It can be embarrassing to go to the doctor's office. This article details all the ways a routine appointment can go off the rails—and these people are definitely going to start eating an apple a day in the hopes of keeping the doctor away.
1. Cause, Effect, And 7-Year-Olds
This was a ripple effect. One doctor, from a religious office that my parents sent me to, prescribed me medication for my migraines. Another doctor, about two years later, prescribed me birth control.
Neither doctor told me that for every 50 mg of this headache medication you took lowered the effectiveness of your birth control by 25%. I was taking 200 mg. This led to some totally unwanted consequences.
The first doctor didn’t tell me because I was 19 and unmarried, therefore I shouldn’t be engaging in intimacy, at least according to that doctor. The next one didn’t tell me because it was a Planned Parenthood and they were extremely overworked and there were protesters outside, so everyone was a bit on edge.
Suffice to say, I have a 7-year-old now. Thankfully, I have an amazing partner who’s got my back through everything, and we roll with the punches. But I wonder a lot how much different my life would’ve been if that first doctor would’ve been forthcoming with information.
2. Oh, The Gall!
It took me 13 years to find out my gallbladder was done. I went to my doctor repeatedly, then another, and then another. I saw seven different doctors. I had excruciating pain that never moved and always flared when I ate. It would last for hours.
If I felt the pain coming on, it would stick around for about six to nine hours before it abated. It was a solid 10 on the pain scale. If I ate anything other than toast the next day, it would come back. It was impossible to sit, stand, move, lie down, and just exist.
I went to the ER a few times. They’d give me ultrasound after ultrasound, and because they saw NO GALLSTONES, they always wrote it off. They told me I was probably constipated or just overweight.
After begging for a referral to another specialist, they gave me a full body MRI and several hours of testing (a HIDA scan—this was the test that caught it) to watch the minute-by-minute function of my organs.
Turns out my gallbladder had 93% non-function. It was mostly a dead organ. They had me scheduled for surgery the next week. I had the gallbladder removed and it was life-changing.
It was only AFTER having it removed that I realized how super common the surgery is, and how any doctor who’d given me even vague consideration might have realized a gallbladder can malfunction WITHOUT stones.
I did not know how to advocate for myself because I kept being dismissed. I wish I’d been more assertive because I suffered A LOT.
Shutterstock3.M.R…Why?
It’s a long story, but a sports injury surgeon ordered a contrast MRI and it hurt so much. It was worse than what was going on with my actual injury. He reviewed the MRI and decided there was nothing wrong with me. He had me doing physical therapy on it for like 2 months and I only got worse.
He couldn’t figure anything out, so he referred me to a hand specialist in the same office. Within the first visit, she used the EXACT SAME disc with the MRI he had done, and she immediately figured out what was wrong. I had a complete sever of one of my ligaments.
She not only could see it (and she showed me the image itself), but the VERY LAST sentence of the report, which was on the last page by itself, literally said that it was a complete sever or tear of said ligament.
She showed me the report. The first doctor neither read the imaging properly nor could he be bothered to read the entire report.
Unfortunately, despite all the pain, suffering, and lost work time for over a year, I can’t pursue anything legally because I didn’t have any lasting disability.
4. Think About Your (Hypothetical) Children!
I had been having chronic migraines for probably seven years at this point, and I couldn’t, for the life of me, get a doctor to listen to me about wanting medication. I saw another doctor, and I gave her the backstory.
Her reply made my blood boil: “Well, you’re about to turn 25 soon, you’re starting to get up there in age, so you need to start planning for a family soon.
You shouldn’t be on any medications while pregnant, so just think about staying more hydrated and stress-free for a while”. I did not continue seeing that doctor.
5. I’d Rather Give Birth
I had a brown recluse bite under my nose, and it began to open up. I went to the urgent care and the doctor told me to lay down and prepare myself. Now, I work in healthcare so I already knew this wouldn’t feel good.
He told me he was going to scrape out what was going on, pack it, and send me on my way. He comes in, doesn’t give me any warning, and shoves a needle in my face with lidocaine. He doesn’t wait for it to localize, and he begins to scrape out the wound.
