Docter advice needed ?

I dont know if anyone here can help or not , so I,ll keep it as short as I can . My Wife had what they think might have been a mild heart attack at work a few months back at work . They ran all kinds of tests & said it was stress & high blood preasure related ( Her job ) & there didn,t appear to be any perminent damage .

They put her on Norvasc 5 mg BP medicine & said to check back in a few months for more blood sceening . That happened last week had more blood tests done but never even seen her docter .

He called & said Her Colesteral 243 & Trigricilac 321 were 271 when the problem first occured ( SP , sorry ) were still to high . She has changed her diet , lost 20 pounds or so , cut out anything with sugar & slowed down on the smoking & drinking beer ( She aint going to quit either one ) .

She told the doc that in the last few weeks She has bruises all over from working in the garden & even a skeeter bite makes bigger welts & bruises then ever before . ( He said thats not good ) But without even wanting to look at her he gave her a prescription for Zoloc / Trigriculac 40 mg ( SP ) .

She did some reasearch & find the side effects for that may be worse then the problem & it really concerns her as well as myself . She,s only had this or any docter for the last 2 years or so as She much like me dont beleive in docters & has allways been perty healthy .

Normally I would ask my sister thats been an rn her whole life for advice but I lost her 2 weeks back from a long time illness . So I dont know who else to ask . I dont do docters myself & refuse to . My advice to her was to change docs because it pisses me off He would make a change in scripts without even looking at her in person . She has insurance from work but very few choices for docters in our area .

Any advice would be very appreciated as I told her I,d post this on this forum as there seems to be some people here with experience of this type . Thanks Bob

PG or Mak would be good for answers. I'd definitely start looking for another doctor.

Go back to the Doctor and voice your concerns strongly and politely. If you aren't happy with their recommendation then get a second opinion from a Doctor not affiliated with your current Doctor.

It took me 4 years to find BP drugs that worked well for me without bad side effects. You just have to keep trying new things. There are tons of options out there and everyone responds differently.

Sounds similar to my wife's first symptoms with the bruising and bites getting infected. This went on about year then she had a mild stroke and almost a year to the day later a mild heart attack. Luckily this time the attending doctor at the ER is married to a thyroid doctor and did a blood test checking for it. It turned out to be her thyroid which has now been stabilized with a dose of nuclear iodine and 1 pill a day.

She is now on two types of blood pressure medicine as well and being taken off the coumadin though very slowly. It all started the bruising which is part of thyroid problems for many. She is now doing fine though hates taking her pills it beats the alternatives and luckily she doesn't drink or smoke. You might have them check her thyroid which is done through a blood test. It is very common especially in women and can cause a lot of problems when it gets out of sink.

Find another Cardiologist. I went thru this same type of thing in 2007 following emergency open heart surgery. When I lost all confidence in my Dr. I changed to the cardiologist I now see and couldn't recieve better care. If I had stayed with the origional, I would have been dead by now.

Has the Dr. sat down with her and viewed the echo cardiogram, explaining what she's seeing? If not, run. Run, don't walk to another Dr.

If you have any questions I can help you with, feel free to use the email address in my profile.

Thanks for the replys & advice guys much appreciated . She just got home from work & we talked a bit & I was wrong . He,s not trying to replace the bp meds with the other but wanting her to take both of them . She hasn,t yet because of what we have found out ( side effects )about the Zocor .

She,s also not sure when she can actually see or talk in person to the docter again , As I said its not a long time family docter he has no real history with her because she hasn,t been to a doc or needed to for 20 years or better & she has only been to see him on a very few occasions , Most times He sends her to an outside location for an mri or bloodwork & its not done at his office .

I know our situation problly dont make much sence to most , but I,m kind of at a loss as what to do . My faith in docters & hospitals has been lost for years due to all those close to me I,ve lost from this same type of un personal treatment & mis diagnosed or heres a prescription type crap , not even knowing what the effects might be .

Anyway , not trying to give to much information , but due to me being the way I am , I,m very concerned as She is the only one in this world that matters to me & I hope thats not takin wrong , I have a hard time even posting this . Thanks again to all . Bob

I think a second opinion is defintly in order. He might be doing everything right but he is certainly not instilling confidence in your wife. Sometimes it is as important to have confidence in the people who provide your care as the care itself. Sorry to hear aobut your sister.

mak2 said:

I think a second opinion is defintly in order. He might be doing everything right but he is certainly not instilling confidence in your wife. Sometimes it is as important to have confidence in the people who provide your care as the care itself. Sorry to hear aobut your sister.

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Thanks Mak much apreciated , I was hoping you would have some input . Do you have any idea of wether the zocor would be safe to at least try for her ?

