404WJJeffery,

Have you tried any New York City doctors or hospitals?
We are renowned for medicine here. And not too far away
is Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland. Rochester, Minn
and Jacksonville, Florida offer Mayo Clinic facilities.
All these are worth thinking about I'd say. Would you
like for me to ask a doctor in New York who I see for
who he'd recommend?

Worth a read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayo_Clinic
Below are two excerpts:
1- Mayo Clinic specializes in hard-to-treat diseases, and is known for innovative and effective treatments for diseases that had gone undiagnosed or under-treated in the same patients with other doctors.
2- Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice and medical research group located in three metropolitan areas: Rochester, Minnesota, Jacksonville, Florida, and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Arizona, along with Mayo Clinic Hospitals and some satellite healthcare and research facilities in and near those cities (such as a few nearby satellite primary healthcare facilities and notably the specialty healthcare facility of Franciscan Skemp Medical Center in LaCrosse, Wis.). It is an integral part of the larger Mayo Health System of clinics, hospitals and medical research facilities and schools consisting of Mayo Clinic, Mayo Medical School, the Mayo Graduate School, the Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, Mayo School of Health Sciences, and several other health science Mayo Clinic partners with a number of smaller clinics and hospitals in Minnesota, Iowa, Arizona, Florida, and Wisconsin. Mayo Clinic specializes in hard-to-treat diseases, and is known for innovative and effective treatments for diseases that had gone undiagnosed or under-treated in the same patients with other doctors. Mayo Clinic is known for being at the top of most accredited quality standard listings. For example, it has been near the top of the US News and World Report of Best Hospitals for 20 years.[1] It accomplishes high medical quality through values such as "The needs of the patient always come first", by coordinating the efforts of its entire group of doctors, and by devoting over 40% of its resources towards research (rather than just medical practice). Mayo Clinic has been on Fortune magazine's “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America list for eight years in a row.[2][3]

The clinic started as a single, small outpatient facility, and later became America's first integrated group practice, a model that is now standard in the United States. However, Mayo Clinic integrates the practice of over 1,700 medical doctors, making it much larger than the typical group practice of 3 to 100 doctors.

Since about the year 2000, Mayo Clinic has also become known for achieving high quality at low cost. One extensive study found that the cost paid by insurers to treat Medicare patients in their last 3 years of life (the most expensive years) was only 54% of comparable costs in nearby clinics and hospitals. Mayo Clinic has been researched and presented many times during the passing of the 2009 healthcare reform bills in US Congress as a model to reduce healthcare costs while increasing quality for the nation. However, Mayo Clinic issued an open letter stating the healthcare reform bills as written in July 2009 would not reduce costs or increase quality nationwide.[4]

Mayo Clinic pays medical doctors a fixed salary that is unaffected by patient volume. This practice is thought to decrease the monetary motivation to see patients in large numbers and increase the incentive to spend more time with individuals. Salaries are determined by the marketplace salaries for physicians in comparable large group practices.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:

quote:

Originally posted by Grumulkin:

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:

Actually it's not even close, we spend more money with less results than many nations who provide better care with better results for their citizens at substantially lower per capita cost. It's a damn shame really.

Pray tell:

1. Which nations provide better care than the U.S.A.?

2. Which nations get better results than the U.S.A.?

Lower cost? Yes, that's easy. As I said, in the U.S.A., they want everything but don't want to pay for it.

Among others, Australia, France, Germany, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, and the UK.

If you want to start a separate thread on this, I'll be glad to discuss it with you anytime, but I'm not going to post anymore in this thread except for the one follow up copy and paste to get some of the non-brainwashed, or non-participants in the financial screwing of the public.

I'll wait and see if Joel can get a decent response to his problems. Let's see, so far, it's been a couple of years and "the best medical system in the world" has failed miserably. Not an uncommon result, especially for those who don't have insurance.

Yea, right.

Canadians come to the U.S.A. for gallbladder surgery because they can't get it expeditiously at home.

In the UK, you can also wait for paint to dry before getting something done.

At least in Canada, the UK and Germany, taxes are quite a bit higher so they're paying; just in a different way. I don't really know much about France, the Netherlands or New Zealand but last I knew, I hadn't heard of any one beating down doors to get their care there.

A lot of Europeans head to Amsterdam for serious health problems, so in a sense they are beating the doors down to get to the Netherlands for health care. Last year about this time my dad ended up in the hospital in Amsterdam on a trip to see the tulips - broke his hip. The care was excellent. Other aquiantances have gone to Australia for hip and knee replacements because of the high standards of health care and significantly lower cost.

Joel, I have to wonder what your doctor wrote on your chart that the specialist didn't want to see you. Perhaps a visit to a different GP would produce a chart with a little more impact? It sure doesn't sound like your primary doctor is doing you any favors.

