05.27
I’ve been seeing the same neurologist for 4 years. I saw her the first couple of visits, and then I see her (more specifically, have an appointment with her) once a year. Otherwise, I see her physician’s assistant, whom I really, really like. A couple of times, she has pulled the neurologist in to our appointments for a few minutes to discuss something specific (like when I wanted to go off Topamax and start the chronic pain management protocol). I’m OK with the whole thing; mainly because I love both my neurologist and her PA. Now, the office staff . . . not so fond of. And, not so fond of the fact that they’re “tied” to their E-mail system; so if you call and want to leave a message for the doctor of the PA, they send it via E-mail, then it totally depends on when they get around to checking their messages. Even if it’s something life-threatening (like when I was suicidal). After not getting a callback for over 24 hours, I have to really buckle down and talk to someone and have them actually go in and tell the PA that it’s an emergency, and that I need a call back ASAP, not just when you get around to reading E-mail. In those cases, I’ve always received a callback within an hour. I try not to take advantage of this, though; I don’t want them to get the impression that I’m one of those “problem patients” who is always crying wolf . .
I stayed with one of my Neurologist for 2 years. I only saw her once a year and saw her NP every 3 months. And called the NP about once a week. She and I were on first name bases. I do think you need to see the Neurologist at least once a year from what I’ve been told.