Do you go to a "regular" doctor for non-female issues?

[hellokitty1]

My primary doctor has always been in internal medicine and it wasn't until I got pregnant with Sydney that I started to see an OB/Gyn.

I saw the OB throughout my pregancy but never had any issues excetp pregnancy related. After Sydney was born, i saw the OB for my 6-wk checkup. And when it was time for my yearly exam, I wentback to my internal medicine doctor.

Then when I found out I was pregnant again, I started back up at the OB. So since the MC, I am going to the OB on a monthly basis for the blood tests.

So for the last few days I've had a sore throat with no other symptoms and I'm thinking of going to the doctor. Should i just go to my regular doctor or the OB or does it not matter? And futher, do you have an opinion on who I should see regularly? My internist performs all the "female tests" as well.

TIA.


Mom to Sydney (4/24/03)

[lilycat88]

When I was pregnant, I went to my regular family practice doctor for stuff like sore throats and coughs and stuff. I had a really hard time with allergies during my pregnancy and my OB was not much help with anything non baby related. I was high risk and in my OB's office at least every 2 weeks the entire pregnancy so I tried to handle everything with her just to avoid having to go to another doctor's appointment. No luck. My OB would almost always tell me to see my FP doc.

Jamelin
DD Susanna 6/29/04

[amp]

My ob won't seem me for non-womens related stuff, but if I was there for another appt. she might prescribe something. I'd probably just see my regular doc (who is not an internist, but a regular family physician), although I wish, wish, wish I could see my OB for EVERYTHING! I love her that much!

[JulieL]

Does your internist have an OB on site for paps? My internist does, though I choose to go to another OB. Or do you get paps from your internist? You do need to go to a general practitioner aka: regular doctor (many certified in internal medicine - in your case) for issues not related to pregnancy or other feminine issues. Their years of residency and practice are geared especially for one particular part of medicine - so you can have someone as specialized as they can be for that field. HTH!

[hellokitty1]

My internist does provide PAPs and send me the results via mail.
Is that sufficient or shoudlI be going to my Gyn for PAPs? My internist also does a lot of blood work which I thought perhaps my Gyn would not.


Vivian
Mom to Sydney (4/24/03)

[JulieL]

Well your internist would be fine if he/she is doing your paps - though if you should have any complications with feminine issues I would then go see your OBGYN. Pelvic exams and paps are just a way to see if something is wrong or off. If something would arise I would see your OBGYN - just because of the experiance and extensive knowledge they have in only that field. But that is my opinion - I'm sure your internist would refer you to an OBGYN if there were issues coming up past their expertise (well a good doctor would anyway). As far as the blood work goes - what is it for? I had blood workup done by my OBGYN after I had a mc in Dec to make sure everything was ok. Not sure if that is the same kind of blood tests you are getting by your interinst. Point is if you need blood tests in regards to fertility issues - an OBGYN would definately work you up. If the blood work is for something non related to feminine issues - no the OBGYN would not order them. Does that help?

ETA: oh I see you are already get blood work by your OB - then am I to assume the blood work ordered by the interinst is non-related? If so you would still have to go to the interinst for that blood
work.

ETA #2: I can't seem to stop can I ;)
Just to let you understand a little better the road a doctor takes to become certified and working in a particular field here is what happens: All doctors have a 4 year undergrad degree in whatever field. All doctors have 4 years of medical school and every doctor essentially has taken the same classes and has done the same time of training in medical school. Then the difference comes in residency. Your internist probably took 4-5 (I think it's four years) years of training in residency. Then once he/she passed her boards - got hired somewhere and started practicing (aka - has a real job and the training has offically ended). Then add the years he/she has of experiance working as an internist. So say he/she has been practicing for 5 years - that is 9-10 years of experiance in only internal medicine. Your OBYGN took the same 4 years undergrad, 4 years med school, then did 4 years of residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology, and however many years of experiance she has practicing on her own. So there is a huge differnce in the extensive overall knowledge an OB or OBGYN has in that field vs an internist who only did some time in gynecology. The OBGYN has years of working in only that field, the internist has some training that comes to a lot less time cause his/her expertise is in the overall health, internal medicine. Maybe that will help you out in understanding where you need to go. Not to confuse the crap out of you but an RE - reproductive endocrinologist has years of training in residency and actually practicing in fertility that an OB or OBGYN does not have.
My husband is a medical student so I know some of how it works. Hope that helps and doesn't confuse you! ;)

[hellokitty1]

Thanks Julie. I generally don't have any female issues except for the previous mc so I think continuing to see my internist is fine.

Sorry for confusion on the blood work reference. For my mc, i am taking blood tests monthly fo the OB to review. That is due to the type of mc I had. For the internist's bloodwork, I was referring to things like cholesterol, triglycerises, etc.

I wasn't sure if people were going once a year ot the OBGYN for pap and then also to the regular doctor for the other parts of the annual checkup.

I think I'm comfortble just going to the internist for most everything and i just made a 1:15 appt for my sore throat with my internist. She is the the one who told me I was preganant back in December so I'm sure she'll look at me and ask me what happened. Yahoo, i can explain again. :-)

Thanks Julie. Thanks everyone.
Vivian
Mom to Sydney (4/24/03)

[heidis2girls]

I see my OB for all female issues and my primary care physician for everything else. When I was pregnant, though, I saw my OB for everything. Mainly because I wanted to make sure that they were aware of everything that was going on and I trusted them more to prescribe meds (if necessary) while I was pregnant.