Doctor stories: What are your experiences with diagnoses?

Benjamin Murphy2 said:northernbear2, if I haven't said anything in my previous posts that I should actually feel insulted by...

I don't see anything...

Benjamin Murphy2 said:worry about your mental health.

Fine, I've worried. Can we schedule an appointment for an exam? Or am I actually fine? 😬

northernbear2 said:I don't see it...

Okay, now I’m actually getting worried. Is there any way we could just schedule an appointment so someone can actually look at me? Or am I really fine... maybe I'm overthinking this...😬

Oh, so this is how you talk to people, huh? Just calling them whatever pops into your head. Remind me again why I even bother talking to you...
if calling someone lazy, childish, or immature isn't considered an insult in your little universe, then I just hope our paths never cross again... far away from each other...

And where on earth did I say I ever brushed anyone off? Honestly, I have zero interest in defending myself to people who are just sitting around waiting for a chance to jump me...

northernbear2 said:Alright, I’m starting to worry. Is there any way I can schedule an actual appointment to get checked out? Or am I really fine?😬

Just show up during his on-call hours and ask for a consultation.🙂
Let him convince you that everything is perfectly normal.🙂
And if he turns out to be a jerk,🙂 don't just take it—give him a taste of his own medicine and file a complaint with everyone from the hospital board down to the local news.

Alright, I've had my fill of this... go find some other sucker to mess with, someone else you can twist words around and take completely out of context.

Benjamin Murphy2 said:Not at all. Where on earth did I ever claim to have shaken anyone off? Besides, I see no reason to justify myself to people who are just sitting around waiting for any excuse to come after me.

From what I can gather, you didn't explicitly say you turned someone away, but you’re certainly being very forceful about only seeing things from your own perspective. Here’s the thing: people expect you to actually care about their patients. Do you realize that when someone shows up in the middle of the night for an objectively trivial reason, they still need help? They need you to tell them, at the very least, that it isn't a serious emergency.

Part of your job involves knowing how to talk to people—something many of your colleagues seem to completely ignore. That’s why the public throws stones at you and treats the entire medical profession like the enemy. Honestly? You’ve earned it.

And you really think I don't give a damn about my patients? Look, I’ve got four elderly ladies on my ward whose entire faces just light up the second I walk in during rounds. I’ve actually tried to bring some actual humanity to this job, but apparently, that doesn't count for anything in this system. If all we deserve is a knife in the back, then maybe people as miserable and selfish as you two shouldn't be getting treated by us anyway. Honestly, we should just go grab a coffee at 1 AM instead—helloooo, now that's an idea—and you can all figure out how to survive without us assholes.

The fact that you two actually enjoyed twisting my words... it's just low. Truly nasty stuff. Pretty sure your moms didn't raise you to act like this.

I'm honestly just disappointed in everyone here. From now on, I'll just watch my mouth...

la la la... flowers everywhere...

Benjamin Murphy2, I feel like maybe your practical psychology skills could use a little boost🙂
You should probably work on that, along with your written communication. Honestly, people on these forums can be pretty annoying sometimes, so that’s just how it goes.
I'm sure you're a great doctor, but you might be even better if you just remember to treat us patients like actual people looking for help, rather than just being a nuisance...😘

Come on people, just relax.

I mean, all this bickering and bad-mouthing... it’s not going to get us anywhere. Honestly, I don't even know what we're supposed to achieve by fighting like this, but...

The bottom line is that our society needs way more tolerance toward one another. And let's be real, there's less and less of it every day. Just because someone holds a position of authority doesn't give them the right to treat the janitorial staff like garbage, yet that's exactly what happens all the time nowadays.

People working in healthcare—whether they're doctors or nurses—really need to realize they have, in my opinion, the most noble profession on the planet. They literally hold human lives in their hands. I say *human* because, at the end of the day, we are all made of flesh and blood. We are individuals with our own thoughts, our own fears... and fear is a nasty thing, especially when it involves your own life or the lives of those you love. Doctors need more than just medical expertise; they need to show actual human empathy toward their patients. Sure, there aren't many who do it that way, but they do exist.

And look, we patients? We come in all shapes and sizes. But it works both ways: just as patients develop different attitudes based on how doctors treat them, they’ll start treating you the same way. It's like that old saying goes: you reap what you sow.

I work with people too. Most of them are wonderful, kind, and respectful. Usually, they treat me exactly how I treat them (at least, that's the feedback I get). But there are always "those" people—the ones who seem to think I'm some lower life form they can talk down to or treat however they please. That’s a reflection of their own character, and frankly, I don't feel it's my job to raise them. I do my job, I say thank you, and I'm out.
My conscience is clear, and I sleep like a baby at night. I can look anyone in the eye without a shred of guilt. If someone thinks I've messed up somewhere, believe me, I actually appreciate being told.
There are things in your own life you just won't see, which is why you need people to point out your mistakes and oversights. You have to be a decent person and be able to tell yourself, "Okay, I can do better than that." You can't just turn your nose up and dismiss it as someone talking nonsense.

Benjamin Murphy2 said:The fact that you two both took such pleasure in twisting my words is incredibly distasteful. I’m certain my mother wouldn't have raised me to act this way.

I've become quite disillusioned with the people on this forum. From now on, I'll be much more careful about what I say.
la la la... flowers everywhere...

