Re: Male or Female Doctors-Which do you prefer?

[Guest guest]

I have an older male rheumatologist who I love. I generally prefer female

doctors, but I really feel like I am getting great care from him. There aren't

many female rheumatologists to choose from where I live

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

I have had wonderful and lousy in both genders. I really think it is about

their character, not their gender.

Cheryle

--

" The path before all of us sometimes is strewn with shards of glass and this

world does not always provide strong, protective shoes. So as the poem

" Footprints " says, God will carry me, when I cannot carry myself. He loves me

enough to do that for me...I surrender this struggle and am crawling up into His

arms. " ~ Me, 1/14/2008

[Guest guest]

I HAVE A FEMALE DR & SHES THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO ME!!!!

MELYNDA<MAPGAMEZ@...>WROTE;

mercycove@... wrote: I have had wonderful and lousy in both

genders. I really think it is about their character, not their gender.

Cheryle

--

" The path before all of us sometimes is strewn with shards of glass and this

world does not always provide strong, protective shoes. So as the poem

" Footprints " says, God will carry me, when I cannot carry myself. He loves me

enough to do that for me...I surrender this struggle and am crawling up into His

arms. " ~ Me, 1/14/2008

[Guest guest]

I have had horrible doctors of both sexes but I have yet to have a female

doctor, to personally treat me, that I liked. I have found female doctors very

condescending and blunt, whereas the males tended to be more compassionate in

regards to my health care. If I can avoid it, I will not go to a female doctor.

However, my son's pediatrician is a lady and she is a lovely person and

doctor. My husband's surgeon was a female as well and had no problems with her.

Maybe as a patient, I just clash with females.

Shandi

~ Kami ~ <kamilleon@...> wrote:

Which do you prefer and why?

Is your rheumatologist a male or female? Do you feel there is a different level

of compassion from both sexes?

©x© Kami ©x©

[Guest guest]

Ihave had both for various things. I really do not care either way. I

look for personality, medical expertises and how well the doctor

listens and communicates. I would take a less qualified physican that

is an excellent listener and open to research and learn that a a

medical expert that is the hind end of donkey when it comes to

listening.

Toni

>

> Which do you prefer and why?

>

> Is your rheumatologist a male or female? Do you feel there is a

different level of compassion from both sexes?

>

>

> ©x© Kami ©x©

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

First, they MUST have gone to school in the USA, then I look at what schools

they went to, I look for any ratings or referrals and I prefer a male doctor. I

have a wonderful doctor that I've had for 8 years now, I'm very lucky and very

happy.

[ ] Male or Female Doctors-Which do you prefer?

Which do you prefer and why?

Is your rheumatologist a male or female? Do you feel there is a different

level of compassion from both sexes?

©x© Kami ©x©

[Guest guest]

I should have answered my own question! LOL

The majority of my doctors are male, simply by default. My GYN and dermatologist

are both females and I admire them tremendously. In fact, I am HEARTBROKEN I

have to switch GYN's because of insurance purposes! ANYWHO....

I have been seeing a rheumatologist since 2001 for Fibromyalgia. Male, older.

WONDERFUL bedside manner however, I feel that he is slowing down and missed the

ball on the diagnosis of RA at this time last year when I presented myself to

him with the same symptoms. (All hell broke loose with a case of scleritis in

November which led to further testing and the RA diagnosis). Basically after the

diagnosis he explained the meds, explained why I needed the meds, etc etc and

told me to come back in March. He also told me that he doubts I ever had

Fibromyalgia and that it probably just took this long for the RA to progress.

After much thought and discussion with my therapist, coupled with the fact that

my present rheumatologist is not on my insurance...... I decided that I needed a

clarification of diagnosis/2nd opinion. When I made this appointment, I chose a

doctor who was the exact opposite of my present doctor: younger female. I REALLY

like the way this practice is run and in fact, did like the doctor when I met

her however the problems I had this past week have me second guessing myself.

I met with my PCP on Thursday and talked to him about my preoccupation with

this..... He advised me to follow through with the followup I have scheduled

with the female doctor and THEN decide. She did run some bloodwork that revealed

the Vitamin D deficiency however my RA factor and Anti-CCP were both negative

and I feel that she is going to come back and tell me there is nothing wrong

with me even though I had a positive test with the other doctor. IgG positive RA

factor. I don't even care about what the bloodwork says... I want this pain to

be under control! I want my HANDS BACK! I want...I want... I WANT! :-) I'm sorry

to be rambling.... I need to find a hobby BESIDES RA!!!! hee hee

I know there is ALOT I need to learn about this disease HOWEVER... It is

seriously messing with my mind! The pain, the inability to use my hands at

times, the general UNPREDICTABILITY of it all just seriously SUCKS! I am only 38

years young and to have this much happen in such a short time..... I can't help

but compare the quality of care I received from both doctors..... I SHOULDN'T,

but I am.

