Thread: Looking for a Dr. in N. California

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a Dr. in Northern California?? Thank you!!

Rachel

Hello!!

Yes, I found a doctor in San Francisco that I feel really good about. I just went to see her for the first time on MOnday. Her name is Dr. Marcel Cedars. She works for UCSF and is the head of the Women's Health Department for the university. She studies PCOS and is very knowledgeable. She took her time with me and explained everything. She also did a vaginal ultrasound right there in her office. I learned more from her in one visit than I did with 4 other Doctors that I have seen. I am also TTC and she had a very positive attitude about that too. Here is the link to the UCSF website, it has her picture and some info about her:

http://www.ucsfhealth.org/adult/cgi-...&doctorid=1569

And her phone # is: (415) 353-7475

Hope this helps!! Good luck to you and let me know if there is anything else that I can do to help.

Rachel

Hello!!

Here are my symptoms: Insulin Resistance, High Triglycerides - 1780, extremely irregular periods, mild acne. Those are the syptoms that cause the most problems for me. Dr. Cedars is working with me to get a regular period since I want to get pregnant. My other doctor already has me on meds to reduce my triglycerides and that seems to be working. Dr. Cedars put me on Provera so that I can have a period (it has been a while) and I am also taking Metformin to hopefully cause my body to ovulate. She is most concerned about my triglycerides because they were so severly high, so I am going to see her cardiologist as well. I go back to see Dr. Cedars next week once I have started my period so that she can do another vaginal ultrasound. I was able to see what people call the "string of pearls" in my ovaries which confirmed the PCOS.

I have an HMO and it was really hard for me to get them to approve for me to be under Dr. Cedar's care because I live in Stockton. I may switch to a PPO this year, but that is a lot more costly.

Sorry this got so long!!

I am here to answer any more questions!

Rachel

Wow!
Thanks so much for this info!

I am with Kaiser (HMO from hell) and I would like to know how you got your HMO to approve you to see Dr. Cedar. I live about an hour out of San Francisco and it would be no problem for me to go there to see her, but I know nothing about getting approval to do so.
I am going tomorrow to see the Endocrenologist I was reffered to by my General Practitioner for my PCOS. I was just diagnosed and this is my first specialist consultation. I have no idea if seeing an Endocrenologist is even heading in the right direction but I will come back to this thread to let my N. Cali cysters know how it went.
Thanks for being here!

Hello,

Sorry it took me so long to reply!!! I hope your appointment went well. I have Blue Shield HMO, and I don't know very much about Kaiser's HMO, but what I did was I had my doctor give me a "second opinion consultation" request and he sent it in to my HMO for approval. They approved it and I was able to go talk to Dr. Cedars. She then was able to write a letter getting me approval to be under her care until April 05. I have a family memeber that works w/HMOs and she told me that they usually will approve something like this because they don't want a law suit if something happens that could have been prevented.

I went to see an endocrinologist before I asked to see Dr. Cedars. I felt that he didn't have enough experience w/PCOS so I tried to find a Reproductive Endocrinologist. (That's what Dr. Cedars is). I have been very impressed with UCSF's women's health center.

Hope everything works out for you! Let me know how your appointment went.


Rachel

Hi!

Actually, my appointment went quite well. I ended up with a prescription for Metformin to replace the birth control pills I had initially been prescribed. My only contention is that the doc tried to tell me that I got PCOS because I am fat.
I asked her why my symptoms presented themselves years before I got fat and she seemed perplexed. She asked me how long my periods have been irregular and I told her since my child (who is now 17) was born. She asked me how long I have been overweight and I told her for the last decade.

I don't know if I should continue with her or not, but I leaning toward continuing if only because I do not feel like I have the energy for fighting for care elsewhere. Afterall I got the metformin and am now focusing on getting my system used to tolerating metformin and going from there.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Hello,

Well, I am glad your appointment well, but I kinda disagree with what your doctor said...Being overweight is not what causes PCOS. That is one of the symptoms that go along with PCOS, but that's not the cause of it. I am not overweight and I have PCOS. I do think though that diet and excersize play a big part in regulating PCOS though. My opinion is that if you feel comfortable with your doctor, then you should continue with her. If you feel like you are questioning her a lot, then it may be worth getting a second opinion. I was not comfortable with my doctors here in Stockton, so I decided that I was up for a fight. But trust me I wasnt looking forward to long arguments with my HMO! My husband and I are TTC (I dont have any kids yet). So I really felt like I needed to find someone that was experienced w/PCOS.

Let me know how things go!!

Rachel

Actually I think that I was ready to take the you have it cause u are fat junk from the endo because that is what my mother said. That sounds so twisted I know, but my family has a long history of blaming me for my medical issues (10 inch fibroid tumer cased emergency surgery in 1995 and diagnosed with crohns disease in 2000 after being told for a decade there was nothing wrong) and it has created havoc inmy life that goes far beyond my illnesses alone.
When my endo said it, it was a violation I was initially willing to accept because it was familiar. But I know she os wrong. In fact, my general practitioner told me when she diagnosed me that PCOS is the reason I am retaining weight. What I wanted most from my endo was cutting edge advice on how to lose weight inlight of my PCOS. I did not get that.
I could:
A) Just move on realizing that I got my metformin and follow up with my general practitioner. Did I mention that the endo said I should just follow up with my GP rather than book another appt in endo?
B) Fight for my right to another opinion.

I dunno...another opinion on what? Even if I can get an endo to tell me what I already know, where does that leave me? I am getting concrete advice here on these boards. Right now I am thinking just keep taking the Metformin and doing my research.

???