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ChronicBabe Blog Carnival #10: How do you deal with the medical establishment?

For those of us with chronic illness, dealing with the medical establishment—whether it's doctors and nurses, or billing specialists and health insurance reps—can be a big pain in the tush. Other times, we find ourselves in positive interactions and great relationships. It's ChronicBabe Blog Carnival #10: Here's what 15 of our fave bloggers (and one doctor!) had to say about their dealings with the medical establishment. From rants to eye-opening tips and even a wish list, we let you know what Chronic Babes are doing to cope with doctors and the rest of the medical profession. Read on…

Teamwork works!

Sometimes Mom has the best medicine. Elfenkate at Into A Barrel and Over My Life knows she’s got it good in “What? Me Worry?” She knows she’s lucky that most of the twists and turns are already dealt with by a great team of people, including her mom!

Migrainista is, like many of us, overwhelmed by the medical world and shares her fears in “Don't Know Where to Begin.” But she has a couple of strategies to help her cope. One of which involves using a sounding board!

Phylor’s post, “I Have My PCP on Speed Dial: Developing A Good Relationship With Your Doctor(s),” makes it clear that if you have a good doctor then it is important to work through the rough spots with your him or her. Phylor also provides really useful advice on how to get your most out of your doctor visit…including doing your own research. A must read!!

Attitude adjustments

Sometimes it just takes what it takes to keep up your spirits in the face of medical adversity. And Rachael at Glass of Win has determined that the only way to deal with hospitals is irreverence and petty larceny, as she explains in “How I Deal with the Medical Establishment.” For those of you who say if there are no pictures it didn’t happen…the picture is included!

Whoops. When the doctor’s office staff puts you on hold, forgets about you or just plain out ignores you, it’s enough to make a ChronicBabe lose her temper! And sometimes we let them know just how pissed we are. Amanda at All Flared Up: An Arthritis Blog writes about being “On The Wrong Side Of The Karma Stick.” Unfortunately sometimes the staff gets an opportunity to stick it back to you. Ouch!

Make no mistake; dealing with doctors is frustrating for us. But SR at How Can I Explain it to You? The Life of a Grad Student with Lupus has an open mind in “Through the Looking (or sometimes bulletproof) Glass” and considers the relationship from the staff’s point of view.

What I really wish my doctor would do...

Selena at Oh My Aches and Pains! could have written a post ranting about all the bad, no-good experiences she’s had. Instead she decided to write: “Dear Doctor: My Wish List of Things You Can Do For Me.” This is one of those posts we wish would go viral so doctors everywhere would see it!

How to Cope with Pain provides us with two posts. “A Good Doctor-Patient Relationship” offers a few suggestions on how to work with a doctor and get your point across, and “How to Connect with Your Doc” looks at what both parties should contribute to ensure a good relationship.

Nessie’s big secret, at Lipstick, perfume and too many pills, is to live by the golden rule and remember “Doctors are people, too!”

Other options

FibroHaven comes at the doctor-patient relationship much differently than many people diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Doctors are not going to heal us. So check your expectations at the door. In “Is it Time to Rethink the Fibromyalgia Doctor-Patient Relationship?” she clarifies what it is she does to help herself. This post could be a total game-changer if you let it be…

Honestly, going to the doctor just to have him tell you things you already know is frustrating. And a waste of precious commodities, like time and money. Wendy at Transform Your Chronic Life has found other options, she writes in “The Medical "Establishment" - Thanks; but No, I Don't Think I Will.”

What is the Canadian health care system actually like? Annie from It's Time To Get Over How Fragile You Are shares “My Thoughts on My Local Medical Institutions,” where the tests are free, the meds outrageously expensive and referrals, even to a primary care doctor take years.

Sometimes, you just have to rant!

If a doctor said it, it must be true. Right? Blogger Mama at Sjoggie StAHMer knows better. She tells us about “My Relationship With Doctors.” Even when we act as our own advocates we can get stuck with doctors who just don’t want to do the right thing.

As a person diagnosed with fibromyalgia, it can become easy to fall into chasing the next treatment, the newest medication, the latest supplement, diet, vitamin, herb, etc. touted as being the “fix” for fibromyalgia. After thousands of dollars spent, and feeling not really that much better, KD from Making Noises is trying to get off that merry-go-round. In “Take Two Happy Pills and Call Me in the Morning,” KD lays out her feelings about doctors who prescribe placebos instead of treating the problem.There is no happy pill that will take away all the pain. Not even a placebo. Doctors who think “fibromyalgia patients are difficult” need to spend a day in our shoes!

And they call this health care? Diana Lee at Somebody Heal Me knows that wishing for a different result will not create one. In “When Migraines Make Treatment Decisions Difficult” Diana tells an all-too-familiar story about going to a doctor’s appointment feeling tired and beat up by her illness. The doctor, who just wanted to prescribe something and move on to the next appointment, did her no favors.

And finally…A doctor's open letter to us

We've mentioned this letter before, but it bears repeating: Dr. Rob at Musings of a Distractible Mind shares some interesting insights into a doctor’s point of view in “A Letter to Patients with Chronic Disease.” Who knew doctors were scared of us?!!

Like what you see here? Why not enter the next ChronicBabe Blog Carnival?!

We're having so much fun running a blog carnival! But maybe there's room for improvement; we want to hear your suggestions. Let us know what you think in the discussion over at the Forum.

Want to participate in the next carnival? It's two weeks from today (publish date: August 24, 2010), and the theme is: Arts & Crafts. Have you ever made your own heating pad? Rigged your own insulin pump? Designed crutch covers? We want to hear how you did it, and we want photos. We've seen awesome crafts and tricks in the past, so we know you've got 'em!

If you want to participate, send us your name (as you would like it to appear), the name of your blog, the name of your post, and a 1-2 sentence description of the post. We'll let you know if you're accepted. Send all that to chronic babe @ gmail dot com. The deadline is Sunday, August 22, at 10pm CST.

P.S.: Why not spread the love and submit a post from your favorite ChronicBabe blogger? Tell us who you love to read and we'll include her, too!

And as always, we thank our pals at Fibrochondriac who makes this carnival awesome!

Posted: 8/10/2010 in Blog Carnival | Also posted in: Coping

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