I spent the day yesterday at the walk-in clinic and the pharmacy.
This was the third different doctor I have seen at the walk-in clinic. After reviewing possible lifestyle changes to be made, and determining that they have all been made, this doctor wants to add another medication. I filled the prescription and I am thinking about taking it. He had not heard of the information I brought in with me about my cholesterol lowering medication causing an increase in blood pressure, and he did not think that there was any possibility that I might have an adrenal tumour, one of the factors listed by the Mayo Clinic that might be responsible for increased blood pressure; he listened to me and dismissed these concerns. For high blood pressure the Mayo clinic advises adding medication after medication, so that seems to be the logic he is using, more drugs. When I took the prescription in to the pharmacist, she pointed out that I was allergic to the medication he prescribed, after I had carefully gone through the whole allergy thing with him, it doesn’t inspire trust. The drug store consulted with the doctor and he then prescribed a completely different sort of medication. The information sheet for this medication states that if you have a heart problem you should not take the medication. Again, this does not inspire trust. I am putting off taking it until after I go in for the heart tests that the doctor recommended and is setting up. I don’t think I have a heart problem, but life is full of surprises, and the test results will affirm that there is nothing to worry about in that department.
I requested a flu shot at the doctor’s office, and he told me that they could not determine if my allergen was in the solution (bogus, not true, lazy or scared not sure which) and that I would have to go to the drug store to try and get the shot. Again, this does not inspire trust.
When I got to the drug store they wanted me to go to the hospital to get the flue shot. Shit!!! Monkey in the middle health care. I have been through all of this before, every single year I have to spend hours and hours and hours of upset trying to find someone who can read a @#&$%^$ label!!!! The hospital told me last fall that they don’t give flue shots, there is no use going through all of that again and wasting their time and mine. So I refused to get up off the chair at the drug store, I sat there and just kept talking, calmly, in a friendly manner. Eventually they gave me the spec sheet and it listed the non-medicinal ingredients. We went through them, we talked about them, we read through them a second time, a third time, I recited all the chemical names given to my allergen, we read through the non-medicinal ingredients again. My allergen was not in the flu shot. Eventually, after much urging and insistence on my part, they gave me the shot. I stayed in the store for a good 15 minutes to ensure that there was no reaction, said a friendly goodbye and finally headed for home.
My blood pressure may be high when I arrive at the walk-in clinic because I know I am heading for a difficult experience. Next time I will call ahead to see what doctor is working in the clinic, and if the doctor I saw yesterday is there, I will wait for another day to visit. Attila and I have been very lucky over the years, to have wonderful Family Doctors. Our luck seems to have run out.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
12°C
Date: 3:00 PM EDT Saturday 5 November 2016
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.9 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: 12.2°C
Dew point: 7.7°C
Humidity: 74%
Wind: WSW 13 km/h
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.”
John Ruskin
1819 – 1900
