Let me begin my story with a little honesty. I dislike doctors a lot. There have been very few that I like, much less trust. I haven’t found one that I really like since my primary care physician moved to North Carolina. I miss her! Anyway, my OB is a woman, which is a plus, but I’m not feeling like I’m taken care of. It’s not that she isn’t nice, she is, but there is just something I don’t completely trust about her. I feel like everything I say is trivialized, like I’m over-reacting and all my aches and pains are completely normal–at least that is what she tells me.
That being said, if you recall, I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, that I was enjoying crunching my ice. I’ve talked to my doctor about this, as well as feeling light-headed and being out of breath, with my heart beating fast. Most mornings, I am exhausted and have a hard time completing simple tasks without getting out of breath and having to sit down. I haven’t gained weight for about 6 weeks–I’ve stayed the same or lost a few pounds. Also, it would add up that I haven’t had much of an appetite.
So I get a call on Tuesday, after I had an appointment on Friday and the nurse tells me my iron is low. (They took a blood test) She says the doctor is prescribing “Repliva.”
I ask, “How low is my iron?”
She says, “It is at a nine.”
Which means nothing to me, so I ask, “And what is normal?”
She says, “Between 12 and 16.”
By this time, it sounds like she is irritated that I’m actually asking questions, and instead of asking what the heck medication “Repliva,” is, I give her the pharmacy number, thinking I will call the doctor in the morning.
Then, I go online to look up low iron or iron deficiency in pregnancy and lo and behold, what do I find? All the symptoms I have talked to my doctor about are under iron deficiency as symptoms! I’ve been talking about this for 6 weeks, and we finally get around to taking my blood a few days ago? I don’t get it. So I’m irritated. I go to the pharmacy, which is a whole other story, but find out that “Repliva” is another vitamin, that I will take.
I wonder if I should take this in place of my pre-natal vitamin, or if I should keep taking them or what. It doesn’t say anything on the information sheet, except, “If you are pregnant or breast-feeding, consult your doctor about how this medication can affect your infant.” So of course, I’m like, “What the heck?” I go back to the pharmacy and they tell me that I might get constipated and that the baby might get constipated when I start breast-feeding.
I still decide that before I take this medicine, I will call the doctor to find out about it. So the next morning, I call. Of course, I can’t get the doctor, or a nurse and I have to leave a message. I leave a detailed message explaining why I am calling and leave my number and name. I wait all afternoon. I wait until 4:30 and still nothing. I haven’t taken this medication yet, and I finally decide to call back. I get the answering service. They close at 4:30. So I talk to the message taker and explain my situation and she doesn’t know what to do.
“Is this an emergency?”
“Well, not really…
“What is your name?”
I give her my name and number.
“Are you pregnant?”
“Yes. I just want to know if I take this medication with my vitamins or not.”
“Well, let me see…”
She consults some book and asks me again if I am pregnant.
“Yes, I am.”
“How many weeks?”
“38? I think.”
“I will leave a message for your doctor.”
So I wait another hour and my doctor FINALLY calls! She tells me that I should continue to take my vitamins and that I’m taking it because I have low iron. I can’t help but feel like I am bugging her, because, well, I am calling after hours and she sounds a little irritated, unless it is just me. I explain that I left a message at the office THIS MORNING and nobody got back to me, and I was assuming they wanted me to start taking this stuff right away. She tells me that is fine and we hang up.
I’ve taken two doses of this stuff and what do you know? I’m not exhausted, no feeling like I am going to pass out, no heart pounding. I feel a lot better. I just wish I could have had this figured out a long time ago–like 6 weeks ago. I still have the craving for ice, and hopefully that will go away too, because I have never particularly liked chewing on ice, until now.
Yes, it is taken care of, but why did I have to go through all of that to feel better? I will be glad when this is all over. I need to find a good doctor–one that actually listens to me when I have questions or concerns. I know there are good doctors out there, but I have had very few. Someone needs to tell doctors that the patients actually do sometimes know how they are feeling and what might be going on. We aren’t all a bunch of hypocondriacs wanting a prescription for some narcotic. Some of us are actually in tune with our bodies and know what is normal and what isn’t.
Well, now I just hope I don’t get constipated again! I’m taking measure in hopes that it won’t happen again. So far so good.
I think I will go and have a glass of ice…