I gave birth NATURALLY and I would rather do that again than have to go through that horror ever again. I was in shock, just uncontrollably shaking after from the pain.
6. Diagnosis: Giant Ego
I was having debilitating migraines, to the point where I couldn’t work or function. I waited nearly a month to see a neurologist. Upon a brief examination, he said, “You don’t have anything wrong with you. Just exercise and try not to have headaches”.
Three months later, he finally relented and did an MRI. I had massive lesions on my brain. I was diagnosed with MS. The smug jerk was somehow irritated I had a positive diagnosis. My health wasn’t as important as his ego.
7. 200% Is A Bad Grade
I walked in with chest pains and severe pain area around my left shoulder blade. I filled in the paperwork, and I was told to wait in one place, told to walk back over, told to go back to the waiting room, and then told to come back again.
Finally, the doctor walks up, first time I saw him, and he hands me discharge papers. He tells me to follow up with my doctor in a few days. My wife drove me 40 miles to another hospital. They freak and rush me to the cath lab just in the nick of time.
I had a 200% blockage of coronary LAD, which is also known as the widow maker heart attack.
8. You’re Fired!
To give a little context to my hospital story, I am white, and my wife is African American. We were checking in for the birth of our child. It was after normal business hours, so we were checking in through the emergency room.
A woman, who was also white, was there in front of us. She had a bad accident and had to cut off a toe. My wife and I were waiting patiently next to each other because the woman was definitely the priority. They check her in, and we walk up to the check-in desk.
They ask my wife some questions and take her back for vitals before we are to go to maternity. A few minutes later, a nurse indicates that they are done, and I can join my wife. I start to walk to her when a security guard, a white man in his late fifties, stops me and yells at me.
His next move sent chills up my spine.
He puts his hand on his firearm. He then insists I join my wife. I step forward towards my wife and he grabs the handle again and orders me into a room. I step into it where I see the woman with her toe cut off.
He steps in and continues to yell at me, and the woman, for not listening to him. He berated her for having an “idiot” for a husband. It took another security guard and a nurse to stop his shouting and tell him my wife was the African American woman.
He didn't finish his shift before he was terminated, but it didn't make the experience any less bad.
9. A Failure Of Too Much Communication
My family practitioner referred me to the therapist connected to their office. Before our session, I made sure to ask about patient confidentiality. The therapist assured me that it was all private, locked behind a different level of access, so only she would be able to see this part of my records.
I was struggling a lot with my mental health at the time and really needed the help, so I was brutally honest about what I was going through during the session.
At my next appointment with my FP, the nurse doing my pre-assessment started going down the list of all the very private things I had told the therapist, asking me for updates for the record.
There was no extra layer of privacy, the therapist had simply entered it into my patient notes that the entire office staff could see.
I ended up walking out. Never went back to that office.
10. Well, Now He Knows
My new doctor looked up my pharmacy report before my visit, as is customary. I lived with my terminally ill brother, whose name was James and mine is Jamie. So, we had the same address, phone number, initials, and similar names.
When they ran my pharmacy report, as they normally do, my brother’s many medications showed up on my list. The doctor yelled at me, called me a pill seeker, and kicked me out of the office while I cried and pleaded with him to listen to me.
I swore to him that those medications were my brother’s and not mine. He said that is not possible and that couldn’t happen.
I ended up calling the board of pharmacy who informed me that yes, closely named relatives who live together could show up on the same report. Also, the name doesn’t show, but a patient number does, and if the doctor looks closely, he will see two different numbers.
The board member called the doctor and said he had to search by my social security number to get a more thorough search. Upon doing this, he realized his mistake and profusely apologized, and my visit was free.
He had no idea that two people could show up on the same report if they have similar details, and now he tells this story at all his conferences so other doctors don’t make the same mistake. Most of them had no idea that could happen either! Well, they do now!
11. Proof the Patriarchy Is Alive And Well
When I wanted a hysterectomy, because my life was literally in danger due to anemia and non-stop bleeding, I was told no. The reason was because my husband might want kids. I am not, nor have I ever been, married.
