Dermatologist

I finally went to see a dermatologist yesterday. Finally. And, for those who don't know...here is the deal.

In 2007, I started losing my skin. By the end of 2007...I had lost about 90% of it. And yes, it was as painful and disgusting as it sounds. And, the main treatment for skin stuff like this is steroids. Unfortunately, I have a very high sensitivity to steroids. (I have asthma, and can't even take a controller medicine). I swell. It starts to make me crazy. It makes my blood sugar crazy. Really, the worst part is the swelling. 2 or 3 days worth of steroids is equal to at least 5 pounds of water weight...by the 4th day everything starts hurting because of the swelling. By the 5th day I start acting loony, and my blood sugar goes wacky.

So, because of this, and the fact that what ended up causing my skin condition in the first place was because of a white blood cell issue (eosinophils, the type of white blood cells that are produced to combat allergens, are way to prevalent in my blood stream, and malformed) I also started on oral chemotherapy, for psoriaform atopic dermatitis, with eosinophils.

That medicine made me feel like crap...my hair totally thinned out...I've had 3 teeth pulled since then, 2 more to go. 2 root canals. I never threw up on it, but always had this underlying nausea. So, in Feb of 2009 I just stopped taking the stuff. I very very slowly started showing a few symptoms...but it all went away when I got pregnant with Cole in July. Stayed completely gone until a few months after he was born.

Then it started coming back on my finger. It spread, took over my whole entire finger, and then spread to the rest of my right hand. I finally made an appointment at the dermatologists office (new one) and saw my primary care doc before I could even get in there to try to

{WARNING...DONT READ THE NEXT TWO SENTENCES IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH LIKE MY MOM...AND UM...MOM YEA THAT GOES FOR YOU...LOL}

save my nail from falling off. I had lost all the skin on my right ring finger..and this thing was spreading under my nail, swelling, and pushing my nail off.

So, again, as I said, I went to the dermatologist. I have been to a lot of doctor's offices, and I must say, this was my worst experience yet. It was bad from the phone call I made to even make the appointment. The receptionist was having a side conversation with someone else in the office while we were trying to schedule the appointment. The same person is checking me in while on her cell phone with a boyfriend or something when I go to my appointment. The nurse didn't listen to anything I had to say. "Oh, so, you are here worried about your eczema huh?" Yea...wonderful.

I'm in the room waiting, hoping that the doc isn't as bad as the rest of the office...and...she was.

She gave me the third degree from the beginning. She asks if I was using the cream she gave me, and I said no. And I was confused. What cream? Turns out I saw her back in the beginning of 2007, but I don't remember her at all....and I don't know why I would have seen her anyways when I was living in NC...but I probably had a skin infection or something is all I can gather. She asks me why, and I tell her I don't remember any cream. She asks if I still have it. ??? Random cream from 4 years ago? No.

Moving on, I tell her about my sensitivity to steroids. She doesn't believe me?

Doc "how do you know your blood sugar is low when you take steroids, I have never heard of that before, and I treat diabetics"

Me "I'm not diabetic, I'm hypoglycemic"

Doc "how do you know your blood sugar is low"

Me " I have had hypoglycemia for years"

Doc "but how do you KNOW"

Me "I have a glucose monitor"

Doc "Then what was your blood sugar when you last took the steroids"

Me "I don't know, it just felt low, I have had this for a while I can tell if its low or not without checking"

Doc "so you DONT know...when was the last time you checked it"

Me "I don't know...about 10 days ago?"

Doc "What was it then"

Me "I don't know its in the memory of meter"

She goes on, to say she wants to speak with my endocrinologist, and leaves the room. She wants to ask her about my steroids stuff and my blood sugar, because she doesn't believe me. I tell her thats fine, but really MY main concern with steroids, is the swelling factor.

She comes back, and goes on and on about how she couldn't get her on the phone....and the way she was speaking to me....seemed like she thought I was trying to pull one over on her...like...my endo doesn't really exist....and thats why she couldn't be connected to them, or given their cell phone number...and instead was put through to a voice mail...it was really strange.

She says she doesn't want to give me a steroid cream, because she wants to hear back from my endo first. (Um...did she not hear the part about me not wanting to use steroids?) She says theres another cream which might work that doesn't have steroids in it. She writes a prescription. Then she tells me "just to warn you, its a black label prescription, so I just wanted to know before you go to get it" When I ask her what that means, she says that the FDA has stated that is causes SKIN CANCER..but she doesn't agree with it, so she uses it anyways.

Skin Cancer.

If It was a doctor I trusted and liked who told me that...I might have used it anyways after doing some research on it....but this doctor is crazy and there is no way I'm taking her word for it that it won't give me cancer.

I call my primary care office, and ask for a referral to a different dermatologist. They cannot give me one, unless this doctors office releases the rest of the visits through my insurance company...and I got the impression from the receptionist, who took my phone call about needed the release sent back to the insurance company as a personal insult, that it won't be happening any time soon.

I guess having skin on my hand isn't very important to these people huh.