The government sent a team of investigators to our city to check some doctors who were accused of taken a kick back. No results were ever reported. I am sure some of them do take it. My pharmacist told me that the Alzheimer's meds have never been proven to help. He said we are being used as guinea pigs for their research. You may not know this but when you research a doctor on the net, there is a place to click to see if he has ever had any problems like lawsuits. You can also call your local district attorney's office and get the same report. This post was edited by EmmaR on Mon, Jan 21, 13 at 11:01

Leigh K, a question for you. I am not asking to provoke you but it seems that you constantly post antagonist respones to every section. This is a menopause forum. Some of us, (perhaps the unlucky ones) have genetic predisposition to poor health. I was a body builder work out vegetable eating machine, at 28 huge inner ear and jaw tumor (never did drugs, smoked or anything) chemo and four surgeries later (including hysterectomy have left me very unhealth. I am now 36, 2 years ago became so ill I couldnt walk. Auto-immune sle (3 aunts have perished from this) and hypogammaglobulenemia. Therefore, gamma globulin infusions. I have been to more doctors than I could count to the infinity number (slight exageration 'joke'). I have found that doctors are practictioners and try. I will consult a pharmacist regarding meds way before a doctor. Doctors know what the particular drug is useful for but, as I am allergic to sooo much. I fall into the 1% side effect profile. Pharmacist know the composition and such. I have personally taught many phycians about new side effects and after controversy and putting the pdr in front of them they say wow. But on the whole doctors try to do what is best for their patient. I am even sometimes glad they receive free samples from drug companies because they pass those on to us less fortunate long term ill patients that have to pay for meds directly out of our pocket. Now my question to you is. Have you ever had a serious illness for which you had no control, trust me I have now been through 9 surgeries. 2 in 2 months. I have a 13 year old son and an 11 year old. There constant worry is mommy are you going to die on us. Heart wrenching. I come to this forum for advice on what has worked for other people. As far as meds go, because unlike you. Some of us has to take them to have a better quality of life. You remind me of my mother that never had a soar throat telling me to get out of bed and run when the pain is so bad my leggs arent even working. I would do anything to not to have to take another pill but I would a least like to find some form of hrt to make my younger life a little more peaceful.... AND I don't feel guilty about that. Give me good advise instead of bashing please. We all know meds are harmful, doctors are not perfect but companies hire sellsmen to do what it takes. Its everywhere. Banking, escrow and Realtors are worse (Ive been involved in all three).

Went to PT, filled out seven pages of stuff (boy, medical offices must be drowning in paperwork these days!), and saw a very nice young woman who evaluated my range of motion, etc. She told me the results of my MRI: two inflamed tendons, swollen joint, inflamed muscle, some arthritis, and the possibility of muscle tearing (the MRI didn't rule it out). She said the treatment for this sort of injury is basically the same with or without an MRI. For that reason, most physicians take a wait-and-see attitude about the MRI, and hold off until it can be determined whether or not treatment is helping. So it seems that my teenage doctor jumped the gun with the MRI. Isn't that nice? I know it doesn't carry the sort of risk that a CT scan would (at least I hope it doesn't), but I hate to have anything done unnecessarily. The cost to the insurance company, the waste of my time and gas, etc. Not to mention that lying still in an MRI tube listening to hammering is not my favorite way to spend any amount of time. Twice-weekly treatment is underway. More time, more gas.....but at least this has the potential to do some good. Thanks, everyone!

They are called PRIMARY care because, in theory, they are overseeing, coordinating, and managing your overall care. Your PCP should have received from all the consultants their recommendations addressing each of their bits of turf. He/she should also be able to access the discharge summaries or sign off notes from the hospital to see what each recommended. If he doesn't know or can't find the information in the paperwork/records, he should be making the effort to contact the specialist himself. Also, I thought it was a NATIONAL standard of care (and regulatory requirement) that on discharge, in the discharge instructions given to you, each of your pre-admission medications are reviewed and instructions given whether to stop taking, change the dose or frequency, or resume/continue taking -- along with all new medications prescribed in the hospital. The only exception would be if they somehow didn't know about this medication, or perhaps if it is a medication that needs to be stopped for an interval during recovery but should be resumed later -- but the discharge paper should tell you to contact such and so MD for followup on that. I'd be looking for a new PCP. I am amazed at the responses from the office staffs of all 3, each passing the buck. (I give the discharge nurse a break, she really wouldn't have the means to know or find out for you now. That instruction needs to come from an MD.) I think going to the stroke center is a good idea, although I wonder if you can get plugged into a new provider for follow-up, having already been through another system (some systems can be odd about that). I'm responding several days late, so I hope you have had good luck with your calls.