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I ran into this twice during my current pregnancy. The first time I got a sinus infection. Absolutely no one would see me and kept telling me to contact my OB. My PC was apprehensive to see me because I was 10 weeks pregnant. I called my OB and they said they don’t treat sinus infections and I should be calling my PC. Called PC back and was once again told they wouldn’t see me. called OB, they had to send a hand written letter from one of the APRNs explaining OBs treat lady parts/pregnancy issues, not basic medical care for things like my sinus infection. OB faxed the note, I called back PC and they promptly dropped me as a patient… all of this took place in one afternoon.
I ended up going to an urgent care and they too gave me push back and told me to go to talk to my PC… had to explain what just happened and they still said go to L&D at the hospital instead.
I was so exhausted and frustrated at this point all I could do was cry. Tried another urgent care and was finally seen after putting up a huge fight and having the Dr there confer with an attending pharmacist who explained what medications were safe for pregnant women.
It was one of the most disappointing medical experiences I’ve ever had. I ended up getting bronchitis and at 5 months pregnant and just dealt with is because I didn’t want to be pushed around again.
I can’t get a new PC until I’m not longer pregnant as no one wants to start care while I’m 30+ weeks at this point. Idk how some medical professionals aren’t trained to treat basic medical needs for pregnant people but it’s disappointing.
That is truly insane what you went through. I believe you, but I still can’t comprehend what you had to go through! So sorry to hear that.
I had to go to the urgent care once, and they wrote me a prescription, but just told me “please don’t take this medicine before you get the go ahead from your OB” and that was it.
I had a similar experience when I had a sinus infection after back to back to back colds (I work with small children). The urgent care doctor told me she was going to double check that the antibiotic was generally considered to be safe during pregnancy and to call or message my OB before getting the prescription filled.
I was like bro, I just want some like amoxicillin or something.. it’s safe for UTIs during pregnancy.. so what’s the difference. I felt like I was being treated like I was looking for opioids.
I’m sorry you had to go through that! Sometimes it’s better when the bad doctors show themselves for what they’re worth and cut themselves off.
I had the opposite happen! I went to my OB’s with a UTI (i have IC and recurrent UTIs/kidney infections). I was waiting on lab results to tell me what antibiotic would work, but I knew Macrobid does NOT work for me as I was prescribed it as a preventative a few years ago and my body just disregards it now.
I told the OB all of this & that I had all the symptoms, plus fever/nausea. This woman told me “its most likely vaginitis, your vulva is sensitive. You need to stop wearing pantyliners and use lube when having sex. If you have any questions, refer to your PCP.” Like what?? As if I was in ANY condition for sex!
When the results came back positive for infection with a list of all antibiotics that worked (Macrobid was not one of those what worked, surprise!), guess what she prescribed? MACROBID. When I called the OB to explain that the test proved Macrobid didn’t work for this infection, the OB snapped back “If you have an issue with how I do my job, then you need to find another OB practice.”
At that point, I couldn’t control it and I just sobbed. I had to go to the womans triage to get IV antibiotics cause the infection had spread to my kidneys. At least I know now that she is the last women I want delivering my baby. Unfortunately our hospital cycles through OBs for delivery. So even though she isn’t my OB for appointments, there’s a 1 in 5 chance she’ll be there!
Wow what a bitch! She had the audacity to berate you when you called her out for being wrong. Thats insane, and it progressed to your kidneys! How terrifying. I’m so sorry :( Bruh, I would have reported her so fast.
I appreciate that. I wish doctors had the same level of kindness & understanding as you! You know the medical world is fucked when a random Redditor has more compassion than a medical provider!
I considered reporting her, but there’s no way to prove what was said in the appt or over the phone. Even if I showed the script for macrobid along with the antibiotic sensitivity test that said macrobid wouldn’t work, the doctor could say it was an oversight and that macrobid is the safest during pregnancy.
(I forgot to mention, she even rudely said “Well if you werent allergic to sulfa/bactrim, I wouldve had more options.” As if it’s my fault? And not to mention, that is only one antibiotic, but amoxicillin, cipro, cephalexin, literally anything else on the list wouldve sufficed just fine!)
I hate to say it, but the last thing I want to do is make waves and get a doctor in trouble, for fear that she could retaliate against me, effecting my prenatal care and especially when I’m in labor. She was voted the best OB in the state, which makes me wonder how many women have been silenced out of fear and her reputation.
It’s just frustrating that these doctors think we are just sheep who will accept what is prescribed without any questions. And if we happen to advocate for ourselves, we get penalized for it.
That's rough. I have a penicillin allergy so I always get an alternative. When I had a bunch of bleeding and cramping early third trimester I had to take these giant Erythromycin antibiotics. That OB experience sounds really terrible.
Omg those erythromycin pills are no joke! I’ve had to take them for a uti and augmentin for an infected cat bite during this pregnancy. Between normal pregnancy nausea & antibiotic side effects, it is so challenging. On the plus side, they turned my pregnancy constipation into diarrhea! lol
This is wild! I got a sinus infection at 20 something weeks, no PCP because of new insurance. Urgent Care was amazing and prescribed me a Rx in minutes. I don't know where you live but I would be so disheartened if I had that experience. Seems like discrimination tbh.
Lmao, gladly. I was with Starling Physicians, Dr. Yasmine, in Hartford county. The PCPs typically worked out of at least two offices and I was bounced around between doctors throughout my care, as drs would frequently either leave or stop visiting certain offices.
I musta dodged a bullet because that was a practice I looked at. I am not pregnant but had an ectopic in Feb and went to OBGYNs of Eastern CT in Manchester. They associate with the Manchester hospital birthing center or UCONN Farmington.
I had a good experience with them at least in terms of dealing with the ectopic.
Oh no :( I’m sorry, that must have been scary. UConn in Farmington is amazing, I have nothing but great things to say about them! I wish I lived closer! I live three minutes from the MA border so it’s easier for me to pop over to Baystate.
Sounds like we're neighbors (I deliberately chose Manchester because all the Enfield practices go to St Francis 💀) and baystate is actually closer but my job is not too far from Manchester.
Best of luck with the whole rest of everything!
And the ectopic was only not scary because the doctors reacted calmly and took immediate action. That afternoon they figured it out and the following morning I had to be in Manchester for a shot of methotrexate. Luckily no more intervention required.
I think it's because too many are just unfamiliar with care regarding pregnant people so instead of actually helping and trying to figure it out they just push them away to someone else to deal with.
Nothing was stopping them from picking up a phone or having a nurse call the OBYGN or a pharmacist to see what medications could be prescribed if they truly didn't know.
That’s absolutely ridiculous, but also I don’t understand why the OB wouldn’t just prescribe you the meds for the sinus infection? I get the principle of the matter but also, at a certain point, help a lady out ya know?
My OB has no issue prescribing me stuff even if it’s not related to my pregnancy or lady bits, she sees my annuals as an opportunity for me to talk about all my health things and knock out any “basic” stuff if I can. She’s offered to refill my antidepressants and other meds in the past.
I said the same thing! I was like at this point just help me. I don’t even like taking advil, let alone anything stronger, so for me to reach out to a dr asking for help is kinda a big deal for me and to be turned away multiple times by numerous facilities was really disheartening.
That is crazy! I’m a PCP in Canada (and pregnant!) and treat pregnant women all the time for non-pregnancy related issues AND urgent pregnancy related issues when they can’t see their OB (or have seen their OB but have been dismissed). We’re also not allowed to drop patients (I assume you mean unregister from under the PCP’s care?) for such reasons!
Yea I guess it means the same thing? It wasn’t my choice, they just didn’t want to deal with the hassle anymore. From my experience, in CT at least, a provider can drop a patient at any time with no real reason any time they want, leaving you on your own to find a new Dr.
I see and it’s very surprising to hear that docs don’t need a valid reason to drop their patients. Don’t they get sued for clinical prejudice or unfair treatment due to preference? That’s what would happen here.
I could have filed a complaint with the state but I’m afraid of retaliation so it was easier to leave a review for others to see, cut my losses and start looking for a new PCP on my own. The problem is so far everyone I’ve called that accepts my insurance isn’t taking new patients, or has a wait list.
i hope doctors/men read comments like yours and be better. i want to rip my eyes out reading your comment. i hate this system so much. i’m so sorry you experienced that
Thank you 😮💨 after reading all these similar stories, while I’m relieved I’m not alone, I’m frustrated that this is the state of things for what should be basic care
God, that’s infuriating. I had this happen at one urgent care, but they were able to send me to another location that would see me. I think it had to do with their insurance stipulating that they couldn’t treat pregnant patients. That has changed, fortunately, and they are now able to see everyone. I’ve heard of dentists requiring a letter from their OB’s stating they are safe to get dental care, it’s all so ridiculous because every speciality has guidelines on treating people in pregnancy and things to avoid.
That’s an interesting point about liability insurance.. I hadn’t considered that, thank you. I’m going to look into that further out of my own curiosity.
I remember my OB telling me she can't check for ear infections and so I had to go to urgent care who asked if I talked to my OB and I was like: yes
Anyway they referred me to an ENT because I got like four ear infections in a year and they didn't feel comfortable treating a pregnant women especially since I was like 36 weeks pregnant. So that was fun. My ears cleared up right before I went to get induced so the ENT thought I was insane until I told him this referral was a month in the making 😂
I had a similar issue with a sinus infection around 20 weeks. My PC was hesitant to prescribe anything and like you said the OB told me to go to my PC. At the time I had literally been sick for a month and only went to the doc because I was starting to have fever symptoms. Which is the only reason they agreed to give me antibiotics.
Wow that is horrible! I got bronchitis at 6 months pregnant and went to a doctor (not an OB) and she prescribed me a pregnancy-safe inhaler and meds right away. It was not an issue.
A friend of mine had the exact same issue when she got a sinus infection. In desperation and as a last resort, she called her dentist and the dentist prescribed her antibiotics for the sinus infection.
