Oh dear, I fully understand..it takes time to get a relevant diagnosis..and competence of course..and I have also been through that difficult experience.
This is what I believe personally: If the diagnosis is correct the treatment should work given the appropriate time, dosage etc. I usually ask when should I start to feel better?
Should you feel worse during the course of the treatment or no progress at the end, then you consult again and so on..
Of course and unfortunately a disease can progress if not treated appropriately in the first place.
I also go for what the best specialist thinks, like I know my own body, I can see if this doctor is convinced and convincing and I check that I have the relevant tests because you need an investigation which supports a diagnosis.
It is normal to feel stressed and apprehensive when you are concerned with your health. I would recommend you get help for that from your GP.
I have taken up mindfulness meditation, breathing relaxing exercises that I can find on youtube. I am also taking an anxiolytic at night since I have been finally diagnosed with lymphangioleiomyomatosis or LAM for short, a rare pulmonary disease.
It all helps, from the walk in fresh air to watching your favourite programme as well as thinking that despite all these tests, meds and doctors I am grateful to be cared for.
Hi Fran. I do identify with your tale. But I think for too long I was naive and gullible about doctors and every new one that I saw I believed he (and they were all 'he's) would do everything he could to sort things and find the answer. I do not trust myself to identify the "convinced and convincing" doctor. And weirdly the one who — on first consultation was just awful — turned out to be the best. Tricky, and puts a burden on the patient.
he/she may be all talk but what counts is if they have the skills and the will to identify the problem.
I have managed to surround myself here with doctors who care and follow up, by elimination it’s also true.
My first GP when I got here was Dad’s.
He didn’t care about Dad much and thought he was crying wolf too much but that’s what some elderly people do, you still have to care.
So I keep him for bureaucratic purposes and he has sent me to some useless referrals..Honestly.. a good GP has a good network I believe.
So through my LAM association I have built up a group of trustworthy specialists.
While I am writing to you I have just burst a cyst and coughed up blood, keeping still, fingers crossed I don’t have a pneumothorax..don’t think so because it isn’t on the side more like under my collarbone..
Such is life..tea and honey, homemade chicken soup will do today..
So sorry to read your post. I’m afraid it is a familiar one. There are several here with similar tales. Doctors like to give answers, hate saying “I don’t know,” and treat scans and test results as cast iron certainties when a tad of circumspection would be more appropriate. Not much help to you, I’m afraid. During the eight years I have been searching a diagnosis I have done my own research which has given me the confidence to politely challenge some of the things the doctors have concluded The received wisdom here is not to Google. However, for me consulting Dr Google has been hugely helpful.
Sounds familiar.....but I had pulmonary embolism added to my diagnoses too, pleurisy, and bronchiectasis . ...I had neither they decided later. There were no ct scans available twenty odd years ago.
Now I have asthma / COPD which seems to have been switched on by double pneumonia in the past
I guess you are being treated with antibiotics and have been given a blood test to see if they are working.
I understand that you are feeling stressed, but this may make you feel worse ...your body needs to fight any infection and recover. As Happylondon says meditation helps, as does a healthy diet with lots of vegetables and fruit and protein. Try and concentrate on healing with help from medical professionals
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.