I was in my 40s and I didn't want kids in the first place. Even after explaining all of this, I was still told no because I might meet a man and he might want to knock me up at over 40, and I did not get a say, apparently.
I went to Mexico, and they yoinked that thing out for me. I came back and met with a completely different doctor for a follow-up. When he learned I'd had a hysterectomy without my future husband's consent, he told me he wouldn't treat me.
This was six years ago in 2017, if you're wondering. I have no reason to think anything has changed and quite a few reasons to think it's getting worse.
12. Wrong Time, Wrong Place, Terrible Joke
I was having a pap smear from a doctor who was at least 450 lbs. As he did my exam, he made the most appalling comment to the nurse—he told her that one time, a bigger lady was having a pap smear and the table somehow failed and she fell crotch first right into his face.
I was overweight at the time, and I just couldn't believe he'd bring up something so nonchalant like that. The nurse looked horrified.
13. The Gasp Heard Round The Waiting Room
I went to the doctor’s for a 9am appointment. 11am rolls around and I’m still waiting. The pharmacy reps come in with pizza. By now it’s noon. I go up to tell them I have to leave, and the receptionist wants to charge me $25.
She said the doctor was very busy that morning. I said, “Not too busy to have pizza with pharmacy reps”. Everyone else waiting collectively gasped. I did not get billed and I never went back.
14. Not Faking It!
I had a non-emergency emergency out of network. I later found out that I have PCOS and one of the cysts had popped. I 10/10 do not recommend! So, I managed to get back into my health insurance network area and a doctor's office was closer than an ER.
I went to said doctor and he was convinced that I was either faking it for attention or faking it to obtain some pain meds.
During his examination, he kept pushing on my lower torso and uterus area and every time I screamed in pain, he'd tell me to stop being dramatic and that if I didn't stop flexing that area then he'd have to push harder. I wasn't flexing that area, but he insisted that I was.
I kind of zoned in and out of the rest of the exam, but I remember realizing I was completely screwed when he was literally hopping up and down to be able to feel what was going on.
Eventually he proclaimed that I probably just have an upset stomach due to being fat and that he'd draw blood if I got my mom to stop "enabling" me.
The nurse couldn't get a vein after multiple attempts in both arms. When a different nurse tried multiple times, she finally said, "Oh, you're really dehydrated" to which the doctor then chastised me for drinking too much soda which likely caused the dehydration.
My mom was frantic and kept my doctor up to date with everything that was happening. My doctor told her to just take me and leave and try to hold out until we reached the closest ER.
As we were leaving, the doctor told us that he had already called ahead to multiple nearby ERs in our plan to let them know that I was just trying to get pain meds and to not give them to me.
Eventually my pain started subsiding and we drove to my regular doctor. She was beyond angry and ended up helping us file a ton of paperwork to complain to the medical board about what happened.
My doctor's biggest push to my mom about why she should file an official complaint and negligence claim was because:
1) he didn't know what was wrong and if someone complains of pain somewhere you shouldn't be pushing so hard that you're jumping up and down to dig in because you could be making things WAY worse,
2) due to the pain being caused by a cyst popping there was a good chance that digging his fingers into my lower torso could have caused more to pop, and
3) If a patient comes in screaming and crying saying they're in pain, you shouldn't automatically dismiss it, especially when they continue showing signs of pain when you touch the area they're complaining about.
15. I.U. Don’t!
Hands down, my IUD insertion was my worst experience at the doctor’s office. No warning. No numbing. I was just spread on a table and an evil lady shoved a barb up in my cervix. Swear to God, I screamed at the top of my lungs, I threw up, and then I blacked out for two minutes.
I then spent the next hour in the fetal position in the bathroom crying and throwing up. THEN, I drove myself home in the fetal position shaking from the pain.
16. Just Have a Baby, Already!
I was sent to a rheumatologist for a test and medicine for lupus. The doctor's attitude filled me with rage—she told me she had medicine to help, but she wasn’t going to give it to me because I was in the “prime birthing age range”.