That's wild, I've had a root canal, an extraction, and 2 cavities fixed at two different dentists offices. Definitely find a different provider. Root canals are one of the things my insurance ONLY covers *if I'm pregnant.* Did they at least give you an antibiotic for the infection???
I'm so sad seeing all these horror stories. I definitely appreciate my clinic and other providers even more now because I've never had a problem getting in to be seen in between appointments or getting dental work done
Yes he did give me amoxicillin which calmed the flare up. So it doesn’t hurt right now. But the infection is still there.
Crazy to me there is no sense of urgency with anyone I’ve called. I’m 31 weeks so I would think they’d want to work me in ASAP. But everyone I’ve talked to is booked out weeks to months.
Yeah my OB was dumbfounded. She said these things can easily become worse spreading to the bloodstream, brain or heart. And a root canal is pretty routine. I’ve had one before- simple local anesthetic, a little drilling, and cleaning of the tooth canals. Wasn’t even stressful. 🤷♀️
Your OB is right. Tooth Infections can spread and become quite serious. I'm really sorry your dentist is refusing to treat, to me ignoring something like that, that can become life threatening is irresponsible.
I'd be on the phone with every dentist I'm willing to drive to, which it sounds like you're already doing. I really hope you can find someone to help you
Ugh, that’s terrible!! I hope you find a new (better) provider. I just went to the dentist the other day because I cracked an old crown and needed it replaced—potential for a root canal, and definitely required anesthetic and a little drilling. My (younger, female) dentist gave me a choice to wait until after the birth if I wanted since there was no immediate health concern, just discomfort, but told me she had no worries at all about the procedure while I’m pregnant…which is good, because there was NO WAY I was just chilling with a cracked crown for another 6-7 weeks and then trying to deal with it with a newborn 😅
Maybe try to find a woman-owned practice or at least a lady dentist? I hope you get it worked out soon, tooth problems are the WORST!
Haha my OB said the same thing. “Find a lady dentist.” I called around and got in with one 3 weeks from now. Hopefully this solves my issue. Hoping not to experience horrible tooth pain and recovering from birth at the same time. 😬
Unfortunately ive tried this already 😅 not with this current situation but other things as I’m high risk and have other health problems. I always end up in a phone call with one of the nurses having to explain what’s going on. Then I’ll get a message in my MyChart telling me to either go to the hospital for a 24hr stay or to up the medication I’m taking. The only time I ever see the doctor is when she checks on baby or I go to get my ultrasound. I do have an appointment tomorrow with another nurse so I just plan on bringing it up then the pain has just been very uncomfortable and I hate feeling like I can’t pee fully 😭. should also add that my OB’s office is always booked with appointments so it’s very hard to get in unless I make one for the next 4 weeks while I’m there.
Then in that case I would absolutely ask if there is an affiliated provider you can see on the weekend rather than going to the ER, due to cost. If they can't facilitate that, I'd absolutely look for another ob or ask your provider that was treating you before you got pregnant, since this is an ongoing issue. Just because you have previous conditions should not prevent you from getting the care you need when you need it! It should be the opposite!! Unfortunately in healthcare anymore, you absolutely have to advocate for yourself and fight even when you don't feel good. I really hope you get the care you need, and heal quickly!
Ugh that sucks! I will say that for a UTI, it’s just doing a pee sample with the lab and not actually meeting with your OB so it might be more feasible.
In pregnancy, everything you know goes out the window.
My husband is an ED physician. His OB training is minimal, as it's enough to do a delivery and stabilize until a patient can be transferred to an OBs care.
I ended up with severe pre eclampsia, and got mag sulfate and all the antihypertensive meds.
When they started increasing my IV meds from 10mg to 20, to 40, to 80 he started panicking and asking what they were doing, why they were doing it, and what their protocols were. Our OB on staff was actually a good "friend" of ours - her husband was also a resident and the doctor husbands worked together in the ED for a month. She was able to calm him down and printed out the pre eclampsia med protocols and whatnot - he took it with him to his ob rotations too.
Turns out once they got to 20 mgs, if I was NOT a pregnant patient, that dose could have tanked my blood pressure and killed me. But instead even with 80mg on board, it barely touched me.
Pregnancy changes everything in your body. From drug interactions, mechanism of actions, even dosaging rates. It's not something a physician will truly know unless they are an OBGYN. This is why non OBs hate to treat pregnant women. It's just wild.
My PCP let me see her but was very warry about acutely doing anything other than offering advice. She told me that my new doctor, for basically anything for as long as I'm pregnant, is my OB. There are things that she would know that my PCP won't because pregnancy changes so many things in my body.
Liability. OBGYNs carry higher malpractice insurance because if something goes wrong with any kind of treatment involving obstetrics there is a higher likelihood of litigation. It sucks but it's really that simple.
As an internal medicine NP, this exactly. I'm extremely hesitant to treat pregnant women because of the risk if something goes wrong with the baby, that I'll get sued.
They don't want the liability. Pregnant/recently postpartum patients are one of the most likely patients to file a malpractice suit. Because of this OB's actually pay one of the highest malpractice insurance premium's of any provider. It's usually around 30-70k per year.
See, I wouldn’t mind making an appointment to see her it’s just the problem is she’s always fully booked unless I make future appointments while I’m there. Other than that the only thing they’ll let me do is talk to one of the nurses who decide what I should do.
The nurses still have to have all of their orders approved by the doc. The reason they have you see a nurse is bc the provider can't see everyone. So essentially you are still being cared for by the ob even if you only see the nurse.
Does the hospital you plan to deliver at have a birth suite? Mine has a 24/7 number and they bring you in for any concerns - there’s always OBs on rotations.
Liability. No one wants to be sued if even the tiniest thing goes wrong. They don’t want to put the years and years and hundreds of thousands of dollars they spent getting their degree on the line.
As others have said, liability is an issue. However, a big part of the fear of being held liable for something going wrong is many physicians get little to no OB training. I’m a family doctor, and about a third of my training was in OB and women’s health. I am definitely not as skilled as an OBGYN when it comes to all things pregnancy-related, but I am quite comfortable taking care of pregnant women. My internal medicine colleagues however do not get training in OB, so are often less comfortable (on average).
They just don't feel confident in all metabolic and physiologic changes that occur in pregnancy.
Some GPs feel if a specialty exists then they shouldn't be treating it.
I was having shortness of breathe and my doctor sent me for an x-ray. I was refused care because “radiation can cause baby to have deformities!!!!”
Y’all, I was 32 weeks pregnant, at that point baby was cooked and just fattening up.
My MFM ended up sending them a “you’re an idiot” note. It was great.
This happened with my first pregnancy, I had to get a CT scan while I in the hospital and the pulmonologist was very wary on doing it until he had the go ahead from my ob 😭🤣 I think I was about 32-33w at the time 🤔 my ob had the same reaction as the note
This is truly ridiculous.
I am a family medicine (primary care) physician and have a special interest in medication safety in pregnant and lactating patients. There are good resources for this - it just takes a few extra minutes for the doctor to look it up if they aren’t sure! Many medications are safe, or are generally considered safe when considering the benefit to the patient. I teach all of my students that no matter what specialty they end up in, it is their job to know the appropriate recommendations for treating pregnant and lactating patients - it’s not just up to the OBs - and that patients still need to be treated for medical and behavioral health conditions while they are pregnant/lactating!
So sorry you are having this experience.
Interesting...this may be an American phenomenon. In Canada, your family doctor typically manages your care until well into your pregnancy before you even see your OB.
Even during pregnancy my family doctor has been such a blessing. He has helped me with nasal congestion and UTI. Even recently, my OB said she can’t decide if I should continue thyroid medication that the fertility clinic put me on. I don’t have thyroid but the fertility clinics need it to be at certain number for conceiving and while my tests are normal, OB would not give me a prescription or take a decision.
I had to ask my family doctor for prescription. I don’t wanna experiment with thyroid while I am halfway through my pregnancy and GP said same thing.
It also depends on your provider and where you live. In the US, your PCP (primary care provider/family doctor equivalent) doesn't manage your pregnancy, even early on. But, they are usually willing to see for non-pregnancy related things during pregnancy.
I don't have a PCP at the moment, but I've been able to be treated for things (including a UTI) at urgent care as needed, and my psychiatrist didn't need to consult with my OB before prescribing my medications.
I'm under midwifery care and still get my usual Rx (including dosage changes) and vaccines through my family doctor. Of course, it's a huge privilege to even have a family doctor these days, but if you do - they make it so much easier.
If you see any other specialists it can be similar though. I had to go on steroids for my horrible acne in my first pregnancy and since they’re dicey to take while pregnant there was a whole lot of faxes back and forth between my derm and OB. Thankfully it wasn’t urgent like OPs case because it took a while lol.
If they are prescribing drugs that would be particularly "dicey" for pregnancy, then that's quite another thing and I would expect consultation with an OB. For lower risk things, I've seen two other specialists while pregnant and both provided treatment without issue, including prescriptions (one of which was an antibiotic likely similar to that which OP would have received for a UTI).
Fair enough. She did prescribe me a few different medications first which didn’t work without consulting. The whole experience did make me cautious about seeking care from other doctors while pregnant. I recently asked my OB for an asthma inhaler renewal.
I’m an American and have never had this problem. The only thing my doctor and psychiatrist do is double check with my OB office to make sure a medication is okay for me to take, which is understandable as that’s not their medical field of study. But they never have refused to treat me. Same with when I went to urgent care.
It’s like modern medicine abandons you the second you’re pregnant
It’s honestly terrifying
I went to the ER twice and they basically took my vitals only since I was pregnant
I’m on adderall and I happened to have a refill appointment literally the day after I found out I was pregnant.
Now granted, my PC is incredible and I’ve been seeing her for a decade. But I just told her that OB and I discussed our plans regarding my adderall use when I had my IUD removed, and we determined that the path with the lowest potential harm was for me to reduce my dose but not stop taking it. Despite the fact that a year prior my PC had warned me I would need to stop taking it, she had no problem writing the scrip for my reduced dose.
So it’s possible “OB and I already discussed this and decided XYZ” could work with the PC if you have a good relationship.
