I generally have good experiences with my doctors and nurses cooperating with me and my wishes while still providing excellent care.  I don't settle for a care provider who doesn't seem to be paying attention to what I'm saying.  If I don't get the right vibe from a doctor or nurse, I get another one until I feel comfortable.  I think this is a problem that a lot of people have and end up having negative experiences.  It's hard for your care provider to personalize your treatment if you don't speak up about you.

I also wanted to add that I don't have unrealistic expectations about things.  Giving birth, for example, I went into it knowing that there were concerns about my baby being large and about the possibilities that could arise.  Fortunately I was able to deliver vaginally, but if I had ended up having a c-section, I wouldn't have been surprised and I wouldn't have held it against my midwife.

I hate my doctor...in fact being in my very early 20's and a college student, I think doctors really don't listen to my concerns or think I know anything about my health.

My doctor always assumes I'm out partying and thats why I come in with Strep Throat often when in reality I get Strep so much because she (my doc) refused to remove my tonsils after 4 cases of strep in 9 months and a developed allergic reaction to Penicillin.

Every time I come in for a refill on my birth control she wants to go through the process as if I've never taken it or like I'm some prostitute who needs to be lectured on the practices of safe sex. I got to the point where I was so frustrated trying to take care of myself that I dropped my doctor and go to the clinic now. At least there, I know the crappy care is due to high volumes of people, not ignorance or bias from a holier-than-thou doctor.

@WonderGirlExtraordinaire@xanga - they won't let me have my tonsils removed either.. its ridiculous.

Well when I HAD a doctor, she was awesome... now I don't have health insurance. So there isn't a doctor to listen to me.

my mom's also a nurse so i seldom visit the hospital.  now my dentist, that's a different story.

i can't afford health ins yet, so i haven't been to a PCP in a while...(over a year), but i've gone to the ER and the rapid response here in town, and the er you sit in the waiting room FOREVER (even if you're bleeding) and then after about 5 hours you go to the back, and sit in another room for a few hours, someone comes to see you, ask a few questions, get vitals, etc, and then in about an hour and a half the dr comes in for a few min, and about half an hour later, the nurse comes in, cleans you up, you get a work excuse, and then you go home after about another hour and a half.  the rapid response was about an hour and 15 min in the waiting room (i brought a book...:P), about 20 min waiting for nurse to come back, 20 min waiting for strep culture to be taken, 20 min waiting for results and then discharged. :)  much shorter time, and cheaper too!  (only $97 instead of a couple hundred!)

I must say that healthcare is a tough profession. Patients expect you to know everything like you are God, and yet if you tell them what is best for them they they tend to treat you like garbage. It is definately a tightrope walk! My husband is a resident at the state hospital. The hospital covers from Baton Rouge to Little Rock and from Jackson to nearly Dallas. The ER has nearly a 24 hr waiting time (honestly people DON'T go to the ER for something you can go to a clinic or quick care for! SERIOUSLY!) Many of the patients that they see don't do what they tell them to. (ie that they can't treat certain issues unless others are dealt with first, not filling prescriptions and then coming back and complaining of the same issues, etc) and then chew them out. It is hard to deal with. But, he enjoys it none the less. He loves being able to help people and researching what might work better for them. He is in Family Practice.

My docs are awesome. They listen to me and take into account what I think. I don't have insurance as we can't afford it yet. Being a first year resident we are above the medicaid line and yet still make too little to afford insurance for me. So I am on a sliding pay scale. I tend to see residents and med students. It takes longer sometimes, but I enjoy helping them in their training. My ob is awesome! He is at a different hospital, but I enjoy him too much to switch. He, too, listens to his patients.

As for the tonsils, many docs now a days don't like taking out tonsils. It isn't a routine surgery now. They have found that they are much better for your immune system if you can keep them in. They work their way up the antibiotic scale to make sure that you are getting the right doses as well as not using too high of an antibiotic so that the infections don't become resistant to the higher powered ones. If you want a smaller pill, ask for the brand name antibiotics, they are more likely to be smaller than the generic ones. Or you can always ask for the liquid versions of the antibiotics. And the whole b/c spiel and questions. Many docs are required to ask those questions and make those speeches by their insurance companies, especially in younger patients (ie 13-25). I am a monogamous, married woman, and I still get the sex/relationship questions and the "remember the safe sex practices" speeches. It is part of proper health care. STD's are just too rampant today. If your clinic isn't talking to you about that, I would be concerned!

@WonderGirlExtraordinaire@xanga - I have found now that it takes 7 times in a year to get your tonsils out.  I have just been through this same exact thing! Stinks, doesn't it?!?!?!  My doctor never listens to me either as I develop strep often and am not out partying either.  I have an allergic reaction to pencillin as well. haha we sound like we're in the same boat!!!

I feel my doctors don't listen to me the majority of the time.  I had so many cases of strep throat/tonsillitis that it got to the point that I became immune to amoxicillin.  As soon at the script ran out, the strep/ tonsillitis came back.  They prescribed something stronger, and I was finally able to kick it.  In the almost 10 years since then, each time I go, they prescribe amoxicillin, to which I explain that I'm pretty much immune to it, but they prescribe it anyway.  Then about two weeks later when the script runs out, they have to call in for something stronger for me to take.

There is one doctor at the group practice I go to that I vehemently refuse to see.  She irritated me to the point of tears the last time I saw her because her simple solution was to shove unnecessary medication at me and I refused to take it.  She yelled at me, threw the door open, and walked out of the room.  I will never go to her again.

I just recently called my Doctors office with the intent of asking a question and giving them time to get back to me with an answer.  The phone was answered by a damn computer.  I was assured that when I first decided to go to this doctor, she would limit the number of her patients and we could always get through in case of emergency.  Now I find she doesn't even read my file before or during my visits and Hippa code is constantly violated by the receptionist who yell out across the waiting room the reasons for my visit.  The sad part is it is the same no matter where you go.  The medical industry has lost its good name nation wide.  If you are the exception to this rule, God bless you but your comtemporaries are not doing you any favors.

My doctors never listen to me. They told me I was pregnant twice even though I'd told them I was a virgin. They then got me an ultrasound and discovered I wasn't pregnant and I had ovarian cysts. I told them I thought it was cysts the first time round. But obviously they'd decided I was an irresponsible teenage slut who'd gone and got herself pregnant... *sigh*