If you’re reading this right now, you are probably already familiar with the symptoms of kidney stones. You may even know that you should see a doctor. But how often do you actually visit your doctor? And how often do you schedule or follow up with your doctor about your symptoms? The answer to these questions may surprise you.
As it turns out, not only do many people fail to visit their doctor for their symptoms, they don’t even know what these symptoms mean. And when they do, they don’t follow up with the doctors in the way they should. A 2012 study by the Mayo Clinic found that only 22% of people with kidney stones actually visit their doctor for their symptoms. Instead, they call their friends, go to the doctor’s website, and call the doctor, usually on the phone.
We hear a lot about “doctors in the sky” too, and that is a pretty good way to die. The Mayo Clinic study, in fact, shows that only 8 percent of people with kidney stones actually visit their doctor for their symptoms, and of those, only 4 percent actually use the services of a specialist. In other words, this study is pretty damning. If you are having kidney stones, make sure to get checked out by a doctor.
It’s also a good idea to check out the doctor’s website if you aren’t having any symptoms, and you plan to go to the doctor. When you go to the doctor’s website, make sure to read the symptoms and signs that the doctor might be looking for. For instance, if your symptoms are pain in your back, you might not be able to get into the doctor’s office.
If you’re not sure, just ask your doctor to ask for a CT scan, an EKG, or a kidney biopsy. These tests will give you more information than a mere visit to your doctor. For instance, if you have a kidney stone, a CT scan will show exactly where the stone is growing, what’s causing it, and what you should do to treat it.
You can do all of these things at your own home. If you’re not at work, it’s probably not a good idea to drive. A kidney stone in the family medicine office is probably not a good idea either.
I have to admit, I was surprised when I heard about the CT scan and EKG tests. I thought that these were expensive. I guess that was what was going through my head. I guess it all comes down to asking for what you want and how youre going to pay for it, as opposed to asking for a ton of different tests at the same time, all of which could have a negative effect on your quality of life.
There are a few other things that can and do go wrong when you go to the family medicine office. For example, you may be asked to come back on a different day than you originally went in for a test, and you may end up having to wait even longer than you thought. Or you may be asked to do the test on a different date to make sure it’s the right test for you.
In the last week a lot of people have emailed me about the difference between urgent care and ER because it’s quite apparent that for some patients a doctor’s office is not a good place to go for medical issues. For instance, your body can take a while to recover from a severe infection (like a kidney stone) or it can be painful to wait.
It seems like a lot of pain and discomfort for the people who are in urgent care right now because there are so many patients who are being treated. One of the reasons so many people are complaining about this is because of the time it takes to get you there. I’ve gotten emails from people who were told they had to wait several hours because the doctor there refused to speak to them unless they paid cash.
