Nov 4

“…You are Vomiting, Bloated & Have Diarrhea. Sounds Like You’re Pregnant.”

“Well, Jane Doe, you are vomiting, bloated, and have diarrhea. Sounds like you’re pregnant!” – OB to 10.5 week pregnant mother who made these complaints concerned that something was wrong. The mother had appendicitis.

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There are 18 comments to this post.

Joanna had this to say, Nov 4, 2012 @ 3:36 pm (Quote)

Oh for love of the gods…. I do hope someone competent picked this up before it turned into a life threatening situation!

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Joanna Reply:
November 4th, 2012 at 3:37 pm Joanna(Quote)

And why the hell was she referred to as ‘Jane Doe’?!?! That is realllly creepy!

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Dreamy Reply:
November 4th, 2012 at 3:52 pm Dreamy(Quote)

I’m guessing the OP herself just changed her name in the story for privacy purposes.

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Ash had this to say, Nov 4, 2012 @ 3:38 pm (Quote)

WHEN will doctors learn to trust human instinct?

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SpaceElephant had this to say, Nov 4, 2012 @ 3:51 pm (Quote)

This is me! Here’s the full convo:

(I describe my symptoms to the nurse on call and sit on hold for about 5 minutes)
Doctor: “Well, Nicole, you are vomiting, bloated, and have diarrhea. Sounds like you’re pregnant!” (har har)
Me: “No no no this is much worse than any of the last 10 weeks have been. This is BAD. There’s something wrong. I haven’t been able to keep any liquids down in 8 hours and am worried about the baby. And the bloating in my abdomen is really painful.”
Dr: “The baby is a parasite. It’ll take what it needs from you. Don’t worry about the baby. Have you tried a popsicle?”
Me: “What?”
Dr: “You need a popsicle. Since it has to melt you’ll be able to keep it down.”
Me: “I don’t think a popsicle will work. At what point do I need to go to the hospital and get IV fluids? I can barely stand up right now. And I don’t think this bloating pain in my abdomen is going to be fixed by a popsicle. It’s really bad.”
Dr: “We don’t need to talk about the hospital yet. I gave you a suggestion and you haven’t taken it yet. You need a popsicle.”
Me: (summoning all my patience) “Okay, I will try a popsicle. But since it is the end of the day and your office will close soon, can I ask, theoretically, if the popsicle doesn’t work and I wind up unable to keep it down, how long should I wait before going to the hospital?”
Dr: “Two to four hours. But the popsicle will work.”

We were in the car on the way to the hospital within an hour.

I am not faulting him for not realizing that I had appendicitis. I didn’t have the main appendicitis symptom yet, it looked for all intents and purposes like a stomach bug. But the fact that he continually disregarded my insistence that something was really wrong was really disheartening. I wish I could capture the tone of his voice in this post because it was the most condescending, patronizing I think I’ve ever been spoken to by a man.

And a link to the big 3-part story on my blog: http://grapesodakitchen.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/the-appendicitis-story-part-1/

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Jane Reply:
November 4th, 2012 at 4:04 pm Jane(Quote)

Did the doctor ever acknowledge that he’d blown you off and potentially missed a life-threatening situation?

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SpaceElephant Reply:
November 4th, 2012 at 4:07 pm SpaceElephant(Quote)

Nope, that practice is a total baby mill, I never saw/talked to the same OB twice, and I switched to a midwife practice after this incident.

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Amanda Reply:
November 4th, 2012 at 4:05 pm Amanda(Quote)

I’m so glad you listened to your gut…literally

It sure would be nice to have a magic appendicitis-healing Popsicle, though!

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Nica had this to say, Nov 4, 2012 @ 6:14 pm (Quote)

I swear, do these “professionals” ever really listen to themselves speak and realize how idiotic they are? Ever?

I’d love to get my hands on the popsicle that cures nausea, diarrhea and bloating. I’d be a billionaire…

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gaevren had this to say, Nov 4, 2012 @ 7:32 pm (Quote)

When my husband had appendicitis he was in total denial about it and I had to force him to the ER. His appendix had begun to rupture already. He was in such an incredible amount of pain, I can’t even imagine being blown off by a healthcare professional when in so much pain.

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Stacie had this to say, Nov 5, 2012 @ 3:01 pm (Quote)

Ugh what is with drs and insisting it’s anything but appendicitis? When I had mine out, the Dr on call mis diagnosed it as a uti without a urine sample and after my mom asked if it could be my appendix. He said no way because it didn’t hurt enough when he poked me. A day and a half later and a million incompetent hospital employees later I was being whisked in for emergency surgery because it had ruptured. When will drs learn to trust their patients?

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Ellen Reply:
November 10th, 2012 at 9:30 am Ellen(Quote)

I actually had my appendix removed by mistake, because the doctors were convinced my symptoms were appendicitis — though it turned out to be an ovarian cyst.

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Jane Reply:
November 10th, 2012 at 10:17 am Jane(Quote)

So then you woke up from surgery and had to recover from their removal of a perfeclty healthy appendix…and deal with the pain from the ovarian cyst? Ouch.