X
xm15a1
Guest
Hi,
OK, just joking about shooting someone, but, just barely. Read on and you will understand. Just remember, it is a bumpy ride, and nothing but the truth...
Nov, 1999, entered ER in Brighton, CO., diagnosed with Graves Disease (hyperthyroid) prescribed 80mg Inderal LA.
Couple of days later, thought my heart had stopped.
(First vacation in 15 years!!!! and I end up in an ER.)
Day after Brighton ER I get called in with a suspicious shadow on an x-ray (on lung behind heart) so they say. I
go back, get flouroscoped with a result of negative. Sent on my way. Work done by a DR. TB (at least that was the name on HER lab coat.)
Day after get called back to endo in Brighton, wanted to make sure I had a 'script. Charged $40 and sent on my way.
(Yep, I had a 'script' and it just cost me another $40 on top of the Wally-World cost.)
Back to Springfield, MO. (Home)
Requested Colorado records be sent to my current endo. Beats the heck out of me if he ever received them. I guess I should ask one of these days.
$2000 worth of bills show up for ER work (including x-rays).
I pay. Later I get another bill for $78 after someone reviewed the x-rays/flouroscopes). I call, discover Dr. TB is really a guy. I then described the person that did the original work. The lady on the phone said I just described the person who submitted the second bill. Not Dr. TB, but, the woman Dr. who actually did the original flouroscope work. Hmmmm.... who did what to me and why?
OK, on to the next phase. I go to my endo. (First order of business is to cut the Inderal dosage in half and switch to Propranolol.) He recommends I under go RAI (thyroid radiation ablation therapy) to kill my thyroid. After questioning the docs about bad effects and being advised there were no problems (hey, everybody does it!!!) off to get nuked in the thyroid. 60 days later (last day or so of Jan. 2000) I am put on synthroid (.112 mg). 12 days later I can't hardly breathe. Endo says cut the pills in half. OK... better, but now I feel like I am thinking through a fog. ALL THE TIME. This ain't right...
Father passes away (shortly after being put on Synthroid) from a massive MI. He was started on .075mg synthroid. I learn that synthroid was never put through the normal FDA approval process, and starting someone out on synthroid who might have heart disease is dangerous. They should be started out on .025mg and worked up. (OK, this is all another story that I may put out for consideration later.)
Take an insurance physical in April. I flunk because my liver function are abnormal.
I end up in an ER with rapid heart beat, general malaise, not doing well at all. (About 2-3 am one morning.) ER doc thinks I am a nut, puts down on the forms she filled out that I denied thoughts of suicide (Yep, I did. Don't know why she thought up that question.) Ignored my attempts to inform her about my liver tests, ignored the thyroid possibility. Sent my on my way when my heart setteled down on its own. But, I got a $300 ER bill from Dr. E.
My health heads south. I go to an internist (Dr. JC). He checks heart after learning about my father. Clean EKG/ECG, my heart is in good shape. I get a physical, and discover that my gall bladder has to come out. OK... describe my symptoms to the surgeon (Dr. MW). He says that doesn't sound like gall bladder problems. Day before I lose the gall bladder I ask for a complete metabolic panel before surgery. (Dad just died and I don't want to put my family through another funeral if my whacky system is not up to surgery. I have the surgery on July 7, 2000 as an outpatient!!!) Find out later, no metabolic panel was run, but, they took the blood! What gives here.....
(Yes, they did find gall stones. Maybe I needed the surgery then, maybe later, who knows at this point.)
Health heads south again. Surgery did nothing for me from my stand point. I'm still waiting on the liver function test results. (Read on, it gets better....) I end up in an ER at 3 am with my heart going nuts again. New ER doc.
does the thyroid panel and it comes back... I'm more hyper than I was in Colorado. (Hey.... I'm not supposed to have a thyroid, it was nuked. What gives?) I get off the synthroid completely. (The ER Doc (Dr. JC2) told me to cut the pills in half.) OK, I started out in January at .112mg per day and each time I was prescribed a new dose or told by a doc to adjust the dose it was cut in half. Hey, at this point I am down to .0375mg/day with the lowest dosage at .025mg) I decide on my own to stop taking the stuff. Within a few days, the fog lifts and my head clears up. I can think again for the first time in 7 or 8 months.) After two months off of the synthroid I go to another doc and get my thyroid checked. I'm normal. Huh??? I'm not supposed to have a thyroid. What the heck were the docs doing putting me on synthroid when I didn't need it?
