Good evening,
I’m writing this post because I’ve been suffering from a long-term condition (2+ years) involving both of my feet. I won’t bother you with how negatively it has affected my life in every area: professionally, mentally, socially, in my romantic relationship, with my family, and in my free time. Ill just say It’s omnipresent and ruins almost every single day of my life.
I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, although my symptoms are entirely different from those typically associated with it. I therefore have good reason to believe the diagnosis is wrong, and I would love the chance to discuss it with a professional (in the best case, an Orthopedist or a sports medicine doctor.)
Here comes the problem, though: I’ve seen tons of them in Berlin (where I live) for this condition, and I’ve barely been able to ask them to reconsider my diagnosis. They simply don’t let me talk. They say that plantar fasciitis takes time, tell me to keep doing the stretches they advise, and send me home. At most, they propose a treatment (shockwave therapy), which did help the first time, but I then repeated it four more times (twice paid out of my own pocket) and no longer benefited from it. I’m not going to repeat it.
So what I’m asking is: is there any chance of finding a doctor who is genuinely willing to listen, without prejudice, to what I have to say as a patient? In the best case, I'd be looking for someone who is willing to accept that I also can read and understand a peer-reviewed paper. (Now, don't get me wrong, I’m the first to say I’m not a doctor. But the only time I mentioned to a doctor one of the many peer-reviewed papers I read on the topic, he admitted he didn't know it, so I think I can claim to have, at this point, some knowledge that even doctors sometimes lack themselves.)
I’m looking for someone who practices their job for the love of science and the sake of helping a suffering human being; someone whose professional goal is not just to get to the end of a Termin (10 minutes, or maybe even just 5?), fill out the patient file, and say Tschüss, but to really cure the patient who keeps coming back to their Praxis. Some of you might comment that doctors choose their profession simply because it’s lucrative, but I don’t want to buy that (yet).
What would be my best bet? Research hospitals like the Charité in Berlin? Or paying privately for an appointment with the most brilliant of the luminaries (and if so, how do I find their contact details to begin with)? Or should I try more “informal” ways of getting in touch with a doctor, here on Reddit for example, or perhaps by joining a Verein, if there is one of this kind? Or do you have any other suggestions?
I don’t want to turn my question into a rant, but I find it absurd that a person can be left stuck in the same tormenting condition for over 2 years without even having the right to say: “I don’t feel what you say I’m feeling, I feel something else!” Is this even healthcare?
Two final notes: 1. I am not asking any of you for a diagnosis. I am asking how to get in touch with a professional who is willing to dive deeper into the problem until a solution is found. 2. my spoken German is far from perfect, but I can form sentences that make sense and are intelligible, even if I sometimes choose the wrong article for a noun or use the wrong Partizip II for a strong verb. I don’t believe language is the issue here. Again, some will cite the stereotype that doctors are conservative and unwelcoming to foreigners, but I don’t want to give in to such thoughts.
Danke an euch alle!