06 November 2009

another "wtf is wrong with healthcare" data point

on her last doctor's visit, i had the gf request some additional bloodwork, including 25(OH)D, TSH, T4, T3 and HbA1c. (if i'm dosing her with fish oil, vit D, kelp et. al., i want to make sure i'm not off base). she called today to get the results and, basically, was told by the nurse to f*** off.

initially, the nurse was unwilling to say more than "your cholesterol is good," and the gf had to pry out of her the separate HDL, LDL and tri levels. once she started requesting the 25(OH)D, the nurse said she was too busy to tell her all those numbers and she should come in and talk to the doctor.

she refused to fax them, mail them, or provide them at a later date.

what. the. f***.

9 comments:

pyker said...

That is outrageous! She has a right to her own information. Here, whenever I get tests, I got copies mailed directly to me.

zim said...

it's the next day, and i'm still really annoyed by this.

my doc "emails" (through their secure site) my results to me. i'm also checking out personalabs.com for labs not covered by insurance.

the gf will be getting a new doctor soon.

pyker said...

I should say so. That's clearly unacceptable. Make sure her doc knows why she's leaving.

JustJoeP said...

my PCP does not like to mail or fax, but they do give me a printed copy during office visits.

There seems to be a plethora of providers in the Phoenix area, and the waiting room at my PCP rarely has more than 2 or 3 patients in it when I've been there,and I am in and out in an hour.

I hope getting a new PCP will help you guys out.

I'm curious, how many grams of Omega-3s are you taking a day? I'm doing 2 X 1000, and it seems to be having no adverse effects. I stick to flax oil, as the fish oils are hard to find with the "no burps" option, and having lived in the Region I've got all the Hg in my system that I need (unjustifiable paranoia about fish oil supplements, I know).

pyker said...

You really should be targeting EPA+DHA. Flax is not bad, but the ALA is not of the same order. I looked into this before and can dig up the pubmed references if you're interested. The big benefits are from EPA+DHA, so you should really go with the fish oil. Keep it in the fridge, that works to prevent fishy burping for almost everyone. Unless you have good reason to take more, I would go with 1000mg epa+dha per day (so 3g of capsules using a standard 30% prep). There have been a variety of tests and fish oil is Hg-free. Your paranoia is unfounded.

zim said...

i'm on about 3.5 g of epa+dha / day.

JustJoeP said...

If you can Ron, and if you've got the refs tagged somewhere, please email. I would like to see them.

pyker said...

I can post them here. Let's see...

One from pubmed: At estimated biologically equivalent intakes, dietary ALA and EPA+DHA have different physiologic effects.

Plus several posts from Dr. Davis on the subject:
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/my-bread-contains-900-mg-omega-3.html

http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/everything-has-omega-3.html

http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/omega-3-must-be-from-fish-oil.html

JustJoeP said...

thanks Ron!

and thanks Zim for the "rented" space.