Male doctor=not on my insurance Female doctor=on my insurance That is another

HUGE (as in $$) factor.........

©x© Kami ©x©

[Guest guest]

Kami,

Do you mean that the male doctors in the new group weren't on your plan but the

woman was? I thought insurance was mostly listed by group, not doctor, no? I'm

asking because this is my group and I would have suggested my doctor.

Re: [ ] Male or Female Doctors-Which do you prefer?

I should have answered my own question! LOL

The majority of my doctors are male, simply by default. My GYN and

dermatologist are both females and I admire them tremendously. In fact, I am

HEARTBROKEN I have to switch GYN's because of insurance purposes! ANYWHO....

I have been seeing a rheumatologist since 2001 for Fibromyalgia. Male, older.

WONDERFUL bedside manner however, I feel that he is slowing down and missed the

ball on the diagnosis of RA at this time last year when I presented myself to

him with the same symptoms. (All hell broke loose with a case of scleritis in

November which led to further testing and the RA diagnosis). Basically after the

diagnosis he explained the meds, explained why I needed the meds, etc etc and

told me to come back in March. He also told me that he doubts I ever had

Fibromyalgia and that it probably just took this long for the RA to progress.

After much thought and discussion with my therapist, coupled with the fact

that my present rheumatologist is not on my insurance...... I decided that I

needed a clarification of diagnosis/2nd opinion. When I made this appointment, I

chose a doctor who was the exact opposite of my present doctor: younger female.

I REALLY like the way this practice is run and in fact, did like the doctor when

I met her however the problems I had this past week have me second guessing

myself.

I met with my PCP on Thursday and talked to him about my preoccupation with

this..... He advised me to follow through with the followup I have scheduled

with the female doctor and THEN decide. She did run some bloodwork that revealed

the Vitamin D deficiency however my RA factor and Anti-CCP were both negative

and I feel that she is going to come back and tell me there is nothing wrong

with me even though I had a positive test with the other doctor. IgG positive RA

factor. I don't even care about what the bloodwork says.... I want this pain to

be under control! I want my HANDS BACK! I want...I want... I WANT! :-) I'm sorry

to be rambling.... I need to find a hobby BESIDES RA!!!! hee hee

I know there is ALOT I need to learn about this disease HOWEVER... It is

seriously messing with my mind! The pain, the inability to use my hands at

times, the general UNPREDICTABILITY of it all just seriously SUCKS! I am only 38

years young and to have this much happen in such a short time..... I can't help

but compare the quality of care I received from both doctors..... I SHOULDN'T,

but I am.

Male doctor=not on my insurance Female doctor=on my insurance That is another

HUGE (as in $$) factor.........

©x© Kami ©x©

[Guest guest]

,

No... All of the doctors in that practice are on my insurance. My ORIGINAL

doctor is not.

I wish I would have talked to you before I made this appointment. I created my

own misery I am afraid by looking for the opposite of what I had before!

©x© Kami ©x©

Re: [ ] Male or Female Doctors-Which do you prefer?

I should have answered my own question! LOL

The majority of my doctors are male, simply by default. My GYN and

dermatologist are both females and I admire them tremendously. In fact, I am

HEARTBROKEN I have to switch GYN's because of insurance purposes! ANYWHO....

I have been seeing a rheumatologist since 2001 for Fibromyalgia. Male, older.

WONDERFUL bedside manner however, I feel that he is slowing down and missed the

ball on the diagnosis of RA at this time last year when I presented myself to

him with the same symptoms. (All hell broke loose with a case of scleritis in

November which led to further testing and the RA diagnosis). Basically after the

diagnosis he explained the meds, explained why I needed the meds, etc etc and

told me to come back in March. He also told me that he doubts I ever had

Fibromyalgia and that it probably just took this long for the RA to progress.

After much thought and discussion with my therapist, coupled with the fact

that my present rheumatologist is not on my insurance...... I decided that I

needed a clarification of diagnosis/2nd opinion. When I made this appointment, I

chose a doctor who was the exact opposite of my present doctor: younger female.

I REALLY like the way this practice is run and in fact, did like the doctor when

I met her however the problems I had this past week have me second guessing

myself.

I met with my PCP on Thursday and talked to him about my preoccupation with

this..... He advised me to follow through with the followup I have scheduled

with the female doctor and THEN decide. She did run some bloodwork that revealed

the Vitamin D deficiency however my RA factor and Anti-CCP were both negative

and I feel that she is going to come back and tell me there is nothing wrong

with me even though I had a positive test with the other doctor. IgG positive RA

factor. I don't even care about what the bloodwork says.... I want this pain to

be under control! I want my HANDS BACK! I want...I want... I WANT! :-) I'm sorry

to be rambling.... I need to find a hobby BESIDES RA!!!! hee hee

I know there is ALOT I need to learn about this disease HOWEVER... It is

seriously messing with my mind! The pain, the inability to use my hands at

times, the general UNPREDICTABILITY of it all just seriously SUCKS! I am only 38

years young and to have this much happen in such a short time..... I can't help

but compare the quality of care I received from both doctors..... I SHOULDN'T,

but I am.

