PIDâ€“in a lot of painâ€“how can I convince them to treat me?

**TellTaleArt** · 10-24-2010 04:31 PM

Hi everybody, I was hoping for a medical advice to take to my gynaecologist next week. I had a failed pregnancy recently (had to abort, it died) and then had an IUD inserted and removed as well after that. In addition to that during the first period after all this I left the tampon in far too long....During this first period, I developed an infection (I have no STDs) with severe pelvic pain that just won't stop, severe nausea and sometimes vomiting, and low grade fever that comes and goes...having sex hurts, even sitting down hurts..etc. Me and my husband spent a MONTH convincing ER doctors and gynecology department here at UCSF that I need treatment-I was started on antibiotics, Suprax injection helped, but then they forgot to give me oral medication to take home and I got worse very quickly. After much arguments I was hospitalized again due to pain and incorrectly treated with very low doses of Cipro-doctor yelled at me that if I don't have STDs , I can't have a PID hence go home and suffer there. I ended up finally seeing a OB-GYN and they gave me an injection and a bunch of Flagyl + Doxicyclin to take at hoe. I got better after the injection, but got worse again after getting on oral regimen. I am in so much pain now, it is pretty much constant. I need to mention that I have a digestion issue, a chronic disease that badly affects my liver and oral antibiotics make me VERY sick. Me and my husband had to battle my gyno again, she keeps saying that if the first tie antibiotics didn't help, "you don't have anything wrong with you, go home". She kept telling me in the beginning that after a miscarriage/abortion and IUD insertion you can easily catch an infection even from my own bacteria, considering that I have a very compromised immune system due to chronic illness (untreated hypothyroidism with severe peripheral resistance to thyroid hormone). She refuses to try another antibiotic, refuses to listen when we tell her that I get better after injections but oral regimen clearly doesn't work, even argues that I "don't feel any pain" when she is examining me and I am pretty much in tears in her chair it hurts so , so much. Last time she could barely take the speculum out of me, I was crying in pain....What can I tell these people so they will aggressively treat me? I am so nauseous i just sit in bed trying not to move, and the pain is unbearable. I have been to the ER twice, they want me to keep seeing her...with my disability health insurance, i am stuck with this hospital. When I come to see her, my fever goes down (its cold outside) so she does not even believe me and my husband I have it....

thank you.

(I am 32, if this helps...it was my first pregnancy and first PID).

maria

**ItsASecret** · 10-24-2010 06:36 PM

Your doctor may be thinking that you will simply not take your oral antibiotics due to your condition, I am not saying that is what you are doing, I am saying that this is what she may be thinking hence not writing another prescription. The problem with antibiotics is that if you did not take them fully and completely on the first prescription the second may become null and void due to mutation in the bacteria causing them to become resistant. Other antibiotics may not work in that situation either. Again I am not saying this is what you did I am saying this is a possibility. As for what you can say...not much unless you can ask for something at least for the pain like a simple T3 codeine. They have your medical history so they will know about the lack of absorption of some oral medications due to your condition but it is difficult to give antibiotics via IV when more than one dose is necessary. The ER can also give you anti-emetic drugs to calm your nausea but you would need to be present with those symptoms the second you enter the ER or doctors office.

**TellTaleArt** · 10-24-2010 07:40 PM

...uhhh..I never said I don't take my medication. I was UNDERtreated with Flagyl (they forgot to give me a full dose) and then under-treated with Cipro (they did the same, only gave me 2 days of meds and forgot to put it on my record). Then somebody came into my hospital room and gave me yet another Flagyl pill -we didn't even know if there was any reason for that....After this continuous under-treatment I was given an injection that ade me feel better (Suprax) and a full course of Flagyl and then got much, much worse. Due to prior under-treatment I believe I can become resistant, yes, but I STILL need treatment, not a painkiller which I can't tolerate at all. I believe PID must be treated even if I don't have an STD.
She argues that despite my classic symptoms (pelvic pain, recurring fever, nausea, recurring vomiting, pain with intercourse, pain during examination) everything was taken care of, that's what she is doing.

**ItsASecret** · 10-24-2010 08:22 PM

If they did not put it in your records then that is a legal matter which you can pursue, they are supposed to write down every single prescription given. That can get a bit messy. But when you say under-treated did the doctor acknowledge that they did not give you the full dose?-I hope they did. Or did they just say here is your general prescription of Flagyl for a general amount of time (or something close to that?)-there is a typical prescription regiment for patients with this med and for the most part the same typical type prescription for Cipro. Full dose Flagyl will kill a good chunk of bacteria regardless of how many are resistant but it is odd that your infection got so much worse. I guess the only thing you can do is keep going to her, I mean PID does not automatically mean you have an STD so you are right there (its just a huge amount of cases actually do which is why doctors will jump to that) but a PID diagnosis can be made with a bunch of lab testing so its not like the doctor can ignore those results if they are collected. Have you tried bringing up a laparoscopy?

**TellTaleArt** · 10-25-2010 10:34 AM

...they made a mistake without recording it (gave me an injection and told me I will take home so much medication), and then gave me instead two pills, and forgot the rest, five different nurses got it messed up. Of course, they never admit to their errors-but both e and my husband are not idiots and note these things. Then I was all of a sudden given one dose of Flagyl again-one pill, some mishap again. Then I was told that was for yeast infection, then somebody came in and said I didn't have a yeast infection at that time...then they gave me an INCOMPLETE course of Cipro (how do I know? I simply looked it up and none of the generic courses are this short-2 days!) and only AFTER all this i got worse. I was finally given a full course of THE same Flagyl and given the SAME injection again, but it didn't work anymore. The doctor who gave me a full course said clearly that "I was inadequately treated before".

I know it's illegal but I am on state assistance and cannot pay lawyers, we tried to find somebody for another malpractice issue with another local hospital prior to this-noone simply wants to deal with it. This case, though, is not really a reason for me to try and sue-I just want to be able to MAKE them finally get their in gear and TREAT me. Last time I saw her, her supervising gyno tried to give me the spiel that "she examined me and it doesn't look like I have an infection and everything is great!" while I was squirming in her chair in pain. There are NO blood or culture tests for PID without an STD, I looked it up well. y own bacteria can be there, and infect all the same. Only clinical picture, pain, sometimes fever, pain/tenderness on examination.. nausea as well show that you have an infection.

Thank you for you time, and response:-)