I've business associates that have come back from South America with similar issues and had good luck with tropical disease specialists, so your strategy is excellent, your doctor just isn't helpful. Good luck with this - it has to be terribly frustrating

Chuck-

You are right, who knows what she wrote. She looked me over for tick bites and didn't see a red spotm so she said, ok it is not a tick bite. I said, well, the infection stays with you long after the bite, doesn't it? No response.

As I said, not too thrilled that she was scrolling the CDC site and looking u Bots to see what it might be, for all of 30 secs...

I am waiting for a referral to VA otherwise it is off to Boston for a referral there (hopefully).

If you haven't already done so you need to fire your idiot of a GP and see someone else.

We had the same kind of prob with a Birmingham doctor when my wife had cervical cancer. Female doc at UAB wanted to do as little as possible...for as long as possible and wouldn't listen to anything else. We fired her and got another doc at Brookwood Hospital. He basically said the other doc was an idiot playing with my wifes life.

troy

I agree with Troy. Joel, your GP is not taking care of you in any responsible way. Get a new GP.

And best of luck, Joel. If you don't get a referral, start over with a different GP that will actually listen to you. Being sick sucks, and being sick when you can't put your finger on a cause is worse.

A new approach to Lyme Disease:
https://gma.yahoo.com/man-rava...abc-news-health.html
Hope this could be useful
Regards

404:
What's happened since 2011 with this??

VA docs don't know it all either. My VA medic treated me for the many things causing the runs(shits) for months. Until finally I couldn't get out of bed and a neighbor took me to the ER. 28 days later, after 21 in a coma I learned I had Chron's disease and had almost died. Close enough the ICU doc told my sis to get prepared as they were going to pull the plug the next day as they didn't figure I was going to come out of it. I must have heard them as I woke up the next morning. Then it was off to a nursing home for another 9 wks.

Idiot surgeon had left almost 2 feet of infected colon/rectum in me. I just couldn't get well all the next 10 months. Finally my GI doc did tell me I had deeper problems than he could handle and shipped me to the "experts in Denver". Couple weeks later the new doc (Jon Vogel at Anschutz med ctr) gutted me again, this time he took it ALL and even the exit hole! I'm on a belly bag for life, but, I've gotten my health back.

Joel: sure hope you're doing better by now.
We need to learn where you're at with it now though. Thanks much for the update.
George

404,
Never caught the original thread but hoping your doing well.
How 'bout an update if your feeling up to it ?

Bob

BTW Lyme carrying ticks have been spreading quickly ! They are now in TX and the south east.
Lyme sometimes is accompanied by 2 or 3 other bacteria.
Last night I happened on a radio program where the guest was talking about Lyme .He said nothing has changed in 10 years .Some docs say it doesn't exist , some say if you get it it's forever , and everything in between.
I've just taken a forth or fifth test for Lyme in one year all positive ! The docs approach this gently , bit by bit.So I've regressed to what I was 1 year ago !Off to find a new doctor !!
I assume , as a metallurgist, that Lyme [because it's a spirochet and otherwise ]it needs higher doses and longer treatment .
Finding a doctor ? Even here in the Hot Spot of Lyme is difficult .Frustrating it's the only way.

I would follow my standard policy:

First, I don't seek medical advice on the internet.

Second, if I think I picked up something in Bots, I go see a specialist in diseases of the subsaharan area of Africa. They will know how to test and what to look for. (There are many).

[QUOTE]

First, I don't seek medical advice on the internet.

QUOTE]

+1

Is your Global Rescue membership is still up date? If so, you could contact them for a free consultation with Doctors from John Hopkins.

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana Bunduki:
[QUOTE]

First, I don't seek medical advice on the internet.

QUOTE]

+1

I disagree with you both. AR has proven to be an outstanding resource when it comes to treating odd medical problems.

In my experience most doctors are lacking in many areas of the medical field. You are far more likely to find a person here on AR who has had the same tropical disease that you are suffering from than you are to find a GP who has a clue about tropical diseases.

No one is seeking medical advice primarily from AR on this thread. AR is just one of the many resources that 404 was consulting. If you bothered to read the thread you would find that his doctors had FAILED TO HELP HIM.

When it comes to dealing with tropical diseases most doctors here in the US are about as worthless and a dollarstore cashier.

BTW George, 404 did update his condition in another thread. Just do a search in his profile.

Off to Lyme II .I'll try my best to have them remove ALL of the bacteria ! It's an uphill fight all the way.

He hasn't posted here in over a year and a half and, as of his last posts, there was no definitive finding regarding his physical problems. I hope he is doing well.