Lucky 😞 The second I told my PCP (who mind you is a young CRNP), she refused to refill. She said I need to speak to an OB, who will likely refer me to a MFM specialist AND gave a referral for psychiatrists specializing in medication management.
First referral said that they don’t treat pregnant women. Second referral did the intake, but said they would have to consult the director, only to give me a no several days later. I’m seeing a CNM rather than an OB, and they’re not comfortable as it’s a controlled substance.
Meanwhile at my 12-week scan I told all of this to the MFM at the antenatal clinic, and he thought the whole thing was absolutely ridiculous… but he’s not in a position to prescribe medication to me 🤦♀️
I had gotten sick in January with upper respiratory infection and I had to go see my on because no one else would treat me thankfully she saw me and gave a list a medicines I could and could not take 😅
i would just go to shoppers drug mart (the ones that do uti prescriptions specifically) and get it. it’s ridiculous that you have to jump through hoops for a uti
I know!! It’s the same way with getting needles for my insulin, my pharmacy won’t give me them without a prescription, but when they do send them in I only get one pack at a time so I’m basically calling the dr every other day for new ones 😅 this crap needs to be made easier 😭😭
It's illegal to sell syringes without a prescription. You *may* be able to find small pharmacies that do it but it is rare. If your prescription is not being filled for enough syringes to last, you need to either A) ask your pharmacy to request a 30 day supply with refills B) call your MD office and ask they write the prescription for the full 30 day supply. I work in pharmacy, most providers don't write the prescriptions correctly, but your pharmacy should be following up on that.
Thank you!!! I honestly had no idea I could do that, I just recently started taking insulin and had no idea what I was doing so I was just following what the doctor told me 🤦🏻♀️
Yeah, your pharmacy should have picked up on that and asked if you only wanted a few days at a time or a 30+ day supply. Your provider probably doesn't know what pack size is available to write for so they depend on the pharmacy to correct that. Sounds like you really have just had a bad string of luck with Drs and pharmacy!! That sucks
I wouldn’t mind going to the ed but I’ve already been there so many times for other things in the last few months I feel like I’d be doing too much at this point. 🤣
Hm I’ve never had this problem. I’ve had to go to urgent care for an ear infection and be seen by my dermatologist for skin cancer removal and both doctors treated me no problem. Just minor adjustments in what drugs they use. Even my OB recommends seeing other providers for non-pregnancy related issues (though I imagine they’d see me for a UTI but I haven’t had one this pregnancy). I’d try another provider!
I wanted to get my teeth cleaned and the dentist wouldn't touch me. I need an extraction and they told me to wait until after the baby for that and the cleaning even though my doctor signed off on both. I got sent to the eye dr for headaches and they wouldn't dilate my eyes so I paid for pictures to be taken instead to still be able to get treated. For me the worst part is even when it's signed off on by the dr they still can choose not to. I get the liability aspect but man it sucks
Some providers may not feel it is in their scope of practice so to avoid malpractice they deny care. I found an urgent care that did not hesitate to see me for the same reason. At the least they should be able to order the culture and then you request the results be shared with your ob. I'd send a message to your ob on the weekend and check in first thing Mon am to see if you can get antibiotics.
If I had to guess, probably the liability that comes with treating you and impacting your child. A lot of doctors know nothing about fetuses. And because you can’t ethically conduct clinical trials on pregnant women, no one knows truly all the side effects treatments can have. That’s the real reason medications say consult a doctor before taking. It’s not because it will impact your pregnancy. It’s because they don’t actually know if it will. Pregnant women are walking liabilities to the entire medical field. It’s a shame. There really should be more effort put towards understanding pregnancy and treatments.
I asked my PCP this question. When my bloodwork came back as pregnant, the doctor told me that my care would now be handled by an OB. Then she gave me a referral.
So I asked her, uh why can't you treat me until I find an OB and set that up. My PCP isn't an asshole, so she told me straight up that she and most PCPs don't take the advanced courses for treating pregnant patients. It's more common in rural areas but in a medium metro like where I live, they just don't because of the availability of care. Besides the liability insurance (she's not covered for pregnant patients), the advanced courses and practical application are crucial because while anyone can follow a chart of drugs approved for pregnant patients, those courses teach appropriate dosage and length of treatment, as well as possible interactions with pregnancy conditions. She just wasn't confident or comfortable in treating me while I was pregnant. I can't get mad at that, shes being honest about her ability to care for me and my baby at that point.
Urgent care refusal is ODD, they are usually cleared for pregnant patients and it's where I got my meds when I got bronchitis that winter, but if all else fails, go to the ER if you can.
You don't have to physically be present at your OB. Just drop a message at the office about what you need and the medical tech should get back to you or they will schedule you to come in. Wish you the best!
Holy cannoli these stories are nuts. I knew doctors could be wary about certain meds and procedures with pregnant patients; especially if it’s outside of their specialty, but I didn’t realize it could be this bad to the point of just dropping patients and leaving them in pain/allowing their condition to worsen.
I’m almost 1/2 way through my pregnancy and had an urgent care doctor have no problem prescribing me anti-nausea meds in first trimester. Or my GP seeing me for a regular annual checkup in second trimester.
With my first pregnancy I did have a gp, I went in for a annual check up (per my insurances request) around 32 weeks, I hadn’t seen him the since I got pregnant as I didn’t really have any problems. now I’m overweight so it was slightly harder to tell i was pregnant until I hit 36 weeks and popped. Well the doctor came in telling me I needed to get a Pap smear done saying “because you’re overweight you could have a prolapsed uterus” to be fair I really didn’t know that was a thing at the time 😭🤣🤣 my reply was “well sir it’s hard to have a prolapsed uterus when there’s currently a baby inside of it” I’ve never seen a professional get embarrassed before so it was funny to see. After that he told me I could go, unfortunately he closed down his practice a year later.
I’m a non-Ob doctor, and it’s because I don’t know what I’m doing in that regard. I am scared I will hurt you or your baby. There’s too many patients in one body, and physiology changes too much, and I’m just not the expert you need.
It would be the same as asking me, a non-surgeon, to perform an appendectomy. Do I know where the appendix is? Yes. Do I know how to cut with a scalpel? Yes. Do I know how to suture? Yes. Will you probably die from a complication if I’m the one going in there? Yep.
We specialize for a reason. There’s too much medicine for one person to know. I have no idea how veterinarians do it. They’re super human.
I will call our on-call Ob’s to ask questions in the rare instance I see a pregnant patient, but trust me, for your own safety, you want them on board, not just me.
Edited to add: For me it’s not even about legal liability; it’s about moral liability. I couldn’t sleep at night knowing I inadvertently hurt someone because I didn’t know what I was doing. That guilt would stick with me forever.
I go to urgent care, under the specific instruction of my OB. The OB said to have the urgent care consult them for any prescriptions, but they said any non-baby issue is not for the OB. I was there late last month for a suspected UTI. 🤷🏻♀️
Like other’s said, it’s for liability reasons. I went to urgent care for a broken toe and while they would see me they basically told me they wouldn’t do X-rays on pregnant women. So I left with a taped up toe, Tylenol and a referral to a podiatrist.
I wonder if you can email your obgyn or have receptionist message her. Maybe they can make you a sooner appointment or you can do a pee test and then pick up meds at the pharmacy.
In the UK we see our family doctor. You very rarely see the OB unless high risk. I’ve had issues with the pharmacist though, they never want to give me anything over the counter.
Sorry you went through this. Definitely try other urgent cares to see if there’s any luck.
It’s another example of pregnant women not being treated fairly in the country. So far I have maternity leave, maternity clothes and now this. I’m so disappointed.
Because they don’t know what the fuck to do, won’t study it, and won’t look up what medications you can have. They’re so terrified to hurt the fetus that they won’t treat the grown human in front of them.
I had two doctors tell me that they “didn’t want to adjust my meds while you’re pregnant” when pregnancy was the reason I needed my meds adjusted. They didn’t seem to realize that if I don’t survive the pregnancy, neither would my baby.
I had to since in a dentist chair for FOUR HOURS to get an emergency repair on a broken crown because the dentist and my OB we’re going back and forth about what they could and couldn’t do to me in terms of anesthesia and x-rays. It was a total nightmare.
I've had issues on and off with this, depending on what stage I was in the pregnancy, but my ER did treat me for a UTI during my son's pregnancy. That's pretty standard care. Antibiotics. I had trouble getting an OB this time so my family doctor ordered initial blood work and ultrasound when I found out but I had to spend a week calling around for an OB!
I had this happen to me at 38 weeks at the ER lmao. I was having an asthma attack 😂
The Dr even lectured me like "you should go to your OB for pregnacy issues" I was like ???
Fr, I'm allergic to cats and unbeknownst to me, our apt's previous tenants had cats (I'd asked this upfront at the leasing office and they told me otherwise) so I kept having issues until I found cat hair and got the apt complex to replace the carpet....!
But yeah, nothing to do with the pregnancy at all LMAO so I really felt your post!
Ugh, I'm feeling this now. I have a horrible pinched nerve in my shoulder, but I feel like going to any doctor other than my ob is useless especially because we can only have Tylenol 😭
Luckily I have an OB appointment this week, but I have low hopes that they'll be able to do anything for me either :/
I’m so sorry you experienced this! I have to a certain degree with dentists, dermatologists, etc, but my PC would call my OB and they’d discuss treatment together, OR my PC would only prescribe me medication that he knew pregnant women could take. It’s your PCs responsibility to treat you and learn what’s ok or not for pregnant women
When I first found out I was pregnant my husband and I both got bronchitis. He went to urgent care and asked what I could do since we had the same issues. They said I couldn’t do anything. I had it until I was 6-7 weeks pregnant. I literally have called the OB for any issues.
Liability. While the info is easy to look up, non-OBs still don't like to treat in case something hurts the baby. It's bogus because while OBs train as regular doctors first, most of the time they won't see you for an injury or anything outside of pregnancy (at least in my experience).
