Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Jul
7
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“You Just Sound Pregnant To Me.”
“You just sound pregnant to me.” – OB to a mother who was sharing how poorly she had been feeling at 37 weeks. She was later diagnosed with HELLP and severe pre-eclampsia.
There are 19 comments to this post.
Now granted.. I love to whine just as much as any other pregnant woman might like to..
But if I go to the doctor and I’m complaining to THEM, there’s something wrong.
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CCindy Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 4:37 pm (Quote)
Unfortunately, not every woman is like you and I. Plenty of them go in and whine. And some of them even demand to be induced because their mothers are in town. I wish everybody could suck it up in front of the doctor and whine to their sister. It would make overall care for the rest of us better.
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Cmat Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 5:10 pm (Quote)
Very true. My bff was usually my sounding board for whining and I’m very lucky she dealt with me lol.
I could tell with one of the CNP’s that I had in the early part of my pregnancy that they hear a lot of whining. I ended up in the ER for really bad back pain (like couldn’t lay/sit/stand in any remote comfort) and they told me to check in with my doctor asap after finding out at least the baby was doing well, though they didn’t know what was going on with me. My doc’s only solution was handing me a pamphlet of back exercises I’d been doing for months already. Pissed.Me.Off. to no end. Not that I wanted pills, but those exercises were not doing anything and she wouldn’t answer if a certain pillow, position, food, stretch, massage or if a chiropractor would help. She stuck by that darn pamphlet like it was her life line. Stupid pamphlet. It only had two exercises in it anyway.
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Jane Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 6:26 pm (Quote)
It probably WAS her lifeline. Obstetricians are surgeons. They’re not up on back muscles, even if it’s a common complaint of pregnant women. Think about it: all pregnant women eat, and yet they don’t know much about nutrition, either.
What the doctor should have said was “All my knowledge comes from this pamphlet. If you want answers to more difficult questions, I need to refer you to a chiropractor.”
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cheeks023 Reply:
July 8th, 2010 at 2:35 pm (Quote)
That would be the day a doctor of medicine referred a patient to a doctor of chiropractics!!!
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Jane Reply:
July 8th, 2010 at 2:39 pm (Quote)
I’ve seen it happen several times. Or to a physical therapist if they can’t stomach chiropractics. But yes, family members of mine have had chiropractic referrals from their PCPs.
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Elizabeth Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 6:59 am (Quote)
My PCM (an ex-military doctor) was going to refer me to a chiropractor for my back until I told them my insurance wouldn’t cover it. She’s an awesome doctor though and I wish she still ‘delivered’ babies. I’d beg and plead if there was even a remote chance…
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 5:56 pm (Quote)
The cynic in me is tempted to say, “And they’re the ones who tell US to shut up about our miserable hospital births and unwanted interventions that were forced or finagled on us, telling us that we are too selfish and nothing matters except a healthy (i.e. living) baby.”
Bitching and whining is usually the last-resort call for attention. If these women are looking for it from their doctors, and doing so in an increasingly demanding, bitchy, and whiny way, they must not be getting enough nurturing at home. Maybe their partners aren’t all that interested, or are afraid to get involved, or aren’t supportive. Or maybe they learned the whiny, demanding act from their mothers, who are now whining and demanding to dictate the baby’s due date, who will be in the hospital room and when, who will take care of the baby and how…
Just a theory. My, what dysfunctional lives they must lead, if that’s the case. And it will be passed on to the next generation, too.
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Oh my goodness! That happened to me too…except I was pretty anemic, even after they shoved iron pills at me. They told me I was worrying too much about not absorbing it enough. “It’s just normal pregnancy tiredness.” I didn’t know that being so exhausted that you need to stay with family and have them take care of you was normal.
Anyway, hugs. Sorry you went through that!
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I didn’t get a chance to add more here. This was my submission. The OB in question was filling in for my regular doctor who was on vacation. Before our apartment, my husband and I heard him berating the nurse outside our door. We both looked at each other and said “I hope he’s not who we were seeing.” Sure enough, it was.
The night before I had had my worst night of my pregnancy. I felt nauseous. My whole body ached. I couldn’t sleep. I was near tears with how much pain I was in. I likened it to feeling like I was getting the flu but not getting it (this was late July).