OK, lets back up a little bit. In the week prior to my second nocturnal ER visit with the lovely Dr. JC2 I had routine blood work done to check liver functions (2nd week of August, 2000). My health was heading south again and I knew I was headed for a crash and burn. It was a matter of when and how bad, not if it would happen. I asked the first Dr. JC (the internist that recommended I have the gall bladder surgery) for some T3 (thyroid) work. I told the nurse I was having problems and needed help and that might be a place to start. I was then told by the nurse that the internist said I could have any tests done I wanted to have done.... (Patient, not only heal thyself, prescribe tests thyself. Boy, do I feel unwanted. I didn't even get an appointment!) Called my endo and was told I could not be seen until late October 2000.) Called other doctors out of the phone book and was told it was a several month wait for an appointment. I was in trouble and the Drs. that recommended surgery, did the surgery, messed with my thyroid were all too busy to help their patient. Screw this... Dr. JC said I could have any test I wanted so I went to the clinic lab and ordered the tests I wanted. (I knew I would be shortstopped but I was getting desperate! I was going to get someone's attention.)
Sure enough, the head nurse shows up asking if I am a doctor. I explain that I am having troubles and needed help and would appreciate it if I could get the results of my last blood work from the previous week. Nothing doing!!
She was standing not 5 feet from me with my records (including the results of my blood work) and refused to show me the results. I complained she took me up to the internists office and sat me in the waiting room. I waited for 15 minutes while the nurse and the doc confabbed. The nurse comes back out and refuses to show me the records.
She said the doctor would call me later with the results.
2.5 days later I am in the ER with my heart going nuts. It is then we discover I am being ODed on synthroid. I asked specifically for thyroid work that would have caught the problem before I ended up in an ER. I was ignored by the internist and my endo. To top all of that.... I am still waiting on a doctor to call me about my lab results from my liver function tests. That has been about 3 months now. I finally ended up in an administrators office hollering at him. He gave me my results (after my ER visit of course). I requested all of my records including those of my physical. Yes, the liver function tests show abnormal. I should have been called with the results.
I then learned that my internist has some weird approach to giving physicals. According to my records, I was given a prostate exam, gave a stool sample, urine sample, and a bunch of other things were done. Well, that prostate exam had to have been done by a Ouija board or something because I never dropped my pants for that exam. Never left a stool sample, or urine sample. (What the heck is going on here??)
It gets better....
After the last ER visit I dropped the thyroid test results off at my endo's office. Three days later I get a new 'script in the mail. (I didn't ask for anything! I just wanted the ER thyroid results in my endo's records.) There is that damn Ouija board diagnosis again... Yes, the dosage was cut. I just decided on my own to stop the meds all together. Didn't tell the endo, I just did it on my own. On my last visit in October he agreed that I should not be on meds. (What the heck, the damage was done by then.)
These Drs. were killing me and I decided to let my body heal on its own for a while. This approach caused many of my problems to go away. These days, I feel pretty rotten and I don't know why. I had more blood work done today and will hopefully get the results soon. (I'm not betting my farm on that!)
Oh, yeah... after my second ER visit prompted by my heart taking off like a gun shot, an EKG/ECG strip shows I may have suffered an inferior infarction. No more good heart.
So... who do I take to court? (Would it be justifiable homicide if I took care of the problem myself? Maybe save a few lives in the future. OK, I'm joking again, but, not by much...)
Any advise would be appreciated at this point. Really, I want to clean this mess up and try and prevent this from happening to someone else. This has not been fun at all.
I have lost a year of my life to this mess, and, it seems to have been unnecessary in many ways. I would not wish this on my worst enemy.
Ken
PS, oh yeah. As a post script.... last week some 16 yo kid out cruising ran a red light and wiped out my car. It has been a tough year! AND SOMEONE IS GONNA PAY!