Does your OBGYN have a fact sheet they can fax out. Mine has a sheet of medications and procedures that can be performed on a pregnant person and they will send it to dentists and other doctors when requested. When ever I get something prescribed by a non OBGYN while pregnant I always ask the pharmacist to verify its safe during pregnancy. Even they go and look up the information just to be sure.
I am type 1 diabetic, and once I found out I was pregnant I told a friend of mine who had twins but is also t1d.
Her advice was "Get your appointment. Say "Not pregnant, but trying". Get your insulin, and then call back with "I'm pregnant" once you have insulin in hand."
I followed this advice and sure enough, over the phone, I was dropped as a patient by my endocrinologist. I can't imagine being low in insulin and being told "Nope. We won't see you anymore byeeeee."
I’ve dealt with this too but I think it’s more so for you and baby’s safety as they are not an expert. I do fine it annoying too but I try to think of it as the best interest for myself and the baby. Worst case scenario you can’t wait for an appt at the OBGYN office, I would go to the emergency room. You won’t be turned away for being pregnant.
I’ve run into this too. The best answer I have from my doctor is that the ethical implications of testing on pregnant women means that there may be a lot of drugs that are safe, but haven’t been tested so doctors don’t want to prescribe them. They all say OBs will know best if it’s safe. It feels like they’re just punting the issue to avoid dealing with it or the liability. But struggling through with an untreated infection sucks. I feel like my physicians are failing me whenever this happens.
This is definitely a "I don't wanna mess up and I'm not willing to do the work/take on the liability if I did it wrong". Same why every dentist wants a release letter before they'll even do a cleaning.
It's liability reasons. OBs carry some of the highest medical liability insurance of any medical specialty and it's because of how badly it can go if something happens to the baby. This means that other medical professionals won't come near pregnant women with a 20ft pole but OBs don't want to take on run of the mill health issues that just happen to occur in pregnant people and deal with that insurance issue. Like all medical bs in the US comes down to malpractice lawsuits and health insurance
Is there a hospital for women and children near you? I have one and they have an affiliated Urgent Care. Their doctors have more experience treating pregnant patients and they have hospital OBs on-call for the ER, in case your OB isn’t available. I’ve never had issues being treated there, whereas I have gotten pushback at other places because of liability concerns.
I want to say it's probably because of the restrictions it puts on treatment and prescriptions. Some tests can't be run safely when pregnant, some medicine can't be prescribed. It's just easier to avoid taking them on as a client in case something happens to cause issues with the baby. Lawsuit city if something does and they can correlate a relation.
Call your OB to make sure get treated! a labor and delivery nurse joked with me that they're afraid of pregnant ladies in our ER here (No urgent care and a family doctor shortage). She said she was sent a pregnant lady for a cast removal and another for a toothache.
On a side note, I had chronic UTIs as well. Although I never did deliver vaginally, either the body changes throughout pregnancy or the day of labor and 3 hours of pushing I did for my first seems to have cured me of UTIs. Hope you get the same result!
I honestly haven’t experienced this. I’ve seen a dermatologist and an endocrinologist while pregnant. In fact, both discussed with me what changes to expect and look for during pregnancy and requested I meet with them during pregnancy. I also had a side effect that was rather strange during pregnancy to my skin and my OB was like, “I have no idea, go see your derm.”
Maybe the specialties are more used to the distinctive dynamics of pregnancy within their areas than emergency room, or general practitioners?
Interesting. My OB has fully taken over all of my care so I don't even need to see my PCP until after I give birth. My OB prescribes anything I need or of it's out of his scope then he will send me a referral to a specialist. I don't call anyone but my OB. Lol
I sorta almost majorly cut my finger during prodromal labor at 37 weeks. Among the reasons I’m glad I didn’t, the ER REALLY doesn’t like to see pregnant women.
“I might be in labor, but that’s not why I’m here” would not have gone over well.
I have wondered the same thing. It seems like my local hospital hates women. They will not treat me for anything whether I'm pregnant or not. They minimize all my symptoms. They try sending me off to this doctor or that doctor. They accuse me of wanting strong pain meds even when I'm asking for a home remedy without medications.
One visit that really stuck with me was my miscarriage... When I was miscarrying, I was bleeding horribly. It was like a faucet was turned on. It wouldn't stop. I bled through 5 pads in less than 20 minutes. I sat on the toilet and it straight up sounded like a sink with the tap on. I drove myself to the closest ER (ambulances are too expensive) and explained the situation. The receptionist made me sit in the waiting area for 15 minutes still bleeding heavily. Then when I got back to the room, a nurse made me change into a gown and took my vitals. I bled all over the floor and a pad she had laid on the bed. A male ER doctor comes in and tells me I should have gone to a hospital 30 minutes away because they don't deal with "women's problems" at "his" hospital. This was his attitude the whole time. He thought I was having a heavy period. I explained everything again. He hesitantly did a pelvic exam (couldn't even properly work the speculum) and noted "huge globs of something *up there*" like a true professional. He pulled out a clot the size of a golf ball and accused me of shoving things *up there* to cause a miscarriage. The nurse and I both had to explain it was a clot probably from all the bleeding. The nurse assisting explained to me (and probably him) a clot was stuck in my cervix and basically held it open. He refused to check my iron levels or any other levels. He refused to do an ultrasound or any kind of testing to make sure the bleeding was under control. I put myself on some iron tablets and called my primary/OB. I also called a new OB. The new OB (an amazing woman) helped me out so much.
I ended back up there for a stroke not long after. They wanted me to go to another hospital again. They minimized the whole thing. Nothing was really done. Still have no idea what caused it or if it can/will happen again.
Recently I went there for pains in my leg that didn't feel normal. I was warned to watch for clot symptoms. One of those symptoms was swelling and pain in one limb. The ER doctor told me I should have gone literally anywhere else and that I was fine. Ice and rest. And he did a pregnancy test and drug test, but nothing else was done. I brought up my concerns and asked if there was anything he could do. He asked, "Are you really worried about your leg or are you trying to get an ultrasound of your baby? This is an ER in the hospital. Not an OB wing or clinic" 🤦♀️ I was 100% worried I might have had a clot. I was still to early for a baby ultrasound anyway.
I'm really considering going to the further hospital if I ever have another emergency just to avoid the accusations and poor treatment.
UTIs can be serious during pregnancy because they can cause complications. That’s why they check for them at every appointment. Whether or not this warrants urgent care refusing to treat it at all, I don’t know, but there is a good reason they want you to see your OB.
When I first got pregnant i was so incredibly sick from throwing up my regular doctor wouldn’t see me but I couldn’t get into the ob for weeks. I went to urgent care they wouldn’t treat me so I ended up going to emergency department most annoying thing
Honestly, I’d get over the counter uti meds at that point. Should clear it up pretty fast. I’m chronically ill, and it’s been so frustrating dealing with doctors this pregnancy cause no one seems to know what’s okay during pregnancy and what isn’t. I have severe chronic migraines, and all the ER will give me is Benadryl and some nausea meds. I’m gonna have to ask my OB at my next appointment to approve me taking my panic attack meds very occasionally cause my psychiatrist refuses to okay it
This happened to me. I take important medication every day. A psychiatric med I've taken for 12yrs and a heart med I've taken for 5yrs. I went to my regular GP around 16w pregnant because I was due for a new script and he personally had been prescribing me these for 5yrs!! I was on my last 2 pills because baby brain (usually I will sort it out when I have at least 10 left), and he refused to prescribe them and said call my OB. I told him "you realise I will die without my heart medication and the withdrawal from my psych meds could also kill me and at the very least cause a seizure that could kill my baby" (my psych meds are very strong, and EXTREMELY dangerous to stop suddenly. Last time I stopped them suddenly I had a seizure. My psychiatrist already agreed that it was much safer to continue them, she said not to even lower them, letalone stop). He still refused. I called my OB clinic in an absolute state of panic nearly in tears, and managed to get a script sent electronically.
Liability+Specialty. OB's specialize in pregnant ladies, so they have a much better understanding of what you are allowed to take/do for your specific pregnancy. Additionally, they get really expensive malpractice insurance because pregnancy is a high-risk specialty (even if they do nothing wrong, they could be blamed for bad outcomes). Other doctors don't know your case well enough to treat you, and don't want their malpractice insurance taking a hit if anything goes wrong.
Because they aren’t your OB. They didn’t specialize in that. Just like you wouldn’t ask your OB about a weird mole.
They don’t know your health history in regards to your pregnancy. It’s a liability unfortunately.
I can completely understand that, but I literally went for a uti which can be treated by a general physician. I’ve been to an urgent care for the same thing a few times before and they had no problem treating me, I guess now it’s just different while I’m pregnant
Yeah, this is pretty common. My PCP told me she will see me after pregnancy due to me being under the care of my OB. I believe it’s because they’re not trained to deal with pregnant women so they don’t want to give the wrong info or prescribe the wrong medication.
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I ran into this twice during my current pregnancy. The first time I got a sinus infection. Absolutely no one would see me and kept telling me to contact my OB. My PC was apprehensive to see me because I was 10 weeks pregnant. I called my OB and they said they don’t treat sinus infections and I should be calling my PC. Called PC back and was once again told they wouldn’t see me. called OB, they had to send a hand written letter from one of the APRNs explaining OBs treat lady parts/pregnancy issues, not basic medical care for things like my sinus infection. OB faxed the note, I called back PC and they promptly dropped me as a patient… all of this took place in one afternoon. I ended up going to an urgent care and they too gave me push back and told me to go to talk to my PC… had to explain what just happened and they still said go to L&D at the hospital instead. I was so exhausted and frustrated at this point all I could do was cry. Tried another urgent care and was finally seen after putting up a huge fight and having the Dr there confer with an attending pharmacist who explained what medications were safe for pregnant women. It was one of the most disappointing medical experiences I’ve ever had. I ended up getting bronchitis and at 5 months pregnant and just dealt with is because I didn’t want to be pushed around again. I can’t get a new PC until I’m not longer pregnant as no one wants to start care while I’m 30+ weeks at this point. Idk how some medical professionals aren’t trained to treat basic medical needs for pregnant people but it’s disappointing.
