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Re: scared and need advice: to AnonII
From: anonymous (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Tue Feb 17 11:04:15 2004
anon ii,
He did the lap to rule out endo as the cause of my pain. He did say
that he was "100% sure" that I didn't have endo, to him my symptoms
didn't match, but that is one of the most common causes of abdominal
pain. If you want my opinion on it, he didn't believe me that I was in
pain. He was apologizing to me and my parents because I had stage four
endo with deep and severe adhesions to which he could do nothing and the
whole time he thought I was just a hypochondriac. Wouldn't you feel bad
if you had told a young girl and her parents not to worry, that this lap
was just to rule out endo as a cause of pain, only to find out that you
weren't just wrong, but severely wrong!! Stage iv endo is no joke! I
think it was a humbling experience for him to realize that he had made
such a huge mistake. I was not trying to imply that all ob doctors are
horrible, I was simply trying to let Softball know that if she is not
getting any help from her doctor, to try to find a doctor who knows more
about endo. She doesn't have to go to a specialist, just a doctor who
knows more about endo than obgyns are required to in order to be board
certified. Again, I will say what I said earlier, if you have an
opinion that differs, why not offer your advice to Softball (or whom
ever is requesting it) instead of trying to negate someone else's offer
for help. I didn't know that my doctor didn't know what he was talking
about when I was diagnosed. I have suffered for years while being told
by him that unless I want to do Lupron or become pregnant, he can't help
me. I didn't know about this message board when I was diagnosed,
either, but if I had I would have wanted someone to offer me advice on
what to do, instead of "bashing" someone else's advice. Basically, what
I am saying is please just offer your advice instead of ripping mine
apart. I have yet to read what you would do if you were in Softball's
position-as I was just four years ago. And, as a footnote, you almost
always get better care when you see a specialist, that's why they are
there. Otherwise a general practictioner would take care of everything.
There is simply too much information out there for one doctor to know
and understand every aspect of everything. Sure, they may have an
overall understanding of the disease and its symptoms, but there is no
way that they could know as much or more than a doctor who only works
with that one disease. In the case of endo, the regular obgyns cannot
remove huge adhesions nor can they do work on the bowels. However, the
specialists can remove the deep adhesions and often times have a bowel
reconstruction specialist on site to remove the endo from the bowels. I
didn't know that that was possible until just a year ago. My obgyn, who
is board certified, told me that adhesions as deep and large as mine
could not be touched and the endo on my bowels would have to stay. At
any rate, I hope that you give Softball your advice on what to do here,
after all that is what this forum is for.
At Tue, 17 Feb 2004, Anon wrote:
>
>>Anon,
>
>I'm sorry if it feels that people are ganging up on you if they offer
>other opinions, but I don't think that's the case. You offered some
>good observations, but I wanted to share some facts based on knowledge
>obtained when I was underwriting medical practices.
>
>I didn't read all your posts, so I'm not sure why your doctor went ahead
>with surgery when he was "100% sure you didn't have endo". The surgery
>determined that you in fact , did. There are many medical conditions
>where tests don't reveal the true extent of the problem and a diagnosis
>cannot be completed without surgery. Assuming you had insurance, the
>doctor had to justify some reason for the surgery to the insurance
>company or it would have been denied. I also don't understand the
>profuse hospital bed apologies. If the surgical process found endo,
>presumably the surgery was subsequently performed to treat the
>condition.
>
>The fact that someone is an OBGYN is not reason enough to reject the
>physician as a provider of treatment of endo or any other gyn problem..
>The patient has to ask sufficent questions to determine how much
>experience a particular doctor has with various conditions and
>procedures, and do research on the doctor to see what his/her
>credentials are. Also, since so many patients have access to the
>internet, doing research on credible sites such as webmd.com will
>provide a wealth of information to discuss with the doctor.
>
>If you reject a doctor just because he/she happens to do OB, you could
>be missing out on an opportunity to find a really good, caring doctor
>who can help.
>
>--
>Anon II
>
>>Anon,
>>
>>I know you just want to help Softball. It's just that I get upset when
>>someone talks about regular OB/GYNs in such a way that makes it seem
>>like all OB/GYNs don't know how to deal with endo. It was a regular
>>OB/GYN that listened to me, and I mean really listened to me after
>>having to put up with some other drs who pretty much told me I was crazy
>>and laughed when I told them that I felt my uterus and ovaries move
>>forward which was later proved by a CT Scan later down the road. It was
>>that regular OB/GYN (a woman, not a man, which was the first gyn I ever
>>went to) that got me in to the OR even though with my very first surgery
>>a male dr did help. He was a student of Redwine. Not sure if he still
>>is. With my second surgery in 1999 it was also a woman OB/GYN (the one
>>I have now) that got me in to the OR. And with that surgery she saw
>>visible lesions, the male dr that helped in the OR with my first surgery
>>didn't say anything about endo in his op report at my first surgery in
>>1997.
>>
>>Softball, my recommendation to you is to try a lower dose bcp to see if
>>that helps you. You said in your message you may not have a choice but
>>to do the Lupron and yes you do have a choice. I would also suggest
>>that you talk to the ladies here that have done Lupron about their
>>experiences both good and bad and also consider joining some other endo
>>lists too like the ERC one and get input from there too. Also, consider
>>maybe natural alternatives such as dietary changes. Lupron like
>>hysterectomy should be last resort. Or as Anon 1 told you find another
>>dr that is more experienced with endo. It may be another regular OB/GYN
>>or you may have to travel somewhere if you can't find someone
>>experienced there in OK whether it be a regular OB/GYN, a Gyn
>>Oncologist, or an RE (if they will see you). But pls know that you
>>always have choices. Don't let anyone tell you that you don't have any
>>choices b/c you do. We all do.
>>
>>We just have to find the one that's right for us.
>>
>>Kristy :)
>
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