Re: PCOS and Malpractice?
From: Celeste (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Mon, 17 Mar 2003 15:13:54 -0600 (CST)
At Mon, 17 Mar 2003, Paul wrote:
>
Hi Paul,
Your wife has a endocrine disorder that affects her whole body's
metabolism. Her insulin is too high. In the long run it predisposes
her to getting diabetes and heart disease. In the short run it impairs
her fertility.
Usually an OBGYN is not the best person for primary care of this
problem. They want to treat it like a fertility issue only since they
specialize in those organs. An endocrinologist is the best person to
treat it over a lifetime. They also understand hormones better than
OBs.
Your wife should be getting insulin sensitizer therapy and going on a
low carbohyrdate diet. For more info, check the PCOS FAQ on the PCOS
Cafe at http://www.inciid.org. For diet info, check out http://www.holdthetoast.com,
http://www.eatprotein.com, and http://www.atkinsfriends.com. Between these two
therapies she has an excellent chance of restoring her fertility.
Do not accept your provider telling you this is only a fertility problem
which they can decline to cover. Tell them this is a metabolic
endocrine disorder that can lead to diabetes. She needs preventative
care for that if nothing else.
Also push them to give her test results to you in numbers instead of
being told they are "normal". One example is testosterone. It is often
elevated in us. They used to think it was only high if it was over 50,
now they know it needs to be under 30. It can be measured on any day of
the cycle. If it is high then Avandia is very useful to get it down. If
not then they should offer her Glucophage. Both of these drugs are
insulin sensitizers.
Do not accept a witches' brew of different drugs for all the different
symptoms. Treat the problem at the root.
I cannot stress enough the importance of diet. Cutting out sugars and
starches from the diet helps the medications work better. It's hard,
and believe me I know it, to change one's diet but most of us FEEL a lot
healthier on it (less foggy brain, more energy, fewer aches) and for
some of us it is enough to fix our hormonal balance without medication.
Keep us posted! Military medical plans are often notoriously difficult
to get treatment in. You might post about this on http://www.inciid.org on the
Parents' Night Out board or the PCOS Cafe (under Infertility and
Pregnancy Loss). It gets a lot of traffic and you can see if there are
others in your military neck of the woods who have gotten successful
treatment for PCOS. There is always somebody who has been there, done
that.
Best of luck to you both!!!
>Hello,
>
>I got married 2 1/2 years ago to a wife who obviously has PCOS. She
>came to me shortly after we got married and handed me a laundry list of
>medical problems she had been having since 95 when her son was born,
>which included heavy bleeding, pain in her abdomen, constant headaches,
>constantly being dragged down(like you feel after an 18 hour work day).
>I told her that it shouldn't be a problem, because me being in the
>military I have full coverage medical.
>
>We went to the doctors shortly there after and the doctor did some
>bloodwork and said she had high levels of the male hormones-and that was
>her problem, she handed him an article on PCOS from a newspaper clipping
>from 97(it was currently the year 2000), and told the doctor that this
>is what was wrong with her-she told him that she could be the poster
>child for PCOS it was so obvious. He took the article, glanced at it,
>and tossed it aside and said "Thats not you." Ever since that moment, I
>have gone to every doctor visit that she has been to that I could make.
>
>When finally he was done running tests over and over nearly one and a
>half years later, (all were "Inconclusive")he sent her to an
>Endocronologist and Vanderbilt Medical Center. There, she was run thru
>the same tests, she had been previously run through. Only this guy took
>it a step further and actually diagnosed her with PCOS. Like the good
>doctor he was, he failed to inform us-for damn near a year until we
>called because we were moving and needed the results back from the tests
>to put in her medical file.(the reason we waited so long to get the
>results is we went in for a follow-up with her normal doctor and he told
>us that nothing came from the tests Vanderbilt ran.)
>
>She has been through the vaginal ultra sound(on 3 seperate occasions)-
>given about 5 gallons of blood, and pissed in a bottle for a day, and
>all have come up normal. All the doctors have done is try to treat the
>symptoms, and not the problem. I can't even say that-because all they
>have done for her is prescribe her about 10 differant birth control
>pills, and give her some Motrin 800 for the headaches and pain.
>
>It has now been 2 years. Not once has she been reffered to an OBGYN
>clinic. Not once has she been treated like a person and not just
>something to baffel the doctors friends with. Right now I am at my wits
>end and about to give up.
>should I continue battling with the Army Medical Centers(who are more
>than well equipped to handle this) or do I need to take her to the
>civillian side of the house to get this worked out?
>
>The reason they fed me for the long wait was- "fertility-or lack there
>of is not something that TRICARE [the militarys HMO] covers"
>
>My other question is- is this [PCOS] just a fertility problem, or is it
>effecting her health in general?
--
Celeste
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