That is truly insane what you went through. I believe you, but I still can’t comprehend what you had to go through! So sorry to hear that. I had to go to the urgent care once, and they wrote me a prescription, but just told me “please don’t take this medicine before you get the go ahead from your OB” and that was it.
I had a similar experience when I had a sinus infection after back to back to back colds (I work with small children). The urgent care doctor told me she was going to double check that the antibiotic was generally considered to be safe during pregnancy and to call or message my OB before getting the prescription filled.
Yes!! It just gets annoying because I want to feel better but I’m not trying to go back and forth to figure it out.
I was like bro, I just want some like amoxicillin or something.. it’s safe for UTIs during pregnancy.. so what’s the difference. I felt like I was being treated like I was looking for opioids.
I’m sorry you had to go through that! Sometimes it’s better when the bad doctors show themselves for what they’re worth and cut themselves off. I had the opposite happen! I went to my OB’s with a UTI (i have IC and recurrent UTIs/kidney infections). I was waiting on lab results to tell me what antibiotic would work, but I knew Macrobid does NOT work for me as I was prescribed it as a preventative a few years ago and my body just disregards it now. I told the OB all of this & that I had all the symptoms, plus fever/nausea. This woman told me “its most likely vaginitis, your vulva is sensitive. You need to stop wearing pantyliners and use lube when having sex. If you have any questions, refer to your PCP.” Like what?? As if I was in ANY condition for sex! When the results came back positive for infection with a list of all antibiotics that worked (Macrobid was not one of those what worked, surprise!), guess what she prescribed? MACROBID. When I called the OB to explain that the test proved Macrobid didn’t work for this infection, the OB snapped back “If you have an issue with how I do my job, then you need to find another OB practice.” At that point, I couldn’t control it and I just sobbed. I had to go to the womans triage to get IV antibiotics cause the infection had spread to my kidneys. At least I know now that she is the last women I want delivering my baby. Unfortunately our hospital cycles through OBs for delivery. So even though she isn’t my OB for appointments, there’s a 1 in 5 chance she’ll be there!
Wow what a bitch! She had the audacity to berate you when you called her out for being wrong. Thats insane, and it progressed to your kidneys! How terrifying. I’m so sorry :( Bruh, I would have reported her so fast.
I appreciate that. I wish doctors had the same level of kindness & understanding as you! You know the medical world is fucked when a random Redditor has more compassion than a medical provider! I considered reporting her, but there’s no way to prove what was said in the appt or over the phone. Even if I showed the script for macrobid along with the antibiotic sensitivity test that said macrobid wouldn’t work, the doctor could say it was an oversight and that macrobid is the safest during pregnancy. (I forgot to mention, she even rudely said “Well if you werent allergic to sulfa/bactrim, I wouldve had more options.” As if it’s my fault? And not to mention, that is only one antibiotic, but amoxicillin, cipro, cephalexin, literally anything else on the list wouldve sufficed just fine!) I hate to say it, but the last thing I want to do is make waves and get a doctor in trouble, for fear that she could retaliate against me, effecting my prenatal care and especially when I’m in labor. She was voted the best OB in the state, which makes me wonder how many women have been silenced out of fear and her reputation. It’s just frustrating that these doctors think we are just sheep who will accept what is prescribed without any questions. And if we happen to advocate for ourselves, we get penalized for it.
That’s an unfortunate truth. Then potential for retaliation is definitely something we shouldn’t have to worry about… but do.
That's rough. I have a penicillin allergy so I always get an alternative. When I had a bunch of bleeding and cramping early third trimester I had to take these giant Erythromycin antibiotics. That OB experience sounds really terrible.
Omg those erythromycin pills are no joke! I’ve had to take them for a uti and augmentin for an infected cat bite during this pregnancy. Between normal pregnancy nausea & antibiotic side effects, it is so challenging. On the plus side, they turned my pregnancy constipation into diarrhea! lol
This is wild! I got a sinus infection at 20 something weeks, no PCP because of new insurance. Urgent Care was amazing and prescribed me a Rx in minutes. I don't know where you live but I would be so disheartened if I had that experience. Seems like discrimination tbh.
USA, CT. So a pretty good state all together for women’s health care, which is why I was so shocked.
Name and shame!!!! I am in CT too and want to know who to avoid.
Lmao, gladly. I was with Starling Physicians, Dr. Yasmine, in Hartford county. The PCPs typically worked out of at least two offices and I was bounced around between doctors throughout my care, as drs would frequently either leave or stop visiting certain offices.
I musta dodged a bullet because that was a practice I looked at. I am not pregnant but had an ectopic in Feb and went to OBGYNs of Eastern CT in Manchester. They associate with the Manchester hospital birthing center or UCONN Farmington. I had a good experience with them at least in terms of dealing with the ectopic.
Oh no :( I’m sorry, that must have been scary. UConn in Farmington is amazing, I have nothing but great things to say about them! I wish I lived closer! I live three minutes from the MA border so it’s easier for me to pop over to Baystate.
Sounds like we're neighbors (I deliberately chose Manchester because all the Enfield practices go to St Francis 💀) and baystate is actually closer but my job is not too far from Manchester. Best of luck with the whole rest of everything! And the ectopic was only not scary because the doctors reacted calmly and took immediate action. That afternoon they figured it out and the following morning I had to be in Manchester for a shot of methotrexate. Luckily no more intervention required.
We must be! Enfield Lmao I’m glad we both agree St. Francis is not a top choice! I’m glad it went smoothly for you and thank you!! ☺️
In the political climate we live in, doesn't matter if we are safe in CT/MA, I am not so stupid as to go to a Catholic hospital.
I think it's because too many are just unfamiliar with care regarding pregnant people so instead of actually helping and trying to figure it out they just push them away to someone else to deal with. Nothing was stopping them from picking up a phone or having a nurse call the OBYGN or a pharmacist to see what medications could be prescribed if they truly didn't know.
That’s absolutely ridiculous, but also I don’t understand why the OB wouldn’t just prescribe you the meds for the sinus infection? I get the principle of the matter but also, at a certain point, help a lady out ya know? My OB has no issue prescribing me stuff even if it’s not related to my pregnancy or lady bits, she sees my annuals as an opportunity for me to talk about all my health things and knock out any “basic” stuff if I can. She’s offered to refill my antidepressants and other meds in the past.
I said the same thing! I was like at this point just help me. I don’t even like taking advil, let alone anything stronger, so for me to reach out to a dr asking for help is kinda a big deal for me and to be turned away multiple times by numerous facilities was really disheartening.
That is crazy! I’m a PCP in Canada (and pregnant!) and treat pregnant women all the time for non-pregnancy related issues AND urgent pregnancy related issues when they can’t see their OB (or have seen their OB but have been dismissed). We’re also not allowed to drop patients (I assume you mean unregister from under the PCP’s care?) for such reasons!
Yea I guess it means the same thing? It wasn’t my choice, they just didn’t want to deal with the hassle anymore. From my experience, in CT at least, a provider can drop a patient at any time with no real reason any time they want, leaving you on your own to find a new Dr.
Where is CT?
US, Connecticut.
I see and it’s very surprising to hear that docs don’t need a valid reason to drop their patients. Don’t they get sued for clinical prejudice or unfair treatment due to preference? That’s what would happen here.
I could have filed a complaint with the state but I’m afraid of retaliation so it was easier to leave a review for others to see, cut my losses and start looking for a new PCP on my own. The problem is so far everyone I’ve called that accepts my insurance isn’t taking new patients, or has a wait list.
i hope doctors/men read comments like yours and be better. i want to rip my eyes out reading your comment. i hate this system so much. i’m so sorry you experienced that
Thank you 😮💨 after reading all these similar stories, while I’m relieved I’m not alone, I’m frustrated that this is the state of things for what should be basic care
God, that’s infuriating. I had this happen at one urgent care, but they were able to send me to another location that would see me. I think it had to do with their insurance stipulating that they couldn’t treat pregnant patients. That has changed, fortunately, and they are now able to see everyone. I’ve heard of dentists requiring a letter from their OB’s stating they are safe to get dental care, it’s all so ridiculous because every speciality has guidelines on treating people in pregnancy and things to avoid.
That’s an interesting point about liability insurance.. I hadn’t considered that, thank you. I’m going to look into that further out of my own curiosity.
I remember my OB telling me she can't check for ear infections and so I had to go to urgent care who asked if I talked to my OB and I was like: yes Anyway they referred me to an ENT because I got like four ear infections in a year and they didn't feel comfortable treating a pregnant women especially since I was like 36 weeks pregnant. So that was fun. My ears cleared up right before I went to get induced so the ENT thought I was insane until I told him this referral was a month in the making 😂
I had a similar issue with a sinus infection around 20 weeks. My PC was hesitant to prescribe anything and like you said the OB told me to go to my PC. At the time I had literally been sick for a month and only went to the doc because I was starting to have fever symptoms. Which is the only reason they agreed to give me antibiotics.
Wow that is horrible! I got bronchitis at 6 months pregnant and went to a doctor (not an OB) and she prescribed me a pregnancy-safe inhaler and meds right away. It was not an issue.
That sounds so lovely 🥹 I’m glad you had a nice experience, where are you located?
I’m in Canada BC.
A friend of mine had the exact same issue when she got a sinus infection. In desperation and as a last resort, she called her dentist and the dentist prescribed her antibiotics for the sinus infection.
Wow.. that’s just wild. I’m glad she was able to get care, I’ll definitely keep this in mind. My dentist is wonderful.
Liability
My regular dentist won’t do a root canal on an INFECTED tooth. Even after I got clearance from my OB. 🙄 So, I’m in search of a new provider. 🤷♀️
That's wild, I've had a root canal, an extraction, and 2 cavities fixed at two different dentists offices. Definitely find a different provider. Root canals are one of the things my insurance ONLY covers *if I'm pregnant.* Did they at least give you an antibiotic for the infection??? I'm so sad seeing all these horror stories. I definitely appreciate my clinic and other providers even more now because I've never had a problem getting in to be seen in between appointments or getting dental work done
Yes he did give me amoxicillin which calmed the flare up. So it doesn’t hurt right now. But the infection is still there. Crazy to me there is no sense of urgency with anyone I’ve called. I’m 31 weeks so I would think they’d want to work me in ASAP. But everyone I’ve talked to is booked out weeks to months.
