Doctor Recomendation St. Louis Area

[davem558]

My Doctor is worthless. I went to him back in March because I tried to get life insurance and the EKG they did showed I had multiple PVCs. The Doctor took blood and told me I was anemic. I thought I was in pretty good health. I was just about to turn 50 and this diagnosis made it impossible for me to get life insurance.

I asked him if my diet could be the cause. I've been vegan for about 2 years. He insisted that I must have internal bleeding and ordered a colonoscopy. I described some pain in my ribs and bloating, but was in disagreement over needing the procedure.

The Dr. prescribed iron supplements and scheduled the procedure. After it was done, and no problems found the Doctor told me to come back in 6 months. He said my anemia was due to my vegan diet, which he told me on the first visit was unlikely.

After taking the iron for 4 months I went back for more blood tests. No change, I'm still at the same level as before. They told me to keep taking the iron and come back in 6 months.

Now after doing a lot of research online, I think I may have an issue with gluten. I'm 50 years old and have been a vegetarian for nearly 20 years. Is it possible I developed a problem with gluten along the way? Could me being a vegetarian cause this? I've been off gluten for about a week and have had no diarrhea the past 4 days.

I think my Doctor is an idiot for not testing me for this. I don't have any money left in my health spending account until after the first of the year. I would like to find a new Doctor that is willing to listen and has experience with vegetarians and people with anemia disorders.

Thanks for reading

Dave