A Good Way To Get A Good Doctor

[mushroom]

Get yourself admitted to the hospital where they have to call in specialists for consultation. I just got home from doing this (well, actually I was admitted kicking and screaming ).

I had already decided this summer to seek out a cardiologist, and the condition I was admitted for (atrial fibrillation) required the services of such a person. I was lucky that the hospital uses an association of cardiac physicians who take it in turns to cover the hospital consults. So I got to see four cardiologists during the course of my stay. Three of them were absolutely worthless, whilst the fourth (a woman ) is an absolute gem. I was watching baseball on TV and she came in wearing a baseball cap, and I liked her style. I talked to her about lectins and cardiac problems, prefacing my comments/questions with "You'll probably think I'm nuts, most doctors do, but..." and she said "No, I think there's very possibly a link. I would like to talk to you more about it." at first sight They are out there, but very hard to find. This way I got to find out about four of them without the appointments and one-hour consultations.

[kareng]

Oh no, Shroomie! Glad your plan worked!

Hope you are doing better. Did you have to go "down the hill" or were you able to stay in the area?

[jerseyangel]

Sorry about the kicking and screaming part, but wow--that doctor sounds like a real peach! I hope she can help you sort this all out

[Skylark]

Atrial fib? Wow, shroomie. I'm scared for you. I'm awfully glad you came out of the hospital OK. I hope you got onto some meds that have your heart rhythm under control.

[mushroom]

Well, it all turned out guys, that it was a lack of potassium after all, which is what I told them going in there. I told them about my prior a-fib and low potassium, and how I had been trying to penetrate the voice mail to get an "urgent" appointment with my PCP for an appt. and a prescription for potassium. Grrrrr -- I think I am going to tell my PCP that as much as I love her I am going to change physicians if she doesn't fire her P.A. This is the fourth time she has screwed me over, and she even did it again after I left the hospital, but that's another story. I was eating bunches of bananas through Tuesday on the advice of local pharmacist, trying to keep up my potassium levels, but when I went for the appointment that I finally got scheduled, she did an immediate EKG after listening to my heart and said I was in a-fib (I had been feeling lousy that morning) and was admitted through ER to ICU for three nights so they could monitor me. They tried all the standard heart drugs to bring me back to normal sinus rhythm, but none of them worked. I kept telling them I neeeded potassium but they said my potassium was normal on admission. I said it was just all the bunches of bananas I had been eating and I needed supplements. (May not ever eat another banana.)

Well, waddya know, they started me on IV potassium, and normal sinus rhythm returned within four hours . Then we had this big hassle over gluten free potassium supplements, no one could guarantee that there was no gluten in their product. So I set Dh to work on the computer and phone, and finally to our local compounding pharmacy. The pharmacist said, Forevvins sake, why don't they give her the elixir. That's how we always used to do it. So that's what got me out of there and back home. So yes, I am back at the lake, with the use of an overnight oxygenation machine for the rest of my stay, duly delivered at 7:00 p.m. (after the P.A. had failed to place the order even though she called me in the hospital and said she was doing it.) I had to call the company at 4:45 p.m. and they said they had no order. I hate that incompetent beotch. Four days of hospitalization, a cellulitis infection at an IV site (that's another story altogether), a take-home presriprtion of Keflex and probiotics plus the potassium and another heart med, which the pharmacy called and said said they can't fill untl tomorrow because it has to come from Sacto (along wth my potasium) Grrrr x 10 Stupid pharmacy clerk could not say they didn't have the stuff in stock when we dropped off the prescriptions. So will stuff down another banana tonight And here I thought New Zealand medicine sucked

Anyway, all's well that ends well, I guess, and I have found my cardiologist Pity it took four days of my life and I sure hope my insurance covers the ICU bill.

[Skylark]

That's a hair-raising story. I'd be mad as hell at that P.A., and you might have the makings of a lawsuit for the amount of money your insurance doesn't cover from the ICU bills. If you had gotten through to your Dr. you could have avoided the hospitalization.