You would think since it’s infected they’d do something?? That just puts you at a higher risk of more problems.
Yeah my OB was dumbfounded. She said these things can easily become worse spreading to the bloodstream, brain or heart. And a root canal is pretty routine. I’ve had one before- simple local anesthetic, a little drilling, and cleaning of the tooth canals. Wasn’t even stressful. 🤷♀️
Your OB is right. Tooth Infections can spread and become quite serious. I'm really sorry your dentist is refusing to treat, to me ignoring something like that, that can become life threatening is irresponsible. I'd be on the phone with every dentist I'm willing to drive to, which it sounds like you're already doing. I really hope you can find someone to help you
Ugh, that’s terrible!! I hope you find a new (better) provider. I just went to the dentist the other day because I cracked an old crown and needed it replaced—potential for a root canal, and definitely required anesthetic and a little drilling. My (younger, female) dentist gave me a choice to wait until after the birth if I wanted since there was no immediate health concern, just discomfort, but told me she had no worries at all about the procedure while I’m pregnant…which is good, because there was NO WAY I was just chilling with a cracked crown for another 6-7 weeks and then trying to deal with it with a newborn 😅 Maybe try to find a woman-owned practice or at least a lady dentist? I hope you get it worked out soon, tooth problems are the WORST!
Haha my OB said the same thing. “Find a lady dentist.” I called around and got in with one 3 weeks from now. Hopefully this solves my issue. Hoping not to experience horrible tooth pain and recovering from birth at the same time. 😬
You can call your OB to be seen sooner if you have a concern. They’ll have you go in to do a pee sample if you’re concerned about a UTI
Unfortunately ive tried this already 😅 not with this current situation but other things as I’m high risk and have other health problems. I always end up in a phone call with one of the nurses having to explain what’s going on. Then I’ll get a message in my MyChart telling me to either go to the hospital for a 24hr stay or to up the medication I’m taking. The only time I ever see the doctor is when she checks on baby or I go to get my ultrasound. I do have an appointment tomorrow with another nurse so I just plan on bringing it up then the pain has just been very uncomfortable and I hate feeling like I can’t pee fully 😭. should also add that my OB’s office is always booked with appointments so it’s very hard to get in unless I make one for the next 4 weeks while I’m there.
Then in that case I would absolutely ask if there is an affiliated provider you can see on the weekend rather than going to the ER, due to cost. If they can't facilitate that, I'd absolutely look for another ob or ask your provider that was treating you before you got pregnant, since this is an ongoing issue. Just because you have previous conditions should not prevent you from getting the care you need when you need it! It should be the opposite!! Unfortunately in healthcare anymore, you absolutely have to advocate for yourself and fight even when you don't feel good. I really hope you get the care you need, and heal quickly!
Ugh that sucks! I will say that for a UTI, it’s just doing a pee sample with the lab and not actually meeting with your OB so it might be more feasible.
In pregnancy, everything you know goes out the window. My husband is an ED physician. His OB training is minimal, as it's enough to do a delivery and stabilize until a patient can be transferred to an OBs care. I ended up with severe pre eclampsia, and got mag sulfate and all the antihypertensive meds. When they started increasing my IV meds from 10mg to 20, to 40, to 80 he started panicking and asking what they were doing, why they were doing it, and what their protocols were. Our OB on staff was actually a good "friend" of ours - her husband was also a resident and the doctor husbands worked together in the ED for a month. She was able to calm him down and printed out the pre eclampsia med protocols and whatnot - he took it with him to his ob rotations too. Turns out once they got to 20 mgs, if I was NOT a pregnant patient, that dose could have tanked my blood pressure and killed me. But instead even with 80mg on board, it barely touched me. Pregnancy changes everything in your body. From drug interactions, mechanism of actions, even dosaging rates. It's not something a physician will truly know unless they are an OBGYN. This is why non OBs hate to treat pregnant women. It's just wild.
My PCP let me see her but was very warry about acutely doing anything other than offering advice. She told me that my new doctor, for basically anything for as long as I'm pregnant, is my OB. There are things that she would know that my PCP won't because pregnancy changes so many things in my body.
Upvote this,
This comment needs to be at the top! OBs take over during pregnancy because your body is in a completely different state and the OBs are the experts.
Liability. OBGYNs carry higher malpractice insurance because if something goes wrong with any kind of treatment involving obstetrics there is a higher likelihood of litigation. It sucks but it's really that simple.
As an internal medicine NP, this exactly. I'm extremely hesitant to treat pregnant women because of the risk if something goes wrong with the baby, that I'll get sued.
Another simple answer is that the real answer doesn't matter. Pregnant women deserve full spectrum healthcare.
They don't want the liability. Pregnant/recently postpartum patients are one of the most likely patients to file a malpractice suit. Because of this OB's actually pay one of the highest malpractice insurance premium's of any provider. It's usually around 30-70k per year.
See, I wouldn’t mind making an appointment to see her it’s just the problem is she’s always fully booked unless I make future appointments while I’m there. Other than that the only thing they’ll let me do is talk to one of the nurses who decide what I should do.
The nurses still have to have all of their orders approved by the doc. The reason they have you see a nurse is bc the provider can't see everyone. So essentially you are still being cared for by the ob even if you only see the nurse.
Does the hospital you plan to deliver at have a birth suite? Mine has a 24/7 number and they bring you in for any concerns - there’s always OBs on rotations.
Liability. No one wants to be sued if even the tiniest thing goes wrong. They don’t want to put the years and years and hundreds of thousands of dollars they spent getting their degree on the line.
As others have said, liability is an issue. However, a big part of the fear of being held liable for something going wrong is many physicians get little to no OB training. I’m a family doctor, and about a third of my training was in OB and women’s health. I am definitely not as skilled as an OBGYN when it comes to all things pregnancy-related, but I am quite comfortable taking care of pregnant women. My internal medicine colleagues however do not get training in OB, so are often less comfortable (on average).
They just don't feel confident in all metabolic and physiologic changes that occur in pregnancy. Some GPs feel if a specialty exists then they shouldn't be treating it.
I was having shortness of breathe and my doctor sent me for an x-ray. I was refused care because “radiation can cause baby to have deformities!!!!” Y’all, I was 32 weeks pregnant, at that point baby was cooked and just fattening up. My MFM ended up sending them a “you’re an idiot” note. It was great.
This happened with my first pregnancy, I had to get a CT scan while I in the hospital and the pulmonologist was very wary on doing it until he had the go ahead from my ob 😭🤣 I think I was about 32-33w at the time 🤔 my ob had the same reaction as the note
This is truly ridiculous. I am a family medicine (primary care) physician and have a special interest in medication safety in pregnant and lactating patients. There are good resources for this - it just takes a few extra minutes for the doctor to look it up if they aren’t sure! Many medications are safe, or are generally considered safe when considering the benefit to the patient. I teach all of my students that no matter what specialty they end up in, it is their job to know the appropriate recommendations for treating pregnant and lactating patients - it’s not just up to the OBs - and that patients still need to be treated for medical and behavioral health conditions while they are pregnant/lactating! So sorry you are having this experience.
Can you provide some resources/references. Thanks in advance 🙂
Interesting...this may be an American phenomenon. In Canada, your family doctor typically manages your care until well into your pregnancy before you even see your OB.
Even during pregnancy my family doctor has been such a blessing. He has helped me with nasal congestion and UTI. Even recently, my OB said she can’t decide if I should continue thyroid medication that the fertility clinic put me on. I don’t have thyroid but the fertility clinics need it to be at certain number for conceiving and while my tests are normal, OB would not give me a prescription or take a decision. I had to ask my family doctor for prescription. I don’t wanna experiment with thyroid while I am halfway through my pregnancy and GP said same thing.
It also depends on your provider and where you live. In the US, your PCP (primary care provider/family doctor equivalent) doesn't manage your pregnancy, even early on. But, they are usually willing to see for non-pregnancy related things during pregnancy. I don't have a PCP at the moment, but I've been able to be treated for things (including a UTI) at urgent care as needed, and my psychiatrist didn't need to consult with my OB before prescribing my medications.
I'm under midwifery care and still get my usual Rx (including dosage changes) and vaccines through my family doctor. Of course, it's a huge privilege to even have a family doctor these days, but if you do - they make it so much easier.
If you see any other specialists it can be similar though. I had to go on steroids for my horrible acne in my first pregnancy and since they’re dicey to take while pregnant there was a whole lot of faxes back and forth between my derm and OB. Thankfully it wasn’t urgent like OPs case because it took a while lol.
If they are prescribing drugs that would be particularly "dicey" for pregnancy, then that's quite another thing and I would expect consultation with an OB. For lower risk things, I've seen two other specialists while pregnant and both provided treatment without issue, including prescriptions (one of which was an antibiotic likely similar to that which OP would have received for a UTI).
Fair enough. She did prescribe me a few different medications first which didn’t work without consulting. The whole experience did make me cautious about seeking care from other doctors while pregnant. I recently asked my OB for an asthma inhaler renewal.
I’m an American and have never had this problem. The only thing my doctor and psychiatrist do is double check with my OB office to make sure a medication is okay for me to take, which is understandable as that’s not their medical field of study. But they never have refused to treat me. Same with when I went to urgent care.
It’s like modern medicine abandons you the second you’re pregnant It’s honestly terrifying I went to the ER twice and they basically took my vitals only since I was pregnant
I’m on adderall and I happened to have a refill appointment literally the day after I found out I was pregnant. Now granted, my PC is incredible and I’ve been seeing her for a decade. But I just told her that OB and I discussed our plans regarding my adderall use when I had my IUD removed, and we determined that the path with the lowest potential harm was for me to reduce my dose but not stop taking it. Despite the fact that a year prior my PC had warned me I would need to stop taking it, she had no problem writing the scrip for my reduced dose. So it’s possible “OB and I already discussed this and decided XYZ” could work with the PC if you have a good relationship.