17. Oops!
I went to the dermatologist to have a mole on my back removed and biopsied. I was laying on my stomach and the doctor was on one side of me and his assistant on the other.
They're talking like they hadn’t caught up in months, and I feel like an afterthought and I’m getting annoyed. Is this my time or theirs?
Then I feel this searing pain immediately followed by a warm liquid falling down my side and I hear the doctor say, "Oops". You never want to hear a doctor say “oops”.
I was completely angry at this point, and I said, "Would you mind paying attention to what you're doing when you have a scalpel in your hand?"
I ended up needing around five stitches, and I have an inch long scar there now. When I went back into the changing room, they initially put me in to get dressed, I was getting changed when I noticed a window washer hanging outside the window just looking in.
My anger turned into outrage. After I got dressed, I went out in the waiting room and unloaded on the staff in front of a room full of people waiting to be seen, leaving nothing out. I hope at least a few of them decided to cancel their appointments. I never went back, that's for sure.
18. Anxiety Is Real
When I was 15 years old, I told my pediatrician I was having chest spasms and anxiety, and I wanted to see a therapist. My mom was in the room. He told me to stop googling things, I’m fine, and teenagers don’t have anxiety because there’s nothing to worry about.
I never went back to him ever, and I didn’t see another doctor until I turned 19 to be committed in a psych ward. Turns out the anxiety was real, and intervening at 15 possibly could have prevented many, many things from happening.
19. Type 1 Negligence
I had a whole list of symptoms pointing to type 1 diabetes. I was sent for a blood test and the results showed I was diabetic, but my doctor didn’t refer me for treatment. I was left untreated for an extra ten days before action was taken, which absolutely could have killed me.
I was given the option to sue after everything was eventually sorted out.
20. Now THAT’S A Pregnant Pause
I was in the ER for dehydration, and I was almost 12 weeks pregnant. I have crappy veins to begin with, so when the doctor told me he was going to start my IV I asked him to get the nurse.
I work in the medical field, and I know that the nurses are almost always placing the IVs and have ton more experience than the doctor. He tried and failed on four sticks, blew one vein, and then let his resident try who failed three sticks before they finally called a nurse in to try.
It took her two sticks, but in her defense, she was chasing bad veins since my good spots had already been poked multiple times.
It gets worse though. They can’t find a fetal heartbeat on the Doppler. It’s ok, they assure me, it’s still early to try and pick it up on the Doppler. They know I have a history of reoccurring miscarriages, so the doctor tells the resident to do an ultrasound and he leaves.
The resident rolls in the ultrasound machine and begins to start the ultrasound. After about five minutes of a lot of back and forth on my stomach, he says, “Hmmm I’m having a hard time picking up a heartbeat”—and then he goes silent for 30 minutes.
I am crying at this point. My husband is holding my hand and he’s crying. We had multiple ultrasounds that had confirmed a healthy pregnancy so far. We had heard the heartbeat at three separate ultrasounds before this.
We were both 100% convinced we had lost another baby. The resident finally finishes the ultrasound and says, “everything looks good”. I said, “wait, you found a heartbeat?” And he replied, “oh yeah, did I not say that?”
21. A Multi-Pronged Fishing Hook
I went to my urologist just to ask questions, literally just to ask questions. So, I have a catheter at this point, and the doctor said, “Hey let’s change that”. This man used no anesthesia at all, he yanked the old one out, and then shoved the new one in.
I started screaming because of the no anesthesia. He shoved this thing in me that felt like a multi-pronged fishing hook all through my nether regions. He said, “Yeah, it’s in there. Let’s inflate it”. The pain was so intense that I blacked out.
So, the next day, the bag had less than an ounce in it. I went back, and they said, “Oh you have to go to the ER”. Nine hours later, they booked me with the original guy that put the last one in.
I had to go into surgery because the badly placed one was floating in my body, distending and expanding my body. They got the old one out and the new one in with no issues, and this guy used anesthesia. My private area is so sore because of that failed replacement.
