So my doctor tried to blind me....

dory

This week I have had the most bizarre experience of the Irish medical system. My eyesight would now be in serious danger were it not for the fact that I have an interest in all things science and Googled my prescriptions. I was humming and hawing about whether or not I should post this but I'm too worried about other patients of this man now. I've already heard of two other cases he ****ed up and anyone who has experience of eye doctors in Cork knew exactly who I was talking about when I told them my story.

This is it, pardon the length.

On Wednesday I was told that I may well go blind.

I lost most of the vision in my left eye last week. Spent the weekend in a hospital in Moldova getting injections into my eyeball but was advised to come home to get Irish treatment.

So I went to the A&E in Cork on Monday, they saw I was in a bad way and checked me out straight away. Doctor No. 1 checked me briefly, gave me a prescription and told me to come back Wednesday and see Doctor No. 2 as he was more senior and would thoroughly check me out.

Doctor No. 2 was the most dramatic person I've ever met. Didn't give me any info on the disease just kept saying 'Take the medication very strictly or you will go blind, go BLIND!! This is very serious, it could blind you, it would absolutely blind you'. Then he shouted out the door to Doctor No. 1 about what meds I'd been put on, he said 'the usual', and I was told that was the best medication in the world. He never asked about dosage or duration of what I'd been given, he just had names.

I didn't feel happy about the fact that one doctor thoroughly examined me, dramatic guy, and a different person prescribed meds for me. I think the whole point of medicine is the one professional doing both using all the information.

The doctor said nothing at all to me about my disease, just the name, so I really had no choice but to Google to find out what the hell was happening. Oh, and one of these all important medicines are licenced everywhere but Ireland so I had to sit tight for 2 days til it was shipped in. When reading about this medicine I saw a big warning on their website that it must be taken in conjunction with folinic acid as if that level drops, you're taken off all medication and left to your own devices until your body is well enough to handle medication again.

That was when I really felt like I'd fallen between the cracks with the two doctors. Next I read some journals where patients made perfect recoveries thanks to taking steroids for a few months. I looked at my prescription: 5 days. I'd be another 5 days when they were gone without any til my next appointment.I couldn't find anything that supported his whole 'You're going blind' theory. Except that if I had done his five days of steroids I may have lost at least one eye so he was making it come true really.

So I freaked out. I didn't sleep for a few days, didn't eat. Just sat around shaking and crying and being more scared that I've ever come close to. My parents and whole extended family were in bits. I told my job I was gone, started to think about alternative careers for which I would not need my eyes. I invested in a few books on tape. I was trying to read up on the whole thing but also terrified of damaging my retina more as Doctor No. 2 led me believe that it was far more damaged than Doctor No. 3 say it is.

On Thursday night I snapped and said I absolutely had to speak to someone. I was going to spend Friday badgering any doctor who could just talk to me about this. All I wanted was information that did not come from the internet. Luckily my mother's friend's friend is the secretary of an eye surgeon. He was doing surgeries all day but said if I swung by after work he'd meet me. He listened to me for about 45minutes, told me to disregard everything that Doctor No. 2 had said and explained how it was a problem that can certainly be fixed, more chance of him going blind than me. In the unlikely event that the medicine didn't work I could have surgery. Doc No. 2 said there is no surgery available.

He agreed immediatly that I should never have been put on a 5 day course of a medicine I would need for at least a year. In fairness to Doctor No. 1, he thought he was only tying me over until Doctor No. 2 sorted me out. If only No. 2 could have taken a moment to look at my prescription. He also said I should be on stronger antii-biotics, but that I've already started this out-dated one and as changing could screw things up I'd better stay on it for now. The folinic acid is absolutely necessary, couldn't believe someone didn't mention it. But that is also licenced everywhere but Ireland so I have to wait til Tuesday for that.

