Just have to share what I saw in the newspaper today! Dr. Roach, Syndicated Columist had an article called "Help for prolonged vertigo". A woman wrote in saying her husband had heart surgery and later fell getting out of the car. After experiencing severe vertigo his cardiologist referred him to an ENT who did a CT scan that was negative. Since that time he has suffered from severe dizziness most of the day. BOTH the cardiologist and ENT told him he would "have to live with it". Dr Roach didn't offer much in his reply but did suggest another opinion, vestibular rehab, and avoid overuse of some medications (probably Benzos). I just wish one of them would have referred that poor guy to this website! End of my rant! Just needed to get it off my chest.
That's awful! That poor man. I would like to see those doctors live with it. I wish I could give the gift of a surprise rotational vertigo attack and daily dizziness to the docs and receptionists who are dragging their feet on my diuretic prescription refill. I don't even know if it helps, but it's become a serious crutch for me and my oto can't fill it until Monday. I ran out yesterday. I'm normally not a spiteful person. But these people cannot even imagine what it's like to live with the kind of anxiety we menierians and the vestibularily challenged live with. End of my rant!
Cjbeau, that is really awful that you have to wait for a prescription. I don't know where you live, but in Canada the pharmacist can prescribe an emergency amount to tide you over until the doc comes through. Is that a possibility for you?
I'm in the U.S., and no, pharmacists don't have that authority. I had my primary care doctor's office order the prescription. They were very kind and helpful about the whole thing.
If you were closer I would have delivered you mine, Cjbeau. Like Paisley I agree it must be awful that you have to, or had to wait for a prescription. Pharmacists can prescribe emergency amounts here in Australia too. Hopefully the factors leading to this delay can be corrected, or fine tuned, so to prevent these situations in the future. On the topic of wishing empathy upon medical professionals, there are very good arguments as to how empathy becomes problematic, particularly when stitched to public policies. Empathy leads to increased bias, decreased objectivity, emotional burnout - in this case on the doctor's behalf - & insensitivity towards numerical differences & statistical data. Studies suggest the cultivation of sympathy or compassion, rather than empathy, lead to better outcomes & public policies. At the risk of hijacking this thread, (sorry, Sharon!) here is a good exchange between Paul Bloom & Richard J. Davidson on the topic of empathy.
I live in the U.S. and more than once the pharmacist has given me a few pills to get me through a weekend. If it's something I've been on a long time, i.e. blood pressure medication, and I'm completely out, he'll give me five and when the clinic gets around to calling in the renewal script, they fill it, minus the five I already got. I always try to get refills in advance, but sometimes the clinic.....well, you know how it can be.