Dealing With Your Doctor During Pancreatitis

Tips For Dealing With Your Doctor

The days of the friendly country Doctor who spends all the time that it takes to understand what is going on with you and takes their time explaining what your options are is probably gone.

I’ve been lucky though and most of the Doctors that I deal with on a regular basis still try to channel that friendly country Doctor and do the best that they can when it comes to answering my questions.

When you have Pancreatitis, or any other major illness, the last thing that you want to feel is rushed into making what could be life altering decisions before you have all the information that you need.

Age Of The Internet

Things have changed a lot in the last decade and will only continue to evolve as the amount of information on the Internet increases.

Pretty much anyone can now access one of the Internet sites that offer symptom analysis and scare themselves silly.

But this access should also let us become more educated in what is happening to us and understand what our options are, making our time with our Doctors a little more productive.

I’m a firm believer in being a pro-active patient.  I want to understand everything that is going on and exactly what options are available.

Still, I understand why a lot of Doctors aren’t very happy about the  patient that wants to be able to walk in and tell the doctor what they are suffering from and what needs to be done.

After all, to become a Doctor they have spent many years and tons of money getting the training that they have so they can call themselves a Doctor.

But there should also be a middle ground where an educated patient makes the Doctors job easier.  After all, it is our body issues and health that we are talking about and we should understand better than anyone else what is happening inside of us.

Age Of The Corporate Doctor

One common complaint that I hear from friends and see on the Internet is how rushed Doctors always seem to be when you have an appointment.

Many times, unless you are lucky, you get 15 minutes and then they are on to the next patient.  You are left sort of wondering what just happened and hoping that you remembered everything that you needed to ask about.

It’s really not their fault.  You rarely see a Doctor who is just sitting somewhere shooting the breeze.  They usually have full schedules of appointments or are doing the reams of paperwork that their work requires.

When you are in the hospital they come and go in minutes.  So it is important that you know the best way for dealing with your Doctors during pancreatitis.

And the fact is that almost every Doctor that you see has to answer to someone about how they are spending their time.  If it’s not the actual clinic or hospital that they are working for then it’s the insurance that whom they bill their time.

Helping Your Doctor

The Internet and all the sites that offer self diagnosis can be a useful tool to prepare ourselves so that we understand the terminology and are prepared to ask questions that make sense.

Instead of wasting a Doctors time with general questions that everyone else asks, if we can become an educated patient that understands our problem we can get right to the core of a problem.

By understanding the terminology we won’t have to waste his or her time explaining what they are talking about.

Most competent Doctors want to make sure that they rule out any other possible problems before they make the final diagnosis that you have pancreatitis.  So you are going to need to answer some basic questions if you are seeing a new Doctor for the first time.

Part of the problem with suffering from pancreatitis is the general feeling that we who suffer from it all share that if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck then it must be a duck.

In other words we want to get right down to brass tacks and talk about what can be done about our pain or nausea.

But the Doctor needs to get then answers to his questions so he can decide and diagnose you.  Be prepared to answer his/her questions.

When Going To The Hospital

Still there are ways to talk to your own regular Doctor or even an emergency room Doctor that you have never met before that will speed this process and help the doctor feel that he is in control, but still get you where you want to be.

And let’s be honest here.  If you are in the midst of a pancreatic attack and in a lot of pain that means getting  pain meds.

But you must start by remembering that the pain meds that you want are narcotics and Doctors can get into a lot of trouble if they are prescribing them willy nilly to anyone who asks for them so they are going to need to be shown that:

1. You actually are in pain and need  relief.
2. You aren’t just some junky that is  looking to get high.
3. YOU ARE REALLY HURTING!!!

So the start of dealing with your Doctor during pancreatitis is by being prepared whether you have a routine appointment or are heading for the hospital.

Especially if you are heading for the emergency room you might be be going to an emergency room where they might not have instant access to your files so keep at least something that shows your history and diagnosis on hand.

It should include a brief history showing when you were diagnosed, how many attacks you’ve had and when, and how you have been treated in the past.

Remember that most Doctors won’t read beyond the first page or two of your file so even though most files are required to be on-line and accessible, that doesn’t mean that your Doctor is going to read your entire file.

Also, have a list of whatever meds that you are currently taking.  It might even help the Doctor to know what meds you have taken in the past because some meds can cause pancreatitis and they are probably going to ask anyway.

Even if the doctor you are seeing has access to your files they are going to want to make sure that they have the right meds list, know what you are currently taking, and make sure that you are being compliant and taking your meds as prescribed.

If you can remember all this information fine, just be ready to answer the doctors questions.  But if you are like me, and get a little foggy when you are in a lot of pain, having this information printed out can save a lot of time and the Doctor will appreciate it.

The more that you learn about the better you will be at dealing with your Doctor during Pancreatitis.