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

[CrochetFanatic]

This one isn't really a horror story...well, depending on how you look at it.  It is a little gross, so I'll try to be discreet here.

When my brother was really young, he had a lot of behavioral issues and went through a lot of psychiatrists/psychologists.  He wasn't diagnosed with Aspergers until he was in his mid-teens, and there was a lot of trial and error as he was growing up.  This is sort of a two-part story.

My brother had to have tubes in his ears a few times, but it took my parents and the doctor forever to figure that out, and this is because his inner ear problem presented as extreme nausea that would come almost on clockwork once a month.  He would get so dehydrated that he would have to spend a night or two in the hospital.  It was a long time before someone finally figured it out, but in the doctor's defense it wasn't really all that obvious.  They were trying to figure out what was wrong with his stomach when the problem was his ears.

When this problem started he was sent home from school a lot, and my parents mentioned this to the husband-wife psychiatrist team they were taking him to at the time.  They (the psychiatrists) refused to believe that the problem wasn't in his head.  They said he was "making" himself sick because he didn't like school.  My mom stood up, and said icily, "Do you mean to tell me that this kid turned green right in front of me, and got sick on purpose?"

They said yes.

My parents never went back to them, and they spread the word about this couple to anyone who would listen. 

Once little bro had his tubes, he was right as rain.

[Piratelvr1121]

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.

My oldest had a heart murmur as a baby and I think it went away in his toddler years so yeah, they do go away but thankfully the pediatrician we were seeing at the time was smart enough to tell us that and made us feel better and not worry. 

[Dazi]

The two that come to mind are...

Waking up in the middle of having my wisdom teeth out.

Having an ER doctor total dismiss that I broke my freaking arm because I wasn't crying and in hysterics.  I had a lovely greenstick fracture in my lower arm...which was only found because my pediatrician was at the hospital and told the doc that I had an extremely high pain threshold.  He had personally seen me fall off the porch roof and out of a tree and just get up like nothing had happened and insisted I get X-rayed.

A cw had the wrong leg cast on her daughter.

[Kimblee]

The two that come to mind are...

Waking up in the middle of having my wisdom teeth out.

Having an ER doctor total dismiss that I broke my freaking arm because I wasn't crying and in hysterics.  I had a lovely greenstick fracture in my lower arm...which was only found because my pediatrician was at the hospital and told the doc that I had an extremely high pain threshold.  He had personally seen me fall off the porch roof and out of a tree and just get up like nothing had happened and insisted I get X-rayed.

A cw had the wrong leg cast on her daughter.

Wha...? How does that happen? I sure hope it was caught quick and the poor little girl didn't try to walk on the "good" leg.

[Black Delphinium]

Remind me to send a lovely thank you note to my childhood dentist...

[Dazi]

A cw had the wrong leg cast on her daughter.

Wha...? How does that happen? I sure hope it was caught quick and the poor little girl didn't try to walk on the "good" leg.

She was only about 16 months old.  They figured it out in under 24 hours.  Thankfully, no permanent damage was done as she wasn't really walking that well yet anyway.

As to the how, the x-ray was flipped.  A 16 month old can't tell you the other leg hurts.

I also know an adult who got the wrong arm casted, even after he told the doc he was doing the wrong arm.  He was pretty heavily medicated at the time, so I don't think the doc believed him, but just thought the pain meds were making him loopy.

[JoW]

I’m the first child and the only girl, so according to my mother’s rules I have to be perfect. 

Like a lot of little girls I was pigeon-toed as a kid.  My toes pointed in.  At age 5 my mother decided I needed medical intervention to correct this imperfection.  So she took me to an orthopedist.  He put me in prescription shoes and did physical therapy.  When that didn’t work he put me in prescription work boots (seriously ugly steel-toe high top work boots).  When that didn’t work he scheduled me for hip surgery.   He actually put the surgery on the hospital schedule without discussing it with my mother. 

Lucky for me Mom balked.  She took me several hours away to a different orthopedist with an excellent reputation.  That doctor said the 1st doctor goofed.  The prescription shoes he had me in and the therapy he was doing were for toes that point out.  The treatment he did made my feet worse, not better.  My hips were perfectly normal.  I did not need hip surgery.  Mom threw out all those ugly shoes and we never saw the first doctor again.