So here I am now. Extremely happy but completely shocked. No. 2 had been so racist and dismissive about my Moldovan treatment, and yet it turned out to be the correct course according to my internet research and the doc I now trust. In fact, he's very greatful I got my blood tests done there as I got results in 4 hours - I'll be waiting another 2 weeks for the bloods I got done in Cork on Monday.

I don't know why I'm writing all this. I think it's wrong to not tell people as in the last few days I've heard a number of stories like this. People should know. Had this man not agreed to talk to me today I would have had a nervous breakdown over the weekend. The disease was possibly given to me in the womb, Doc. No 2 said he was positive of it - although I know myself you can't know for sure. So my mother has spent the last few days thinking she did something wrong during pregnancy and it was all her fault. A few nurses I spoke to all told me it is often contracted from cats, Doctor No. 2 said no that's something else. Every book on the disease agrees with the nurses. I think you get the picture about Doctor No. 2.

Also, I was told I'll be crippled in bed with the effects of the meds (by guess who!). I was at the start, could also have been the worry, but once I visited my dietician and got appropriate food I started to feel better. No doctor would every think to say that bread and tomatoes could aggravate the stomach of a person on long term anti-biotics. Maybe it's not the doctors job, but I think anyone diagnosed with a long term illness should be advised of the massive impact dieticians can have. I've seen it in cancer patients, but they work for just about every illness. I'm going to have to give a little shout out to mine, Robyn Smith, who is a genius. When I thought my eyes were under serious attack I went to her and she spent 2 hours explaining what each piece of medicine would do to me, and how to counteract it. She also assured me that what I read about Folinic Acid was correct and gave me the confidence to question my medication.

So that's it. I was gonna just let it go, but then this morning when I went to try a new antibiotic I can take for 3 days (then have to go back to the original because I started it) I realised that I had to take it before food. And I'd just had a big breakfast. If I waited til I got hungry again it would be far too long between doses. So now I have to wait til tomorrow to start the new medication, almost two weeks after I first noticed this. But at least I have the steroids, they are what I care about now.

I just think it's an interesting story. Should patients really have to Google? Does anyone here have an opinion on patients reading medical journals? If I hadn't done a masters I wouldn't know what a journal is and would have happily read a lot of crap on the internet and certainly would not have seen the importance of forking out for a journal subscription. And if I hadn't stumbled across an easy to read one I would never had pegged this.

I guess I should just be grateful but I'm still a little put out. But at least I'm not going blind!

Vorsprung

Glad you're ok.

To answer one of your questions - no, patients shouldn't have to Google.

But the other side of the coin - ask questions! Your post doesn't clearly state that you've done that during the consultation.

dory

Thanks for the feedback, that's exactly what I'm after here because I don't like the idea of just sitting here thinking I'm going mad. I want to get a doctor's explanation and seeing as I realisticly won't from my own I thought here might be useful.

Did I ask? Yes, I tried. My voice was shaky and I was trying not to cry but I did ask. I think it's a bit irrelevant though, only because him not explaining things was the least of my worries - in fact as I wrote this helped me realise that the consultation had been missing something.

More to the point I believe is the fact that he would let me go 5 days without steroids at a time when I really needed them. I'm not trying to gain anything more than an explanation here. And if you were to ask me whether or not this man should still be a doctor I would say no, definitely not. And that is not out of bitterness because my eyesight will be perfectly fine now in a few months.

push_it

.

charlieroot

Glad to hear you're doing well. Hope everything works out ok. Out of curiosity what was your diagnosis?

tech77

charlieroot wrote: »

Glad to hear you're doing well. Hope everything works out ok. Out of curiosity what was your diagnosis?

Sounds like toxoplasmosis.

DrIndy

tech77 wrote: »

Sounds like toxoplasmosis.

yes - but best to avoid internet diagnosis. Let the OP post if he wants to

dory

Yes, it's Toxoplasmosis. I don't mind now, it's totally curable and unlike what the crazy doc told me, my lesion is not on the macula. So I have a very good chance of making a total recovery.
Keep hearing more stories of what this doctor has done to people. I'll certainly be be giving the ol medical council a buzz.

tech77

DrIndy wrote: »

yes - but best to avoid internet diagnosis. Let the OP post if he wants to

Sorry.
TBH, i meant it more as a response to the second guy's query.

