Am I expecting too much from my GI?

I’ve just about had it with the new GI I’m seeing. I switched to her in the spring because she’s associated with a university hospital and is a specialist in IBD. She made me wait so long for the initial appointment and then again for the colonoscopy even though I was having symptoms, and I swear that contributed to me getting so sick and needing to be hospitalized. Meanwhile, I saw her once while I was in the hospital for 9 days. Didn’t even call to check in and see how things were going. When they submitted the Humira prescription they did it for the wrong dose, which lead to me calling them for 2 weeks and trying to get them to fix it. Most of my calls and messages went unanswered because, as one nurse told me, they didn’t understand why I was calling or what the problem was.

I had a follow up appointment scheduled for the 4th, which had to be cancelled due to the snow storm. I had to call them to reschedule and they tried to give me an appointment in May!! I just started the Humira in September, and I assumed that it would be important for me to be seen before May. They were finally able to squeeze me in with the nurse practitioner for this coming Monday.

My husband had the flu last week, and now my daughter has it. I’ve been taking tamiflu to hopefully prevent it, but I was wondering how I should proceed with my next Humira dose. Should I hold off until my daughter is symptom free and the incubation period is over, or just take it if I’m not showing symptoms. I feel this is kind of an important question, but my message through the portal was read, and never answered, so I called today and never received a call back. I had to take my next injection tomorrow and now I don’t know what to do.

I’m just so frustrated with the doctor, and the entire office staff. Is this just how these offices work? Or am I right to be expecting more from them??

One of the reasons I chose this practice is because the GI has a lot of experience with pregnancy and IBD, and I’m hoping to get pregnant soon. Now I’m worried that I won’t even be able to eat in to see her, or get any questions answered, if I have issues during pregnancy.

I can't tell ya what to do about the injection scheduled for tomorrow, but the concerns about the doctor are easy to resolve - find another doctor ! Regardless of your current doctor's supposed qualifications, if the doctor is uncommunicative it's tough to discuss and develop a treatment regimen.

I agree that seems subpar. If you really want to stay with her for her qualifications maybe check to see if they have a my chart system for email. I have much quicker and better results via my chart than phone.

As far as hospital stay...I had a great GI in another state and he called me personally a lot with results and questions. However I was hospitalized for 3 weeks and never heard from him. After he explained I understood. He said hospital staff at universities are teaching establishments. He doesn’t like to interfere with the hierarchy they have and teaching going on. He monitored my chart daily but stayed out of the day to day. He actually believed the hospital staff is more skilled at emergency approach than he was. Sounds reasonable since they deal with the most severe cases.

I’m not on humira so I can’t advise but I was told to maintain my remicade unless I have symptoms. I would definitely wash hands as much as possible and invest in disposable masks! The tamiflu should help!

say adios to all those buffoons and find a decent doctor and staff -

and screw the fancy degrees, qualifications, and plaques on the wall -

Crispix, I just read a post in the crohns forum. One of the members is on Remicade & her husband & daughter both have the flu. Her dr advised her it was fine to get her Remicade infusion as long as she was having any of the flu symptoms, which she was not.

We are beginning to see a bit of a trend with the big teaching hospital specialists & with big name specialists. Calls not returned, staff not helpful & long waits for appts, which indicates patients needs are not being met. All of those diplomas hanging on the wall mean nothing if you cannot get care. If the specialists are pretty seasoned attitudes tend to be on the dismissive side. Keep in mind, these drs work for us, we pay them. Yes, your insurance pays them, however, you pay for your insurance.

I went through 4 gi's before finding number 5. Number 5 was a keeper.

Specialist doctors offices are often overwhelmed: too many patients and too few staff. Not an excuse but the reality. As such, you might have to be a hornet in their ear to get what you need. He/she who is persistent is most likely to get a response. Ridiculous that we need to do so but the reality says we must at times.

Are there other gasteroenterology practices near you? How long for an appointment? It's usually a process of a number of months to have an actual in-office consultation appointment at another practice and your records transferred over. Not as easy as saying: i'll drink pepsi today instead of coke and get it at any store lol. And then you're not guaranteed the new practice isn't just as overwhelmed...

Yes you deserve better care and quicker responses to your concerns. I've definitely gotten better care at the couple gasteroenterologist practices I've gone to. Not sure if you can ascertain the doctor to patient ratio in advance...

I hear what the OP is saying about having a GI who doesn't have time to properly treat you. I'm looking into a Concierge Doctor facility right now. I need to find a team who is willing to take the time to get to the bottom of what's wrong. It's pricey, but not as expensive as taking $700 a month Lialda & $125 rectal foam that isn't doing a darn thing for me and I still have massive D and rectal bleeding along with a GI who I have to wait months to get into, doesn't return calls, acts like I'm an idiot but he has never ordered a scope to even know for sure what is wrong. It's so frustrating!

Valid issues. Problem is always everyone wants the best doctor, and then that doctor gets swamped and the more patients they have the worst the attention each patient gets.

Simple supply and demand. Give a newer GI with less experience a try, they may be the next superstar in training/waiting but just doesn't have the patients for reviews yet. Could be your golden ticket if you get in early and he makes quality time for you.

Thanks for all the feedback.

As an update, I saw the nurse practitioner yesterday, and really liked her. She was very attentive and answered all my questions. She said that I can send any messages directly to her, and she’ll make sure they’re answered. She also said that I can make my appointments with her, especially if I’m having symptoms or issues, and she’ll get me into her schedule in a timely manner, and if needed, she’ll have the doctor come in and consult. I’m feeling much better about staying there for the time being.