Now at age 55 I’m still pigeon toed.  I have tendinitis in both lower legs some knee aches that I think are at least partly due to the therapy inflicted on my by Doctor Incompetent. 

[wheeitsme]

One of the best moments in my husband's relationships with doctors was when he broke his elbow.  The first doc (work doctor) he went to said he was fine.  When he was still in pain a week later - and admitted it - we went to our HMO doc.  The doctor took x-rays because I pressured him.  As he was putting the x-rays up on the light-screen he was saying "I don't think there is any break, if there was you would be in such excruciating pain...(pics on light screen -now-)...pause..."Your elbow appears to be fractured in 3 places".

When my DH admits to pain...it is probably more than most people could stand without screaming.

[mmswm]

As most of you know, two of my children have a genetic bone condition that's fairly rare, and often requires surgical intervention.  They used to see the doctors at "Big Name Orthopedic and Burn Hospital" known for treating kids without regard for the parents' ability to pay. Two years ago my youngest son started complaining about a more than usual amount of pain.  His walking changed slowly but surely.  The docs at this hospital saw him several times.  I asked to see all his x-rays as we discussed what might be causing the trouble.  They kept assuring me that everything was okay and there was no need for surgical intervention.  The pain kept getting worse.  It finally got to the point where the child could barely move and was requiring morphine to control the pain.  Out of desperation, I called an ortho we'd met at an ER visit at a Children's hospital 4 hours away from our home.  We talked for quite some time and he determined that the problem was probably a tumor that was in just the right spot to create a cascading effect of pain and reduced mobility.  He advised me to come in the following week where we would schedule what would likely be outpatient surgery to fix the problem.  When we got there, something bugged him about DS's walk.  He took some x-rays and determined that there was a bone tumor in DS's hip socket and that as it grew, it was pushing out, and straightening out the femoral head.  It had gotten to the point where the only thing keeping DS's leg attached to his body was the muscles surrounding the joint. DS was immediately transferred to another children's hospital where he underwent a 6.5 hour operation to fix his hip.  I then contacted the first hospital, where the boys had been being treated and asked for both boys' entire medical records, including all images.  It turns out that the hip deformity had been apparent for over a year and not only did they fail to mention it to me, but they actively hid the images from me so I wouldn't ask questions.

[snowdragon]

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.

My mother had that done to her in the 1960's - I suffered oxygen deprivation because of it and several other issues resulted because of it. 

[Twik]

This is something less a horror story than "know your audience".

When I was 17, and getting my impacted wisdom teeth removed, the dentist paused halfway through, and asked, "Have you ever seen your own jawbone?"

Me: "Errh, oo, I onn ink ohhh" (No, I don't think so.)

Him (apparently delighted): "Well, just let me get a mirror - see, this is your tooth, and that's your jawbone, and that's the tissue that we've just cut away to get to it...."

I still wonder how many patients would have made a mad dash to freedom at that point.

[TexasRanger]

Where to start:
(Both parents had been in the military)

 My mom needed to have surgery on her foot in the late 90's to have an extra bone removed. The civilian doc first almost operated on the wrong foot, then left the incision open too long resulting in my mom still having pain in that foot.

My mom hurt her foot (other one) while we were taking a walk. She goes to see a civilian doctor who tells her she has a sprained ankle and to put some ice on it, elevate it and take an NSAID. Mom does that for two weeks, ankle still hurts. She goes to the VA hospital where they tell her that ankle is broken. Somehow the other doc (who took x-rays) somehow missed a clean break.

I was doing a school project with a friend that involved making a music video to go along with a song. Part if it was me running at her with a large stuffed toy. While I was running (wearing cowboy boots) I hear a snap and feel intense pain in my foot.  Go to the Dr and get diagnosed with a "sprained ankle" (this is a different dr then the one my mom had). Go back to see her a few weeks later, my foot still hurts and I can barely walk. She does more xrays and, since I'm badgering her so much, she decides to due an MRI. Turns out I was walking around for nearly a month on a stress fracture.

