Good doctors do exist
Today I went to a new doctor’s office and saw a doctor I had never met before. For anyone with IC, or other serious and often misunderstood medical conditions, this can be something of an un-nerving experience, especially if we have received improper/shoddy/cruel/un-empathetic/etc treatment from other physicians in the past.
I came “armed” with my arsenal of documentations, pill bottles and medical records, but to my very pleasant surprise this doctor actually listened to me, let me explain my medical history and the drugs that I use and offered helpful advice, as well as prescribing me with a substitute for Vioxx (which was recently pulled of the market), which may (fingers crossed) also help with my Fibromyalgia flares. It was a welcome and wonderful “treat” to deal with a professional who acts like a professional and who showed a vested interest in what I had to say. The doctor was not familiar with the use of Hydroxyzine (like Atarax and Vistaril) to treat IC, so I explained to her (in a nutshell) that Hydroxyzine helps to block and prevent the creation and spread of mast cell levels that have an abnormally high presence in many IC bladders. Hydroxyzine is an antihistamine and mast cells are an inflammatory response to some form of allergen in the body (in IC the exact reasons for this are still primarily speculated).
I have had a lot of experience with doctors; some have been incredible (such as the ones who helped me finally get a formal, proper IC and Vulvodynia diagnosis), true shining examples of their craft. But then there were others who I felt didn’t even deserve the paper their medical school diplomas are written on. I’m convinced that some doctors confuse the words patients and pay-cheque. The doctor I saw today certainly does not belong to the latter classification at all. It’s important to be aware that if you keep looking it’s not impossible to find wonderful, caring doctors who will take the time to listen to you, not judge you, and who want to help you be as healthy as you possibly can.
My thanks go out to those physicians who rise above their peers and counter-parts. They are proof that for some the Hippocratic Oath actually means something.
This is the modern version of the Hippocratic Oath, as written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University.
“I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:
I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of over treatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.
I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.
I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.”
These are beautiful, moving and poignant words, made all the more powerful if, and when they are upheld. In their essence I find the message, “may doctors always treat their patients as they themselves would want and deserve to be treated.”