OK, just joking about shooting someone, but, just barely. Read on and you will understand. Just remember, it is a bumpy ride, and nothing but the truth...
Nov, 1999, entered ER in Brighton, CO., diagnosed with Graves Disease (hyperthyroid) prescribed 80mg Inderal LA.
Couple of days later, thought my heart had stopped.
(First vacation in 15 years!!!! and I end up in an ER.)
Day after Brighton ER I get called in with a suspicious shadow on an x-ray (on lung behind heart) so they say. I
go back, get flouroscoped with a result of negative. Sent on my way. Work done by a DR. TB (at least that was the name on HER lab coat.)
Day after get called back to endo in Brighton, wanted to make sure I had a 'script. Charged $40 and sent on my way.
(Yep, I had a 'script' and it just cost me another $40 on top of the Wally-World cost.)
Back to Springfield, MO. (Home)
Requested Colorado records be sent to my current endo. Beats the heck out of me if he ever received them. I guess I should ask one of these days.
$2000 worth of bills show up for ER work (including x-rays).
I pay. Later I get another bill for $78 after someone reviewed the x-rays/flouroscopes). I call, discover Dr. TB is really a guy. I then described the person that did the original work. The lady on the phone said I just described the person who submitted the second bill. Not Dr. TB, but, the woman Dr. who actually did the original flouroscope work. Hmmmm.... who did what to me and why?
OK, on to the next phase. I go to my endo. (First order of business is to cut the Inderal dosage in half and switch to Propranolol.) He recommends I under go RAI (thyroid radiation ablation therapy) to kill my thyroid. After questioning the docs about bad effects and being advised there were no problems (hey, everybody does it!!!) off to get nuked in the thyroid. 60 days later (last day or so of Jan. 2000) I am put on synthroid (.112 mg). 12 days later I can't hardly breathe. Endo says cut the pills in half. OK... better, but now I feel like I am thinking through a fog. ALL THE TIME. This ain't right...
Father passes away (shortly after being put on Synthroid) from a massive MI. He was started on .075mg synthroid. I learn that synthroid was never put through the normal FDA approval process, and starting someone out on synthroid who might have heart disease is dangerous. They should be started out on .025mg and worked up. (OK, this is all another story that I may put out for consideration later.)
Take an insurance physical in April. I flunk because my liver function are abnormal.
I end up in an ER with rapid heart beat, general malaise, not doing well at all. (About 2-3 am one morning.) ER doc thinks I am a nut, puts down on the forms she filled out that I denied thoughts of suicide (Yep, I did. Don't know why she thought up that question.) Ignored my attempts to inform her about my liver tests, ignored the thyroid possibility. Sent my on my way when my heart setteled down on its own. But, I got a $300 ER bill from Dr. E.
My health heads south. I go to an internist (Dr. JC). He checks heart after learning about my father. Clean EKG/ECG, my heart is in good shape. I get a physical, and discover that my gall bladder has to come out. OK... describe my symptoms to the surgeon (Dr. MW). He says that doesn't sound like gall bladder problems. Day before I lose the gall bladder I ask for a complete metabolic panel before surgery. (Dad just died and I don't want to put my family through another funeral if my whacky system is not up to surgery. I have the surgery on July 7, 2000 as an outpatient!!!) Find out later, no metabolic panel was run, but, they took the blood! What gives here.....
(Yes, they did find gall stones. Maybe I needed the surgery then, maybe later, who knows at this point.)
Health heads south again. Surgery did nothing for me from my stand point. I'm still waiting on the liver function test results. (Read on, it gets better....) I end up in an ER at 3 am with my heart going nuts again. New ER doc.
does the thyroid panel and it comes back... I'm more hyper than I was in Colorado. (Hey.... I'm not supposed to have a thyroid, it was nuked. What gives?) I get off the synthroid completely. (The ER Doc (Dr. JC2) told me to cut the pills in half.) OK, I started out in January at .112mg per day and each time I was prescribed a new dose or told by a doc to adjust the dose it was cut in half. Hey, at this point I am down to .0375mg/day with the lowest dosage at .025mg) I decide on my own to stop taking the stuff. Within a few days, the fog lifts and my head clears up. I can think again for the first time in 7 or 8 months.) After two months off of the synthroid I go to another doc and get my thyroid checked. I'm normal. Huh??? I'm not supposed to have a thyroid. What the heck were the docs doing putting me on synthroid when I didn't need it?
