Do you need to meet your gastroenterologist

Hello All,

I visit here from time-to-time. I'm glad this forum exists!

I have Chronic Pain. The medicine I take blocks narcotics that would be given
if you were to have a colonoscopy. That's a scary thought.

I got a call from a doctor the other day. I didn't recognize his name. He started
asking me some pretty strange personal questions! And then ... I remembered ... I'd
asked my brand new internist to refer me to a Gastroenterologist.

I answered his questions. Childhood illness, mother's history, father's history, smoking,
drink, past illnesses ... all those.

Then he said he'd call me back with a time for my appointment. (I thought he meant an
appointment in the office - but no - he meant an appointment IN THE HOSPITAL!) He called
today.

In other words, I won't meet him until the day of the colonoscopy. I was so nervous
talking to him over the phone, I'm not sure I gave the correct answers.

To sum it up: I was referred to this man. He's most likely a fine doctor. Unfortunately,
I do not know my new internist well. He did NOT call my pain doctor who refers
my Methadone, The Gastroenterologist doesn't REALLY know my history. He doesn't
know what I'm like. Or how I'll take to this procedure.

Pamela Bumpain : )

I can understand wanting to meet with any doctor before they do any kind of surgery, but, that said, the procedure is relatively minor (in the grand scheme of things). I wouldn't worry about it, but, that's easy to say. I know what you mean about forgetting to ask / mention things, or not sure they got it.

Why don't you call them back and ask if you can chat once more with the doctor, either in office or again via the phone. Just tell the receptionist or nurse that you have a few more questions / concerns for the doctor. Be sure to write them down BEFORE you call, and have them ready (the nurse will probably try and answer most of them), but if there are any unique ones he/she will at least talk to the doctor on your behalf and get back to you so either way they'll be aware.

Whatever happens, I would certainly remind them of your concerns again in person when you go in for the procedure. I'm sure it's stuff they've experienced before and can accommodate.

Pamela,
Last year my PCP discovered I had severe anemia and wanted me to get scoped ASAP. My insurance had recently changed so I needed a new Gastroenterologist. I had a few recommendations from friends so I called around and took the first available appointment. It turned out to be with the nurse practitioner. She set me up to get scoped by the doctor but he wasn't available that day for me to meet him. I decided to go through with the procedure (my 6th or 7th) anyway because I needed to know if I was bleeding.

Anyway, the day of the scopings, I insisted that he speak to me and answer my questions before I was sedated. I let him do the procedures since I had already prepped but he wouldn't have been my first choice. (I would have left anyway if I had felt uncomfortable with him.) I had already checked out his history and reputation so I knew he was a good doctor but I realized we wouldn't work well together. This became really obvious when we had the follow up. He ruled out bleeding as the cause of the anemia and that's what I had hired him to check on.

You can insist that the doc speak to you before you are sedated and you should definitely talk to the anesthesiologist. I had one colonoscopy without sedation and it wasn't bad at all, just a bit of pain when they turned the corners. Some people have little to no pain so maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones.

Also, never assume that your doc is referring you to someone they know and trust. Sometimes, the office person just pulls out your insurance list and calls a random doc on the list.