My doctor treated me like a junkie over a spider bite. [View all]

[RandySF]

It started late Wednesday afternoon near quitting time at lush, wooded California campus. I don't remember the exact moment the spider bit me, but at some point I noticed pain in my thumb and smashed the little creature as soon as I saw it. Thursday morning, it itched, and oddly enough, that sensation shot like like electricity into my forefinger as if traveling a nerve. By the time I got home from work, I was just miserable. It swelled on one side and ached and itched at the same time. I popped as much ibuprofen as I felt safe and iced it down but I knew it had to be looked at, or a least it seemed like a good idea.

I make an appointment and saw the doctor this morning. By this point my my self-treatment brought the swelling down to a bump. So when he looked at it, his first response was "Sorry, I don't think antibiotics are necessary." I was too annoyed to say that I just wanted the pain and itching to go away. "I'm not a junkie. I barely touch alcohol. I'm your patient." He hadn't yet asked me how I was feeling at that moment. Did he ask about the degree of pain, the itching? No. So I spent the next few minutes giving him the answers to the questions he didn't ask. He eventually prescribed an ointment, after again making the point that antibiotics were going to work. Maybe I should have worn a suit to the appointment.