22. Lucky Number 13
I went to go get blood drawn before surgery. I got stuck 13 times in my hands, wrist, and elbow, and they still couldn’t draw a drop. My mom, who came with me because this was TWO HOURS out of the way, asked if she could try.
She got it on the first try. (For context, my mom used to be a phlebotomist).
23. Internal Panicking!
I woke up in the ER to a bunch of people running tests and stuff. I couldn't remember my name or anything for about a minute, then it all started coming back to me.
I didn't panic externally, because I’m a doctor myself, but I was terrified internally because I had no clue why I was in the ER. I had a seizure in my late 40s with no prior history of brain injury or seizures.
They ended up being caused by untreated sleep apnea, but man, to this day I still get anxious about that.
24. Advil, The Universal Cure, Apparently
I had a panic attack for the first time and went to the ER. The doctor just told me to take some Advil and then told me to get out. That kind of experience has made it hard for me to reach out for professional help about my anxiety.
25. He’s Alive!
I was mistaken for a dead kid. I was right across the hall from a kid who passed away, and somehow the staff got our paperwork mixed up. They went to inform my parents that I died! One of the many mistakes that hospital made.
It got so bad that they had to replace board members, staff, and even change the name of the hospital.
26. An Almost-Souvenir
The doctor forgot to remove the speculum. I had to call him back as he was leaving the room to get him to remove it. He acted as though I was wasting his time.
27. Not A Compliment
I'm getting my height and weight taken before an appointment. I step on the scale with my back to the display before saying to the nurse, "And you can just go ahead and keep that number to yourself, I don't want to know".
I was dealing with body image issues and struggling with an eating disorder. It wasn't my first rodeo, so I was polite and casual when I spoke. She writes down my weight, I step off the scale, and we begin walking to the exam room.
Then she says to me over her shoulder, "You don’t have anything to worry about by the way, you're only -insert my weight here-". Completely devastating.
28. Tumor Or...
I was getting constant ear infections. I went to different doctors who gave me antibiotics. They worked for a few days and then stopped. So, I visited an allergist on my own, the only one in town.
He was a grumpy old guy who arrived late, looked in my ear, and said, "I don't see any inflammation. I don't think there's anything wrong with your ears. Maybe it's a brain tumor or MS. It could be hyperthyroidism. Your eyes are kind of bulgy, but maybe that's just the way you look".
He couldn't have been more off the mark.
Long story short, it was an infection. He just didn't see it. I decided to eliminate foods on my own to see if I was allergic to any of them. I eliminated milk from my diet and, tada, the infections went away.
I haven't had an ear or sinus infection in over 25 years. It takes a real leap of faith for me to see a doctor. For the most part, I either don't trust them or feel like I'm not getting the whole story.
29. Lights Out!
I went to the doctor feeling extremely ill with flu-like symptoms. I laid on the table for two and a half hours, almost three. I was nauseous and I started crying in my hands. I definitely had a fever; I was sweating and everything.
Then all of a sudden, the lights started shutting off! So, I opened the door and said, "UH, I’M STILL IN HERE! I HAVENT BEEN SEEN! I HAVE BEEN HERE SINCE ONE!" And the doctor comes in all annoyed and says, "huh, guess I forgot about you".
When I was in the waiting room it was only me, and I had heard other people coming in getting checked. So, he barely checks me for strep, although that wasn't my problem, and he wrote me a prescription for some medication that may or may not help because "he wasn't sure what I had”.
I was out in five minutes tops, and I never even knew the result of my strep test. I went to pharmacy and the medicine was $170. It was much more than I could afford, so I skipped out and I went home, cried, and fell into my bed.
I had to go back to them the month for something else and I refused that doctor. They apologized profusely and the next doctor I got was awesome and helped me with everything. They came to me within ten minutes, and they were very busy that day.
30. Can’t Waste A Swab!
I was sick with flu-like symptoms and a sore throat around the time swine flu was briefly a thing. Finally, after over a week, I went to a clinic to get checked out to rule out swine flu, and I was told I had strep.