The OP seemed to have received dx and tx already, so i genuinely thought it was academic and no way influential on the OP.

I know what you're saying though.
Apologies.

Edit: Good to hear you're doing well OP.

DrIndy

I think to most medically minded people - we all know its toxoplasmosis - the point i was concerned about was also that Dory may not have wanted that known clearly and hence omitted his diagnosis.

Apology accepted - but not needed!

femur61

dory wrote: »

I'll certainly be be giving the ol medical council a buzz.

TG your OK I'd certainly do more than give them a buzz, put pen to paper give them an earful, even send what you originally posted to the newspaper.

tech77

DrIndy wrote: »

I think to most medically minded people - we all know its toxoplasmosis - the point i was concerned about was also that Dory may not have wanted that known clearly and hence omitted his diagnosis.

Apology accepted - but not needed!

Fair enough.
Should have been more mindful of that.

If you want me to remove it Dory (i know you posted it as well of course), i'll delete it.
Nobody will know.

Carsinian Thau

femur61 wrote: »

TG your OK I'd certainly do more than give them a buzz, put pen to paper give them an earful, even send what you originally posted to the newspaper.

Is that really necessary? I definitely agree with the medical council bit but surely their investigation should take precedence?

amdublin

Is the thread title a bit misleading and dramatic?

Your doctor did not intentionally "try to blind you"

yogy

Glad to hear you're OK.

It must have been a frightening experience but it seems like you over reacted a bit.

Remember you are always entitled to get a second opinion. If you got one sooner you could have saved yourself considerable stress and money on books on tapes!

Self diagnosis using Google, particularly for such a potentially serious condition, is not advisable.

Also if you are unhappy with the professionalism of Dr. No. 2 and want to prevent others experiencing what you did then maybe you might want to inform the Medical Council of your experience. Not everybody uses boards.ie!

dissed doc

It's a dreadful situation to end up in so I am glad at least that it will work out for you.

But that said, I am going to be devil's advocate here and say

1) How much of your taxes go to paying healthcare, directly, from your paycheck. For a comparison, in Germany it is around 12-14%/month of your salary. I am willing to bet you pay only a tiny percentage if anything at all towards healthcare. You get what you pay for, unfortunately.

2) The Medical Council has been running for several years now with a majority of non-medically qualified people who decide who is registered and who is not. Again, you are seeing the results of a decade of anti-doctor attitudes by Harney.

No money paying for healthcare, and no regulation of adequate training = your situation, which unfortunately will happen more and more.

dory

dissed doc wrote: »

It's a dreadful situation to end up in so I am glad at least that it will work out for you.

But that said, I am going to be devil's advocate here and say

1) How much of your taxes go to paying healthcare, directly, from your paycheck. For a comparison, in Germany it is around 12-14%/month of your salary. I am willing to bet you pay only a tiny percentage if anything at all towards healthcare. You get what you pay for, unfortunately.

2) The Medical Council has been running for several years now with a majority of non-medically qualified people who decide who is registered and who is not. Again, you are seeing the results of a decade of anti-doctor attitudes by Harney.

No money paying for healthcare, and no regulation of adequate training = your situation, which unfortunately will happen more and more.

Should I apologise for not paying high enough taxes?

My main issue was that my doctor was an ass, he didn't check me out properly and he sent me home with 2 days of medication left, and wasn't going to see me for another week. And did nothing to explain my disease. And later I discovered the lesion is nowhere near my macula, he said it was on my macula. I have two people who were with me who also remember him saying that, thought I was going mad.

I would blame his cocky ass more than the tax system/admin side. He gets about €250,000 a year to do his job. You'd think that'd be enough of an incentive to do it well.