AGH primary care has me in a bad position

[KRVRN, BSN, RN]

So I have gnawing epigastric pain that wakes me up, hurts off and on all day long, causes me to self-medicate around the clock with Pepcid, Pepto and Mylanta and is not getting any better. Since it's been going on for 8 whole DAYS I am NOT considered a candidate for a same-day appt with my doctor. So my options are to wait until her next available appt...Feb. 27 (5 weeks away) or go to an urgent care or ER. So because I gave it a few days to clear up on it's own (in case it was something I ate), now it's considered chronic and not acute enough for a same day appt. Never mind that I've self-medicated around the clock for 8 days straight now just to stay comfortable.

WTF??? I certainly don't want to go down to an UC or ER to whine about this, it's definitely not anything emergent. No it's not severe pain, but c'mon... 5 WEEKS???

[Stargazer]

5 weeks is crap. If I were you, I'd be tempted to find an urgent care center that had point-of-care H. pylori tests, so you could at least rule that out immediately. If it's positive, you need to start treatment right away.

[CountrifiedRN]

Call them back and tell them you need to be seen sooner. Find out if they can slip you in if they have a cancellation. Five weeks is too long to have to wait. (And when did 8 days become "chronic"?)

Have you been with this doctor long? If you're not too attached, maybe it's time to switch to someone else.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

[sunnygirl272]

lie..call back and tell the "phone-ho" that it just started today...then when ya see the doc, explain the real story...

wha? they wanna wait til the ulcer perfs?

[eldernurse]

sunnygirl272 has it right. Lie to the Phone-Ho. Do you know how many welfare idiots get a "free" pregnancy test in the ED because they just lie about abdominal pain?

Don't you think health care providers need to take care of themselves?

[KRVRN, BSN, RN]

Such b.s.

Follow up is that the pain sort of went away on it's own after hurting for 10 days straight. They were kind enough to have the nurse call me (2 days after they said they would) and got me an appt a mere 3 weeks later instead of 5 weeks later. I told her that honestly, the pain was gone, but if it was still hurting day and night like it had been I would be at the UC or ER way before my doctor's appt. ($50 ER vs. $15 PCP visit copay too...such b.s.)

[prmenrs, RN]

Welcome to managed care--which is an oxymoron--how can you manage whaat you don't provide?

I'm glad you're better!!