More old age warnings (a bit DS related)

[Spiky Bugger]

A few weeks back, while at the spine guru, I vented that med students going into his specialty need to be told that, with a geriatric patient especially, they may want to glance at the friggin’ records and see if maybe there is something going on in an area NOT involving the spine.

He invited me to present an in-service training. LOL

My uro is treating my UTI. And damn near killing me. With Augmentin. Which is rough on MANY people. Especially people with IBS-D to begin with. (The DS may he one of several contributing factors to the bowel issues. But, my sister has her own bowel issues and no DS, so genetics?)

So, thanks to Augmentin, I’ve had to draft my GI doctor into service, prescribing for the non-stop diarrhea, and talking me down from my concerns about c Diff...AND cancel the pre-op clearance exam for my cataract surgery, which means that needs to be rescheduled, and reschedule the ENT consult that was supposed to happen in June but didn’t because it took a while to get into imaging, so now it’s late August.

Next time, I want to see the C&S and pick my own abx.

If you are caring for old folks, you really need to be proactive. And, or so I’ve read, geriatricians are better than, say internists, at being PCP for an old person because they are trained to consider multiple conditions with conflicting treatments as almost routine in their patients. (I just haven’t gone that route because I’m afraid that some geriatricians may expect their patients to be more passive than I can even pretend to be.)

 

[hilary1617]

It would be helpful if doctors for patients of all ages would take a holistic approach!

 

[DianaCox]

I generally remind my doctors of the 30,000 foot overview of my conditions, starting with the DS, but pointing out that it is more likely to affect my absorption of meds they prescribe than with the cause of my latest complaint. And that I probably know more about the DS and nutrition than they do.

And then I pull the big guns by reminding them I'm an attorney - and they often are more willing to run some extra tests.