I want some advice on how to deal with a situation with my doctor and I want a perspective from the "inside" so to speak.

I have had problems with these headaches every day for 2 months. I've given lots of blood tests, brain scans, seen tons of specialists, blah blah. When I last left my doctor he gave me a blood test for allergies and a drug called innpran which is supposed to treat bloodpressure and/or migrains.

Well I wanted to call him and let him know that it was not working. I also wanted to discuss something new I'd discovered.

In all the testing various drugs and guessing about what was wrong with me, I was given steriods. The first few days when the dosage was at it's highest, I was totally pain free. As the dosage lowered I started to react and was violently ill by the end of the cycle...the doctor said it was a reaction to the steroids.

A year and a half I was given cataflam, an antiinflammatory for my monthly cramps. I hadn't had to take it in a while because I'm on depo and don't have cramps anymore. I had one pill left. Well I was out of the pain killer the doctor prescribed (percocets) and was desperate for relief so I took one.

That one little pill totally knocked the pain out for 8 hours...something even the percocets hadn't done.

All I wanted was to call him and tell him what had happened to find out what he thought about it and get a new perscription for SOMETHING while we were waiting for my allergy tests to come back. I mean obviously there is something to the fact that the only thing the headaches have really responded to is anti-inflammatories. That's a big clue, right?

Well I called monday at 9:00am, left a detailed message sketching over what I just told you, and did not get a call back. Tuesday, call and left another message, same thing. Wendsday, yet ANOTHER message, and still no return call and nothing called in for pain.

So by this time I am popping OTC anti-inflammatories (not much help) and feeling miserable so I decide to go to a differnet doctor. I call to get my medical records at 8:00am on Thursday and DESPITE THE FACT that the office IS open on saturday, I have to wait until Monday afternoon to pick them up.

Ok, doctors, nurses, I am really upset by this. I've had nothing for pain for days and I've just stopped taking anything because the OTC's were tearing up my stomach. The constant pain is driving me nuts.

Am I being totally unreasonable in my expectations of my doctor? Is it too much to ask to have him call me within 3 days or at least have a nurse call me with a message? Is it too much to ask that they'd at least be able to prepare my file for me so I can go elsewhere in LESS than 5 days??
Should I expect the same treatment with ANY doctor I go to?

should you have gotten a quicker response? Absolutely. Should records be prepared more quickly? Not necessarily. Assuming part of the problem is that your doctor and staff are very busy, such a thing would rightly be prioritized lower than other things.

When you see your doctor or a new one, ask them to consider the diagnosis of temporal arteritis, or other forms of vasculitis.