Connect
← Return to At 74yo I need a dr who will listen to me
Discussion
At 74yo I need a dr who will listen to me
Aging Well | Last Active: 4 hours ago | Replies (36)Comment receiving replies
@codered032 I'm going to suggest a Family Practice or Adult Practice Advanced Practice Certified Nurse Practitioner (AP-CNP.) Here is my reasoning - so far your health conditions and medications are not complex and you're are not seeing a lot of doctors, so case management is not the issue - TIME is the issue.
An AP-CNP has a PhD in nursing practice, backed by several thousand hours of hands-on nursing experience. In most clinical situations, NP's are given a longer appointment window (20-30 minutes) for each patient, and in Family Practice, their job is to see the whole picture - not necessarily to treat everything, but to see the "bigger picture" - and to make referrals as needed.
I had the same CNP (for over 20 years - we "grew old together") who was able to see me through lots of complications that required specialists and help manage asthma & pain. It was she who found 2 of my medications reacting with one another - she coordinated the change to a safer situation. She got me to a pulmonologist when my asthma went out of control, and she helped me to finally see that my chronic pain needed a closer look after tylenol & ibuprofen no longer did the job and got me into a pain management clinic that helped me make life changes instead of turning to opioids.
Does the clinic you go to have AP-CNP's? You might want to give it a try.
Replies to "@codered032 I'm going to suggest a Family Practice or Adult Practice Advanced Practice Certified Nurse Practitioner..."
Connect
I agree. In fact, I have very few male physicians. I call my Doctorate level "Nurse" my PCP. She listens. When I couldn't get any "male" doctors to listen to me that I had a bad fall and hurt my hip. Nobody would listen and all blamed my back. I was 6 months trying to do but eventually giving up on life when she syepped in and finally someone did just an MRI. Torn Gluteal muscle and torn hip labrum in 2 places. Validly painful.
I have an appt at Mayo in Jacksonville on Wednesday with a really good hip surgeon. I have CRPS and need a dr who has even heard of it. I'm driving alone (just turned 70) but giving myself 2 days to get there - 300+ miles. I made this appt about 4 months ago and I will be there. Hook or crook. Anyway, yeah, my female RN/PCP is also certified for psych as well as family practice. So she is able to do everything but readily refers me to people. She also employs a "chronic care nurse specialist" to call her more complicated pts once a month to check in.
She is not perfect but pretty much lets me ask or say no (hardly ever do) to everything. I am also an RN but I think she is just kind.
She just started a thing where on Fridays, no longer volunteering at the jail, she will be doing home visits.
Right? Yeah, lucky. I di my best to stay away from males Drs as its always gaslighting. I has a partially collapsed lung with long covid and was short of breathe just walking to the kitchen. He pulmonologist notr my collapsed lung in my insurance notes but added "its very possible that her SOB is related to her weight." I'm a size 16/18. Not thin but not unaverage kind of in the US.
Yes. I get it and I am totally validating your experience as sadly not unusual anymore. Sad.