All I know is from the internet & I dont know if this doc has even checked for any other issues such as diabetic or not , Her Dad which we also lost in the last few years was what they said borderline diabetic , Ended up with lung cancer . After surgery , chemo & radiation treatments for damn near a year . They said they got it all , within a month he had passed on , which was 2 years ago , but thats another reason for my mistrust . Thanks again to all .

I dont know, zocor can effect the liver and I think they do a follow up liver panel three months out, to be sure it doesnt hurt her liver. He would know her blood sugar levels from the labs, he might or might not have drawn an A1C, you know, I dont think I see anything you describe about her care to be too far out of line, but neither of you trust him. Find a doctor you do trust, even a good nurse practioner that will take the time to explain stuff to you. I think with all the other stuff going on around you, your wife needs a doctor that she trusts.

Bob, I certainly understand your mis-trust in doctors. However, they can do some good if you find a good one. As others have said - get a second opinion. I'm pretty much like you, I don't believe in them, but twice - when I really was sick they did make me well. You wife just needs the right combination of prescriptions, and she should be as fit as a fiddle.

My wife & I just wanted to thank you all for the advice & concern . It perty much confirms both of our concerns . She will try to get ahold of the docter tommorow & also check & see if theres another docter thats fairlly close that can give her another opinion . She,s doing fine , just really worryed , which makes me worry even more .

Either I or herself will keep you updated , She types & spells a lot better then I do . But I just had her read the replys & I cant thank Ya,ll enough .

Go back and see her doctor again and tell him exactly why you feel uncomfortable about some of this.
Then if you still don't feel comfortable, I'd get a second opinion for sure.
I cannot believe the doctor prescribed Zocor without seeing her, but that's what they do sometimes.
Every drug has possible side effects, you may want to mention that too.
I wish her good health, and don't worry.. you'll get this all sorted out.

Any advice from a nurse must be taken with a few grains of salt! We know they are good at dispensing advice and meds but they FAIL at following it for themselves!

muleman said:

Any advice from a nurse must be taken with a few grains of salt! We know they are good at dispensing advice and meds but they FAIL at following it for themselves!

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Hush you!

pirate_girl said:

Go back and see her doctor again and tell him exactly why you feel uncomfortable about some of this.
Then if you still don't feel comfortable, I'd get a second opinion for sure.
I cannot believe the doctor prescribed Zocor without seeing her, but that's what they do sometimes.
Every drug has possible side effects, you may want to mention that too.
I wish her good health, and don't worry.. you'll get this all sorted out.

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Thanks PG , She,s going to try today again , She has a hard enough time just getting to talk to him on the phone . I told her not to take any untill She knows more .

does she take any vitamins?
B-complex & C (orange juice) can help with the bruising.
OTOH, talk to the doc in person is a good thing, too.

Cowboy, I have no advice to offer except that your obvious concern for your wife's health defines you as a good person. All I can do is pray for you both ... and I will.

Well as ussual the doc was unavailable today , I thought it was to windy to play golf today but evidentlly not . . She,ll try again today .

I,m not sure on the vitamins Erik , I do know she,s been keeping all kinds of juices & other types of healthy stuff around , not sure what it is though as I only get in the fridge to get my beer .

Thankyou Frank much appreciated

Cowboy, all the side effect that are possible with any drug do not happen to most folks. Some will have the reaction though so they have to list the possibility. Zocor has done a lot of good for lots of folks .... without the side effects. As long as your wife has the blood screening at the recommended intervals I would see no issue with taking it.
Her elevated levels could cause her more damage than the zocor. I hope she'll end up giving it a chance to work for her, and understand she does want to see the doctor for more details on the subject (I would do the same).
Sometimes the internet can hurt us with to much information that is applicable to a few people but will not affect the majority of us. Best wishes for your wife to get it all under control.

I have several friends and classmates who are physicians. Heck, I think Bob S and I are a couple of the few from our undergrad school who aren't physicians or attorneys. Naturally I expect Bob also is friends with several physicians.

I mention this because some of the brightest physicians have the highest demand on their time. The smartest person I've ever known was this guy in my fraternity who had the personality of a brick. He graduated first in his class in under grad, first in his class at Harvard and then was tops in his specialty at Johns Hopkins. Basically, he is sort of a real life House (the TV show guy - really smart but has a character flaw).

Just because your wife's physician prescribed a particular drug based off of lab results and your/her described reaction doesn't mean he didn't put proper reasoning into what he prescribed. I know 7 local physicians who went to school where I did. Only one has any personality. The others clearly missed the bedside manner class.

However, as the others have mentioned, it's never wrong to get a 2nd opinion or question your physician. Although I intended to be a physician when I went to college, I changed paths; partly due to my misconception that every physician was going to be off the charts smart like that one guy. Anyway, I am never shy about questioning a physician. If they give me an answer that sounds like "I'm the doctor and you're not", I quickly dismiss them. After all, when you're paying the bill, they work for you. If they can't discuss something with me to my satisfaction, they can piss off and I'll give them a little more time for their other patients as I go somewhere else.

