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Re: scared and need advice: to Kristy and AnonII
From: anonymous (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Fri Feb 13 19:59:58 2004
Remember that this forum is for all advice and all opinions, not just
yours. I am glad that you two seem to have had a positive experience
with your regular obgyns, but remember that a lot of us haven't. I am
not saying that it is wrong for obgyns to devote more of their practice
to the ob portion, I am just saying that it is true in a lot of cases
and people need to know that your obgyn is not always going to be able
to give you the best advice on what to do. Softball had a surgery less
than a month ago and she is already in pain again. She needs help from
someone more familiar with endo. My obgyn was board certified and told
me and my parents that he was 100% certain that I didn't have endo. He
did the lap to rule it out so that he could find the cause of all my
pain. I didn't suggest endo, because I had never heard of it. As I was
waking up from surgery, he was saying over and over again how sorry he
was, I had stage iv endo! It was on everything, including my bowels and
appendix, neither of which he touched. I also had severe adhesions,
some so deep that he couldn't even begin to attempt to remove them. He
burned off what he could, closed me up, and gave me continuous bcp,
which I have been on for over 4 years now. His surgery did nothing for
me as far as pain reduction. I was simply doing what Softball asked,
giving her advice. I think it would be far better if we did that
instead of ganging up on what one person wrote and angerly saying that
they are wrong and didn't do their research. I have done a lot of
research in the four plus years that I have been diagnosed with this
disease. I speak from experience, from someone who has been there and
wished that there was someone to give me advice. Perhaps then I
wouldn't have been in so much pain all these years struggling to find a
doctor who knows enough about this disease and how to perform an
effective surgery. So please, if you don't agree with what I said,
simply give Softball your advice on what to do and leave me out of it, I
am only trying to help Softball as I was once much like her. :)
At Fri, 13 Feb 2004, A wrote:
>
>>I agree with Kristy to a large extent. I also would comment that an OBGYN would HAVE to be up to par on endo knowledge in order to become board certified in the first place and then get re-certified as years go by. For those who have no idea what the board staus of their physicians is, they need to find out. Approximately 35-40% of OBGYNS do not become board certified.
>
>Insurance reimbursement rates are higher for OB services than they are
>for gynecology. ACOG lobbied insurers for better reimbursement rates
>and the result was an increase for OB and not GYN.
>
>BUT, in many areas of the country there is a surplus of OB practioners,
>another point "Anon" overlooks. In order to stay in business, the
>doctor would have to do a considerable volume of gynecological surgery.
>Not being current in knowledge and skill could mean financial ruin for
>the doctor and his/her family due to potential liability lawsuits.
>
>As always, the consumer can choose to see a doctor with a GYN only
>practice.
>
>Anon II
>
>>An anon said:
>>
>>"they make their money from the ob portion, delivering babies...not the
>>gyn portion, so why would they study things like endo enough so that
>>they could actually make a difference in the disease when that is not
>>where they get their money from."
>>
>>First off, I take exception to the above comment. The reason? B/c I've
>>seen first hand how hard OB/GYNs work. While it is true that more money
>>may be involved by delivering a baby (b/c it is the OB part) that is not
>>the only reason that OB patients get more attention than gyn patients.
>>The reason that they get the most attention is b/c now you have more
>>than one life at stake, and infections for example that we as gyn
>>patients take for granted such as BV or GBS if not treated early can the
>>mother and/or baby in to a very dangerous situation.
>>
>>If a woman wants to have an OB/GYN to take care of her endo she must
>>realize that there are going to be times where that dr has to spend more
>>time with the OB patient than the gyn patient. If she doesn't wish to
>>do that then she needs to find a dr that does only gyn.
>>
>>Second, not everyone can get to an "endo" specialist, in particular the
>>top ones like Redwine, Cook, etc and the biggest reason why not is b/c
>>of finances. And for someone with a really tight budget there is no
>>such thing as the cheapest flights or hotels. And also b/c of the
>>financial situation the woman has to stay in her area.
>>
>>Third, more and more Reproductive Endocrinologists are making it very,
>>very clear that if you are not trying to get pregnant right now that
>>they are not interested in seeing you.
>>
>>Fourth, There are some that think that REs are the best for all endo
>>patients and that is not necessarily true. For someone that is not
>>trying to get pregnant they need to find an OB/GYN to take care of them.
>>
>>Each patient has to find a dr that's right for them and for some that
>>may be a regular OB/GYN or it may be another dr like an RE (if they will
>>see you) or one of the top specialists. So with that said that leads to
>>my fifth and final point.
>>
>>Fifth, while it is true that there are a lot of regular OB/GYNs that
>>don't know how to treat endo as the anon said there are some regular
>>OB/GYNs that do know how to do so. I have one of them. It may be hard
>>to find these drs but they are out there.
>>
>>Kristy :)
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