Posts by melloworca6

swiftbear86 said:You didn't mention which medication we're talking about, but—look, the GP has access to your entire medical history. It’s totally possible she thinks a specific drug isn't actually necessary anymore. Basically, she might decide to taper the dose or stop the prescription entirely if she feels your symptoms have cleared up.
It’s hard to say for sure, but doctors aren't just there to blindly transcribe specialist recommendations.
Plus, plenty of patients see multiple specialists, so you often end up with overlapping treatments.

What does that even have to do with anything? I see several different specialists myself, and honestly, I’d love to see my primary care doctor just nix whatever one of them prescribed me.

With all due respect to them, half of these doctors don't even have a clue which specialist they should be referring a patient to (you end up with people just wandering around until they finally land in front of the right expert), let alone the expertise to interpret complex data or judge whether another specialist is actually right or wrong.

I have a truly fantastic family doctor, but when I brought her my immunology results, she couldn't make sense of them. She can make an educated guess (which is fine by me; she knows the basics, and we have specialists for the deep dives), but what right would she have to cancel a medication if, say, my immunologist specifically ordered it? 🤷

edit: I get that I can list a med, swap it for a generic, or cut something out if it's causing side effects or clashing with something else. But just randomly deciding a drug isn't needed and pulling it without a real reason? I'm not so sure about that.

I think they really need to stick to what the specialist actually prescribed. You can taper off a medication if it’s making you feel lousy, or swap it out if the side effects are absolutely brutal, but I don't think anyone should just be cutting their therapy short on their own whim without any real reason. 🤷

Look, I’m crossing my fingers for you. One time, I actually ran out of my meds, so now I’ve made sure to always have a 7-day buffer. I call them two weeks before I’m actually hitting zero. And honestly? This whole thing about a 7-day limit or whatever they set is absolute garbage. If anything goes sideways—some supply chain glitch or whatever—us chronic patients are the ones who get screwed over. You're left sitting there without the meds you literally need to survive every single day.

I get it, they're trying to stop people from abusing prescriptions or handing them out to friends, but why does that have to punish someone who is legitimately sick and can't function without their therapy? Personally, if I miss my thyroid meds for a couple of days, I'll be fine. But I can't even imagine what happens to people like you dealing with high blood pressure, heart issues, or diabetes. That's terrifying.

Honestly, just switch over to the other one; she isn't some total disaster. 😉

I feel like a new person since my old doctor left and this current one took over. She actually streamlined the whole appointment scheduling thing, and ever since she started, the waiting room isn't a zoo anymore. I used to spend hours sitting there, but now? Hardly any wait at all. I show up and I'm basically seen immediately. And obviously, if it’s an emergency, you can just walk in—they'll see you even without an appointment. I've had to drop in without calling a few times myself; most recently because I've been running a fever for a while, and they didn't turn me away. In fact, she was practically yelling at me for waiting so long to come in. 🤣

I don't know, the system works phenomenally for me, and I'm happy with it. If it's not urgent, I book ahead, show up, and I'm done in a flash. If it *is* urgent, I head over, wait a tiny bit (last time wasn't even 5 minutes), and they see me once they finish with whoever was already there—which is usually nobody or maybe two or three people 😬. The worst part for me was always wasting 2, 3, or 4 hours for nothing, but that's gone now. If only the big hospitals worked like this, life would be great.

Also, if they tell you a prescription won't be ready until tomorrow, it just means they haven't entered it into the computer yet. I just call my sister, tell her what I need, and while she's on the phone with me, she types everything into the system and sends the script through. Then I can pick it up wherever I want within half an hour. Like, when I saw the doctor last time and she prescribed an antibiotic, I didn't even have to wait thirty minutes; it was already ready at the pharmacy.

Seriously, just switch doctors. It's not worth the headache. And for the record, I'd say I called every single minute during that half-hour and told her I'd bring the medical records personally if necessary (and believe me, I would have called if I realized she was messing with me), just to see what she'd say then. They have a habit of hanging up just so they don't have to deal with you, but you can't do that during the designated calling hours. It's just like the staff at our main hospital—they'll pick up the phone perfectly fine, but then you call for days on end and eventually you just lose your mind and have to go down there in person to schedule.

Just call them and tell them you've been trying to reach them at the scheduled time for days, but the line is constantly busy and you just can't get through when you're supposed to.

I don't quite get it. She told all her patients that if they want to call about prescriptions, they have to do it within a specific thirty-minute window, otherwise she won't print them? I mean, I'm not sure how much freedom they actually have to organize their schedule like that.

I don't think even the admin can just do it; they’d have to enable incoming transfers first before actually sending anything. 😬

Are you still feeling those symptoms? Get to the ER. People head to the emergency room for the most ridiculous reasons and don't get a single second of attention—even if they deserve it—but I doubt they'd brush you off with what you're going through.

Go see a doctor. This could be something with your gallbladder or your liver—they can cause jaundice.

vividsailor7 said:It’s a bit late, honestly. If I were you, I’d wait at least a full week after finishing up any antibiotics before trying any microbe tests—like a throat swab, testing in the USA, or an ejaculate sample. You don't want skewed results.

Wait, isn't the window actually two weeks? That's what I was told. Apparently, you need a fourteen-day gap between your last dose of antibiotics and running a repeat swab.🤷

There's a gastronomy topic without milk over on the forums, you should go take a look. 🙂

edit: here's the link: gastronomy topic without milk

And what kind of pills are we talking about here? 🙂 Are you looking for something like a dietary supplement, or an enzyme to help you handle lactose? If it's the latter, I'm worried there might not be much of a fix. But if you're just looking for something to settle your gut and restore your flora after having something like yogurt, there are plenty of other ways to handle that.

And Scott Allen10 is basically a doctor 😛, if we’re really going to sit here and play professional credentials. And "damn" is such a controversial word now. Seriously, do I really have to explain the difference between telling someone to go screw themselves and just using "damn" as an exclamation? It's just a filler word. Let's just ban all filler words on Reddit while we're at it. 🤦

So how exactly did you figure out you were allergic at four years old? Did someone decide to give a toddler a cigarette to smoke? 😕

Look, just be glad. You aren't going to wreck your lungs with smoking. Honestly, anyone dealing with life-threatening drug allergies or food sensitivities would trade places with you in a heartbeat. Screw tobacco; you aren't going to die if you don't smoke. In fact, you'll probably live longer.

Huh? 😕

Were you allergic since you were four, or did this start four or five years ago? Why push for something that clearly isn't working. 🤷 Honestly, be glad you're allergic to it.

Have you actually seen a doctor yet? Honestly, it might not be a bad idea to get a referral to an endocrinologist if you're eating normally and still can't gain weight.

And if you can swing it, just pay for supplemental insurance. It’ll be paid off in a month, and honestly, it's way cheaper to shell out $333 a year's worth of premiums than to deal with $1000 massive hospital bills (it all depends on how long you're stuck there and what they actually do to you).

I think you just charge them the absolute maximum possible $1000.

Wait, how long ago did the expiration date pass?

I don't think it'll actually hurt you. Usually, once those teas and tinctures go past their prime, they just lose their potency, so there's really no point in drinking them anyway.

Are you seriously thirteen? And you’re actually asking if getting four hours of sleep is healthy?

It's not. You're still growing, your body is developing. Sure, maybe your system can hack it for a little while without any major fallout, but eventually, things are going to start breaking down.