The doctor said it was so obvious they weren’t even going to “waste a swab”. He gave me a script for amoxicillin and sent me on my way. I thought that'd be the end of it—but I was SO wrong.
The next day, I’m peeing blood, and I go back to the doctor. She examines me again, she gets a urine sample, and she comes back about an hour later telling me she has already called ahead to the ER at the hospital.
She told them I was coming because I’m in “end-stage renal failure”. I have a one-year-old baby at home, and I’m thinking my life is over and my kid is going to grow up without a dad.
I get to the ER, and the doctor there just looks at me. He skeptically raises an eyebrow, and immediately I get worried. He says he wants to draw blood and run some tests while they give me an IV bag. He comes back in about 30 minutes telling me I have mono.
The blood in my urine was just from the associated liver infection from the virus and broken down blood cells that were being expelled in my urine (or something along those lines). He discharges me and says I’ll be fine.
It’s been about 14 years, so I think he was probably right. Thanks, ER doctor, you were great! But I guess the original clinic doctor that misdiagnosed me twice was the subject of that classic joke, “What do you call someone who graduates last in medical school?”
31. Almost Unnecessary Appendectomy
I entered an emergency room with a horrible fever and vomiting. Doctors said it’s my appendix and that I need an urgent appendectomy. As this hospital was not the best that my town provides, I decided to do the “urgent surgery” in a better hospital and rushed there.
Turns out it was a bad bacterial infection. Almost got my appendix removed for no reason.
32. Four Orthopedists Later…
I have torn cartilage in my shoulder. The third time I went to the doctor about it, he immediately stopped caring once I said it didn't hurt that bad even though it hurt every day. He just said to come back if it gets worse. It did get worse but very progressively.
So, I didn't think about it for months—and I would later regret that decision. I went to a fourth doctor who actually diagnosed the issue and pushed me to get surgery. I opted for physical therapy instead and it seems to be the right choice.
Four orthopedists to diagnose it and only one physical therapist to fix it. The single worst experience was being flat out ignored by the third doctor which led to me further damaging myself. If I just started PT back then, I'd probably be in better shape.
33. The “Epidural Whisperer”
It took seven tries for the anesthesiologist to place my epidural during labor. (I have a bit of a crooked spine). He even muttered a bad word after the fifth failure. The nurse who was working with him told me he was the “epidural whisperer”.
Experiencing seven jabs into my spine was not fun.
34. Don’t Want To Cough? Lose Weight.
I was diagnosed with chronic bronchitis as a kid. Every winter I typically have a bout of it. A few years ago, I had all the classic symptoms. So, I called my doctor's office, and I got an appointment with the new NP.
She told me that I wouldn't have a cough if I lost weight. At the time, I was at the top of my weight chart, but not obese.
35. It’s Nothing, Just Cancer
I told the doctor I had a lump in my neck. She couldn’t feel it and she said don’t worry, it’s nothing. She then sent me home. A year later, the lump got bigger. I went to a different doctor. I had a CAT scan. Biopsy. Cancer.
I had it for a year before I got diagnosed because of her. Treatment starts soon.
36. Don’t Be A Baby
I had an accident during basketball practice, and my knee went from numb to incredible agony, so they drove me to the emergency room. This is a small hospital on a Friday evening, so they had to page a doctor.
The doctor came in, complained he had to leave a party, and ordered x-rays taken. X-rays showed nothing, so he deduced I was simply "being a bit of a baby," literal translation by the way, and pretty much left.
So, I go home, take it easy for the weekend, and I go back to work on Monday. At this point I'm still in a lot of pain every time I move. I somehow make it to Wednesday at work, I still don't know how I did it because at this point I'm in agony all the time.
I can't properly walk, I can't sit, and every movement is just excruciating pain. On Wednesday, I call my mom to pick me up and bring me to another hospital.
When I arrive at that hospital, it takes the emergency doctor about three minutes to discover that pretty much all ligaments and tendons have tears in them. Cue: months of physical therapy, and my knee never was the same.