Next two stories are with the same Dr. This woman was of the "the doctor is always right" school and didn't believe what her patients told her. Luckily, she got kicked out of the clinic.

My dad came down with a realy bad cough. Non of the OTC meds where doing anything for him and he was having trouble driving because of how bad the coughing was. Doctor told him was allergies and gave him a free sample of an antihistamine. Did nothing for him. He goes to the VA where they diagnose him with pneumonia and give him antibiotics and an inhaler.

I work with the public so I'm exposed to all kinds of nasty germs. I've had every shot that is recommended. One day I start feeling really run down and lethargic. I just chalk it up to a passing bug and go to bed early. A few days later I started coughing (that type of cough that ends with a "barking" sound that can only be one thing). The coughing is so bad that I see stars and almost black out at times. Go to the doc and, of course, it's allergies.    Yea, Pertussis (Whooping Cough) is an allergy.   

This next one is just someone with good intentions almost killing me.

I have Ehler's Danlos Syndrome and I'm super senstive to medication. The PA gets me to try a free sample of a pain medication (Arthrotec) for an elbow with a stress fracture. Fifteen minutes after taking the medication I start having really bad abdominal cramps and diarrehea. Turns out I was having a severe reaction to it. The next day I have such bad heartburn that I can barely eat and am burping up foam. Am diagnosed at Urgent Care with bad gastritis. So I take the antacids they give me and all seems fine. Two days later I wake up with the worst abdominal cramps I have ever had. The pain is so bad I thout that something had ruptured. My mom calls 911 due to the fact that I'm curled up like a pill bug and unable to walk.  The paramedic says it looks like I am starting to go into shock (cold & clamy, rapid ,shallow breaths, tachycardia) and we go to the hospital. They give me fentenal which stops the shock. Turns out the one pill I had taken inflamed my whole entire digestive system (stomach, intestines, kidneys) and left scar tissue in my stomach.

My Gastroenterologist has a god complex and believes everything is fixable using medication. The first time I saw him he prescibred five different medications to see if they fix the problem, problem turns out to be gastroperesis (sp?).

He decides that he should do an uppper endoscopy to see if there is a tumor/blockage causing the issues I have (bloating, pain). The anesthesialogist reads my chart and notices I  have EDS and proceeds to tell me "Oh, you guys have a tendency to die easily, right?".

They wheel me into the room their going to do the endoscopy in (felt like a closet) and Mr. God Complex (MGC) is arguing with the nurse over something, oh what fun. The anesthesialogist starts admisnstering the IV drugs. The first thing I notice is that my heart starts racing and I start shaking. I ask the anesthesialgist if this is supposed to happen. He say's he doesnt' know. He leaves the room. MGC and nurse are still arguing. I start feeling like I cant breath. The last thing I remember is thinking "I'm going to die!".

My family has bad luck with doctors.

[DottyG]

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.

Myth busters did experiments to prove that's actually not true after all. In fact, they have a higher tolerance, according to them.

http://mythbustersresults.com/no-pain-no-gain


ETA: I just realized you said said resistance to pain killers instead of tolerance to pain. You may be correct - sorry. But, the good news is that you probably can tolerate more pain ( if that helps)!

[mmswm]

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.

Myth busters did experiments to prove that's actually not true after all. In fact, they have a higher tolerance, according to them.

http://mythbustersresults.com/no-pain-no-gain

It is true.  Mythbusters is wrong.  Unfortunately, the public has decided that they do real, scientific experiments, and they don't.  Fortunately for the medical community, several real studies have been done on the topic. Here's one.  Granted, it's a small study, but there are additional studies.  I can't get to the one I wanted to post because it requires a subscription.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1362956/

The topic was originally studied by a dentist who noticed that his redheaded patients tended to require more Novocaine than his other patients.  It is his study that I'm looking for, as the number of patients he used was far greater than the one in the study I posted.

The flaw in the mythbusters experiment is that the running theory as to why this is so is a mutation in a particular hormone that is also present in 25% of brunettes and a smaller percentage of blondes.  Without doing an analysis of genotype on the non-redheads, any study results are invalid.

 

[DottyG]

Twik, as the person who watched the screen during a colonoscopy (and got to see her own colon), I would have been the person to find that cool!