dismissive doctors..

sara052420

I'm 20wks & every time i go to the doctor she asks so "how have you been?" "anything been going on?" and ive been incredibly sick for my entire pregnancy throwing up, stomach pain, leg pain, not sleeping, pain in my tailbone, the list goes on and on, so i tell her how i am feeling & she just says "oh all thats completely normal, the baby doesn't mind how your feeling & shes getting what she needs so just hang in there" i get that all these symptoms are common with pregnancy but everyday ALL DAY & there is nothing i can do about it apparently. Anyone else have similar issues? What did you do, if anything? Is there anything that i can do about being sick or is there really nothing i can do? And how did you handle your dismissive doctor?

bgf1

I threw up from about 6 weeks the last time I was pregnant until the day I delivered.  I remember I wanted to hurt people to told me sleep while you can (because sleep was non-existed in the last few months), that combined with the heartburn, and the constant rib pain meant that I was not exactly the picture of the glowing mom-to-be.  The upside of this was that just feeling physically better after the baby was born, made life with a newborn easier.  Even though I was up 2-3 times/night I slept in between.  I think the discomforts of pregnancy are natures way of training us for life with a baby ( when LO gets here it won't matter too much if you have the flu, or a bad back they still need what they need).  I know it is incredibly hard but this too shall pass.

As for your doctor, there are perscription meds (Zofran, Diclectin) that help some people with the nausea ( I wasn't so lucky last time the meds didn't seem to help,  this time I am still sick, but the frequency of the vomiting is better).  I'd try asking your doctor very specific questions about your symptoms, so that she knows you are looking for medical advise not reassurance.  Ask her if medication is possible to help the vomitting, ask her if she feels you can change your fluid intake or diet to help with cramping, ask her if an SI belt (in case your tailbone pain is from the ligaments in the SI joint stretching) might help your pain. If you are not sleeping because of heartburn try elevating the head of your bed 3-4 inches to keep your stomach acid from climbing up your esophagus while you sleep.    There may be something that may help your symptoms, they may not go away but there are tricks to make things more bearable.

 Finally remember your doctor is looking at your appointments as a time to determine if anything is medically WRONG with your pregnancy, so when she is telling you it is normal she may just be trying to reassure you that the symtpoms (while crappy and hard to handle) do not pose any danger to you or your baby.  

mommylove31

I would request zofran. Its a nausea pill that does not affect the pregnancy or baby in anyway and it flat out saved my life. My first trimester went so much easier with it. Everytime I even began to feel nauseated, and I knew I would puke, I took one. And it stopped it dead in its tracks. Just request it. She shouldn't have a problem with it since it has no affects on the baby. And btw my doctor said vomitting severely all day everyday is dangerous for the fetus and not good at all. My sister in law is doing the exact same thing and she's only 14 weeks. I'm 16 weeks. They almost hospitalized her because she could not stop vomitting and she didn't respond to zofran the way I did. it didn't do anything for her but everyone is different. Either way... what you are describing is not good.

WannaBAmama

I just changed doctors this week because of my dismissive doctor. I have placenta previa and my dismissive doctor kept telling me "It'll be fine, It'll be fine" "it'll move" I met my new doctor this week and the first thing he told me was "we'll be scheduling your c-section at 39 weeks, that placenta isn't going to move" THANK YOU for being real with me instead of being dismissive!!! I really didn't want to switch doctors at 27 weeks but I'm so happy I did!

sara052420

thanks for all yalls input! ya i think my doctor is one of those doctors that wants to do everything natural, no medicine (until delivery) even if they are safe & she constantly reassures me but i dont need someone to reassure me that its all normal (i could call my mom for that lol), i need a doctor with some real medical advice! after all, thats what im paying her for! i guess at my next appointment i will ask her more specific questions & see if that helps, thats a good idea!! Thanks again yall:)

EcoBaby

I take 1/2 a Unisom and B6 every night, and this has worked wonderfully for my nausea. I fell asleep before taking it one night and was horribly ill the next day. It also helps with my pregnancy insomnia. I've felt SO much better with this pregnancy than the previous one because of this. You might ask your doctor if it is okay.

sara052420

oh thanks! ill definitely ask, anything that helps ease my suffering & is safe for my baby ill try! what is unisom? is that specifically for sleep?

EcoBaby

yeah - it's a sleeping pill. My midwives recommended it, and I was skeptical, but I am really surprised at how well it works.  

CarolynTheRed

You can bring you doctor the motherrisk nausea and vomiting in pregnancy treatment article here:

https://www.motherisk.org/women/morningSickness.jsp

They're local to me, so I've called their hotline about a couple medications - they had data my family doctor didn't, so he had me check about my asthma medication. A doctor who rejected medication would be a really bad fit for me - if I can't breathe, neither can baby I'm just glad I my morning sickness is over - I was pretty miserable until about 15 weeks.  But my family doctor gave me a prescription for diclectin before I even saw an obstetrician, and it really helped, especially when I had a bus commute, or a long car ride. When I had one particularly bad bout and I couldn't keep down water, I was told to take a small dose of gravol so I could keep down the diclectin, and then I could at least keep some broth down.