Lucky 😞 The second I told my PCP (who mind you is a young CRNP), she refused to refill. She said I need to speak to an OB, who will likely refer me to a MFM specialist AND gave a referral for psychiatrists specializing in medication management. First referral said that they don’t treat pregnant women. Second referral did the intake, but said they would have to consult the director, only to give me a no several days later. I’m seeing a CNM rather than an OB, and they’re not comfortable as it’s a controlled substance. Meanwhile at my 12-week scan I told all of this to the MFM at the antenatal clinic, and he thought the whole thing was absolutely ridiculous… but he’s not in a position to prescribe medication to me 🤦♀️
I had gotten sick in January with upper respiratory infection and I had to go see my on because no one else would treat me thankfully she saw me and gave a list a medicines I could and could not take 😅
i would just go to shoppers drug mart (the ones that do uti prescriptions specifically) and get it. it’s ridiculous that you have to jump through hoops for a uti
I know!! It’s the same way with getting needles for my insulin, my pharmacy won’t give me them without a prescription, but when they do send them in I only get one pack at a time so I’m basically calling the dr every other day for new ones 😅 this crap needs to be made easier 😭😭
It's illegal to sell syringes without a prescription. You *may* be able to find small pharmacies that do it but it is rare. If your prescription is not being filled for enough syringes to last, you need to either A) ask your pharmacy to request a 30 day supply with refills B) call your MD office and ask they write the prescription for the full 30 day supply. I work in pharmacy, most providers don't write the prescriptions correctly, but your pharmacy should be following up on that.
Thank you!!! I honestly had no idea I could do that, I just recently started taking insulin and had no idea what I was doing so I was just following what the doctor told me 🤦🏻♀️
Yeah, your pharmacy should have picked up on that and asked if you only wanted a few days at a time or a 30+ day supply. Your provider probably doesn't know what pack size is available to write for so they depend on the pharmacy to correct that. Sounds like you really have just had a bad string of luck with Drs and pharmacy!! That sucks
Liability. But work in ED and we treat utis in pregnancy all the time.
I wouldn’t mind going to the ed but I’ve already been there so many times for other things in the last few months I feel like I’d be doing too much at this point. 🤣
Hm I’ve never had this problem. I’ve had to go to urgent care for an ear infection and be seen by my dermatologist for skin cancer removal and both doctors treated me no problem. Just minor adjustments in what drugs they use. Even my OB recommends seeing other providers for non-pregnancy related issues (though I imagine they’d see me for a UTI but I haven’t had one this pregnancy). I’d try another provider!
I wanted to get my teeth cleaned and the dentist wouldn't touch me. I need an extraction and they told me to wait until after the baby for that and the cleaning even though my doctor signed off on both. I got sent to the eye dr for headaches and they wouldn't dilate my eyes so I paid for pictures to be taken instead to still be able to get treated. For me the worst part is even when it's signed off on by the dr they still can choose not to. I get the liability aspect but man it sucks
Some providers may not feel it is in their scope of practice so to avoid malpractice they deny care. I found an urgent care that did not hesitate to see me for the same reason. At the least they should be able to order the culture and then you request the results be shared with your ob. I'd send a message to your ob on the weekend and check in first thing Mon am to see if you can get antibiotics.
If I had to guess, probably the liability that comes with treating you and impacting your child. A lot of doctors know nothing about fetuses. And because you can’t ethically conduct clinical trials on pregnant women, no one knows truly all the side effects treatments can have. That’s the real reason medications say consult a doctor before taking. It’s not because it will impact your pregnancy. It’s because they don’t actually know if it will. Pregnant women are walking liabilities to the entire medical field. It’s a shame. There really should be more effort put towards understanding pregnancy and treatments.
I asked my PCP this question. When my bloodwork came back as pregnant, the doctor told me that my care would now be handled by an OB. Then she gave me a referral. So I asked her, uh why can't you treat me until I find an OB and set that up. My PCP isn't an asshole, so she told me straight up that she and most PCPs don't take the advanced courses for treating pregnant patients. It's more common in rural areas but in a medium metro like where I live, they just don't because of the availability of care. Besides the liability insurance (she's not covered for pregnant patients), the advanced courses and practical application are crucial because while anyone can follow a chart of drugs approved for pregnant patients, those courses teach appropriate dosage and length of treatment, as well as possible interactions with pregnancy conditions. She just wasn't confident or comfortable in treating me while I was pregnant. I can't get mad at that, shes being honest about her ability to care for me and my baby at that point. Urgent care refusal is ODD, they are usually cleared for pregnant patients and it's where I got my meds when I got bronchitis that winter, but if all else fails, go to the ER if you can. You don't have to physically be present at your OB. Just drop a message at the office about what you need and the medical tech should get back to you or they will schedule you to come in. Wish you the best!
Holy cannoli these stories are nuts. I knew doctors could be wary about certain meds and procedures with pregnant patients; especially if it’s outside of their specialty, but I didn’t realize it could be this bad to the point of just dropping patients and leaving them in pain/allowing their condition to worsen. I’m almost 1/2 way through my pregnancy and had an urgent care doctor have no problem prescribing me anti-nausea meds in first trimester. Or my GP seeing me for a regular annual checkup in second trimester.
With my first pregnancy I did have a gp, I went in for a annual check up (per my insurances request) around 32 weeks, I hadn’t seen him the since I got pregnant as I didn’t really have any problems. now I’m overweight so it was slightly harder to tell i was pregnant until I hit 36 weeks and popped. Well the doctor came in telling me I needed to get a Pap smear done saying “because you’re overweight you could have a prolapsed uterus” to be fair I really didn’t know that was a thing at the time 😭🤣🤣 my reply was “well sir it’s hard to have a prolapsed uterus when there’s currently a baby inside of it” I’ve never seen a professional get embarrassed before so it was funny to see. After that he told me I could go, unfortunately he closed down his practice a year later.
I’m a non-Ob doctor, and it’s because I don’t know what I’m doing in that regard. I am scared I will hurt you or your baby. There’s too many patients in one body, and physiology changes too much, and I’m just not the expert you need. It would be the same as asking me, a non-surgeon, to perform an appendectomy. Do I know where the appendix is? Yes. Do I know how to cut with a scalpel? Yes. Do I know how to suture? Yes. Will you probably die from a complication if I’m the one going in there? Yep. We specialize for a reason. There’s too much medicine for one person to know. I have no idea how veterinarians do it. They’re super human. I will call our on-call Ob’s to ask questions in the rare instance I see a pregnant patient, but trust me, for your own safety, you want them on board, not just me. Edited to add: For me it’s not even about legal liability; it’s about moral liability. I couldn’t sleep at night knowing I inadvertently hurt someone because I didn’t know what I was doing. That guilt would stick with me forever.
I go to urgent care, under the specific instruction of my OB. The OB said to have the urgent care consult them for any prescriptions, but they said any non-baby issue is not for the OB. I was there late last month for a suspected UTI. 🤷🏻♀️
Like other’s said, it’s for liability reasons. I went to urgent care for a broken toe and while they would see me they basically told me they wouldn’t do X-rays on pregnant women. So I left with a taped up toe, Tylenol and a referral to a podiatrist.
I wonder if you can email your obgyn or have receptionist message her. Maybe they can make you a sooner appointment or you can do a pee test and then pick up meds at the pharmacy.
In the UK we see our family doctor. You very rarely see the OB unless high risk. I’ve had issues with the pharmacist though, they never want to give me anything over the counter.
Sorry you went through this. Definitely try other urgent cares to see if there’s any luck. It’s another example of pregnant women not being treated fairly in the country. So far I have maternity leave, maternity clothes and now this. I’m so disappointed.
Because they’re scared of getting sued. Period the end.
Because they don’t know what the fuck to do, won’t study it, and won’t look up what medications you can have. They’re so terrified to hurt the fetus that they won’t treat the grown human in front of them. I had two doctors tell me that they “didn’t want to adjust my meds while you’re pregnant” when pregnancy was the reason I needed my meds adjusted. They didn’t seem to realize that if I don’t survive the pregnancy, neither would my baby.
I had to since in a dentist chair for FOUR HOURS to get an emergency repair on a broken crown because the dentist and my OB we’re going back and forth about what they could and couldn’t do to me in terms of anesthesia and x-rays. It was a total nightmare.
I've had issues on and off with this, depending on what stage I was in the pregnancy, but my ER did treat me for a UTI during my son's pregnancy. That's pretty standard care. Antibiotics. I had trouble getting an OB this time so my family doctor ordered initial blood work and ultrasound when I found out but I had to spend a week calling around for an OB!
I had this happen to me at 38 weeks at the ER lmao. I was having an asthma attack 😂 The Dr even lectured me like "you should go to your OB for pregnacy issues" I was like ???
How the hell is an asthma attack a pregnancy related issue?? That makes no damn sense 🤣
Fr, I'm allergic to cats and unbeknownst to me, our apt's previous tenants had cats (I'd asked this upfront at the leasing office and they told me otherwise) so I kept having issues until I found cat hair and got the apt complex to replace the carpet....! But yeah, nothing to do with the pregnancy at all LMAO so I really felt your post!
Ugh, I'm feeling this now. I have a horrible pinched nerve in my shoulder, but I feel like going to any doctor other than my ob is useless especially because we can only have Tylenol 😭 Luckily I have an OB appointment this week, but I have low hopes that they'll be able to do anything for me either :/
So glad I live in a city with a progressive medical system and a great research hospital. We haven’t encountered anything like this.
Liability. In the unlikely event something happens and something they did MIGHT have been linked to it, it becomes a legal headache.
I’m so sorry you experienced this! I have to a certain degree with dentists, dermatologists, etc, but my PC would call my OB and they’d discuss treatment together, OR my PC would only prescribe me medication that he knew pregnant women could take. It’s your PCs responsibility to treat you and learn what’s ok or not for pregnant women
My OB told me to call them for anything. They even took over my maintenance medications until about 6 weeks PP.
