The Stupid Doctor

I completely trust our pediatrician.  He is amazing and genuinely cares about his patients.  He referred us to a local GI doctor, and our next adventure began.

There are several doctors in this group, but we were not fortunate enough to get one that took an interest in Emma.  He spent about ten minutes with us, diagnosed her with cyclic vomiting syndrome, and started her on Hyoscyamine to help reduce the vomiting.  (At this appointment, I asked if it was possible something was wrong with her gall bladder.  With her symptoms and our family history, it just seemed likely.  He said it was not at all possible.)  

Unfortunately, the medicine did not make any difference whatsoever, and this ten minutes of face time was all we ever got with this doctor.  When I called and left messages, I would not get a return call.  Instead, I would receive an email from the pharmacy a day or two later telling me I had a new prescription to pick up.  I would have to call the pharmacist or research the medication to even know why it was being prescribed to my daughter.

I found myself calling several different times with very similar results.  At one point, I actually got a nurse on the phone.  I told her that the occurrences of vomiting had lessened slightly, but the diarrhea had intensified.  (Since diarrhea is not a technical symptom of cyclic vomiting syndrome, this was obviously something about which I was concerned.)  Her response was, "Diarrhea?  When did this symptom start?"  I told her it was one of the things I talked to the doctor about at our initial visit, but she told me this symptom was not listed anywhere in Emma's records.  Wow--one of her main symptoms, yet the doctor never felt it important enough to write down.  This time I did get a call back, and it was to schedule a HIDA scan to check her gall bladder and an upper GI.

While chatting with the doctor at the hospital (before her procedures), he essentially told us that he was doing the HIDA scan against his better judgment.  Weeks before this, he had no problem ordering a brain scan that cost us $1000 out-of-pocket, yet he did not want to run this test that seemed to fit her symptoms.  

Once the tests were complete, the doctor came back and told us that nothing was wrong with her gall bladder (along with an "I told you so") and that she also did not have celiac.  We did not get any other answers at this time.  I talked to him about the diarrhea, and he acted like he had never heard about this symptom.  I also asked him if it was characteristic of cyclic vomiting syndrome.  He said it was not, yet he increased the hyoscyamine.

After this, I called the pediatrician to schedule another visit with him.  This GI doctor was making no real efforts to help my child, and it was time for us to make a change.