Male doctor=not on my insurance Female doctor=on my insurance That is another

HUGE (as in $$) factor.........

©x© Kami ©x©

[Guest guest]

I'm a little late chiming in on this trend, but I'm avoiding work, so here's my

$0.02

I started with a male rheum who later retired. He was very nice but

(mis)diagnosed me with ReA. I can sort of see why, my labs were in the high

range of normal, but I wish he had told me to follow up with a rheumatologist in

a year or so to see if they had turned toward a more definitative dx of RA.

Instead he sort of encouraged me to hide it from the Navy, and I never got dx

while on active duty which would have saved me *a lot* of later grief with the

VA.

In the past year, I started with a female rheum right out of fellowship. I

liked her as a person, but she was totally incoherent when it came to tx plan.

She was sort of a goober and told me things like she doubted I had RA, but she'd

run my antiCCP antibodies just in case. Then she kept forgetting to order it

and I had to get restuck a buch of times. When it came back high, she never sat

me down to give me the " You have RA " talk. I had to put 2 and 2 together on my

own.

Then I saw another senior guy close to retirement. He was terrific, but planned

on relocated to S. Virginia ( Melton, for any one who is in that area, he's

fab).

I went to Washington University and got to have the best of both worlds.

My fellow was a woman my age. My attendings were 3 senior guys who had been in

practice 20+ years. My fellow was (still is) accessible over email and the

attendings were very warm and positive, with lots of clinical experience that

gave me a lot of confidence and great bedside manners that got me through the

dark moments when you're convinced you can't handle having RA.

Once we moved to IL, I saw a female rheum who is recently out of fellowship and

I didn't stick with her b/c I was unimpressed with her exam, her communication

skills, and her experience managing pregnant women with RA. Plus they kept me

waiting a long time when I had to pee! I saw a different female rheum in town

and she's been in practice a lot longer, and she didn't try to pry my Enbrel out

of my hands b/c of the pregnancy.

Soooo . . . for me, it's a matter of warmth, clinical experience with pts that

match my variables, and comfort with biologics. Give me those features, and I

don't really care about gender.

Parenthetically, since I've been pregnant, I've kept GW abreast of my progress.

My first attending is now at NIH and I emailed him my ultrasound pictures last

week. He wrote back and said " what a beautiful baby you have! " GW was amazing

through my miscarriage last summer, and I feel so loved that they're excited

about the pregnancy.

I nearly didn't take this job in IL b/c I'm so attached to the GW gang. If

anyone is in the Washington DC area and needing another opinion, I really

recommend them.

Cheers to everyone and happy Mon!

Kate F

Re: [ ] Male or Female Doctors-Which do you prefer?

I should have answered my own question! LOL

The majority of my doctors are male, simply by default. My GYN and dermatologist

are both females and I admire them tremendously. In fact, I am HEARTBROKEN I

have to switch GYN's because of insurance purposes! ANYWHO....

I have been seeing a rheumatologist since 2001 for Fibromyalgia. Male, older.

WONDERFUL bedside manner however, I feel that he is slowing down and missed the

ball on the diagnosis of RA at this time last year when I presented myself to

him with the same symptoms. (All hell broke loose with a case of scleritis in

November which led to further testing and the RA diagnosis). Basically after the

diagnosis he explained the meds, explained why I needed the meds, etc etc and

told me to come back in March. He also told me that he doubts I ever had

Fibromyalgia and that it probably just took this long for the RA to progress.

After much thought and discussion with my therapist, coupled with the fact that

my present rheumatologist is not on my insurance... ... I decided that I needed

a clarification of diagnosis/2nd opinion. When I made this appointment, I chose

a doctor who was the exact opposite of my present doctor: younger female. I

REALLY like the way this practice is run and in fact, did like the doctor when I

met her however the problems I had this past week have me second guessing

myself.

I met with my PCP on Thursday and talked to him about my preoccupation with

this..... He advised me to follow through with the followup I have scheduled

with the female doctor and THEN decide. She did run some bloodwork that revealed

the Vitamin D deficiency however my RA factor and Anti-CCP were both negative

and I feel that she is going to come back and tell me there is nothing wrong

with me even though I had a positive test with the other doctor. IgG positive RA

factor. I don't even care about what the bloodwork says.... I want this pain to

be under control! I want my HANDS BACK! I want...I want... I WANT! :-) I'm sorry

to be rambling.... I need to find a hobby BESIDES RA!!!! hee hee

I know there is ALOT I need to learn about this disease HOWEVER... It is

seriously messing with my mind! The pain, the inability to use my hands at

times, the general UNPREDICTABILITY of it all just seriously SUCKS! I am only 38

years young and to have this much happen in such a short time..... I can't help

but compare the quality of care I received from both doctors..... I SHOULDN'T,

but I am.

