Ever had a Medical Scare?
 

I recently had a medical scare that turned out to be nothing. What did I learn from this?

1. Some members of the the medical profession do a lousy job of dealing with the patient's anxiety regarding medical testing. They need to be more responsive to the patient's need to know when and how test results will be conveyed to the patient. They actually told me to wait a week to receive a test result that was available the same day. So, I had to get the results and interpret them myself. It would have been better if the doctor had called me as soon as the results were published.

2. Medical tests often reveal incidental problems that were not even tested for. Some tests, like CT scans, are extremely accurate, and often reveal potential issues that result in more testing and more anxiety for the patient.

3. In the future, I will be much more selective in agreeing to tests that a doctor wants to perform. I will not blindly accept a doctor's recommendation for testing. I want more information about the potential benefit of the test before I agree to it.

4. Nobody lives forever and I realize that I am not as afraid of dying as I used to be.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

I don't know what doctor's office you deal with. My experience with the TVHS is the opposite. Whenever I have had a significant test I get a call the next day or day after with the results. Sometimes the doctor himself calls. Just had that experience with an echo cardiogram. Granted, that is not the case with routine blood test preceding a scheduled doctor's visit.

Depends on the test, some are money makers and some could save your live. If I did not agree to a digital rectal exam during my annual physical a few years ago, I would probably be dead now. Instead I am very alive and healthy.

I've had a few medical scares, but nothing that would be similar to yours.

In 1983 I was in a horrible accident and broke my left radius, ulna, femur, clavicle, three ribs, traumatized my spine, and knocked my front teeth loose (but not out). I was in CICU because of an embolism climbing up through an artery from the broken thigh bone, with a tube down my throat breathing for me, my leg and arm both in traction, and shot up with morphine every 4 hours for 3 days. At some point during this, my heart stopped beating and my brain waves showed no activity for several seconds. I was "clinically" dead. But before they could get me juiced up with electricity, my body switched itself back on again spontaneously.

I guess somewhere deep inside I knew it just wasn't my turn yet.

Yep. After a routine blood test my doctor (who is an international expert) said I have Multiple myeloma. I had maybe 5 years left. I had two young children at home. I was so scared of this news I could not sleep, I could not eat, I could not go to work. Eventually I pulled myself together enough to get another opinion and went to the head of oncology at a very established hospital. This man was an incredibly compassionate man, he saw my degree of anxiety and took blood himself in his office and analyzed it. He made me wait in his office till we had the result. Then he said, “You don’t have MM, you are as healthy as I am.” Then I could actually breathe again. That was over 20 years ago.

You're condemning the entire medical profession based on on experience?

I'm sorry that you went through this but it's not fair to lump all medical professionals together.

This is like saying that all cops are racist killers or no school teachers care about their students.

You had one bad experience with one test facility.

Extending an isolated or minority incident to a general condition is done all too often!

I too had a scare and was taken to the hospital and had lots of tests. They were trying to figure out why I had a seizure. So CT and MRI plus lots of blood tests. But I was glad they did the extensive testing, and if they had found something serious but unrelated, I would have been glad. Yes, anxious, but happy they found something. I feel their extensive training should be enough to trust their decision for more tests.

I don't disagree they could do a better job conveying information. I had a great GP doctor up north who would call, but near the end had less time for this, he was calling after dinner and obviously working late making the calls. Lots of information now comes to you via a portal. I think doctors are busier than when we were young and just don't have the time, and are not compensated to follow up. I eventually went to Mayo in MN for my issue, now here they do have one doctor who coordinates all the visits with specialists and who then reviews the results with you. But Mayo also charges much more and many insurance plans (I am not yet on Medicare) don't cover a visit to Mayo. I do recommend them.

So I think you might have just not gotten the best doctor. The good ones are hard to find and you don't go "shopping" (have a serious event) that often.

I have had other similar experiences, but you are correct. I modified my post.

Never had a medical scare, all of my diagnoses were correct

Similar experience no. Thankful testing is done.

Agree! And why would you be interpreting your own results.?? If you get a copy of the scan or xray, you obviously would have no clue what your looking at. So, just wait until the Dr reads it to you. Youre causing your own anxiety. Dr has alot of patients, youre not special. And think about it, if hes in no rush to call you then its more likely than not that the tests came out fine.

Medical testing results
 

I encourage everyone to obtain a written copy of all test results for your files. And while you might not understand what you read, have it in front of you and ask, what each thing means. I won’t accept, “ your MRI has nothing to worry about “. Explain the report to me, I am not stupid and that makes me feel better

I have heard from several sources, that the providers are not good and don't have your best interest in mind. go elsewhere

Sorry you had a bad experience. I can’t believe some people who have no compassion for another person’s experience with testing , and condemning them for posting their experience. Thankfully they posted the group they belong to as a warning to stay away from this group .

You either do not have a good relationship with your primary care doctor OR you went to an urgent care or one of the new stand alone ER’s. Either way it is horrible you went through this.

Chronic problem here, assembly line medicine again whose running the medical around here? TV

Burned face to waist.

Just under two thirds of burn survivors have PTSD, anxiety or depression. With numbers like that you would think there would be some vigilance to address these in aftercare. Not really.

Physicians fix problems, anticipation of problems is not as likely.

A good outcome to a tough experience. I find that those "near death" experiences change your life perspective considerably. You begin to think about things more broadly and philosophically. If it was a car accident, I would have been thinking about buying a large Hummer or some monster truck. There would probably be various life changes made.

