Guest guest Posted February 24, 2003 Report Share Posted February 24, 2003 Cheryl, This is off the subject of pancreatitis, but it just amazes me how often even those in the medical field (including doctors) know so little about various illnesses. At least my pcp is the type doctor who admits it when he doesn't know. The ones who are dangerous are the ones who are not even bright enough to know they don't know or not willing to admit that they don't know. I was diagnosed with Autoimmune Hepatitis (AIH) on Jan 6th. You would not believe how many doctors and nurses think AIH is Hepatitis C. NOT! The only connection is the word hepatitis which simply means inflammation of the liver! My husband and I now simply tell people I have autoimmune liver disease so as to avoid confusion. Autoimmune Hepatitis is an AUTOIMMUNE system disorder - thus the name! It is not caused by drugs, alcohol, risky sex, virus, or bacteria. It is caused by an immune system that sees the liver as a foreign object and decides to attack it. It is NOT treated with interferon (or any of the medications used for other forms of hepatitis). It is treated by medication which will suppress the immune system, typically prednisone and/or imuran. It is not contagious, so no one can 'catch' it from me. However, because I am on prednisone (imuran can cause pancreatitis so they are trying to keep me off of it) my immune system is suppressed, evidenced by a high count of neutrophils and low count of lymphocytes in my blood. Therefore, it will be much easier for me to catch anything that is going around. Despite knowing this, I've already had doctors and nurses who were obviously sick treating me! I feel like saying - if you are sick, please stay at home and keep your germs to yourself! When I worked as a ward secretary at the hospital in my early 20's, we were not allowed to come to work if we had anything that was contagious. We had to be cleared by the health nurse before we could come back to work. This applied to me even though I rarely even walked into a patient's room. If we came to work with even a cold, we were sent home! I worked on the chemo unit so this was very important, but the policy applied throughout the hospital! That's obviously not the case anymore! W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 24, 2003 Report Share Posted February 24, 2003 Cheryl, This is off the subject of pancreatitis, but it just amazes me how often even those in the medical field (including doctors) know so little about various illnesses. At least my pcp is the type doctor who admits it when he doesn't know. The ones who are dangerous are the ones who are not even bright enough to know they don't know or not willing to admit that they don't know. I was diagnosed with Autoimmune Hepatitis (AIH) on Jan 6th. You would not believe how many doctors and nurses think AIH is Hepatitis C. NOT! The only connection is the word hepatitis which simply means inflammation of the liver! My husband and I now simply tell people I have autoimmune liver disease so as to avoid confusion. Autoimmune Hepatitis is an AUTOIMMUNE system disorder - thus the name! It is not caused by drugs, alcohol, risky sex, virus, or bacteria. It is caused by an immune system that sees the liver as a foreign object and decides to attack it. It is NOT treated with interferon (or any of the medications used for other forms of hepatitis). It is treated by medication which will suppress the immune system, typically prednisone and/or imuran. It is not contagious, so no one can 'catch' it from me. However, because I am on prednisone (imuran can cause pancreatitis so they are trying to keep me off of it) my immune system is suppressed, evidenced by a high count of neutrophils and low count of lymphocytes in my blood. Therefore, it will be much easier for me to catch anything that is going around. Despite knowing this, I've already had doctors and nurses who were obviously sick treating me! I feel like saying - if you are sick, please stay at home and keep your germs to yourself! When I worked as a ward secretary at the hospital in my early 20's, we were not allowed to come to work if we had anything that was contagious. We had to be cleared by the health nurse before we could come back to work. This applied to me even though I rarely even walked into a patient's room. If we came to work with even a cold, we were sent home! I worked on the chemo unit so this was very important, but the policy applied throughout the hospital! That's obviously not the case anymore! W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 24, 2003 Report Share Posted February 24, 2003 Cheryl, This is off the subject of pancreatitis, but it just amazes me how often even those in the medical field (including doctors) know so little about various illnesses. At least my pcp is the type doctor who admits it when he doesn't know. The ones who are dangerous are the ones who are not even bright enough to know they don't know or not willing to admit that they don't know. I was diagnosed with Autoimmune Hepatitis (AIH) on Jan 6th. You would not believe how many doctors and nurses think AIH is Hepatitis C. NOT! The only connection is the word hepatitis which simply means inflammation of the liver! My husband and I now simply tell people I have autoimmune liver disease so as to avoid confusion. Autoimmune Hepatitis is an AUTOIMMUNE system disorder - thus the name! It is not caused by drugs, alcohol, risky sex, virus, or bacteria. It is caused by an immune system that sees the liver as a foreign object and decides to attack it. It is NOT treated with interferon (or any of the medications used for other forms of hepatitis). It is treated by medication which will suppress the immune system, typically prednisone and/or imuran. It is not contagious, so no one can 'catch' it from me. However, because I am on prednisone (imuran can cause pancreatitis so they are trying to keep me off of it) my immune system is suppressed, evidenced by a high count of neutrophils and low count of lymphocytes in my blood. Therefore, it will be much easier for me to catch anything that is going around. Despite knowing this, I've already had doctors and nurses who were obviously sick treating me! I feel like saying - if you are sick, please stay at home and keep your germs to yourself! When I worked as a ward secretary at the hospital in my early 20's, we were not allowed to come to work if we had anything that was contagious. We had to be cleared by the health nurse before we could come back to work. This applied to me even though I rarely even walked into a patient's room. If we came to work with even a cold, we were sent home! I worked on the chemo unit so this was very important, but the policy applied throughout the hospital! That's obviously not the case anymore! W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Hi Cheryl; No, I've been on permanent disability for quite some time now. I've wanted to at least get a part time job but that's been impossible since I'm so limited on what I can do any more. It's very frustrating. Dawn Marie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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