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"Aneurysm Thoracic Aortic Without Rupture"?
Aortic Aneurysms | Last Active: Dec 19, 2022 | Replies (23)Comment receiving replies
They had me on beta blocks for 6.5 years. First 3 mos. Metoprolol, after operation had bad side effects. Cardiologist ignored them. My HR before medication has always around 54. The beta blocker dropped it even lower. At 3 mos. had a low-flow TIA, cardiologist didn't even have the guts to show up. Surgeon took charge, ran test for three days then let me go home without prognosis. While in the hospital the internal medicine doctor overdosed me with medication. Her response was "That's why we like to do things in a controlled environment (^%$#@!). Second cardiologist overdosed me on Atenolol. 90s/40.s, HT 41, doctor ignored numbers even after years of complaint and documentation. Comment "We don't have time for that here, we're in a production mode." (^%$#@!) Wanted to try a pacemaker &^%$#@!. Got rid of him after second low-flow TIA. Next doctor took me off beta blocker immediately. Had to change hospitals. I can go on for pages. BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE AND DO SOME RESEARCH> The internet saved my butt.
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Totally agree with the advice to "BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE AND DO SOME RESEARCH." I'm very happy with my cardiologist, especially because he always responds to my questions with, "...the latest guidelines recommend..."
That said, I think one of the most important parts of being your own advocate is to express your concerns in an assertive manner. For example, at my cardio visit a few days ago, I expressed concern about my blood pressure and asked him about a previous statement (also written in my chart) that my blood pressure needs to be kept "under reasonable control." "What do you consider, 'reasonable control,' and he responded as above with "...under 130 systolic."
I shared that again that I was very concerned and that very often, mine was above that--sometimes significantly. He then went on to further look into and discuss my current BP management and ended up prescribing a higher dose of my medication, with follow-up in 2 months. This was an example of when I felt I was advocating for myself and felt very good about it.