37. Left Behind
Five years ago, my wife and I changed doctors at her request. I went for my initial visit after work so we could get to know one another. I was taken to an empty room and told she was terribly behind, around 30 minutes or so, and she would meet with me as soon as she could.
I was reading a book on my phone and lost track of time for about 1 1/2 hours. It was really quiet out there, so I get up to go see what’s going on. Everyone forgot about me, and they were heading out the door.
38. The Doctor Came To A Rash Conclusion
I had a rash around my eyes. They were really, really red and raw. The doctor asked me what happened and what I put on my eyelids to get them so red. I said I didn’t put anything on them but Vaseline, and I don’t know why this happened.
She was all shaking her head and giving me an attitude.
She left the room, and I could hear her talking about me to the nurse saying, "Vaseline??!!! Have you seen the girl's face? There's no way that's from Vaseline! These kids come in and they don’t tell me the truth!! Vaseline would never do that!"
Then the nurse came in and I started crying. I told her that I could hear the doctor talking about me and how cruel she was. I also told her that I’m here because I need help. I don’t want to look like this, and I didn’t do anything to myself to get like this.
I don’t know how the doctor could be so cruel. The nurse apologized and said something like, "that's just how she is," and she gave me a prescription for a steroid cream.
Turns out I have eczema. I don’t know why it was so bad that time. But that doctor had no compassion and made me feel horrible.
39. A Big Mix Up
The doctor told me to come into the office to get my mammogram results. I already knew I had cancer from the imaging office who told me I had DCIS. It’s not great to have DCIS, but if you’re going to have breast cancer, that’s the kind you want.
I get to the office, and my doctor had been called away on an emergency. So, her P.A. gave me the results, and told me I had invasive BC. And holy moly, that’s not what you want to hear. I was quite shaken.
The next day, the doctor called me and told me her P.A. was wrong - my cancer type was DCIS.
Unsplash
40. What? It’s Just Cancer.
I found out that my surgery and radiation for cancer treatment hadn't worked, and I was a mess. I went into the doctor's office, who was an endocrinologist, and I told him I was losing sleep and freaking out since the cancer came back.
His response had me shaking in frustration: "I'm not sure why you're so distraught, the cancer didn't recur, it just didn't all get removed," in a very casual and unconcerned way. "You'll just do another surgery".
Oh gee, as if another surgery for cancer, another several thousand dollars in out-of-pocket medical bills for the new year, and missing yet more work is no big deal.
I really do hate doctors because they have no empathy, with few exceptions, and their ego rarely matches their ability.
41. He Held The Glasses Captive
I went to see an eye doctor because I broke my glasses and didn’t have a backup pair (I always donate my old pairs to charity). We did the exam, and then went out to look at glasses.
Because I didn’t buy a pair of glasses, he refused to give me my prescription “until the insurance payment cleared”. I waited a full week calling every two days, and he still would not release the prescription.
I called my insurance company, and they cancelled the payment to him and let me schedule an appointment with a different eye doctor. Just insane.
42. CPS Visit For Dying Dog
I was going in for my first pregnancy exam, and was I told I’m a drug addict because I was using Naproxen for a broken tailbone. The lady pretty much let me know I could expect a CPS visit by the time I got home because I had refilled my Ativan too much.
And I did refill it, because I was giving it to my dog who was dying of bone cancer.
43. Too Soon?
I found out at an ultrasound that my baby no longer had a heartbeat. The technician then asked me how old my child who was in the waiting room with my husband was, and I told her he was 16 months old. She replied, "Too soon to be having another baby anyway”.
Pexels44. Are You Talking To Me?
I took my 90-year-old grandma to the podiatrist, and for whatever reason the 40-something male nurse thought it was important to point out that I was overweight. But here's the thing—I’m a 22-year-old woman, and I was also a 6-foot tall former D1 basketball athlete.
Despite not being the same size as I was at 18, nothing I did or said warranted this comment. WHY DID THIS MAN EVEN MAKE ME THE MAIN TOPIC AT MY GRANDMA’S APPOINTMENT? Also, he was overweight!!