Male doctor=not on my insurance Female doctor=on my insurance That is another

HUGE (as in $$) factor...... ...

©x© Kami ©x©

[Guest guest]

Kami,

I've been to three different Rheumatologists. The first one was female

and really didn't take a history or do blood work. SHe told me it was

all in my head. My second Rheumatologist was male and said I had

osteoarthitis, but couldn't explain why my RA factor was positive and

had high CRP and sed rates along with all the joint pain. He also told

me I needed to lose weight to the point of being dramtically

underweight. My third (current) Rheumatologist is male and I just love

him. He actually listened to me, makes me keep a journal, monitors my

blood, etc. He's the one who diagnosed the RA. It has been slow to

get to a point that I feel that the disease is under control, but I

think we're approaching it. Do you all think it would be strange if I

sent him a valentine? Not a mushy one, but one of appreciation? What

really has impressed me is that he is in a practise with another

Rheumatologist. After office hours, they discuss all the cases that

they have seen that day together. Together they determine the most

effective course of action for each patient. To me it's like having

two Docs instead of one. I feel that they care about me at that

office. It took some time to find the best fit, but hopefully this

team of folks will be able to work with me for a long time.

Meg in MO

> Which do you prefer and why?

>

> Is your rheumatologist a male or female? Do you feel there is a

different level of compassion from both sexes?

>

>

> ©x© Kami ©x©

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

>

> I should have answered my own question! LOL

>

> The majority of my doctors are male, simply by default. My GYN and

dermatologist are both females and I admire them tremendously. In

fact, I am HEARTBROKEN I have to switch GYN's because of insurance

purposes! ANYWHO....

>

> I have been seeing a rheumatologist since 2001 for Fibromyalgia.

Male, older. WONDERFUL bedside manner however, I feel that he is

slowing down and missed the ball on the diagnosis of RA at this time

last year when I presented myself to him with the same symptoms.

(All hell broke loose with a case of scleritis in November which led

to further testing and the RA diagnosis). Basically after the

diagnosis he explained the meds, explained why I needed the meds,

etc etc and told me to come back in March. He also told me that he

doubts I ever had Fibromyalgia and that it probably just took this

long for the RA to progress.

>

> After much thought and discussion with my therapist, coupled with

the fact that my present rheumatologist is not on my insurance......

I decided that I needed a clarification of diagnosis/2nd opinion.

When I made this appointment, I chose a doctor who was the exact

opposite of my present doctor: younger female. I REALLY like the way

this practice is run and in fact, did like the doctor when I met her

however the problems I had this past week have me second guessing

myself.

>

> I met with my PCP on Thursday and talked to him about my

preoccupation with this..... He advised me to follow through with

the followup I have scheduled with the female doctor and THEN

decide. She did run some bloodwork that revealed the Vitamin D

deficiency however my RA factor and Anti-CCP were both negative and

I feel that she is going to come back and tell me there is nothing

wrong with me even though I had a positive test with the other

doctor. IgG positive RA factor. I don't even care about what the

bloodwork says... I want this pain to be under control! I want my

HANDS BACK! I want...I want... I WANT! :-) I'm sorry to be

rambling.... I need to find a hobby BESIDES RA!!!! hee hee

>

> I know there is ALOT I need to learn about this disease HOWEVER...

It is seriously messing with my mind! The pain, the inability to use

my hands at times, the general UNPREDICTABILITY of it all just

seriously SUCKS! I am only 38 years young and to have this much

happen in such a short time..... I can't help but compare the

quality of care I received from both doctors..... I SHOULDN'T, but I

am.

>

> Male doctor=not on my insurance Female doctor=on my insurance

That is another HUGE (as in $$) factor.........

> KAMI I PERSONALLY PREFER FEMALESFOR CERTAIN THINGS & MALES FOR

OTHERS.MY RHUMMEY IS A FEMALE & SHE IS ONE OF THE BEST IN TEXAS!!MY

PCP IS A MALE & I WOULD NOT HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY,HES SOO AWESOME AS

WELL.HES ALWAYS CONCERNED ABOUT HIS PATIENTS & WHAT HE CAN DO FOR

THEM TO MAKE THEM BETTER!!!!!MELYNDA<MAPGAMEZ@...>WROTE:

>

>

> ©x© Kami ©x©

>

>

>