S/O Medically Upsetting Situations (Docs & Children & Horror Stories)

[CharlieBraun]

A new thread for the stories of bad encounters of the medical variety, with you/your children.   

[Piratelvr1121]

Not horror, but still rather unpleasant covers most of my experiences with dentists and orthodontists.  In my life I've had a total of two dentists who were nice people and did not belittle me or my pain, and the oral surgeon who removed my wisdom teeth and did my jaw surgery was a real sweetheart of a guy.

However the orthodontist who talked my parents into believing I absolutely needed the surgery for cosmetic reasons in his office with me present, being sure to  show me pictures of how I looked at the time and showing pictures of how I could look afterwards?  I ended up in tears because I was already an insecure teen who had been teased in school for being ugly for years.  There were actual valid medical reasons for me to have this surgery so I don't know why the guy felt he needed to go with the "ooh you'll be so much prettier!" spiel when my parents were already convinced it was medically necessary.  (would improve my bite immensely and make it easier for me to breathe with my mouth closed, though I still sleep with my mouth open during the night.)

In contrast the oral surgeon (and this is why I liked him), when asked how much my appearance would change, smiled and said "Not much, why would anyone want to change it?"

Most of the dentists I've been would use the "pressure not pain" line on me.  My childhood dentist/orthodontist, if I said "Ow" while he was doing something would chuckle and say "Who is Al, your boyfriend?" I would have bitten him if I thought I could get away with it.  He and another orthodontist (I had braces twice) would get annoyed with me for having a small mouth and not being able to open it wide enough. Well excuuuuuuuuuuse me! I'm not a snake! I can't unhinge my jaw nor can I help having a small mouth!

The last time I went to a dentist the woman tried to talk me into a third round of braces because my bite was off by a fraction of an inch, not enough for me to even notice or be troubled by.  She also tried to convince me that my sons need or would someday need braces.  Their teeth aren't perfectly straight but they both have beautiful smiles and no problems with their bite, at least no huge problems like I did. 

[DollyPond]

What is it about orthodontists???!!!!   Mine was a torturer too.

He would run experiments on me trying out different ways to move my teeth that almost always were painful or cut up the insides of my cheeks due to exposed wires, etc.  Of course as an insecure teen I never spoke up and my parents were of the generation that never questioned doctors.

Now at age 55 I had to have a crown put on one of my front teeth because the tooth died.  My dentist said it was probably from the orthodontist trying to move my teeth too fast and causing trauma all those years ago.

[hermanne]

The dentist I went to as a kid told my mom "she needs braces." Mom said she saw dollar signs in his eyes and I didn'tsee another dentist again until I was in my early 20s and living on my own. Every dentist I've been to since doesn't see much of a problem with my slightly crooked teeth.

[suzieQ]

When I had J, I decided to have a natural childbirth (again). I had already had one child and managed to go naturally, with the exception of having a shot of Nubain. So this was not my first rodeo.

I was in labor a long time and the nurse told me it was time to push. I informed her that I didn't feel any urge to push. I had felt the urge with my DD's birth so it wasn't time yet. Oh, but it was time, according to Nurse Know It All (NNIA).
So I pushed and said "this isn't right, pushing makes it hurt worse. With DD, pushing did not feel this way." NNIA informed me all deliveries are different and I was ready. I pushed a few more times (being in labor and pain along with being fairly young - 27 - I wasn't inclined to keep arguing).
NNIA reached in and tried to push my cervix over J's head and my cervix swelled shut!
Then I went from a lot of labor pain to absolute inconceivable agony!
I still wish I had sued over that one. I told myself she was just trying to help, but now that I am older and wiser I think she was just trying to get a delivery in herself, because the doctor was not there yet.

[jpcher]

Maybe TMI (in white below) -- When my grandmother was giving birth to her 5th child (1930something), the attending nurse was new and didn't know what to do when Gma started serious labor.

Nurse strapped Gma's legs together to stop the birth process until a Dr. was able to arrive.

[wheeitsme]

I'm so sorry for all of your bad dentist experiences.  I know my mom had one, but she never told us exactly what happened.  All I know is that is why we always went to the expensive "Children's Dentist" in every town we lived in.  And they weren't cheap in the 60's.  Her reward was that we were never scared of the dentist, it was just one of those things, like having our ears checked or going to the optometrist.

[DottyG]

Oh my goodness, jpcher. I seriously gasped at that. That is beyond horrible.

