Over the past ten years, we have seen extensive changes in the healthcare industry and those of us involved in dealing with these changes often channel our energy into making sure that our office is in compliance with everything new that comes our way. We pride ourselves on implementing the details that will make our office state of the art and dedicate ourselves to the difficult challenges that we need to follow carefully.
So many discussions that I have seen recently come from my colleagues who are interested in assuring that medical practices meet today's tough standards. The discussions that I have seen my brilliant colleagues promote are no doubt helpful and necessary, but sometimes it seems as if we are talking about the best way to organize and run an empty location. In keeping with this idea, I would like to discuss the disparity that still exists in the diagnosis and treatment of men and women.
Five years ago, I was diagnosed with Graves disease. For those who are not aware, Graves is basically auto-immune hyperthyroid disease and can pose serious health risks if not treated, or not treated properly. I was lucky enough to be diagnosed and treated early in the progression of the disease and finally received treatment with radioactive iodine in the hopes of alleviating my symptoms. This treatment may eventually lead to hypothyroidism and I will need to be treated with other medications to keep me in a normal range.
Hyperthyroidism, like many thyroid disorders can have a neuro-psychological component, which may include anxiety, depression, rapid heart rate and in some cases can manifest itself as bi-polar disorder.
Some Grave's patients may experience these feelings even if their ranges are just slightly abnormal and others may have blood results that are off the charts and remain unaware of the disease until they suffer some serious health risks.
My experiences with Graves were the first time I noticed how difficult it can be for physicians to recognize and treat the components of disease that are not strictly physical. Indeed, at times over the past five years I felt like one of Freud's garden variety neurotics anytime I would express a symptom that was outside the physician's realm of expertise. If I expressed the fact that I felt more anxious than usual, the physician would state: "People get anxious for all kinds of reasons!" It got so bad, that I found myself searching the internet looking for research that would convince me that I was not neurotic or crazy. I looked at message boards where Grave's patients discussed their symptoms and noted that these patients were meeting with the same denial from their physicians. I finally decided to seek help from a female doctor who assured me that the symptoms that I was experiencing were all part of the Grave's syndrome.
As a younger woman, I was treated by the same family physician who treated my parents and grandparents. He knew our entire family history, including the state of our mental as well as physical health and was able to diagnosis and provide treatment that included both our physical symptoms as well as our genetic pre-disposition to certain diseases. That time is long past and it is unfortunate that medical care has become so specialized and so limited that patient treatment is no longer a consideration of the individual as a whole, but rather Part A and Part B and all the other parts that make us who we are demand that we see an entire arsenal of doctors to keep ourselves healthy and happy.
I have accompanied my husband on many of his doctor visits and have noted the clear difference in the way physicians treat his complaints. They seem to listen more carefully and prescribe treatment for the slightest of his complaints. Since I have worked in this industry for so long, I know many of these physicians and even this fact has not made much of a difference. I am not alone in this feeling and have found that many of the women I know make it a priority to see a female physician for all their health care needs.
In order for us to provide our patients with excellence in health care as we move forward into the future, we need to see our patients not merely as a symptom, but as an entire individual who may need help with both the physical and psychological implications of disease. A quick family history will not help us in this goal. We need to spend more time listening to our patients and to assure that we do not merely discharge them to another provider if we are outside our comfort zone.
So many discussions that I have seen recently come from my colleagues who are interested in assuring that medical practices meet today's tough standards. The discussions that I have seen my brilliant colleagues promote are no doubt helpful and necessary, but sometimes it seems as if we are talking about the best way to organize and run an empty location. In keeping with this idea, I would like to discuss the disparity that still exists in the diagnosis and treatment of men and women.
Five years ago, I was diagnosed with Graves disease. For those who are not aware, Graves is basically auto-immune hyperthyroid disease and can pose serious health risks if not treated, or not treated properly. I was lucky enough to be diagnosed and treated early in the progression of the disease and finally received treatment with radioactive iodine in the hopes of alleviating my symptoms. This treatment may eventually lead to hypothyroidism and I will need to be treated with other medications to keep me in a normal range.
Hyperthyroidism, like many thyroid disorders can have a neuro-psychological component, which may include anxiety, depression, rapid heart rate and in some cases can manifest itself as bi-polar disorder.
Some Grave's patients may experience these feelings even if their ranges are just slightly abnormal and others may have blood results that are off the charts and remain unaware of the disease until they suffer some serious health risks.
My experiences with Graves were the first time I noticed how difficult it can be for physicians to recognize and treat the components of disease that are not strictly physical. Indeed, at times over the past five years I felt like one of Freud's garden variety neurotics anytime I would express a symptom that was outside the physician's realm of expertise. If I expressed the fact that I felt more anxious than usual, the physician would state: "People get anxious for all kinds of reasons!" It got so bad, that I found myself searching the internet looking for research that would convince me that I was not neurotic or crazy. I looked at message boards where Grave's patients discussed their symptoms and noted that these patients were meeting with the same denial from their physicians. I finally decided to seek help from a female doctor who assured me that the symptoms that I was experiencing were all part of the Grave's syndrome.
As a younger woman, I was treated by the same family physician who treated my parents and grandparents. He knew our entire family history, including the state of our mental as well as physical health and was able to diagnosis and provide treatment that included both our physical symptoms as well as our genetic pre-disposition to certain diseases. That time is long past and it is unfortunate that medical care has become so specialized and so limited that patient treatment is no longer a consideration of the individual as a whole, but rather Part A and Part B and all the other parts that make us who we are demand that we see an entire arsenal of doctors to keep ourselves healthy and happy.
I have accompanied my husband on many of his doctor visits and have noted the clear difference in the way physicians treat his complaints. They seem to listen more carefully and prescribe treatment for the slightest of his complaints. Since I have worked in this industry for so long, I know many of these physicians and even this fact has not made much of a difference. I am not alone in this feeling and have found that many of the women I know make it a priority to see a female physician for all their health care needs.
In order for us to provide our patients with excellence in health care as we move forward into the future, we need to see our patients not merely as a symptom, but as an entire individual who may need help with both the physical and psychological implications of disease. A quick family history will not help us in this goal. We need to spend more time listening to our patients and to assure that we do not merely discharge them to another provider if we are outside our comfort zone.
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