Noisy clinics, rude workers is the trend

Dear Dr. Gott: I’m a 62-year-old sane and friendly woman. I just accompanied my husband for a colonoscopy (a worrisome experience at best). A blaring television in the waiting room made me frantic. I ended up sitting on the corridor floor outside the office. When I recently was with my mother in the emergency room, there were two waiting rooms, with a loud TV in each. I tried to sit in a third area, but a nurse wouldn’t let me, and when I explained, she stared at me as if I were crazy.

People who work in some doctors’ offices are natural and sympathetic and seem to know that no medical visit is easy. Many others talk in an artificial, impersonal tone, on the verge of hostility. Why are so many unable to manage ordinary manners? If they truly can’t turn off the TV, can’t they at least sympathize with someone who hates it? What can we do about blaring TVs and medical workers who talk like robots?

Dear Reader: I am sorry to say that the inappropriate behavior you described is becoming more the rule than the exception. I don’t have a ready explanation for this. In fact, while making rounds at the hospital, I routinely shut off blaring TV sets in waiting rooms that are devoid of patients. Also, very sick, almost comatose patients may lie in their hospital beds with painfully loud TV sets (so, I may turn off the sound or simply shut the door, hoping to bring some peace and quiet to the other hospital patients whose solitude is being destroyed).

Unfortunately, voicing concern or making a complaint about medical workers’ insensitivities will not get you far; you may be labeled a troublemaker.

So, your best bet may be to avoid hospitals to the extent that you can. Be firm yet polite in expressing your wishes in medical offices, and – as a last resort – wear sound-damping earmuffs, preferably orange colored, when exposed to gratuitous noise. This will embarrass and encourage the medical personnel to behave themselves and be more considerate.

Dear Dr. Gott: In my late 30s, after a hysterectomy, I took hormone replacement therapy for years, without adverse effects. Six years ago, I stopped HRT. Now, at 69, I have hot flashes, sweats and frequent chills. What would give me relief?

Dear Reader: You appear to be suffering from late-onset menopause. It may be that you could be helped by phytoestrogens (natural plant estrogens) or low-dose HRT.

I am not a gynecologist, so I urge you to address this problem with yours.

To give you related information, I am sending you a copy of my Health Report “Menopause.” Other readers who would like a copy should send a long, self-addressed, stamped envelope and $2 to Newsletter, P.O. Box 167, Wickliffe, OH 44092. Be sure to mention the title.