CT scan for enlarged aorta
Lars
3 years ago
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Heavy painful periods, hysterectomy?
Comments (3)Hi nannie! I don't usually look at this site but I just had a hysterectomy in July so I was wondering around looking for information. Before I had my hysterectomy I'd had a very heavy period for about 6 weeks. I was willing to put up with anything to not have surgery. That was a mistake. I lost so much blood that my hemoglobin dropped to 6, I beleve the low end of normal is 11. I was in a great deal of pain and couldn't really do anything. Too worn out, out of breath and in so much pain I couldn't move. I ended up in the hospital and got 2 units of blood and then surgery the next day. My uterus was big too but I've had kids so that helped and they where able to do it vaginally. You know you can't go on the way you are now, beleve me I tried hard to keep going thinking it would some how take care of itself. It didn't and it would of been a whole lot better if I had planned this thing out and schedaled things instead of ending up with an emergency situation. I'm 52 so I'm a bit older then you. They gave me a hormone patch which has helped me. I hadn't had any hot flashes or problems with memopause before my surgery but I had them take everything and I sure have had some problems after. I plan to cut the amount of hormone down in the future and eventually get off of the hormones completely. But not now I need to recover first before I can deal with anything more. Well thats my 2 cents!!...See MoreThis is totally unacceptable - CT scans
Comments (66)I hesitate to contribute but... I'm a physician, and thought it might be helpful to clarify some things. Believe it or not, I stumbled across this looking for info about stoves (ranges). Anyway - 1. Abdominal pain is a real challenge to work up. Sometimes, a CT scan will clearly show the problem, but often, it doesn't. I'm ER by training, and I usually tell my patients that we only get an answer to belly pain in the ER about 50% of the time 2. The best study is determined by your exam. Sometimes, no study is needed. Sometimes, it's an ultrasound. A CT with intravenous and oral contrast will better show the blood vessels and organs than one without. A barium enema is only useful in rare situations. Xrays are generally not the study of choice 3. If you can't find an answer on a CT, the next option may be treat & wait; or refer (depending on the pain). Sometimes you need to go to an endoscopy, or a gyn, or colonoscopy, or urology. 4. Pain can be functional, meaning we won't find an anatomic cause for it on CTs. Or microscopic, as in celiac disease. Or allergic, as in lactose intolerance 5. Many, many physicians are poor communicators. Even as a physician, I've experienced this, and it is beyond frustrating. If you think you're annoyed - when I am imaged, I ask for copies and reports, and I like to look at my studies myself. Usually, I get someone who will help me out but occasionally I can't see the studies, get copies or get the reports. It drives me NUTS! 6. What sounds abnormal on a report may be no big deal clinically, or at least - not an emergency. It's not ever good to get information without an explanation, and it sounds like that happened to more than one of you, and for that I am sorry. An explanation can take that "slightly enlarged liver" or "ovarian cyst" from "I have cancer" to "that's a normal variant, or normal for me." 7. There is ALWAYS someone on call at your physician's office - you should be able to reach someone who can answer questions, and you can ask to speak to the physician. Don't let the front desk feint. The earlier you call (e.g. 12 PM vs 11 PM), the happier they'll be to answer your questions 8. Your doctor might say "I don't know," and that's ok. Not because you should be satisfied without an answer, but because the answer might be - there's something we haven't found. In that case, the next best question is, "what do we do next to figure this out?" 9. In terms of physicians, nurses and the health care industry as a whole: like teachers, who have been placed under a progressively more stringent set of requirements that are difficult to meet, there has been enormous economic, regulatory and social pressure placed on physicians in recent years. Patient volume has increased such that we are expected to see more people per hour with the same amount of productivity, which is virtually impossible with the inefficient computers and regulatory hurdles. Your physician, for example, is supposed to assure the government that he's counseled you on smoking, treated your blood pressure and counseled you on your weight - even if you just came in for a sore throat. It's often hard to make patients happy when they want things that aren't medically necessary. There is increasing pressure to reduce utilization (e.g. CTs), decrease antibiotic use (antibiotic resistance) and reduce pain medication (opiate / heroin epidemic). These constant pressures and others increase stress, reduce the ability to meet real patient needs, and reduce the real access patients have. I want to do the right thing for my patients, and that's my first goal, but it's not rewarded by the system, which pushes us to check boxes, not check people. We are just as unhappy as you are. At least, those of us not fresh out of residency anyway - I hope this helped answer some of the questions I see above. Darcy, I wish you luck....See MoreA new demographic group...
Comments (53)It isn't normal for people to be sequestered away in old age homes. People should mix with others of all ages. When you are 80, someone who is 60 can certainly accompany you to the hospital. But besides that, why not think about making more friends? Can you get to know more of your neighbors, start up conversations, then invite someone for coffee, then a movie? Can you take a class at the community center, join a book club at the library, meet someone at church? Don't let the convenience of chit-chatting on the internet substitute for having relationships in real life. There is just a plague of divorce these days, there will be plenty of people around for you to socialize with if you are friendly and intelligent and kind and giving. It is hard, society is so mobile, families move very often and it is hard to keep up relationships, and children move away, and families are smaller too, so there isn't that whole extended family to look out for each other. So we really do have to work very hard to have a network of friends and a support network....See MoreDoctor recommended video visit with thoracic surgeon
Comments (44)I received a written copy of the referral for the thoracic surgeon a couple of weeks ago, but when I tried to get an appointment last week, the surgeon told me that I had the wrong office. Therefore I contacted my doctor, and he gave me a new referral for a vascular surgeon, which is what I thought I should have had in the first place. We're going to Palm Springs/Cathedral City on Thanksgiving Day and will not return to L.A. for a month, and so I will see if I can set up a video meeting with a vascular surgeon while I am there. I checked the lab results at the UCLA portal, and it said that my aorta was 4.1 cm, which is barely above the 4 cm threshold, and so I am not terribly worried. It will certainly be convenient if I can get a video appointment - otherwise, it will have to wait until January. I went to see my dermatologist last week, and he removed a tiny spot on my right wrist that I was concerned about. He wasn't sure what is was, but he cut it out anyway, and my wrist is still sore five days later. His office called me today to give me lab results on this, but they left a voice mail and were unavailable when I called them back. They are supposed to call me back this afternoon. I also had some white spots on my arm that I thought were just dead skin, but the doctor told me that they were pre-cancerous, and he froze them off. I think I might have some on my legs as well, but I will have him check those when I go back in four months....See Morebeckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
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