A Health Journey - Our Broken Health Care System

In late 2019 and early 2020, I started noticing a pretty rapid weight gain that did not match my eating habits.  In early 2020, before the pandemic, I made an appointment with a local doctor's office.  I couldn't get in with a doctor, as they weren't taking new patients, so they put me with a nurse practitioner, which is fine.   I saw the NP in early February 2020, then the pandemic hit and you couldn't actually go into the office anymore for several months.   Once they were allowing patients in office, they rescheduled my follow up appointment, except my NP had left and I was put with someone else.

This is where the revolving door of NPs started.  Every time I had a follow up, it was with a new NP as the former one had left.  Sometimes my appointments would get rescheduled because the new person I was seeing didn't have an opening, so appointments were 6, 9 and sometimes 12 months apart.  So each time I saw a new NP, we started over at ground zero.  The only think I could get anyone to look at was my A1C (not even prediabetic), cholesterol (normal) and blood pressure, which was high.   We tried 3 different BP meds, under as many different NPs, and all three caused allergic reactions.  We finally landed on one that the body tolerated and then we had to work on the correct dosage.  I'd have to call in to get it refilled between elusive NP appointments.

In October 2023, I was scheduled to see a new NP (after having had my appointment with her rescheduled THREE times).   I was happy when I saw her because she listened, agreed that something was off and ordered a full panel of fasting blood work.  So the next morning I was up early, went to the lab to get my blood work done, only to find that my first visit happened to be on her LAST day of employment, and the lab wouldn't take her lab work order.   So I had to call back and get someone else to sign off on the labs, except they only signed off on A1C, cholesterol and triglycerides.   GAH!

January of 2024 I saw my newest NP.  She was wonderful, saw why I was so frustrated with the practice and agreed that we needed to look deeper.   She ordered labs to check my thyroid, but only the T4.  It was fine.  She upped my BP med and we started getting the numbers back in the normal range.  We did a colon check (normal), mammogram (normal), pap test (normal).  She "thought" she heard a heart murmur and sent me for an echocardiogram and a stress test.  I finally got scheduled for the tests in May.  Let me tell you, the copays for those two things were enough to jack the BP back up.   At that January appointment, she gave me a referral to a gynecologist, because at 56 I'm still having my monthly cycle and it's a BEAST.  

(On a side note, since when do you need a referral for an ob/gyn?  What do all the newly pregnant ladies do when it's months to get in to see someone??)

In June, the follow up with a cardiologist showed that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my heart.  She said she didn't even know why I'd been referred to her "but let's send you to XXX hospital for a heart CAT scan".  Um, no.  If these two very expensive (and apparently unnecessary) tests showed a healthy heart, we weren't going out of town for some other test.

She then criticized my NP for the BP med I was on and said she was going to prescribe amlodipine.  I was quick to point out, that if she looked at my chart, I had an allergic reaction to amlodipine and wasn't about to go back on it again.  That seemed to annoy her, so then she said she was prescribing a BETA blocker to get my BP in check.  I explained that I check my BP each morning and evening and it's ALWAYS in the normal range, unless I eat something very salty.  I asked about side effects of a BETA blocker and was told "we don't have time to talk about that now".  Um, no.   She made a few other rude, and condescending comments, at which point she encountered the side of my personality that she wasn't equipped to handle and I walked out of her office with jacked up BP from anger, but feeling like a boss.  

She also did a referral to the local weight loss clinic, and within 2 days of having the referral, I received a letter in the mail saying they aren't taking any new patients.  I was assured they'd reach out to me as soon as they had an opening.

July 2 I finally had my gynecologist appointment.  Yes, seven months after my referral was issued.  Now this looked like it was a game changer.  It's a small practice, and not only did she listen, she agreed that until someone actually looked at something outside of A1C and cholesterol, there was no way to know what was going on inside.  She ordered a full panel, including hormones, cortisol T3 (which is converted into T4).  She also scheduled a uterine ultrasound to make sure there were no polyps or fibroids that are causing the heaving and frequent menstrual cycles.

Test results showed that my hormone levels were a little wonky in that one that is usually low at my age is high, and the one that is usually higher is low.  What I came away with is that "You're just not aging as fast as other women your age."   Uh-huh.   Ultrasound was fine, and then once the OB/GYN saw there was no problems that required her "fixing", she dropped me like a hot potato.

So, here I am in 2025 with having just had my NP check up, and all of my blood tests are perfect, but I still have high BP because of my weight.  My A1C isn't even close to pre-diabetic.  I'm morbidly obese. The weight loss clinic never got back to me (shock).  I'm frustrated, and tired of being over weight.  But, I'm apparently the healthiest fat person around. 

Go me.