A big of background: I get severe migraines. I was diagnosed with my first one when I was five, and for more than the last twenty years I get more than twenty-five a month, up to thirty. So basically I have a severe migraine every day. I recognize the different types I get, what causes these different types, and how to care for myself when they get really bad. I have also refused prescription pain meds until recently, when my brain started getting damaged by these migraines.
Well, I've not been super thrilled with my current neurologist, whom I do not believe take me and my pain seriously. He has not changed my meds in the two years I have been seeing him despite no change in my symptoms.
That leads to the current bad service situation, as when I was in the ER in February (surprise, for a migraine so bad my mom panicked and brought me in) the doctor there gave me a referral for a new neurologist.
I had an appointment with this new neurologist today
I really wish I had cancelled my appointment. Here is what happened.
- I got there forty-five minutes early, before my appointment as requested by the person who booked me in over the phone. They called me back five minutes later, before I'd had a chance to fill out any of the many pages of paperwork (not necessarily the b_s, just an annoyance). The nurse vaguely filled out my chart, did not ask me a single question about my medical history, and left.
- I was alone in the exam room for an hour and a half. The nurse came back in, without knocking, at one point only to replace the paper towels. She did not speak to or look at me and left before I could speak to her.
- Finally, after that hour and a half, the doctor came in. He spoke at me for about a minute before his phone rang. He answered it and proceeded to talk on the phone for the next fifteen minutes, in the exam room right in front of me.
- When he was done, he took one look at the paperwork I did fill out, saw that I checked the box that said I had depression sometimes, and told me he did not think I actually had migraines and that all of my headaches were caused by depression. This only lasted five minutes.
- He did not ask any of my symptoms. He did not ask what kind of pain I had, where exactly it was, how I responded to it, how long I'd been getting migraines, or how many I got.
He gave me a prescription for a painkiller without me asking and tried very hard to give me a prescription for an antidepressant, once in front of other patients as I was checking out - even after I told him multiple times I have my depression very well under control. It was mortifying and almost made me feel ashamed. I left the office in angry tears and without another appointment. I even called my pharmacy to cancel the prescription he did call in.
I understand I may be overreacting a little here (there's a lot of personal stuff going on and I may be a bit on edge), but wow. That was the worst doctor's appointment I have ever had.
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