On 06-08-14, I received a discharge letter from Dr Hopner, that he is withdrawing himself from future care as my physician and to use the next 30 days till (07-08-14), to find a new doctor (without any explanation).
In hindsight that was a blessing. I started seeing him from April of 2013 and he never sent me for a blood test. But when I found a new primary Doctor the first thing she did was to check my blood and she found out that I was a vitamin D deficient. I just read that some of the side effects of this deficiency are fibromyalgia, fatigue, muscle weakness and chronic pain. I was having all those pains when I chose him as my doctor, but he never had the curiosity or desire to find out my weak points through a general exam.
One of the first discussions I had with Dr Hopner were, about some chronic headaches, that I'm suffering for years and his answer was "the best thing you can do is, to have relationships with three or four women and go to sleep with whoever is available" (I thought what a "scientific" answer and what a classless doctor). But when I went to the Stanford Clinic a headache doctor, found out that, I was lacking a hormone and he recommended oxytocin spray.
Since early June of 2013, I was experiencing pains in my legs. During one of my appointments, he was ill and his substitute Dr Yelena, when she saw my swollen legs, she diagnosed me immediately with venous insufficiency.
The next times that I visited Dr Hopner for different reasons, I mentioned the pain in my legs and every time, he was dismissing them with phrases like "you do not have anything serious". Plus his basic motto was "you have to learn to live with pain" and I'm sure this came from his personal experience, because few years back, he had an auto accident. So he was teaching me, how to live my life according to his own pains or his own standards.
He kept me hostage for six months without allowing me to treat my veins. I explained to him that my legs were given me, so much pain, that when I was getting back home, I have to elevate them on a coffee table to get some relief.
By end of December of 2013, finally I convinced him, that I needed a Vascular Doctor, which at that time, it was kind of late, because I could not walk too far, from the heavy weight, I was feeling through my legs (leaking veins). But instead to send me to a reputable Vascular doctor, he sent me to Dr Kokinos, who, has damaged many people's legs and on Yelp you can read the patients horror stories.
Basically Dr Hopner sent me to the lion's mouth to be torn apart and in hindsight, I was correct. Who knows what was the benefit or better the commission? But after the fiasco of varicose veins ablation, I am wondering what kind of arguments were happening between Dr Hopner and Dr Kokinos, behind my back. Eventually Dr Hopner decided to dismiss me. I am wondering now, if he has a clear consciousness after that.
As I mentioned above, that year I was experiencing musculo-neurologic pains. According to Dr Hopner, I was suffering from pinched nerves and he sent me to Dr Lo, who sent me to the Radiology for X-Rays and MRIs (cervical & lumbar) and he never found any pinched nerves, that was causing all those pains.
Dr Lo (pain doctor) recommended to get a cervical epidural, which gave me, relief for my neurological pains in June of 2013, which now I realized half of the pains were coming from the varicose veins and the rest were coming from fibromyalgia, that was coming from lacking vitamin D. That epidural helped me, to recover, for four or five months.
In November of 2013, I had a tendonitis on my right arm and when I went to Dr McCoy (orthopedic surgeon), he recommended instead of a cortisone shot, (because of the many nerves in that area), prednisone and I took it for five days without any problem.
Around December of 2013, I started complaining that the neurological pains were coming back and Dr Hopner decided to imitate Dr McCoy and he repeated the prednisone for five days and I almost died. My body could not tolerate a second dosage in so short time frame. During that week I had become a living zombie and I was afraid to go outside the house. Plus I got a cramp on my right calf that, I could not get rid off for days.
Only if you think, that these pills supposed to help me, to avoid a new epidural. But in actuality that medication made it, more urgent for another epidural and by January 2nd of 2014, Dr Lo, gave me the second one, at O'Connor Hospital.
The bottom line is, Dr Hopner can not diagnose any illness, besides flu or cold. His solution for every pain is the book with phone numbers of other doctors. So basically his office is a referral service.
Sometimes, I feel that God is testing my strength, to see how much pain, I can take from all those indifferent and careless doctors read more