Look, if you aren't being unkind to patients, then please accept my apologies for hurting your feelings. I've had some pretty rough experiences with doctors in the past, so whenever I see one now, I instinctively start baring my teeth like a vampire.

Man, I really feel for you regarding those bad experiences. Honestly, I’ve been there too... even with colleagues who barely know my name. Some people just stay complete jerks, no matter what line of work they’re in. And unfortunately, in one specific branch of medicine—not naming names here, obviously—you find way more of them than in others. It’s people like that who end up giving the whole profession a bad name.

And look, >—I try, I really do. But when someone yanks you out of REM sleep at four in the morning, and your heart is still thumping against your ribs ten minutes later because of whatever alarm went off... it's hard to be objective, let alone full of empathy. Believe me, I try my best to keep my true thoughts about them under wraps.🙂

At the end of the day, though, my word is my bond.

Benjamin Murphy2, I get just as frustrated when people start talking down to me about my profession with that "I know how you all work" attitude. If they actually have a critique of my specific work, let them say it, but I shouldn't have to suffer for the mistakes made by everyone else. What does my performance have to do with them?
I honestly think the real issue is this misplaced sense of professional solidarity; we shouldn't be sticking up for people who completely screwed up. Professional associations really need to step up and address that mindset.

So, what you're saying is I shouldn't even think about hitting the ER unless I'm absolutely certain it's a life-or-death situation? But then, what exactly counts as "serious"? For instance—and this is quite real—I’ve been running a high fever for a while now, and my breathing... it's just incredibly difficult. It's genuinely hard to catch a breath. To make matters worse, I don't have a primary care physician here in the States to turn to. Last night, my husband was practically pleading with me to head to the emergency room because I was struggling so much just to get air into my lungs—but I resisted. Honestly, I was just terrified that the doctor would snap at me or yell, "What on earth are you doing here with a 102-degree fever?" Yet, there I was, unable to sleep simply because I couldn't breathe properly. In hindsight, it definitely would have been the smarter move to go so they could give me something to help with the respiratory distress.
And frankly, my trust in doctors is pretty shaken—I had some terrible experiences growing up. There was one physician who spent years treating me for bronchitis with all sorts of medications that did absolutely nothing, when in reality, I actually had allergic asthma. He completely missed the mark. Then, during my college years, the same doctor sent me off to an infectious disease ward because she claimed I had atypical pneumonia. Of course, it wasn't anything nearly that severe. This same doctor even told a friend of mine that her kidneys were failing... which, naturally, turned out to be completely untrue.

Benjamin Murphy2 said:Alright, I've had my fun. Go find some other sucker to mess with—someone else you can twist words around and take completely out of context.

Cue the exit music. Seriously, someone call an a cappella group.

Benjamin Murphy2 said:but when someone jolts you out of REM sleep at four in the morning, leaving your heart racing for ten minutes straight because of whatever alarm went off, it’s hard to remain objective, let alone empathetic. Believe me, I am trying my best to hide my true feelings about them. 🙂

I take my word quite seriously.

Fair enough. If I were on call, stuck in deep sleep at 4 AM, I’d probably find myself filing for unemployment benefits before sunrise.

Oh, I almost forgot—we don't actually need sleep... sorry, Angela Bailey30... it must be absolutely terrifying for you. I assume you're pulling 72-hour stretches without blinking whenever you're on call? Yeah... right.

Kimberly Nguyen, I hear you, but there’s also this unspoken rule that if you’re a doctor, you have to be perfectly poised and sophisticated—heaven forbid you ever lose your cool or swear... It’s ridiculous. We’re human beings just like everyone else; we get frustrated and we aren't always polite
And here's the kicker: when I wrote something like that recently—well, those were the words of a future physician, apparently. Am I not allowed to feel frustrated? Am I not permitted to be angry? Am I just supposed to bottle everything up inside?
At this rate, I’d be a perfect candidate for a mental health facility. Sometimes you just need to vent, and more often than not, it’s the patients who push those buttons—starting an argument when you're just trying to do your job. Well, this is my chance to let it all out and tell them exactly what I think, whether they deserve it or not
It’s a shame , but it happens

Noah Vaughn3 said:Oh, right, I completely forgot... we don't actually need sleep. My bad, Angela Bailey30... you must be absolutely terrified. I suppose you just pull 72-hour shifts without blinking whenever you're on duty? Yeah, right...

Try spending just seven days in combat boots—on constant 24-hour watch—somewhere out in the field, then come talk to me about what a "shift" really looks like. Just seven days. I won't even ask for months or years...

Spend seven days stuck in a hospital during a war, then come talk to me about hardship—just those seven days, mind you. You don't need to recount months or years...

Noah Vaughn3 said:for sure.. good luck to everyone out there in the future, and I really hope things start looking up, both on your end and ours..

You posted this exact same thing yesterday at three in the afternoon, and I see you still haven't given up on this whole thing...😁

Btw, all this stuff about war and hospitals, is your mom the one feeding you these lines? 🙂

Noah Vaughn3 said:Try spending just seven days in a hospital during wartime before you lecture me about hardship. Just seven days. I’m not asking for months or years...

Is it not common knowledge that even in hospitals, you're expected to pull the wounded and the dead out from under active gunfire?