Tell us about your symptoms and treatment experience. Take our survey here.

a woman looks on skeptically while six doctors blab thoughtlessly

When It's Time To Find A New Doctor: Part 1

I think we all have encountered a bad doctor at least once in our lives. Unfortunately, my encounters have been one too many. It saddens me that women's health is not taken seriously. How is there a lack of GOOD women doctors? Why is our health not as important? And if that isn’t the case, why are they not doing a better job proving otherwise?

The humiliation, sadness, and judgement I have felt from majority of my doctors is disgusting. The lack of compassion from most doctors makes me wonder why they are in the field. Now, this isn’t true for every doctor. All though some haven’t been able to help me, few still were very caring and did everything they possibly could. Without judgement. So how do you know if it is time to look for a new doctor? Of course, that will all depend on what matters to you. Here is only the first half of things doctors have said to me to make me say goodbye.

"Lupron is the best way to go!"

Ok, for some of you reading this maybe Lupron was the best thing for you. However, I know the majority reading this have had nothing but complications. When a doctor is quick to push something on you, he isn't there to truly help. This was pushed on me the other day as my ONLY treatment option. Not once was I asked what my opinions, feelings, or concerns about it were. Luckily for me, I had done my research on Lupron for years. So no, Lupron is NOT the best way to go. At least not for me.

"If you want surgery, you can talk me into it."

I know, right? That was my expression too, when my doctor said those exact words to me. Firstly, no, I don't want surgery. Quite frankly, what I want is a permanent cure to end this horrific disease. But that is not happening anytime soon. So surgery is the next best thing. After my first surgery, was the only time I found relief. No matter how many times I am told it is not a cure and too many surgeries can cause complications (I already know all of this), it is still what I want.

I would prefer the complications that come with surgery over the ones of injecting that poison Lupron into my body. However, it will not be done with a doctor that says I can talk him into doing it. If he isn't willing to listen to my wants and needs, how do I know he will perform surgery well? I should not have to convince my doctor to do something for me. Neither should you!

"Take anti-depressants."

Ha. This is my favorite line. I am sure in some medical journal somewhere, it talks about how antidepressants are great for inflammation. However, in the endometriosis world, I have never heard or seen this... Until my doctor said it to me the other day. By this point in the appointment, I had already lost faith in him and all I could do was giggle. Mainly because I was on anti-depressants for a while- Before my endometriosis diagnosis when everyone told me my pain was not real and I was "crazy". You know what those antidepressants did to me? Made me MORE sick. Try again, doc.

"You should see a psychologist."

This one really deserves its own article because I can go on for hours about this topic. But I will try to spare you and get straight to the point. The day my doctor said this to me, I did not know what to do. He made me feel like such an idiot for causing a ruckus about always feeling sick. I started to second guess myself that maybe nothing was wrong with me. Maybe I really DID need help. It had to be the answer, seeing as tests and work-ups never showed anything was clearly wrong anyways.

What do you do when your doctor sits you and your significant other down and tells him there is no way your wife has endometriosis, that she really just needs to see a psychologist? If you answered "Cry!", that is exactly what I did. But most importantly, you look for a new doctor.

Read Part 2 here

By providing your email address, you are agreeing to our privacy policy.

This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The Endometriosis.net team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

Join the conversation

Please read our rules before commenting.

Community Poll

Does endometriosis make outdoor activities difficult?