OK, lets back up a little bit. In the week prior to my second nocturnal ER visit with the lovely Dr. JC2 I had routine blood work done to check liver functions (2nd week of August, 2000). My health was heading south again and I knew I was headed for a crash and burn. It was a matter of when and how bad, not if it would happen. I asked the first Dr. JC (the internist that recommended I have the gall bladder surgery) for some T3 (thyroid) work. I told the nurse I was having problems and needed help and that might be a place to start. I was then told by the nurse that the internist said I could have any tests done I wanted to have done.... (Patient, not only heal thyself, prescribe tests thyself. Boy, do I feel unwanted. I didn't even get an appointment!) Called my endo and was told I could not be seen until late October 2000.) Called other doctors out of the phone book and was told it was a several month wait for an appointment. I was in trouble and the Drs. that recommended surgery, did the surgery, messed with my thyroid were all too busy to help their patient. Screw this... Dr. JC said I could have any test I wanted so I went to the clinic lab and ordered the tests I wanted. (I knew I would be shortstopped but I was getting desperate! I was going to get someone's attention.)
Sure enough, the head nurse shows up asking if I am a doctor. I explain that I am having troubles and needed help and would appreciate it if I could get the results of my last blood work from the previous week. Nothing doing!!
She was standing not 5 feet from me with my records (including the results of my blood work) and refused to show me the results. I complained she took me up to the internists office and sat me in the waiting room. I waited for 15 minutes while the nurse and the doc confabbed. The nurse comes back out and refuses to show me the records.
She said the doctor would call me later with the results.
2.5 days later I am in the ER with my heart going nuts. It is then we discover I am being ODed on synthroid. I asked specifically for thyroid work that would have caught the problem before I ended up in an ER. I was ignored by the internist and my endo. To top all of that.... I am still waiting on a doctor to call me about my lab results from my liver function tests. That has been about 3 months now. I finally ended up in an administrators office hollering at him. He gave me my results (after my ER visit of course). I requested all of my records including those of my physical. Yes, the liver function tests show abnormal. I should have been called with the results.
I then learned that my internist has some weird approach to giving physicals. According to my records, I was given a prostate exam, gave a stool sample, urine sample, and a bunch of other things were done. Well, that prostate exam had to have been done by a Ouija board or something because I never dropped my pants for that exam. Never left a stool sample, or urine sample. (What the heck is going on here??)
It gets better....
After the last ER visit I dropped the thyroid test results off at my endo's office. Three days later I get a new 'script in the mail. (I didn't ask for anything! I just wanted the ER thyroid results in my endo's records.) There is that damn Ouija board diagnosis again... Yes, the dosage was cut. I just decided on my own to stop the meds all together. Didn't tell the endo, I just did it on my own. On my last visit in October he agreed that I should not be on meds. (What the heck, the damage was done by then.)
These Drs. were killing me and I decided to let my body heal on its own for a while. This approach caused many of my problems to go away. These days, I feel pretty rotten and I don't know why. I had more blood work done today and will hopefully get the results soon. (I'm not betting my farm on that!)
Oh, yeah... after my second ER visit prompted by my heart taking off like a gun shot, an EKG/ECG strip shows I may have suffered an inferior infarction. No more good heart.
So... who do I take to court? (Would it be justifiable homicide if I took care of the problem myself? Maybe save a few lives in the future. OK, I'm joking again, but, not by much...)
Any advise would be appreciated at this point. Really, I want to clean this mess up and try and prevent this from happening to someone else. This has not been fun at all.
I have lost a year of my life to this mess, and, it seems to have been unnecessary in many ways. I would not wish this on my worst enemy.
Ken
PS, oh yeah. As a post script.... last week some 16 yo kid out cruising ran a red light and wiped out my car. It has been a tough year! AND SOMEONE IS GONNA PAY!