[hermanne]

Maybe TMI (in white below) -- When my grandmother was giving birth to her 5th child (1930something), the attending nurse was new and didn't know what to do when Gma started serious labor.

Nurse strapped Gma's legs together to stop the birth process until a Dr. was able to arrive.

Something similar with my grandma when she had my dad (mid 1940s). She went into labor early, they went to the hospital but the doctor wasn't there because it was a holiday. So while they tried to get him, grandma was told to cross her legs.

eta: According to some versions of tbe story, they were trying to sober doc up!

[mmswm]

When I was a baby I managed to get a serious infection of some sort.  The pediatrician my parents took me to at the time kept downplaying it.  One weekend, my parents were hanging out with some friends of theirs; a pediatric resident and his wife. He took one look at me and told my parents to take me straight to the ER.  He contacted his boss and let them know my parents were on their way.  Once I got there, I was diagnosed with sepsis.  The sours of the original infection was never discovered.  Once my parents' friend finished his residency, my parents started taking us to see him.  My kids see him now, and I still consult with him when I want a second opinion.

[perpetua]

I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a side effect of which can be ineffectiveness of local anaesthetic.  Several years ago, a dentist a) dismissed the very conclusive research around this subject and b) disbelieved that I could still feel pain after the amount of cartridges she'd already given me and tried to pull a tooth despite my protestations. Not just any old tooth. A wisdom tooth.

The screaming had the nurses running in from reception to see what had happened.

[mmswm]

I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a side effect of which can be ineffectiveness of local anaesthetic.  Several years ago, a dentist a) dismissed the very conclusive research around this subject and b) disbelieved that I could still feel pain after the amount of cartridges she'd already given me and tried to pull a tooth despite my protestations. Not just any old tooth. A wisdom tooth.

The screaming had the nurses running in from reception to see what had happened.

Not nearly to the same extent, but I don't trust any dentist or anesthesiologist who doesn't say, "oh, no, a redhead" as soon as they see me or one of my kids.  Redheads, and about 25% of brunettes have a natural resistance to pain killers and anesthetics. I've walked out of dentists offices for this reason more than once.

[violinp]

My mom's labor and delivery story with Cabbage and me is a horror unto itself.

At 36 weeks, Mom was told to take leave and not do any work at all, because, and I quote, "Twins always come early." Well, Mom was still very pregnant at her 40 week appointment, so she went to the hospital and was induced with pitocin at 40 weeks and 1 day. She got an epidural...which proceeded to not work as planned and gave her a "hot spot." They gave her another epidural, but neglected to note that she had yet to have a catheter put in. Then, when a nurse noticed, and one was put in, the waste came out so fast she almost went into shock.

Finally, after 36 hours of labor, Mom was at...5 cm. The OB wanted Mom to wait a little longer, at which point Dad finally let him have it. The OB reluctantly agreed to a C - section. Then, when we were born, I was pretty sick - my blood sugar levels were so low that the doctors in the NICU were afraid I would never be able to process food correctly. Fortunately, I'm fine today. Cabbage wasn't in perfect shape either; she had a heart murmur. However, the doctor seeing us led Mom and Dad to believe that she was going to have massive problems all her life, and so on, and then told them at the next appointment, "Oh, those things usually go away with babies." (which they do) Words cannot express how angry my parents got at him.

It's a wonder Mom and Dad still trust doctors after those experiences.

[Kimblee]

Some dentists deserve to be bitten!

I kicked mine.

The rub is, he was actually a great dentist, I trusted him completely and I felt very badly. Plus it was BECAUSE he was trying to keep me comfortable that he got kicked, I was sedated, the hygenist was cleaning, and he was at the foot of the chair, when he turned around I kicked and caught him in the thigh. And didn't remember it at all until he teased me later and showed me the security tape.

He claims it didn't hurt and that a lot of people kick a bit under sedation. Although I had other detists I wish I had kicked. (Actually, I seem to move quite a bit when I'm sedated. I punched myself in the face when I was a little girl and they were doing something to my underarm.)

Horror Story:

(NOTE: I canot remember all the details, so some of this is my own memories, some is what the detist told me, and some is what my mom said.)
A different dentist (also a genuinely nice guy) did my wisedom teeth, and due to the difficulty, and my anxiety, he decided to knock me out cold. I remember them putting the gas on me and not really feeling it kick in, but then turning my head and seeing someone put in an I.V. (usually something that would horrify me) and thinking "Hmm... I don't care about that."