Basically, don't be afraid to ask or even question. However, I wouldn't just assume the physician is wrong because they didn't need to see her again. I'm sure you know, you're generally right when you follow your gut feeling. Good luck to you and hope your wife gets well.

Thanks Doc & Dargo for the advice & concerns , Much apreciated & duly noted . Granted the internet can cause uneeded concerns as far as myself because thats the only way I have to find things out .

My wifes in a better position as she knows & talks to a lot of people & most told her from personal experiences thats not a drug to take lightlly & with Her & mine research I,ve found it to be true . Percentages dont mean crap to me as far as side effects , because with our luck we allways seem to fall in the 1 % or less catagory .

I dont even know how true it is , but My understanding is permenent kidney or liver problems are posable side effects . Something that We beleive the doc should have at least mentioned .

She finally got to talk to him & he said dont worry , if it doesn,t help or causes problems I,ll change the Script . Her reply was Bullshit , I want the results from the last few bloodtests & to see you in person or I,ll contact someone that does care about my well being . Yes we were made for each other .

At any rate , She has an appointment with him at 10 am in the morning & is making a list of what all to ask him . If He plays the Smartass attitude card like you said is posablle Dargo , she is more then prepared to say what she thinks & move onto a second docter with the test results in hand .

Thanks to all , including Lia & I want to include thanks to ( Working Women ) I beleive She posted a thread I read in here somewhere that listed questions to ask your docter about test results , a very helpfull post . So I will post how it went as soon as I know

I thought I,d update this , my wife just got back from a nice long visit with the docter & he addressed everyone of her concerns . Gave her the full results of all the tests & said she is in perfect health other then the high BP & said the reason is beacause of the high levels cholestrol & tri whatever .

He also asked her more about her diet & routine & habits & she told him the truth , Which surprised even me . Bottom line they made a bet , He said dont take the medication yet , cut her beer drinking in half at least when she gets home from work & on days off & He,d bet her that in 30 days the tests will show much better results . Other then telling her to quit , He said that fewer beers over a longer period problly are not bad to releive stress just needs to be done in moderation so the liver doesn,t overwork itself . Which also surprised me .

So thats the plan I recon . Much better outcome then I even hoped for . I also agreed to cut back on mine as well to be fair . Thanks again to all

Awesome report! Glad it went well!

I always appreciate a doc that will hold off on pill pushing.
Glad to hear they had a good honest talk.

Thanks rback33 & Erik . Thought I better update , Just got the results back from the 30 day bloodwork & both are worse then before by quite a bit . Without her taking the zocor , So the doc insisted she starts taking it or quit drinking beer completely , but he doubted that alone would help without taking the zocor .

So I guess we,ll see what happens in 30 days & hopefully she wont have any of the bad side effects . Good thing is Her blood preasures normal finally & she feels great as long as she can have her beer in the evenings . Without it she can be plum mean & she carrys .

Thanks to all again for concerns & advice .

I wish her the best of luck. Take that from someone who has over the last 20 years tried about all of the statin, cholesterol reducing drugs and just about everything else, all with really bad side effects. But don't give up on them. We finally found a drug, or rather 2 drugs, that didn't give me the really bad muscle pains and spasms. So, sometimes you just have to keep at it. When they work, they can work really, really well. Take that from someone who, less than a month ago, had his total cholesterol checked out at 134. That's a long, long way from the 240 plus that it always ran at.

Best of luck mate. Tell the wife that I'm pulling for her.

Thanks Frank & will do . Thats the reason we both have been worryed about Her taking this new drug because of all of the comments we,ve read about the muscle pains & such .

But she,s goiog to give it a shot , at least she is aware of what it might cause in case it may not be the right med for her . She,s quite a bit younger then myself so it may not have that bad of side effects hopefully .

Lates update . Wife had her bloodwork done thursday again & after watching her diet & taking the new Meds the Doc called her yesterday & congradulated her on the outcome . Her Cholesteral is down to 171 & Triglicirates are down from 500 to 177 , He said they aint perfect but hopefully next time they will be .

So far the only side effects from the new Meds are some legpain & back pain & he said if they persist he will change the meds again . Needless to say We are both perty happy , Hell I even got my BP down to within 50 points of being normal for the first time in years

Congrats to both of you for your better results. Let's hope it continues to get better.

Congats to you both. Those are great numbers and in a relatively short time too!!!!

Tell her to keep monitoring the side effects. They can build up and worsen with time or they did with me. But now that you know that the statins work well, it'll just be a case of finding the right one or combination that won't give her any problems. If the triglycerides continue to be a problem, as they were for me, ask your doctor about Niaspan (it's fairly expensive) or maybe even some over the counter niacin. Worked for me.