I'm so glad you got supplements sorted out. I'm really glad you found a good cardiologist in the process, even if it was under such terrible circumstances. I hope you recover from the cellulitis easily and your potassium stays good and steady now!

[kareng]

Well, sorry to see that the practice of medicine at the lake has only gotten slightly better since I worked in P'ville. Do let the PCP know about his assistant.

For future reference, if you can take the sugar, apple juice and grape juice have lots of potassium. My oldest was haveing some problems last summer with 3 - 5 hour football workouts outside and then working at a fireworks tent. Gatorade doesn't have much Potassium.

Feel better so you can enjoy the beautiful location.

[mushroom]

Well, sorry to see that the practice of medicine at the lake has only gotten slightly better since I worked in P'ville. Do let the PCP know about his assistant.

For future reference, if you can take the sugar, apple juice and grape juice have lots of potassium. My oldest was haveing some problems last summer with 3 - 5 hour football workouts outside and then working at a fireworks tent. Gatorade doesn't have much Potassium.

Feel better so you can enjoy the beautiful location.

Well, Kareng, don't be too quick to give the lake an undeserved bad rep - this was in Reno, at Renown Regional Medical Center where my doc practises The docs at Incline Hospital gave me potassium on the first occasion and I converted quite quickly, so they got it right.

Interesting about the apple juice - will get some until the pharmacy gets their supplies from Sacto sometime today

[Jestgar]

try here shroomie:

Open Original Shared Link

[mushroom]

try here shroomie:

Open Original Shared Link

Good link, Jess; thanks! It's a pity I can't eat a lot of those high potassium foods, but most of the high ones that are on the list that I don't have to avoid are in my diet. I have been on a different diuretic for about a year and that seems to have thrown the potassium out of whack, although I think??? they have been checking it pretty regularly. Don't have those records with me

[Jestgar]

No chard or spinach? I thought those, at least, were on your 'ok' list.

[mushroom]

No chard or spinach? I thought those, at least, were on your 'ok' list.

Yeah, I eat lots of chard, but I think it is the oxalates in spinach that do a number on me

[Skylark]

Good link, Jess; thanks! It's a pity I can't eat a lot of those high potassium foods, but most of the high ones that are on the list that I don't have to avoid are in my diet. I have been on a different diuretic for about a year and that seems to have thrown the potassium out of whack, although I think??? they have been checking it pretty regularly. Don't have those records with me

Diuretics can absolutely throw your potassium out of whack. Hypokalemia is a classic side effect of hydrochlorothiazide. There are combinations of diuretics designed to spare potassium. You might want to talk to your new cardiologist about changing the drugs you're on a little.

[mushroom]

Diuretics can absolutely throw your potassium out of whack. Hypokalemia is a classic side effect of hydrochlorothiazide. There are combinations of diuretics designed to spare potassium. You might want to talk to your new cardiologist about changing the drugs you're on a little.

Yeah, well that's what I did with a nephrologist when I was here last year and ended up in the ER with BP of 198/100

Had another nephrology consult in New Zealand and they concluded that what I was taking was probably the best way to go, but I am trying to think back about my potassium monitoring. Will have to send an email to my doc's nurse - those nurses in our clinic are great by the way, you can call them up and talk to them any day with no fricking voicemail and they will come in on the weekend to dress a wound or take care of cuts; they even make housecalls

P.S. I just got my prescriptions filled, and I am NOT going to take one of them - amiodarone. The contraindications for me are multiple and the side effects are horrendous, and it did not affect my arrhythmia when I was given it IV. I will discuss it with the new heart doc as soon as I can get an appt. (she did not prescribe it).

[Skylark]

I don't blame you for scrapping the Amiodarone if you're sure you have the potassium under control for the moment. I thought that stuff was a last-resort sort of medicine?