Doctor Issues - Unbiased Perspective Needed

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Hello All, I need to vent and I need an unbiased perspective on my family doctor issues. My hubby's perspective is a bit tainted. Here's the history (sorry in advance for the long post) I have had the same family dr. since 2000. Rarely went to see the guy most of my appts were for travel vaccinations/motion sickness medicine. In 2004, I had to have a bunch of tests for life insurance. When the results came back I was penalty rated for elevated GGT. The insurance agent told me that if I could get a test with the GGT in the normal range that I could get the penalty removed. I went to the family dr. and he repeated the labs a month later. GGT and alk phos were elevated. I called the insurance agent and he said that a clean ultrasound could maybe lower the insurance rate so back to the family dr. I go and I get a liver ultrasound. Dr. tells

me everything is normal and writes a letter to the life insurance agent stating so. I don't get the penalty removed and after 3 months of fighting about it I give up and pay the penalty thinking that the insurance agency is ripping me off. In 2005 I have RUQ pain, nausea and a fever. Family dr. thinks I have appendicitis and orders a CT scan. Family dr. says CT scan is normal and that I don't have appendicitis. Gives me some antibiotics and sends me on my way. In 2006 I jaundiced. Dermatologist noticed it and told me to go to the family dr. Family dr. takes over a week to get me into the office for an appt. He then has me get labs done every week for the three weeks. A month later I am back at the dermatologist and he's freaking out I'm still walking around, losing weight and am even more yellow than before. Dermatologist calls gastro

and sends me there.....ERCP, long hospital stay and PSC eventually follows. Three weeks ago I went to a 6 month follow-up with family dr. that he scheduled because he wants to monitor me. Hubby is fired up that I have some little medical issues that I ignore and makes me sit down with him and make a list of questions. I take my trusty list and go to the appt. Nurse sees the list and takes it from me. Says that I have a 15 minute appt and that 6 questions are too many and tells me I only get 2 questions and she picks them. I'm steaming but I'm feeling kind of crappy so I just don't argue. Family dr. comes in and answers the 2 questions the nurse chose. I try to ask the others and get ignored. Never takes my temp or examines me. Sends me out the door with a bill marked with a diagnosis code of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis, close but not quite PSC. Now I'm

really ticked and I still feel weird. I get to work and have a fever. At first I figured that I was so mad at the family dr. that my blood was boiling. Unfortunatley that wasn't the case. I was having a cholangitis issue and I end up at the gastro and it took a couple weeks worth of antibiotics to knock it out. Last week as I'm feeling better I call the family dr. and ask for a copy of my chart. I think I want to change dr's but since current dr. is writing the wrong illnesses in my chart I want to edit it before I give it to a new person. I pick up the chart on Friday and sit down on Monday to look at it. Turns out my 2004 ultrasound is not normal. It says abnormality of common bile duct requiring further investigation. My 2005 CT scan says multiple areas of stricture and dilatation throughout the intrahepatic biliary system. I also have a copy of

all my labs and at a minimum my alk phos and GGT are elevated every time he checked them from 2004 to now. To top it off, he never told my gastro about any of this not even during the weeks I was hospitalized. I know that it can be hard to diagnosis PSC but come on. Couldn't he have put two and two together with the labs, CT and ultrasound and at a minimum sent me to the gastro. I feel like he just ignored things and repeatedly told me everything was fine. The worst part is that I believed him and ignored how I felt. I don't trust myself when I don't feel well because I come from a long line of hypochondriacs. I'm always afraid to push an issue for fear that I'm just being nutty like the rest of my family especially since most psychosomatic illnesses center around the abdomen. I'm even angrier that he had this info in my file

when I jaundiced and still basically ignored me. I know that hindsight is always 20/20 and I'm looking back with all the details filled in but I'm incredibly ticked. (I am making an effort not to swear) Am I being unreasonable? Am I expecting more than what I should from a dr? Is this kind of experience typical when trying to get a PSC diagnosis? Am I right to feel like the dr. ignored me and to not trust him anymore or am I just being irrational? I'm thinking that I really need a new family doctor. Plus, a handful of my labs in the last 4 years seem weird to me. How in the heck can I have elevated platelet counts and a low mean platelet volume, high white blood cell counts and low red blood cell counts. I know I'm not a dr. and these could be completely normal for someone with PSC. I guess I'm just concerned that my family dr. may have ignored

something else. Either that or my genetic predisposition to being a hypochondriac is now in full swing. I don't know. Thanks for letting me vent. Is this the kind of experience other people have had with their family dr? Darcy