At long last and after years, my husband and I are finally getting insured! He hasn't been insured since he was a kid, hasn't been to a doc in over a dozen years, easy. I haven't been insured since I turned 22, when my Dad's insurance stopped covering me. So, it's been nearly three years since I last had an annual/pap/pelvic exam. I also have PCOS and recently found out about a 3 cm cyst on my ovary, so the first thing on the agenda once we have medical benefits is to find an ob/gyn. I'm a little lost here, I've never looked for a doctor before. The ones I've always seen in the past were folks I knew through my family and had seen since I was a kid, but now I'm in a whole different part of the country. I know we can look up a list of preferred providers, but how do I narrow that list and find someone I'll get along with? I need someone who will take me seriously and work with me with my specific needs. Someone who will understand that I don't want to be chemically dependent on drugs (esp. chemically processed stuff) and someone who can understand my eating habits (I'm vegan) without freaking out. How do I go about finding someone? I also will need to find a general practitioner... I assume it's probably the same process but different list? Like I said, I'm lost here so any advice would be appreciated!
YAY for insurance! When I first saw the title, I thought "OMG!" For me the list of qualities that someone staring at my yoni needs is as follows: 1. Ability to look past weight to perform a truly all-encompassing exam. This is usually determined upon first meeting them. Do they go out of their way not to touch me? Is their first concerns as a non-gp about my weight or do they get to the meat of the matter. 2. When speaking of possible treatments to my hormonal problems, do they automatically speak of drugs or do they speak of diet/lifestyle changes. Can they get on level with me to speak of what's going on in my body or do they ignore my questions? I want open and honest dialogue. 3. Prefer a woman, preferably with PCOS herself. I'd call every office. Narrow out the men. While they mean well, they can often trivialise reproductive pain and look for convenient reasons without really looking into it. From the list of women, narrow down the ones practicing in huge partner practices. This will help maintain that you only see one doctor, your doctor, not 5 diff ones. When calling the remainder, ask for phone interviews. Take whatever time they offer. Have a written list of questions that you can ask and get answers to in less than 10 minutes. Make a couple of them personal to get to know the doc as a person. Don't be afraid to ask any question you see fit. Narrow it down to 3-5 doctors, and go in for "well" visits with each one, to meet them and get their vibe. It's usually 15-20$ per visit, and you could stagger them to fit it into your financial schedule, but you don't want a doc looking at your yoni first visit and not liking them. My two cents. Hope that helps.
Thanks! That was very helpful. lol, I guess I gave you a little bit of false hope what with the "OB/gyn" in the title... I just feel like at this point in my/our life, it would be good to look for someone, keeping the baby issue in mind. Not that we're planning anything or anything... but since Ian's promotion we plan on staying in this area for another 5-10 years probably. So we just want to plan ahead and be prepared for any future insanity.
nothing insane about being prepared. Just watch though. You'll stay in that area 5 years, no baby. And as soon as you move, you'll miss your period. That seems to be exactly how it happens most times.
At least you didn't tell me it'd happen next week. I swear, sometimes it seems like the whole world is conspiring to try and get us knocked up. I guess that's what we get, after so many years of both of us being so vehemently against the idea of reproducing, the second we ... you know, we haven't even been telling people it's in our thoughts, or a possibility. All we did was stop telling everyone we know, weekly, that we'll never have children. And as soon as we stopped, everyone we know is suddenly convinced that any moment we'll end up preggers. It's getting to the point where when I call certain friends I'm tempted to start every conversation with "I'm not pregnant" because otherwise they're always convinced that MUST be our news. Ack. End rant.
i totally get it. For us (or rather me) it's giving M a brother or sister. Trust me, it never ends. They'll think you're pregnant, until you are. And then it's squabbling over the gender/names/clothing/parenting until it's born, and then deciding to move in and take over, or just belittle you everytime you visit about your parenting and how you fail (or by the time the kid is 6 months old, you feel that way all the time). And then the sibling stalking starts. *end my own rant* *hugs* Welcome to the wifey/possible mommy club. Be prepared to walk out of a lot of conversations.
i myself prefer a woman ob/gyn . it makes me more comfortable, and when i was pregnant, i had a midwife. and she was really great, in fact i found out its really hard to get the one i had. she was really understanding and helpful for me, since i was a single mommy to be. alot of people meet with different ones, and decide which one you are most comfortable with. a great way to get a good list of ones is to ask your friends and family who they go to and who they recommend. hope it helps.
personally, i found the vietnamese family practice doctor in the funky inner city clinic to be far more practical, respectful, willing to listen and open minded than the urban yuppie docs with their posh, sterile clinics...but that's just me prolly. :tongue:
its all about who your comfortable with, and definately someone who will listen to you. my midwife would take the time to sit with me and talk to me about anything i had questions about, and when i had complications during giving birth, (she was not on call when i had my son and i had to have emergency surgery) when i came to my check up afterwards, she sat and talked to me about it. some of those docs will just just check you and send you off on your way.
definitely go with a midwife for pregnancies...i agree. i had my 3 at home with midwives. it was great. i used lay midwives and avoided the whole medical thing. but i noticed the OP was looking for help with PCOS and other health issues, and for that if you're stuck picking an MD from an insurance company's list of approved doctors...you might want to try the supposedly 'less desirable' docs. surprisingly you might have a better experience.
Yeah, there's no question at all for me... I NEED an MD to deal with certain issues I have, both reproductive and non. But I'm hoping by sorting all this out now, instead of during/after pregnancy, I'll be able to achieve a good state of health before the baby-having issue arises. When/if that happens, again there is no question in my mind - I will do whatever I can (taking of course, mine and baby's health into consideration) to stay AWAY from docs and OUT of the hospital. I'm willing to deal with medical professionals in this horrible establishment we call western medicine now, in the hopes that neither I or any future children will need them so much later. As you all said, the most important thing is to have someone who will listen well to my issues and concerns and deal with them in a practical way, going at problems with long-term health and lifestyle in mind. I'd rather make lifestyle changes than be stuck taking prescriptions every day for the rest of my life.