I went in for my 37 week appointment in the morning hoping for some answers. I have a high pain tolerance. I am not one to complain. So for me to be feeling this way and to say something, I knew something was wrong.
After I told the doctor all my symptoms, that was his response: “you just sound pregnant to me.” My husband and I looked at each other and I could tell we were both thinking that same thing. I know my husband wanted to deck him. So I again just repeated how awful I felt, that my entire body ached. My jaw was in such pain and I had a constant headache. His only suggestion was to rest.
So on doctor’s orders I went home and rested. The next day I was feeling better so I did some work. By that night I was in labor and delivery diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia and HELLP Syndrome. My son was born via emergency c-section as quickly as possible. Fortunately, the doctor on call was wonderful. If I had seen that doctor again I think I might have cried. I am convinced that I was feeling the symptoms at that appointment.
The whole experience was a huge learning lesson to me to follow my instincts. I knew that something was wrong. I knew what I was feeling wasn’t normal pregnancy symptoms. But I didn’t see them as being classic pre-eclampsia symptoms. In retrospect, I think they were classic HELLP symptoms.
Anyway, that’s my story. I still cringe when I think of that appointment and that doctor.
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Jane Reply:
July 8th, 2010 at 4:29 am (Quote)
Since it’s only been eleven months, I would suggest you follow up. Get copies of your records from that visit. Get copies of the records from L&D the next day. Send those to the state licensing board and the head of L&D at the hospital AND send a copy of your complaint to your obstetrician.
The regular doctor needs to know what a moron is covering for him. When he puts his patients into the care of a covering doctor, he is effectively vouching for the competency of that doctor. If he continues using this individual as backup, then you know that your doctor’s own competency is suspect.
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Sorry about the typos. I realize that apartment should be appointment. I was trying to type fast with an 11 month old in my other hand.
Thank you to the person asking if everything was ok. Luckily my son was fine throughout all of what went down. I was the sick one. My BP was very high and I had blood clotting issues that required the general anesthesia c-section. I felt very safe in the hands of the doctors I had. My blood pressure regulated after being put on Labetalol and I only had to take medication for 6 weeks post-partum. It could have been much worse and I am thankful I went into labor and delivery when I did. I also do feel stupid for not going in sooner. Like I said, I will always trust my instincts from here on out. It’s just hard when you have a doctor saying that it’s normal. With my son being my first pregnancy I didn’t have much to compare it to.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch had this to say,
Jul 7, 2010 @ 5:50 pm (Quote)
It’s so ironic. Obstetricians are trained to deal with emergencies and complications. They’re paranoid about them, base all prenatal care and birth procedures on the assumption that nothing is normal until proven otherwise in retrospect, and intervene like mad because of that philosophy.
And yet, when a “patient” presents herself with a serious emergency, the very sort of emergency they are trained to spot and look for at each visit, they pat her on the hand and ignore all the danger signs.
Bass-ackward.
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Scary! What gets my goat is how in my experiences, doctors and nurses act like I cannot possibly determine if pre-e is rearing its head (like there AREN’T a laundry list of symptoms lol). They have hovered, constantly asking if my head hurt, or how my vision was, or if I was swollen. *sigh* And then the times something WAS wrong, they inevitably became dismissive of my mental capacity again, as if no one else could possibly diagnose a problem.
I hope the OP’s situation turned out ok. 
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What’s insane about this is it would only take one look at the OP’s chart to know something was wrong. A quick glance would show that her blood pressure HAD to have been elevated and there HAD to be protein in her urine for her to be diagnosed with pre-e and HELLP the next day. Obviously this doctor didn’t even do that. Just walked into the room, utterly unprepared. They do that ALL THE TIME.
I agree with the poster that said to follow up on this, OP. There is no excuse for this not to have been caught the day before.
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Add Your Comment.
Meany. And incompetent. EMTs learn about empathetic and reflective listening. Are docs too big, too mean, or just too dumb to learn that?
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Jane Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 4:23 pm Jane(Quote)
It’s called “compassion fatigue.” They get tired of being empathetic and really listening. After a while, every woman sounds “just pregnant” to them. I imagine that’s the state before burnout.
Also, at seven minutes per visit, they don’t have time to investigate every symptom, so it’s easier for the doctor to minimize it. I hope this mom had a good outcome despite her doctor’s “care”.
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