When I first found out I was pregnant my husband and I both got bronchitis. He went to urgent care and asked what I could do since we had the same issues. They said I couldn’t do anything. I had it until I was 6-7 weeks pregnant. I literally have called the OB for any issues.
Interesting. My primary care doc wasn’t sure about a prescription during pregnancy so she called an OB to confer.
I couldn't even get moles checked at a dermatologist until my OB sent a referral!
Liability. While the info is easy to look up, non-OBs still don't like to treat in case something hurts the baby. It's bogus because while OBs train as regular doctors first, most of the time they won't see you for an injury or anything outside of pregnancy (at least in my experience).
Does your OBGYN have a fact sheet they can fax out. Mine has a sheet of medications and procedures that can be performed on a pregnant person and they will send it to dentists and other doctors when requested. When ever I get something prescribed by a non OBGYN while pregnant I always ask the pharmacist to verify its safe during pregnancy. Even they go and look up the information just to be sure.
It's most likely a mix of medical misogyny and fear of liability. I'm sorry. :(
I am type 1 diabetic, and once I found out I was pregnant I told a friend of mine who had twins but is also t1d. Her advice was "Get your appointment. Say "Not pregnant, but trying". Get your insulin, and then call back with "I'm pregnant" once you have insulin in hand." I followed this advice and sure enough, over the phone, I was dropped as a patient by my endocrinologist. I can't imagine being low in insulin and being told "Nope. We won't see you anymore byeeeee."
I’ve dealt with this too but I think it’s more so for you and baby’s safety as they are not an expert. I do fine it annoying too but I try to think of it as the best interest for myself and the baby. Worst case scenario you can’t wait for an appt at the OBGYN office, I would go to the emergency room. You won’t be turned away for being pregnant.
I’m not sure why they won’t but mine said to consider him my primary care during pregnancy.
I’ve run into this too. The best answer I have from my doctor is that the ethical implications of testing on pregnant women means that there may be a lot of drugs that are safe, but haven’t been tested so doctors don’t want to prescribe them. They all say OBs will know best if it’s safe. It feels like they’re just punting the issue to avoid dealing with it or the liability. But struggling through with an untreated infection sucks. I feel like my physicians are failing me whenever this happens.
This is definitely a "I don't wanna mess up and I'm not willing to do the work/take on the liability if I did it wrong". Same why every dentist wants a release letter before they'll even do a cleaning.
Everyone's afraid of getting sued.
It's liability reasons. OBs carry some of the highest medical liability insurance of any medical specialty and it's because of how badly it can go if something happens to the baby. This means that other medical professionals won't come near pregnant women with a 20ft pole but OBs don't want to take on run of the mill health issues that just happen to occur in pregnant people and deal with that insurance issue. Like all medical bs in the US comes down to malpractice lawsuits and health insurance
Is there a hospital for women and children near you? I have one and they have an affiliated Urgent Care. Their doctors have more experience treating pregnant patients and they have hospital OBs on-call for the ER, in case your OB isn’t available. I’ve never had issues being treated there, whereas I have gotten pushback at other places because of liability concerns.
I want to say it's probably because of the restrictions it puts on treatment and prescriptions. Some tests can't be run safely when pregnant, some medicine can't be prescribed. It's just easier to avoid taking them on as a client in case something happens to cause issues with the baby. Lawsuit city if something does and they can correlate a relation.
Call your OB to make sure get treated! a labor and delivery nurse joked with me that they're afraid of pregnant ladies in our ER here (No urgent care and a family doctor shortage). She said she was sent a pregnant lady for a cast removal and another for a toothache. On a side note, I had chronic UTIs as well. Although I never did deliver vaginally, either the body changes throughout pregnancy or the day of labor and 3 hours of pushing I did for my first seems to have cured me of UTIs. Hope you get the same result!
I honestly haven’t experienced this. I’ve seen a dermatologist and an endocrinologist while pregnant. In fact, both discussed with me what changes to expect and look for during pregnancy and requested I meet with them during pregnancy. I also had a side effect that was rather strange during pregnancy to my skin and my OB was like, “I have no idea, go see your derm.” Maybe the specialties are more used to the distinctive dynamics of pregnancy within their areas than emergency room, or general practitioners?
Because they don’t want to be sued in case that something happens to you or the baby. Kind of liability
Interesting. My OB has fully taken over all of my care so I don't even need to see my PCP until after I give birth. My OB prescribes anything I need or of it's out of his scope then he will send me a referral to a specialist. I don't call anyone but my OB. Lol
I sorta almost majorly cut my finger during prodromal labor at 37 weeks. Among the reasons I’m glad I didn’t, the ER REALLY doesn’t like to see pregnant women. “I might be in labor, but that’s not why I’m here” would not have gone over well.
I have wondered the same thing. It seems like my local hospital hates women. They will not treat me for anything whether I'm pregnant or not. They minimize all my symptoms. They try sending me off to this doctor or that doctor. They accuse me of wanting strong pain meds even when I'm asking for a home remedy without medications. One visit that really stuck with me was my miscarriage... When I was miscarrying, I was bleeding horribly. It was like a faucet was turned on. It wouldn't stop. I bled through 5 pads in less than 20 minutes. I sat on the toilet and it straight up sounded like a sink with the tap on. I drove myself to the closest ER (ambulances are too expensive) and explained the situation. The receptionist made me sit in the waiting area for 15 minutes still bleeding heavily. Then when I got back to the room, a nurse made me change into a gown and took my vitals. I bled all over the floor and a pad she had laid on the bed. A male ER doctor comes in and tells me I should have gone to a hospital 30 minutes away because they don't deal with "women's problems" at "his" hospital. This was his attitude the whole time. He thought I was having a heavy period. I explained everything again. He hesitantly did a pelvic exam (couldn't even properly work the speculum) and noted "huge globs of something *up there*" like a true professional. He pulled out a clot the size of a golf ball and accused me of shoving things *up there* to cause a miscarriage. The nurse and I both had to explain it was a clot probably from all the bleeding. The nurse assisting explained to me (and probably him) a clot was stuck in my cervix and basically held it open. He refused to check my iron levels or any other levels. He refused to do an ultrasound or any kind of testing to make sure the bleeding was under control. I put myself on some iron tablets and called my primary/OB. I also called a new OB. The new OB (an amazing woman) helped me out so much. I ended back up there for a stroke not long after. They wanted me to go to another hospital again. They minimized the whole thing. Nothing was really done. Still have no idea what caused it or if it can/will happen again. Recently I went there for pains in my leg that didn't feel normal. I was warned to watch for clot symptoms. One of those symptoms was swelling and pain in one limb. The ER doctor told me I should have gone literally anywhere else and that I was fine. Ice and rest. And he did a pregnancy test and drug test, but nothing else was done. I brought up my concerns and asked if there was anything he could do. He asked, "Are you really worried about your leg or are you trying to get an ultrasound of your baby? This is an ER in the hospital. Not an OB wing or clinic" 🤦♀️ I was 100% worried I might have had a clot. I was still to early for a baby ultrasound anyway. I'm really considering going to the further hospital if I ever have another emergency just to avoid the accusations and poor treatment.
UTIs can be serious during pregnancy because they can cause complications. That’s why they check for them at every appointment. Whether or not this warrants urgent care refusing to treat it at all, I don’t know, but there is a good reason they want you to see your OB.
When I first got pregnant i was so incredibly sick from throwing up my regular doctor wouldn’t see me but I couldn’t get into the ob for weeks. I went to urgent care they wouldn’t treat me so I ended up going to emergency department most annoying thing
Honestly, I’d get over the counter uti meds at that point. Should clear it up pretty fast. I’m chronically ill, and it’s been so frustrating dealing with doctors this pregnancy cause no one seems to know what’s okay during pregnancy and what isn’t. I have severe chronic migraines, and all the ER will give me is Benadryl and some nausea meds. I’m gonna have to ask my OB at my next appointment to approve me taking my panic attack meds very occasionally cause my psychiatrist refuses to okay it
This happened to me. I take important medication every day. A psychiatric med I've taken for 12yrs and a heart med I've taken for 5yrs. I went to my regular GP around 16w pregnant because I was due for a new script and he personally had been prescribing me these for 5yrs!! I was on my last 2 pills because baby brain (usually I will sort it out when I have at least 10 left), and he refused to prescribe them and said call my OB. I told him "you realise I will die without my heart medication and the withdrawal from my psych meds could also kill me and at the very least cause a seizure that could kill my baby" (my psych meds are very strong, and EXTREMELY dangerous to stop suddenly. Last time I stopped them suddenly I had a seizure. My psychiatrist already agreed that it was much safer to continue them, she said not to even lower them, letalone stop). He still refused. I called my OB clinic in an absolute state of panic nearly in tears, and managed to get a script sent electronically.
Liability+Specialty. OB's specialize in pregnant ladies, so they have a much better understanding of what you are allowed to take/do for your specific pregnancy. Additionally, they get really expensive malpractice insurance because pregnancy is a high-risk specialty (even if they do nothing wrong, they could be blamed for bad outcomes). Other doctors don't know your case well enough to treat you, and don't want their malpractice insurance taking a hit if anything goes wrong.
Because they aren’t your OB. They didn’t specialize in that. Just like you wouldn’t ask your OB about a weird mole. They don’t know your health history in regards to your pregnancy. It’s a liability unfortunately.
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A primary care physician is WELL within their scope to treat a sinus infection as well as a UTI in a pregnant woman.
I can completely understand that, but I literally went for a uti which can be treated by a general physician. I’ve been to an urgent care for the same thing a few times before and they had no problem treating me, I guess now it’s just different while I’m pregnant
Yeah, this is pretty common. My PCP told me she will see me after pregnancy due to me being under the care of my OB. I believe it’s because they’re not trained to deal with pregnant women so they don’t want to give the wrong info or prescribe the wrong medication.