I'd rather see Dr. Pepper*

I went to the dermatologist today for the skin cancer scan. While I was there, I asked her about this wonky spot I have on my arm from what had been a weirdo flesh eating virus and is now just a spot that looks like eczema, which I have never had in my life.

She did a cursory glance and then gave me a prescription for a cream. I tried to ask her questions, which she blew off. Then she left, never giving me an opportunity to pose any questions or explaining to me what she saw. Looking over my form, I see that she diagnosed me with a chronic dermatitis. Really? No mention of this. I don't have a chronic dermatitis. The cream is for eczema, which again, I do not have.

Grr. This is a big problem in my opinion. I feel like doctors rush in and rush out without ever spending any time with the patient, leaving the patient unsure and confused about their actual diagnosis and what they can do about it. This doctor had no interest in what I had to say. She came into the room with her preconceptions, and worked from those rather than what was being presented before her.

It's hard to say what a patient can do. A doctor rushes in and out so quickly, it feels like an imposition to ask questions. I have also found that a doctor is often dismissive of a patient's ideas. Look, I get that it may be irritating to a trained professional when a person who has webmd'd their symptoms attempts to diagnose themselves, but a person knows their own body and if they care enough about their own health to try to figure out their problems on their own and then go and seek actual professional help, the least that "professional" could do is listen.


*and I dislike Dr. Pepper. I am a ginger ale girl all the way! Yay!