'Oh wait, I forgot to mention this pain'

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/health/cst-nws-door28.html

The four familiar words physicians always dread come when the office visit is ending, doctor's pen clipped back onto the white coat pocket and hand reaching for the door.

''Oh, by the way,'' the patient says.

What comes next could be as innocuous as a harmless freckle -- or a bombshell.

Docs interrupt after 18 seconds

So can the old-style, doctor-centered approach, she said, citing a medical study published 20 years ago showing that doctors interrupted patients an average of just 18 seconds into a routine office visit.

more

[elehhhhna]

1. My doc's a good listener BUT

when it's time to refill the migraine meds, he acts like I'm Courtney Love. I wish he'd get a doozy migraine just once...

[Worst Username Ever]

2. I get that RE my Xanax prescription.

A refill is 20 pills, and it takes me about 6-8 months to go through those 20 pills. 2 months after running out I will ask for a refill, and I get treated like I'm Rush Limbaugh on Oxy. I get the occasional panic attack, and I like to keep Xanax handy doc, ya bastid.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. Want to hear something bizarre?

When my Nexium prescription for Barrett's Syndrome was doubled to 2 caps a day, my migraines went away. Just like that.

I've never seen anything to support that happening. But thinking about it, I've had migraines for as long as I've had reflux.

[Hanging On]

5. Do you mind if I ask...

how long you had experienced migraines/what was their severity? Not asking for myself, but for my brother, who has debilitating migraines and has tried every medication (including Botox) available. I am always looking for any kind of suggestion for him. Thanks!

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. I started getting 'real bad headaches' while in high school.

At the same time I started having problems with a lot of allergens, manifested as hay fever, and developed an allergy to aspirin. Shortly after that the reflux started up. That would have been some 35 years ago.

The headaches varied over the years, but at the times they were bad all I could do was shut down. Extreme sensitivity to light; localized headaches - but not necessarily always the same locations; occasionally nausea; rarely, some visual disturbance. About the only cure I had was trying to sleep in a cool, dark room. Usually they'd be gone when I woke, but sometimes they just sort of lay low and came back a few hours later. When they started doing that it could last for 3-4 days.

Obviously, this is heresay and I am no physician, so I can make no recommendations, but I can't help but think it was not coincidental.

[Hanging On]

7. Anything is worth a try...

in his kind of situation, particularly if there don't happen to be any serious side effects from the medication (please let me know if there are!). Thanks!! :)

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. Reported side effects of Nexium include (IIRC) sleeplessness,

diarrhea and, interestingly enough, headaches.

Go figure.

Don't know that I have any of those. But check out the official warnings before ordering anything up. You can probably find the info by googling.

[Squatch]

14. I'm on Nexium. I treat the headaches I get from taking it with beer.

Seems to work, at least until the next morning.

[Lorien]

4. I found a better way to treat migraines

Botox. Yep; you can be migraine free for 6-8 months with a couple of injections between the eyebrows. I had read about that as a side effect of Botox use in a magazine three years ago and decided to give it a try (my migraines were crippling) and sure enough, I haven't had a single migraine since (or any other type of headache, for that matter).

Try a Google search on the topic; maybe the FDA is looking into approving it for that use by now.

[elehhhhna]

12. That's it. I'm getting the botox. I hate those wrinkles anyway.

What a bonus!

[Lorien]

15. Let me know how it turns out for you

I don't know any other migraines sufferers personally who have done it (just read about it in a magazine). I'm curious to know if other people have had complete relief as I have. Just give it 4-7 days to "settle" before you start to see and feel results.

I'm going in tomorrow for my first injections in over a year! I've only had a few minor headaches in the past two months, but that's enough to tell me that it's time.

[elehhhhna]

16. where are you? (Near Houston?) If so who's your doc?

[Lorien]

17. In Florida

it's best to just call around to reputable plastic surgeon's offices and compare prices. One treatment can run $300-600, so it's wise to comparison shop. I won't go to a dermatologist's office for the injections; I prefer someone who has good credentials and a solid understanding of facial musculature.

Good luck!

:hi:

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. And after a brief thread-hijack, my post above returns to the

OP's article, namely, why don't doctors listen to the patients? Always in such a hurry.

Maybe my gp would be able to tell me why, or even if, Nexium would affect migraines. Maybe my gastroenterologist could. Maybe they don't know anything about it. The g.e. certainly wasn't worried about migraines when he doubled my Nexium.

And maybe it wasn't just the Nexium at all. Maybe it was the chemical combo of the Nexium with my blood pressure medicine. It wasn't the b.p. medicine by itself, because I was on it for a year without it touching the migraines before the Nexium was increased.

Hell, it's all voodoo to me.

[oneighty]

10. Make a list of complaints and needs

Print out a couple of copies one for you and one for the Doctor. Then he/she can follow along as you verbalize symptoms. It is your money.

Make copies of your prescriptions (birth control associated) Show a copy of script to your pharmacist. If he/she refuses to fill that prescription go elsewhere. I would also demand him/her to write a refusal on the copy so I could show it to my doctor.

We are the customers damn it.

180

[elehhhhna]

11. You'd probably get better info by googling it...

[Squatch]

13. Remember, a doctor (and his office) represent a business

that is dependent on seeing as many patients in a given time as possible.

[knitter4democracy]

18. I hear about that OBTW at least once a week.

It's called the doorknob issue by docs around here, and it's usually what the patient really came in for. There are many reasons people do that, but it really wreaks havoc on the doc's schedule.

My husband's really lucky. He's in an internal medicine practice where he only has to see about 20 patients in the office (then cover his three different nursing homes and patients in the hospital after a full day in the office, but that's what he likes to do). He's actually gotten offers where it says in the fine print that he'd be required to see between 35 and 40 patients in the office every day--oh, and cover the nursing homes and hospital patients. :eyes: Yeah, we tossed those in the trash.

Doctors interrupt for several reasons, but the big one is time. The best thing to do, according to Hubby, is write it all down--what meds you're taking (get the names off the bottles or even bring all the bottles in, including vitamins and supplements), what symptoms you're having and when they started, your pain level, and what is most important to deal with. Doctors read fast (they have to), and they like having lists. It'll get you better care.

Of course, you could always come up to Michigan and see my husband to get a good doc. B-)