What To Do When The Doctor Is In…And Out

Posted: February 16th, 2010 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »

Yesterday afternoon, I had a conference call with my partners and in the beginning of our meeting, one of them relayed a story about a visit to his cardiologist, the day prior. He had phoned for an appointment, after he experienced blood pressure “spikes” for two weeks running, and needed some help, to deal with them. He was accompanied by his wife, who had been with him when some of these episodes took place.  

Just so you know, a “spike” is when blood pressure inexplicably shoots up, very quickly. My partner’s blood pressure would shoot up from normal to 185/110, and a few times, even higher. He has a blood pressure monitor at home, purchased on the recommendation of the cardiologist. He has also had the machine calibrated, meaning that he took his blood pressure with his machine, and then had it taken by the doctors office. The difference was only 2 points, which is not significant. In other words, if the machine said 132/81, the doctor’s office would read, 130/79.

When the spikes occurred, the machine was reading anywhere from 170/100…to one instance of 210/120, which is very high. My partner would then take medication, start deep rhythmic breathing, and wait for the spike to subside. Sometimes, this can take a couple of hours and it isn’t a pleasant occurrence, by any means. When your blood pressure gets that high, it is extremely difficult to concentrate on anything and even watching television is a difficult experience.

So after two weeks of this, he wanted help. He went to the cardiology office, where they did an EKG (standard procedure) and then, the nurse practicioner took all the preliminary information, including his blood pressure and medications. Then, in came the cardiologist, who had a solution… before listening to the problem. “It was normal” he said, “to walk up a flight of stairs and have your blood pressure go up. That’s how it works. And your medication, as prescribed, is fine.”

So what the cardiologist was saying was…that he was overreacting and there was no reason to worry and then, he was gone. The nurse practicioner had a horrified expression on her face, but she isn’t the doctor. So my partner called his primary physician, who graciously agreed to see him later in the afternoon.

At his primary physician’s office he repeated the drill, minus the EKG. She asked about the whole sequence of events, before the spike, during the spike, after the spike, what medications he took, and what else he did to relieve his elevated blood pressure. So, he told her everything he could remember: the medication dosages, what he took when the spike started and so on. Within minutes, she had it figured out. One of the medications prescribed by the cardiologist didn’t do what he said it did. And another needed to be taken at a different dosage level and time.

Without criticizing, or blaming the cardiologist, she made it abundantly clear that he didn’t know his medications as well as he should. In less than 36 hours, my partner can already feel a difference. My partner wants to fire his cardiologist (and I don’t blame him).

Many doctors have a bad habit, which is this: They just don’t listen. They have a number of rubber stamp solutions, that they think will work for everyone, which just ain’t true. Medicine and advice has to be individually calibrated. What’s good for the goose ain’t necessarily good for the gander. I take four fish oils tabs a day. You may need six, or even eight, or in rare cases, twelve. But generally, four is good. But you have to ascertain that by having a dialogue, with two people speaking and both listening, as well.

But certainly, when something is not normal (and a BP of 185/110 isn’t), you need to dig a little deeper than cheap platitudes. When you speak to your doctor, don’t be afraid to be quite candid and let them know, in no uncertain terms, that you feel you’re being slighted. If the attitude doesn’t change, change doctors (WHILE YOU CAN!).

And if you’re looking for something to keep you out of the cardiologist’s office in the first place, be sure and give my ultra pure pharmaceutical grade fish oil a try.

The Powerhouse Omega Formula is the best pharmaceutical grade fish oil on the market with an enteric coating, which eliminates the deadly “fish burp” of our competitors. I guarantee you’ll never be hawking up any swampwater with my formula. Customers don’t call it “the best fish oil they’ve ever taken” for nothing.

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