologist so making comparisons is both irrelevant and pushy! It's hard enough to make decisions about surgery with someone you understand and trust. Some practitioners have to learn the hard way that the days of a patient doing something completely unquestioningly are over. We're not the specialist, but we're not entirely stupid and it's our bodies. If he can't be bothered listening, what else can't he be bothered doing? Best wishes for a better encounter with someone else.
It really Sounds to me like you need to see An orthopedic hand specialist who has specific expertise in orthopedics as it relates to injuries and debilitating issues in the hand – which is what makes this type of medical specialist the proper health care professional to diagnose and treat your carpal tunnel syndrome!
Try and see the best ortho Hand specialist you can find .... and good luck
Yep, absolutely! I couldn’t believe what was happening. He was explaining to me what it was, even though I already knew, and my questions were only was the condition better, and were there any long term effects from the surgery. I wasn’t opposed to the surgery, just wanted to know my options and recovery time. While he was still doing the test, I mentioned I wanted to know if I could avoid the surgery if the condition was better, and he asked how the symptoms were. I said much better than before, that’s why I even came to do another test. He goes don’t let anyone tell you you need surgery if your symptoms are ok. You know best, and if your symptoms don’t cause trouble then don’t have it. I said Dr C (first doc that did the test in Nov-female) told me best to do the surgery, otherwise I could lose muscle mass permanently. He cuts me off, gets annoyed and starts going off about how Dr C can’t tell me those things, then explains what it is, and tells me the same thing Dr C told me. That was when confusion first started. Then he realises I had the test before, gets old results, prob looks at my file properly for first time and tells me I should fix it, and the above conversation followed. So he went from telling me not to do it if I thought it was ok, to telling me to do it, but not directly. Geez!! There was a young lady trainee doctor there. She was putting the nodes on me and controlling the electric pulses. He kept telling her off for doing it wrong and missing a week of training. I thought, even if she could do it perfectly, she’d still stuff it up cos of him, cos he was making her nervous with his impatience. Poor girl. And poor me. I was so baffled I was speechless.
@arpie thanks for the recommendation to
see an orthopaedic hand specialist! 👌🏻😊