45. Spotty Diagnosis
I came back from summer camp as a kid with some weird looking spots all over. I went to the doctor, and he straight up said I had contracted leprosy. Turns out I was just reacting to water used showering when I was at camp.
46. Doctor Burned My Sniffer
When I was about nine, I had really bad nose bleeds. It was starting to be a problem, so my mom took me to get the blood vessels in my nose cauterized.
We get to the doctor’s office, and the doctor is this old man with glasses too small for his face and a nose that looks like a beak. He was really rude and answered questions in a voice that made it sound like he'd rather be anywhere other than at work.
So anyways, he puts this numbing gel stuff on some gauze and puts it in my nose. One side immediately started to work and the other didn't, because Dr. Pointy Nose put the gauze in the wrong way. I tried to fix it, and the old man actually slaps my hand away.
He tells me not to touch it and that he'll be back in five minutes to cauterize the blood vessels. So, five minutes pass, and Dr. Meany is back to cauterize my sniffer. He cauterizes the side that was actually numbed with no pain.
As he's about to cauterize the other side, I tell him I don't think the gel worked. He ignores me. So, my mom tries to tell him that he didn't put it in right and that I can still feel that side of my nose.
Guess what he does? He ignores her. So, he cauterizes that side and big surprise, I CAN REALLY FEEL IT.
So, I started crying because holy that hurt, and the doctor tells me that it wouldn't have hurt if I hadn't messed with the gauze. That's the day I learned that adults can be stupid. I never went back to that doctor's office.
47. “Let’s Get You To The ER”
I had been sick for a while and had been gaining about 20 pounds a month. I had seen multiple doctors and they just told me I was just eating more than I thought, which was ridiculous.
I went to a doctor for a skin issue, and the new doctor walked in the room and looked at me from across the room and said, “let’s get you to the emergency room” after about five seconds.
I had end stage cirrhosis of the liver. That kind of sucked. I had a liver transplant 362 days ago, and only in the last month have I started to feel like I am getting back to normal.
Did you know you can get so sick your hair turns grey and then get better and the grey hair goes away? It’s weird, honestly.
48. It’s All In Your Head… And Your Back
After a car accident, in which I was hit by someone going 70 and texting while I was stopped, I had horrible pain in my back. I cried from the pain when I was driving, when I was trying to sleep, and while I was just existing.
I had to wear a back brace to work a four-hour retail shift, and I also couldn't dance anymore after 20 years of ballet. The doctor told me it was all in my head.
The reality of my situation hit me like a truck—turns out, I had two herniated disks in my back and a slipped disk in my neck. I actually now have arthritis in my neck at 31 years old since you can't treat injuries you make up in your head, obviously.
49. What A Bust!
On a Friday morning, my stomach was really hurting. I couldn’t stand up straight because it hurt so bad. I felt like I was going to puke and poop my pants.
Four hours later, a doctor prescribed me ibuprofen, told me to take some Pepto-Bismol, and peaced out.
On Sunday morning, my stomach was still hurting really bad. I hadn’t slept at all since Thursday, I hadn’t eaten at all, yet I still felt like I was going to be spraying from both ends.
Two hours later, the doctor said, “Cool, let’s do a scan”. Then the doctor gave me a devastating update—my appendix was about to burst and I needed surgery immediately.
I waited for two hours only to be told by the doctor that the surgeon would arrive in another few hours.
Three hours later, the doctor informed me that the surgeon would be coming the next day in the afternoon instead.
Thankfully, a better doctor took over my case and said they could get me into surgery STAT.
$84,000 later, the nurse informed me that insurance would cover most of the costs, but the anesthesiologist wasn’t covered. So, that cost me $3,000 out of pocket. It was a total nightmare.
50. A Case Of Mistaken Bones
I was getting a bone density scan, and the doctor came in a while later and he gave me some shocking news—I had osteoporosis. This was not why I was there in the first place, and I was completely surprised.
I asked him if I could see the chart, and it was for a 70-year-old woman. I was a 30-something-year-old man, and he had the wrong chart! Turns out I did not have any issues at all...well, bone density related.
Sources: Reddit,