You obviously don't utilize The Villages Health System....they are anything BUT assembly line medicine. Yes, we all have had doctors that line em up in the waiting room (much past your appointment time) and then after a CNA or PA questions you, the doctor is in and out in a few minutes. The Villages Health System physcians are not paid on a per patient basis...thus they spend the necessary time needed for them to fully understand your problem, concerns, and then fully explain their diagnosis and treatment plan, including tests and the results of tests. I have lived in 5 major cities who had national acclaim for medical treatment and none have come close to the individual care I receive at The Villages Health System. I am healthy, but if I had something serious, TVHS would recommend an expert in the field as a referral. The recent merger of U of F medical and TVHS is all the more proof of the Villages and their efforts to take care of the residents.

The Mayo Clinic gives you an advantage over an individual Doctor. They act more like a group and review each other's decisions. That gives a patient better quality control over their case. I always believe in group decisions and group input to decisions. I wish we had more of that in our top political leadership.

Tests
 

Tests are done for several reasons one is cover up the inadequacy of the doctor's knowledge another reason is kickbacks a third reason is to cover their ass back side. and the last reason is that actually find out what the problem could possibly be. It seems and some tests take 3 to 5 days to get back from the labs other tests that should be done at the doctor's office aren't I know people that go in for colds takes 5 days to get the appointment 5 days to get the test back and they were already cured. It just stupid system

I had a medical scare a few years ago and was taken to Leesburg hospital. Very good, professional and caring ambulance crew. A quick blood teat showed it was probably a false alarm, but I was kept overnight for more extensive tests to rule out other issues. The care was great. I got test results very quickly. The nurses were terrific , helpful and caring. My only problem was was that it took many hours for them to track down the necessary doctor to sign my release. I considered just leaving until it was pointed out that insurance might not cover cost of care if I did. Overall I was surprisingly happy and satisfied with the care.

A somewhat similar thing happened to me in 1983 when I got married to my fist wife. The twitch which we both experienced and brought us back to life did not occur to me until she divorced me 7 years ago. I thank the Good Lord every day That I am alive. Stay strong my friend. This life is temporary. The next one, not so much !

My wife, who is in the medical field, does NOT like HMOs, in general, she calls them, "Mommie May I s".

Many doctors are unscrupulous and days of "Do No Harm" are often discarded. Check every doctor on HEALTH.GRADES.com
My personal experience is that Medicare Advantage plans through UHC & FL Blue have the best doctors. All mine are. Research everything else you mentioned by Googling WebMD cat scans, etc. Because of insurance company's significantly lower doctor payments, doctors need to earn more money & prescribe unnecessary tests. Also unnecessary RX because they get kickbacks from drug companies. That's why they have a Bazillion free samples to hand out to patients, many of which are not needed. Example statin drugs to patients whose cholesterol is only 200, 205 & the list goes on & on.

I wonder what the aftercare would be like in Finland or Australia or elsewhere? Is that a US problem?

Unfortunately our medical system is geared heavily toward drugs and surgery because that is what Doctors are taught and it is where all the profit is. There is hardly any training in Med school for nutrition. That is why most will not tell you that animal protein is the major contributor to heart disease, cancer and diabetes in America. Not genes.

Always do your on research. Getting second opinions are expensive and you may receive the same flawed advice. Of course there are many quacks on the internet but also well respected medical sites. A great resource for peer reviewed literature is Home - PMC - NCBI

or you may find options that treat the root cause and not just the symptoms such as the Cleveland Clinic.

Heart Disease Reversal Program | Cleveland Clinic

Whoa. I hope you're recovered from all that.

In a way, yes.

DRGs

Diagnostic related groups. That is how the U.S. Medical system is based. Example, a broken femur gets X dollars for the procedure of setting your bone. If a hospital does that service in less time or with less expense the hospital profits. That isn't necessarily bad but it does change the focus of medicine, the priorities at least.

That's a massive wakeup call for a second opinion when there's such dire news!

The only concession to "safety" that I made was that I didn't buy a new moped, and I'm now a worse passenger than I used to be. I prefer doing the driving, whenever there's a trip involving more than one driver. The accident was caused by my best friend who was driving my moped with me on the back. We went the wrong way on a one-way side road into a major intersection without stopping. He broke his neck, suffered massive internal injuries, and died 4 days later. I had 2 weeks in the hospital and 6 months of intensive physical therapy.

My surgeon told me I would -probably- need a wheelchair by the time I was 40. I'm 59 and can still turn cartwheels (and I still do, on random occasions). I'm in some measure of pain 24/7 and don't take anything for it. But I'm still up, doing the twist while I clean shopping carts at the supermarket, and preparing for actually being retired some day when I grow up :)

Sorry that your friend is gone. Impressive story. I am glad that your recovery was so successful. Good job rejecting pain killers. In some cases they say that acupuncture helps for pain. I'm sure you know more about that than I do. I never could do cartwheels.

A doctor once told me "Don't worry till there's something to worry about" And stop reading into things. (meaning self diagnosis)
I have had many scares in my life, some turning out fine , others not but treatable. From a brain tumor to bloodwork, etc. I also have a panic disorder when it comes to health and worry extensively. Trying to break out of that and it has gotten a lot better.
I don't like these patient portals for that reason. You read stuff that sounds like something bad and it turns out that it's nothing.