I had to fire my primary doctor. Remember I had debilitating headaches all summer? They were tension headaches due to misuse of my shoulder that pulled on nerves and tendons all through my neck and shoulders and affecting my head. Physical therapy helped a ton!
Anyway, during that time my dr and other Dr at the clinic instant care prescribe me medication to help. Basically a doped up tylenol. But it turns out it’s a controlled substance. (No one told me!) My primary made me sign a contract saying I could only get certain meds through him directly. No other Dr could prescribe them and I had to see him in person. But wait times for appointments were up to four weeks! They told me it was law and I had to sign. So I fired the whole clinic! I was so angry!!
I found a new Dr with shorter wait times, much better listening skills, and a great bedside manner!
so advocate for yourself! If something feels wrong, make a change
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StacyHayward
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Yay, StacyHoward! 🥳 You should be really proud of yourself. I remember those hellish headaches you had, and I'm so glad that physical therapy helped you. I'm glad you didn't have to go to a pain doctor like I suggested. Thanks for sharing your story, because it's a good reminder that we really do have to advocate ourselves. 👍
Yeah, a few pills to help, which his office prescribed, and they labeled me a drug addict. I was told even my neurologist couldn’t prescribe a controlled medication (like gabapentin) without my primary doctors permission!
Wow. I know that those contracts are standard when prescribing opioid, even weak ones, but it must have been a shock since they didn't bother to tell you what was in the pills!
I was also shocked that gabapentin was considered a controlled substance; I guess it's only in certain states. How offensive. It's almost patriarchal; like having to ask your husband or your dad first. Yuck. And you didn't ask for, or need, any of them. No wonder you were furious! Again, so proud of you for standing up to those (content edited). 😉
And they didn’t explain what I was signing. I thought it was a normal Consent to treat form and didn’t have time to read it because the teenager entering my meds was messing it up and I had to fix it! So I signed it quick. The doctor never even discussed it with me. The receptionists explained it on the way out. I was livid and tried to cancel it but they said it was already in my file and couldn’t be cancelled by law!! Which was a huge lie. We looked it up. The”law” they gave us was about nurse licensing.
Good for you! Not every doctor is a good fit for every patient. I just did the same thing. I fired my primary care doctor and found a new doctor with a different group practice. Hope it will work out better. Also went for a few second opinions on a few issues and had better luck the second time around. Your post is a good reminder - we don't have to settle. If you're not happy with your physician, make a change. 🤗
I've fired a few doctors in my past as well. The worst one, a general practioner, looked up WebMD, about questions I had about MS when I was first being looked at for it. What little information I had found so far about MS, I got from WebMD, Mayo Clinic, and a few others. On top of that he told me that I was lying about my symptoms. GGRRRRR!!!🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 I further complained about him to the hospital commander.
My neurologist looked up WEBMD when he diagnosed me with MS to explain it. It was word for word what I had read before. He got through about a paragraph and then told me I could use the internet to find out more.
I have VA care. I get the neurologist I get. Luckily so far I don't have a lot of issues. Most of mine are cognitive which he only pays attention to physical, but oh well!
My 1st GP told me my 1st symptom was all due to panic attacks! I was having simple partial seizures during my sleep, and knowing I had them because they'd wake me up with a bad sense of deja vous. I repeatedly asked to get referred to a neurologist, but he just prescribed me anti-anxiety meds (which I didn't take). A month or so later, mum took me to A&E one morning, because I'd had one right as I woke up in front of my brother. It scared mum, because she checked on the NHS Symptom Checker (now 111), and it came back with "transient ischemic attack, get to A&E." I read that term from a book called Confessions of a Male Nurse. It's a baby stroke 🫣 so, the triage nurse was doing a pupil reaction test, along with all the standard HR/Sats/etc, and I had a seizure. That scared her so much she got me in at a medical assessment unit. The doctors there didn't see me have another seizure, but they still got me referred to a neurologist. That was completely fine, because the last time I saw that GP was to get more anti-epileptic meds. His face though! I should have laughed, but I think my smug smile showed him 😏 left the practice after that, as I was going to university and joined the GPs there, and then left those because I dropped out, and now I'm with a different surgery because I moved in with my boyfriend (now husband). Mum told me the 1st GP had left. She was with him too. I joked that he'd probably had so many misdiagnoses that he wasn't allowed to practice anymore, but it's more likely he retired 🤷♀️ but still...
Very happy you did this for yourself! I had to fire my first neurologist. Two years into my diagnosis, I was starting to feel I could handle it all and he said, "My dear, you are living under an axe and it could drop at any time." Sheesh!
I was told when my MS was progressing that I was depressed by my Neurologist. I had MS for about 9 years at that point and my mobility was starting to change and and I was developing other symptoms too. This went on for nearly a year to the point I started to believe it was all in my head. I found an amazing therapist who challenged me to question to my team. I found my voice and fired my neurologist and found an incredible MS specialist that basically saved my life. No, I did not have depression but the situation was getting me depressed. Depression can happen in MS, no doubt but this doctor broke down for me the multitude of systems that were progressing including brain fog and fatigue, bladder issues, spasticity, and pain. Once he addressed these issues, I walked out of the office and this tightness in my chest lifted and this "depression" magically went away.
Your former doctor sounds like he was writing prescriptions to drug addicts looking for Opioid's and should be reported to the police and the state health department.
He is why drugs are so hard to get prescribed. For people that truly need them.
I think he was trying to cover his butt in case of an overdose. The problem was he was always 2-4 weeks out for an appointment, even after a hospital stay. So the receptionists always told patients to go to the instant care in the office instead. So they gave me the meds and refilled it once. He refilled it once.
Each time it was thirty pills and I could take up to six pills a day, so five days worth per prescription . That means with three prescriptions I had enough for 15 days!
These headaches went on for 4 months!! And I could only handle a single pill at a time. I stretched them like crazy and still have some remaining!
But he couldn’t even be bothered to discuss things with me. Just labeled me an addict and through the form at me to cover his and the office’s butts!
Wow Stacy! Absolutely, “fire” any Doctor Who seems to be evasive or not doing things in practical “decency and in order.” I wanted to do Pharmaceutical Rep work at one time shortly after I received my license to as a Certified Addictions Counselor to try something outside of Human Services! These give doctors incentives and perks for using medicine affiliated with the companies they represent! Sometimes, not always but sometimes doctors let greed influence them and forget about ethical practices!!! So glad you left the shenanigans at that group. Praying 🙏 for continued healing. ❤️☮️
The event that prompted me to find this forum was when I had an awful relapse, and my neurologist's np told me that since I was on such a good drug (Ocrevus) and my MRIs were clear, my symptoms were not from my MS. I had an HMO at the time and that was the only practice available to me due to the retirement of my previous doctor. As soon as the new year rolled in, I got a different plan, and a different neurologist.
I've also fired a therapist and two psychiatrists in the past year. I think a lot of people need help, and the good professionals are often full up and not always taking new patients. Thank God that I was fine with transitioning to someone new, but it really makes me worry for those who are suffering too much to cope with finding a new provider. It would never happen, but it would be great if vulnerable patients could be assigned an advocate to help them navigate the system and find a doctor who is a good fit.
I fired our last GP as well. Nice guy but when push came to shove with insurance, he blew it by not even trying, or having his staff try. My husband was having heart issues and I was afraid he'd die unless he was tested. (Good thing we did as that test showed he needed medicine to keep it from progressing.
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My Darlin's! 
Family who refuse to accept you have MS and demand you do what they want
