Is it my job?

Is it my job to educate every dang doctor I go to.  Seriously?  And honestly why do doctors (stupid ones) assume that people know nothing about their bodies and how they work?  Blah!  I decided after the twins were born it was time to get a family practice doctor set up for Jeff and I.  I have only been to doctors related to my various conditions (thyroid, a branchial cleft cyst and POF/POI) for the last 6 or so years. I don't know the last time Jeff went to the doctor.

Anyway I set up an appointment with a random doctor (sometimes I base it on if I feel I can pronounce their name haha) and after the girls 4 month appointment I head to my own.  Well they changed the random doctor I chose to the one I'm pretty sure I purposefully avoided.  The doctor that we saw after-hours for my tension headache that happened the last month of my pregnancy.  The one that didn't know what to do with me and recommended a sleeping pill and tylenol.  Jeff didn't like him and I only did because I was in pain and had some option for relief, even if minimal.

So I go to this doctor and I talk to him about the reason for my visit (to get a primary care provided for Jeff and I and to get my thyroid checked).  He asks why I think my thyroid levels should be checked and if I'd had symptoms or weight loss.  Hello...my thyroid was irradiated years ago and they boosted my hormones during pregnancy (did he not listen to the first run through?).  I explain again and say I also lost a lot of weight post pregnancy to which he acts like a jerk and says "yah of course".  I'm not talking pregnancy weight...I'm talking 30 lbs lighter then I was when I got pregnant and dropping (it took 2 months to actually start putting some weight back on).  Anyway I finally convince him I need that checked.

Then I brave the waters and mention my POF/POI and the fact I started taking the pill after my pregnancy only to start a period with a week or two of pills under my belt.  He tells me that I can have periods without ovulating.  Oh my heck...what a dumb ass.  I have researched more on POF then probably any doctor (save the expert I saw at NIH).  I knew more about it then my specialist/RE so I really doubt some numb nut like this guy can tell me anything new.  I go on anyway and ask if it's possible to have my FSH and estradiol drawn for with my TSH/thyroid test.  He of course side steps this and says "well I'd just wait and see if you have any more cycles".  Uh yah thanks moron...I plan to start back on the pill instead of waiting around for that which a genius like yourself should know will prevent any "seeing what happens".

Seriously I'm just so sick of doctors who don't give me the time of day to actually participate in my own health care.  Why is it so hard to find a doctor who actually gives me a chance to prove I know enough about my body and issues to be asking informed and intelligent questions and requests.  So needless to say once my thyroid prescription gets renewed (the levels came back normal...yeah!) I will be looking for another doctor.  Even being educated enough to be your own self-advocate isn't enough sometimes...not when you have to deal with the morons who inhabit the medical field.

Just a number

I've been starting my Spring semester at school and I'm taking Diagnostic Coding. After getting into this class a little it doesn't surprise me at all that the healthcare and insurance field can be kind of "cold" and distant. Like everything you can think of and more is down to a number. I am 256.31 (premature menopause...which actually POI doesn't fit the definition in the coding book...YEAH) or 256.2 (if I believe RAI played a role) or 256.39 (if you go by POI definition...I think). I feel like Jean Valjean in Les Miserable where the only thing Javier knows Valjean by is his prison number 24601.

From an informational and organizational standard it's not something you can change. But why expect them to understand the depth of the condition when all they know it by is a number?