And weight and height if my primary care office.

If I complained of an earache, which could obviously have an infection behind it, I would expect both to be taken.

Not that you asked, but I've found a hot pack to be helpful with the pain.

My grandmother used to heat salt in a sack in the oven. These days I can use a microwavable pack.

I hope it feels better soon!

stated that I had an ear infection.

People sometimes get ear-aches from buildup of wax, or a foreign body, or water in the ear, or a host of other things that aren't actual ear infections, otitis media or otitis externa.

i haven't read your other thread in detail but I notice that you keep typing "I told them I had an ear infection" but was that confirmed by the Dr? Maybe your ear hurt for another reason

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/swimmers-ear/DS00473

You say you feel like you have a fever...but you haven't taken your temperature? You *might* not have a fever. I know it feels like you do, but you might not.

Last week I had a stomach virus. Burning up then freezing cold, cold sweats, whole nine yards. CERTAIN that I had a fever.

My temp was never above 99.0

Buy a thermometer. Don't go based on how you 'feel". It's summer, people feel hot. AC is on, people feel cold.

I'm not trying to be offensive or be an asshole, but I see people in the ER All day and night who swear they have a fever of 106...and they've got normal body temperature. Or people who complain that their heart is racing and it's a steady 62 sinus rhythm. Or that their blood pressure "feels" high and it's not. Or whatever.

we call the way people describe how they feel as subjective, because it's an opinion and can't be verified. I can't verify that you have pain, and I have had patients with multiple broken bones with a BP of 120/70, so BP is not an indicator of pain.

But things like temp and BP and heart rate, those are objective, because they can be measured and verified. I can't verify that you're in pain, but I can verify that your heart rate is 120 and your BP is 201/80.

If you're concerned about your temp, go to Walgreens and buy a $5 digital thermometer.
If you're concerned about your BP (not as an indicator of pain, though), get it checked free at walgreens.

Doctor's office would take my temperature? I wasn't there for pain meds or pretending. I have an ear problem. I want some appropriate antibiotics. For $150 they could stick a thermometer in my mouth, wouldn't you think?

because its not a bacterial infection

either. My throat hurts, too.

if you have viral infection. I'm just going on what you said...diagnosed with swimmers ear

I was dancing around the concepts of 'subjective' and 'objective', but I failed to mention those words themselves.

Getting b/p checked at Walgreen's is good. Getting it checked at the local fire station (where around here, they'll do it for free; your tax dollars at work) is also good. I tell my patients 'who knows how often those drug store machines are maintained and calibrated? At the fire station, you've got a well-trained professional, and well-maintained equipment.'

if I wanted to since I'm allergic to most of it, if that is what you are thinking. MY EAR HURTS. I don't understand why I have to justify that. I'm not a hypochondriac that claims they have everything under the sun. I have an ear infection. WTF.

Anyone going to a doctor should have wt and bp taken. The problem here is that the office did not take vitals.

I will state that I'm an Emergency Room RN, so I'm pretty particular about vitals and such.

A few years ago, my husband (who's also an RN) went to an ENT (ear nose throat) MD because of a goofy looking patch on the back of his throat. They didn't take any vitals, not a pulse or anything. I thought it was odd, but it makes sense that they didn't because he wasn't complaining of a fever, or aches, or anything (turns out the goofy patch was his tonsils re-growing after being removed 20+ years earlier). But we were still disconcerted enough about the lack of vitals that we called and made a complaint with the office manager. she said "He didn't make an appointment because he was sick, he wanted to be seen for the patch on his throat" ??? okay. Well, I know I've had plenty of patients present to the ER with new-onset high blood pressure, or tachycardia, or other really serious problems because of how their vitals appeared in their Dr's office....bp's of 220's/100's, heart rates in the 200's....stuff like that. So her response was not acceptable to me and we chose not to continue to see that Dr after that.

If you're unhappy with the treatment you received, call them and let them know.

I think someone in your other thread stated that ear infections rarely cause temps. That's true, but what if it wasn't an ear infection? I would have expected that if I presented with any sort of discomfort that basics would be taken.

Hell, I get all that checked when I go in for a routine pap....

"I think I have an ear infection".

Would your first inclination be to blow me off after I said it hurts in one ear specifically or would you take my temperature and blood pressure and do the things normal doctor's offices do?

I had to pay 150 for this guy and 35 dollars for ear drops that didn't help, and now? I'm going to have to pay some more to go to my normal doctor who couldn't see me last week because he himself was ill (and no, I don't fault him for that). That's how I ended up with this overpriced idiot

everyone in this thread and the other is telling you the same thing. Don't get angry at me, because I would have taken vitals. Call or write that drs office, you know, the people you should be angry at, not Du'ers who are all telling you you're right, but you're still being hostile towards us!

BTW, LOVE RN's! My Dad was a surgical RN.

Every so often I get a complaint of ear pain, and I take a look, and they have a massive cerumen impaction. My team cleans it out, and voila! pain gone! And their hearing improves, too.

If their TM's are bulging outward, but everything else looks normal, I presume a simple viral case of eustachian tube congestion, which a few days of ibuprofen will take care of.

That isn't the problem. My throat is also having problems on that side, I said so, but again, no one gave a crap in that office. They didn't even look in my throat.

Not to boast about such things, but I could have figured you out pretty quickly, and treated you, and the problem appropriately.

My throat also hurts on that side, and again, I explained that. Now what in the hell do I have to do when I go to get someone to at least check to see if I might have a fever or I might have an issue that requires antibiotics?

I'd say it was a fairly garden-variety case of viral syndrome, which, as I said earlier, antibiotics won't touch. What I do in these cases is treat the symptoms until the patient gets better on his or her own. That's the way it works with simple, uncomplicated viruses like, for example, the common cold.

If on oral exam I saw whitish purulent discharge at the back of your throat, I'd treat you for acute bacterial pharyngitis (and get a specimen for testing, as I explained earlier). A little Penicillin VK, unless you were allergic, and you'd be fine again.

I've had that before. That's what it probably is. Jesus. Now let's get on with the antibiotics so I can get back to running and feeling better.

And none of that oral crap, because it never works on me. Hurray, a shot in the butt for Aerows. I'm so pleased.

in the butt in my future. I'm overjoyed.

An intramuscular shot is usually reserved for more powerful antibiotics, like Rocephin, that are used for things like gonorrhea.

and both times, because of my bodies resistance to antibiotics, it took the old shot in the ass. I'd rather just get it the hell over with, and avoid being sick for several weeks knowing it won't work.

And I can assure you that when I was 10 and 17 - neither time did I have gonorrhea.

Two days, I'll be better. I can deal with the shot in the ass.

And antibiotic resistance is one of the reasons I order a culture and sensitivity. The lab report will give me a list of antibiotics that will kill the pathogen. I only go the IM route if the bug is resistant to all the oral meds that are available to me.

I'm apparently going to have to go to my regular doctor to sort this out. At least I know they will take my temperature, blood pressure, and etc.