Micaela: Speaking with health professionals – Changing doctors
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Micaela
Female
Age at interview: 38
Number of medicines: 21
Cultural background: Anglo-Australian
Micaela found her specialist dismissive and unwilling to engage in discussion with her. She consequently changed to a new specialist.
My original gastroenterologist had retired and another doctor had taken over his clientele and she told me, ‘Look, you've got the pathology. All your blood tests suggest there is something wrong and you've obviously ... I believe you, that you've got this problem, but it's not your Crohn's, so therefore there's nothing I'm going to do about it.’ I just found her attitude quite disappointing and quite dismissive. While I know she specialised in that particular field, I think she could have perhaps suggested something to me or been a bit more open to the fact that Crohn's is not just about the episodes that you have.
So, the next time I had a flare-up and ended up in hospital, it just so happened that I was assigned a particular doctor and I asked him to continue treating me and, yeah, I just find him much more satisfactory. He's much more ... even though he's still quite frustrating, because he's another one who I have to drag ... I have to drag information out of him, but at least he's prepared to talk about it and just seems much more aware of the effect that Crohn's and the medication can have on you holistically, and much more prepared to discuss it with you, rather than just saying, ‘Trust me, I'm a doctor. I've got qualifications.’
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.