Worst doctor ever?

I go to the doctor today, because I've been sick since late Friday, and I woke up in the middle of the night with a crust over my eye that said "Pink Eye" like it's said in the past when I've gone to the doctor and been diagnosed with nasal infection induced pink eye.

It's not pink eye. But then again, I have no idea what it is.

Work did not happen today, as I'd hate to infect the office prior to going to Atlantis this weekend, but it's pretty busy and I feel a slight bit of guilt for not going in, less so with the pain that still waves to me from my throat, neck, head face, shoulders, upper body...

My regular PCP was not in, because apparently he's only there from 9-10 am on Mondays. Who knew?? I sure didn't. I also managed to sleep until 10:30 after getting up at 6 to email work and post a document to our Google Docs page in order to have done something productive today other than winge, which this is accomplishing for me. So they sent me to Dr. Lerch, which may or may not be how you write his name. He is horrible. Let me remind you of the time I went to the doctor last year which what probably was strep throat. I say probably because my PCP was also not in that day, and they sent me to the same guy who took a quick glance at my throat, said "It's really swollen," and then gave me a prescription for antibiotics. I don't do well with antibiotics but I will spare the gory details. See something missing? I was pretty ok about it then, being that I was in searing pain and couldn't remember the last time I was prescribed antibiotics, so I said ok and went on my merry way. Big problem was that I never got a throat culture. Not even the rapid test! I waited for about an hour and was seen for maybe 5 minutes, but that's really stretching it.

So today, I was less than thrilled to be given an appointment with the fastest doctor in Greenpoint, but I really thought it would do me good to see someone who knew what they were talking about and could maybe give some advice on how to alleviate my suffering. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. I got to the office at 11 for my 11:15, only to wait until noon to be seen. "Your throat is swollen, but you definitely don't have pink eye. I'm going to give you a 10 day prescription for antibiotics."

"Antibiotics for what?"

"10 days of antibiotics, under your tongue," said the mean nurse assistant lady.

"No, I mean, why are you giving me antibiotics?" (and can someone tell me why 98.3 is normal?? Does that mean my 99.8 on Saturday was a fever?)

"Well, this is probably the best way to take care of it."

"And you aren't going to give me a throat culture?"

"Well, that would take time, and you should really be on antibiotics."

Ok enough of this crap, Dr. Lerch. You didn't have the time, and probably aren't paid enough to explain to me why I should be on a 10 day course of antibiotics, when you haven't bothered to ask me the extent of my symptoms, but were pleased enough with the fact that I have nothing going on in my chest. What the hell?

I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one anywhere, be it television, movies or the internet. I'll say this again, because this is what I said last year. I've had strep throat. I've had strep more times than I can count. This is not it. My nose is running something terrible, and I have something going on in my eye. It would appear to me that I have a cold, which fine, great, tell me that. But no antibiotic is going to cure it. In fact, you are just contributing to the continually ramped up resistance to antibiotics that those superstrains of bacteria have. Maybe politics got in the way, but the fact is, I'd rather have my nose fall off than deal with the side effects of antibiotics made for horses.

I did get to have an allergy test though, which no one has ever suggested! Of course this explained everthing when it turned out that I had the mother of all reactions to both ragweed and dust mites. The allergist was very nice, but the whole experience was itchy. It's really disconcerting to watch giant welts form under some kind of oily stuff just pricked onto your arm. Also, I am allergic to dust mites, what? Super-allergic? When did this start? I sleep in beds EVERY NIGHT and I have survived until now, with not too many problems. But those little guys are everywhere. This is where sometimes I think medicine is overrated. Also, the only advice I got was to maybe do allergy shots, which, get this, involves a few months of near-daily allergy shots, then bi-weekly, then monthly, then annual going on for like the rest of my life. No thanks, I think I'll deal with it as it hasn't really affected me before. Ok, maybe a stuffy nose here and there, but I'd have to say I'm in pretty good health otherwise.

Well Dr. Lerch had to see me one more time, which meant waiting for him to return from the other side of hell for another 15 minutes. He said I could get bloodwork done to see if I had a viral or bacterial infection, handed me a prescription and sent me off to the front desk. They dealt with that and I went off to Quest to get my bloodwork done. The place is around the corner, so it was an easy walk. I get there, and a woman immediately escorts me back to have blood drawn, sits me in the chair and asks if I've been there. Then she stops and says, "I can't do this, this does not have your name."

Ok, fine, I'll run back to the overrun doctor's office to get my name written on the prescription. The receptionist asks why it isn't on a different form, to which I really wanted to respond that the woman sitting about 10 feet behind her just told me that would be all I needed. But no, she has to fill out an entirely new form, but fortunately she remembers to put my name on it. Good job. I'd recommend skipping all the doctors at Manhattan Medical just to avoid the horribly organized front desk. Not my first bad experience.

Back to Quest! I switched insurance back in July of 2009, and I gave the new information at Manhattan Medical. Unfortunately, they failed to tell me that the Quest I was going to may or may not send me a bill for around $80 to find out if I have a viral or bacterial infection so I can or cannot get antibiotics from Dr. Lerch. It was at that point that I gave up. At this point, I had gone about 3 hours without having eaten anything for breakfast in my rush to get to the doctor's office to wait around, and it was just not worth it. There was no way they could look at my insurance to tell me if it would work, I would have to call. Fine, well I'm making the decision to not waste the rest of my day dealing with this, because at this point I have confirmed my suspicions that, yes, I am sick, and no, there is nothing I will be able to do about it that will actually make me feel better in a short period of time without wreaking havoc on my stomach.

So thank you, Dr. Lerch, Manhattan Medical, Quest Diagnostics and all of the other major players in my story today.

I feel that there's something wrong with a doctor who has an automatic antibiotic prescription reaction. It's odd. Nothing diagnostic, just a very quick glance.

That being said, I'm looking for a new PCP in Greenpoint.