Journal BarbaraHudson's Journal: Happy New Year. Good news - and I'm REALLY pissed off. 6
Warning - longish rant
Finally, after years of dealing with major depression and anxiety disorders, it turns out that there was nothing wrong with me except trusting my endocrinologist when he said everything was fine wrt HRT (hormone replacement therapy).
In what is a probably a fine example of medical malpractice, he had me, after 5 years, on 1/4 the starting dose of estrogen. Son! Of! A! Bitch! Of course, low hormone levels lead to all sorts of risks, including depression
Only after accidentally obtaining my actual blood test results, which I had earlier received by mistake, did I find the error. Had to involve the hospital where he works, and he admitted to me he doesn't check estrogen levels "because they vary over the course of the day." Well, that's why we have standard protocols, including standard dose recommendations, dummy!
From the physician's code of ethics:
44. A physician must practice his profession in accordance with the highest possible current medical standards; to this end, he must, in particular, develop, perfect and keep his knowledge and skills up to date
His actions in seriously under-dosing were not "current medical standards", not in my book.
46. A physician must make his diagnosis with the greatest care, using the most appropriate scientific methods and, if necessary, consulting knowledgeable sources.
If you're going to ignore blood tests, you'd better have a damn good excuse, or better yet, maybe it's a good idea to fall back on standard practices?
47. A physician must avoid omissions, procedures or acts which are unsuitable or contrary to the current information in medical science.
So, no ignoring standard practices.
48. A physician must not resort to insufficiently tested examinations, investigations or treatments, unless they are part of a recognized research project and carried out in a recognized scientific milieu.
Oops!
49. A physician must, with regard to a patient who wishes to resort to insufficiently tested treatments, inform him of the lack of scientific evidence relative to such treatments, of the risks or disadvantages that could result from them, as well as the advantages he may derive from the usual care, if any.
It's called "informed consent" for a reason. I was never informed that he was not going to go by established standards of treatment, and certainly would not have consented to it if I had been given the particulars.
55. A physician must not decrease the physical, mental or affective capacities of a patient except where such is required for preventive, diagnostic or therapeutic reasons.
That includes not making bad judgment calls that result in physical and mental symptoms of depression, interfere with concentration on a day-to-day basis, make it impossible to work, etc.
85. A physician must refrain from issuing to any person and for any reason whatsoever a false certificate or any information, either verbal or written, which he knows to be erroneous.
That includes saying blood levels were fine when he now admits he ignores estrogen levels in blood tests that were clearly way too low. WTF???? That's the whole point of HRT - to get estrogen levels to the point where they have a therapeutic effect, not just acting no better than a placebo.
The proof is in the pudding.
What motivated me to look for errors was that nothing over the last few years had offered a real fix to the depression - all sorts of medications, alone or together, in various doses, just didn't work, and the PTSD, which I had dealt with for years, had destabilized 3 years ago. When I recently found myself once more waking up one morning right back in the middle of a really "dark place" wondering why I didn't just kill myself and be done with it for good, just hours after I had told one of my sisters that I thought things were finally, maybe, hopefully, getting better, I figured that since nobody could find what was really wrong, it was time for me to check assumptions, one of which was my endocrinologists' saying that hormone-wise, everything was good. Once I found my mistaken assumption, I quadrupled the dose that night, and woke up better than I had been feeling in years. Makes sense, since hormones act very quickly. A surge of adrenaline in response to anger is immediate. An overdose of insulin will put you on the floor within minutes. And PMS? 'Nuff said. Hormones are strong medicine. (And estrogen is a noted anti-depressant, even in tests of one 4mg patch on male test subjects).
So I'm left with a few questions, one of which is - will my ability to code ever return? Despite believing it won't, I've still fired up the old editor every so often, hoping
Only time will tell. But damn, it's sure a fine start to 2017. Hope I'm not the only one who can say that. Take care everyone.
2017 is starting off awesome (Score:1)
Trump won. I got hired recently, after being unemployed since February. And I started seeing someone recently, who I've known for a year. 2016 was anywhere from "teh suck" to "meh". 2017 is going to rock.
Hope your new dosage works out for you. And glad you didn't off yourself. My sister developed an auto-immune disorder later in life and had to take matters into her own hands as well, as far as doing her own research and helping things along as far as her medical care, when doctors weren't solving thi
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Good to hear things are on the up-and-up. As for offing myself, I'm not depressed any more, but the dose isn't yet at 100% (I had to go the illegal route to get sufficient to get to where I am, but that's not a dependable route so I'm not able to raise it fully to what I need). And unfortunately, the reality is that my life still sucks. Lost contact with all my old friends when I could no longer drive (turns out I was the one who was keeping everyone together by organizing the weekly get-togethers for year
Pissed off is good! (Score:2)
Pissed on.....Not so much.
I'm glad you are deploying ordinance here on the shelling range before launching an offensive on Dr. Strangelove.
Doctor / patient relationships, after all, are exactly that, and its hard to always stand in both sets of shoes, unless you are a four legged cross dresser, and we know your feelings on skin deep transparency.
Here's the thing, everything you say is correct:
Growing old's a bitch. Estrogen pairs nicely, with a Pinot Noir.
Ethicists need doctors, penal codes discourage thei
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The problem is that there is a history both here and in Ontario of male doctors under-dosing m2f transsexuals that was exposed a few decades ago, and that is still part and parcel of the system. And not just here - it's been a problem in the US as well - just that as the crackpots leave the US they set up shop here, as happened at the CAMH a few decades ago.
Also, what he did was unethical and also illegal. I could sue, which I don't have any intention of doing, or I could file a complaint with the medical
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So he was deceptive. What was his reaction when you confronted these facts, denial? Do you think he thinks he just knows better than the patient, or is he slacking, or a research ideologue stuck on being right? That sucks to get this kind of quacking in such specialized medicine.
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He admitted that he didn't use the blood tests scores for estrogen levels. He claimed it was justified, because "you're diabetic" - even though in the same sentence he admitted it was well controlled. As my first endocrinologist, who was a diabetes specialist said, type 1 diabetes, well controlled, meant that I could eat and do anything I wanted. Literally. Just adjust the insulin dose as required. I asked him about donating blood, he said to go for it, so even though the red cross doesn't take blood from