The next thing I remember was waking up in a totally diffrent room. Turns out halfway through the extraction I woke up and screamed, so the nurse tried to put me back under, and then "bad things" (Detist's words) started happening. So they took me to the local hospital to "come out" Except the dentist realized what a bad idea it would be to knock me out again, so he finished the surgery there. (This is where its fuzzy. All I know is that the teeth were out of my head when I woke up.)

When I woke up I was really confused. I "fell asleep" in a pretty dental room and woke up in a recovery room with a screaming little kid in the next bed.

A smaller, dumber dentist story:

I have a fear of needles. I've learned to buck up and deal with them, but well into my teens I was terrified. Add to this my detist at the time(not my awesome one who heroicly endured being kicked.) was also my toxic grandmother's and adored her, so even when I asked him to kick her out of the room, she got to stay.

I was getting ready for a cavity to be filled and the dentist got the needle ready, except my grandmother was being obnoxious and "helping" by trying to hold my head down and claiming it was a "squirt gun" not a syringe. (No. Clue. Why.) Well I just wanted confirmation that it was indeed a needle, so I could prepare myself. But my grandmother kept causing a scene, I was freaking out, and when the needle went in (still didn't know there was gonna be a needle, eyes had an old woman's arm over them) I jerked and...

Well, it was quite awhile before my gums looked normal again OR I could eat anything even slightly acidic. Typing this makes my mouth hurt.

I had a new dentist (The awesome one) for my nect appointment. My stepfather was livid that ANYONE would be allowed in an exam room without the paitent's say-so, and hunted down a gem of a doctor.

[Piratelvr1121]

My first two sons were born in a naval hospital, while my youngest was born in a civilian hospital since DH has been out since '04.   Now when we were in I heard people say horrible things about civilian hospitals but I have to say my birth experience at our local hospital when having piratebabe was the best of the three.

When I had my first child they had told me to come in as soon as the water broke cause they wanted to get the baby out within 24 hours to avoid the risk of infection.   They felt the need to give me pitocin to speed things up.  Well it made the contractions so intense that his heartrate dropped like a rock so they had to give me another drug to stop them.  Since things weren't progressing as they wanted them too, they did it again with the same results, then again.  I objected but they assured me THIS time it would work.  Well after the 3rd time proved to not be the charm they gave up and my first was born 30 hours after my water broke.   Well two days later these people came in and said they were worried Pirateboy1 had an infection and implied it was my fault for taking "all those drugs". Um, wha? All I was taking during my pregnancy was synthroid, prenatal vitamins and the meds they gave me for extreme morning sickness.  In other words, prescribed medications that I took as prescribed. 

Then with Pirateboy2 they gave me the epidural but it didn't last very long and I was still in pain during labor and got the danged "it's not pain it's pressure!" line. 

So, with a stronger backbone 10 years later, when the midwife said she wanted to give me pitocin I said "This is what happened the last time they gave it to me so I really do not want to go through that again." She said "Well there is a way to give it so that it will not cause problems like that and we do want to get things moving, here." (once again water had broken to send me into the hospital) They gave me the epidural and then the pitocin and I kid you not, I did not feel a single thing below the waist until after he was born, and I had no problems at ALL with the pitocin.  It was glorious.  I even started quoting Lucy's vitameatavegamin commercial. 

I noticed though, at least at the Naval Hospital at that base, there seemed to be a strong mentality that youngish (I was 22 and almost 24 when the older 2 were born) marinewives were simpleminded and knew nothing about their bodies.   There was one doctor who had no clue about hypothyroidism and kept upping my dose because to him Low TSH levels = not enough thyroid hormone being taken in.   TSH stands from thyroid stimulating hormone. If it's low, that means there is more than enough thyroid hormone in the blood system and it doesn't need to work as hard. 

I argued with him quite emphatically (I admit in one rather irritated, pregnancy infused moment of impatience might have called him an idiot.) but at one point he had me at 300mg of synthroid and he also thought that my not gaining weight was because I wasn't getting enough thyroid.   Someone clearly did not study or pay attention to the endocrinology unit in anatomy and physiology, as the thyroid hormone is a big factor in helping the body to metabolize so the more you have, the faster your metabolization will be. Which is why the thyroid gland is a suspected culprit when people have a hard time losing weight. 

At my 7th month of my second pregnancy, the doctor got reassigned I guess because I got shifted to another doctor who said "look I'm not real familiar with treating hypothyroidism, would you mind terribly if I transferred you to a doctor with more experience with it?" I could have kissed him for being humble enough to admit that.   In my last 3 months I ended up gaining the 25 recommended pounds.