February 11, 2008 by SUM.

Today, I would like to summarize the results of my Crest Night Effects experience. As the situation is now, my teeth were damaged by Crest Night Effects, I received a misdirected and faulty examination at the UW Dental Clinic, and afterwards I was charged for an examination that should have never taken place.

At the end of November 2007, I wrote a letter to the UW in which I stated my concerns about the misdirected and faulty examination and a billing that I consider unjust. As of this day I haven’t received a reply from the UW, but since that day I haven’t received any other letters from the collection agency.

For the past few months I followed more closely news article about medical mistakes and how hospitals will handle the billing process. One article stated that hospitals will tear up bills for medical mistakes. The article was written on January 29th in the Seattle Times. In the article I read the following: ‘”If we can avoid adding insult to injury where patients have been affected by an adverse event, then we’re taking a step that is right,” said Dr. Brian Wicks, president of the state Medical Association.’ I felt the insult to injury as well.

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July 24, 2007 by SUM.

After having visited different physicians including a gastroenterologist on May 9, 2005 and having different lab tests done, I received from an investigation company, ordered by my insurance company, a letter inquiring whether someone else is responsible for paying the medical bills. I wish I could have told them that someone else is responsible. But the physicians I had contacted either had shrugged off the problem or told me that they thought that the x-ray machines had not caused the damage.

I know that I had been perfectly healthy before I underwent these two preventive procedures: mammogram and DEXA scan. Since the nail of my thumb had been burnt and the DEXA scanner had been close to my thumb, I believe now that the damage occurred during the DEXA scan procedure, but I didn’t have the proof neither then nor now.

Though the symptoms are gone, I don’t know what kind of effect this will have on my body in the future. And besides being sick for almost a half-year and feeling very uncomfortable because of not knowing how this had happened, I was additionally punished by paying always these $20.00 co-payments per doctor visit and for lab tests. But the worst part was being sick and nobody cared to investigate why this had happened.

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July 17, 2007 by SUM.

A couple years ago I saw a car parked, with the words “Invisible Fence” painted on it, on a parking lot at an Antique Mall, which I visited quite often. You all have heard the words “glass ceiling”. It is an invisible but unmistakable barrier; not only on the career ladder of a woman, but also of another member of a demographic minority within an organization.

Due to my experiences here in the Bellevue, Redmond, and Seattle area, I’m experiencing another kind of barrier, or let’s call it discriminatory boundary. I know I’m entitled to the claims described under Crest Night Effects. As of today, I have written more than 40 attorneys in this area and informed them of my two claims that call for taking legal action. But nobody showed serious interest in helping me in this matter. Some replied, while the majority kept silent. A few attorneys actually gave me either odd and/or incompetent counsel.

I believe that some of my experiences were not only purposefully orchestrated, but also meant with the intent to mislead. Read the articles about the Lake Washington Technical College. My experiences there had been purposefully manipulated, too. And these aren’t the only places, where I experienced purposefully planned manipulation and deception.

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July 10, 2007 by SUM.

While having these weird symptoms in my mouth, I was also pretty tired. I felt like energy had been drained from me. I’m not exactly sure when it started that I felt constantly tired. In my journal on March 26, 2005 is the entry that I had been pretty tired for the past few weeks. This condition stayed with me for quite some time while the symptoms in my mouth got worse.

At the end of April 2005, I spoke with my cousin in Vancouver, and we talked about my symptoms in my mouth. Over a period of four months the discomfort in my mouth had developed in stages:

Dry mouth, less saliva, metallic taste, taste of bitterness on gum.
Outbreak of rash in my mouth.
Dry mouth, salivary function lost; I wasn’t able to produce any saliva the natural way for at least 2-3 weeks.
Producing very frothy saliva, constantly extreme salty taste in my mouth for at least 2-3 weeks.

While the physicians just told me that they didn’t know why I had these problems in my mouth, I informed myself on the Internet. When I didn’t produce any saliva anymore and nobody cared to examine the source of this problem, I was pretty desperate. On the Internet I had read the following:

- Oral dryness is usually accompanied by a severe reduction in the secretion of unstimulated salivation. The severity of dryness can vary depending on the amount of salivary function lost.
- Saliva is essential for digesting foods and fending of infections. It also prevents the development of caries.

The remedy for this condition was either to use artificial saliva to moisten the mouth, or to promote salivary flow by chewing sugar-free chewing gum if residual salivary function is left.

For a few weeks I was constantly chewing gum until my salivary glands were restored to function again without external stimulation.

In May of 2005 I had no doubt anymore that my salivary glands had been damaged. Therefore the question was, why and when had it happened? I had not undergone any radiation therapy, but I had been exposed twice within a month to x-rays. Shortly after I had undergone the preventive procedures of mammogram and DEXA scan, radiation symptoms appeared (burnt nail in January, unusual tingling sensations in mouth beginning of February). Therefore I believed that I had received an overdose of radiation during at least one of these procedures.

While I had these symptoms I talked to several people about this. I also spoke with a friend in Germany who had studied medical technology. She told me that if the x-ray machine is not operated properly, a person could enter a higher radiation dosage. And if the machine is not calibrated properly, a higher dosage can be given, too.

During that time I consulted with different physicians who just shrugged with their shoulders and said they didn’t know what had caused these symptoms. There was a lack of concern to find out the source of the problem, and nobody cared to refer me to another physician who perhaps could have helped me to deal with this situation another way instead of just having my blood checked for metal poisoning and a brief saliva test at the beginning of this ordeal.

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July 4, 2007 by SUM.

After the emergency consultation with Dr. N. at Minor & James I called the nurse assistant from Dr. H. several times. Though I had left messages on her answering machine, she didn’t call me back. When the symptoms got worse, having not only constantly a metallic taste in my mouth but also a very dry mouth because of not producing enough saliva, I scheduled an appointment through the appointment phone line with Dr. H. for Wednesday, 13th April.

At this time I didn’t want to switch the medical clinic and/or physician again. Therefore I decided to consult once more with Dr. H. My appointment with him was set up for Wednesday, 11:00 AM. I was at the clinic on time and registered at the front desk.

After I had been waiting for 30 minutes and not been called in his office, I inquired about how long I still had to wait. The desk clerks told me that he lets people sometimes wait for fife hours, and they asked me whether I wanted to re-schedule. I declined to re-schedule.

I not only was sick, but I also was prepared to have a cholesterol test done on that day. Dr. H. had advised me the last time I had seen him, not to eat anything when I would see him the next time. Therefore I arrived at the clinic with an empty stomach so that a cholesterol test could be done on the same day, too.

While waiting I read a magazine and spoke to a Minor & James employee who sat for a while next to me. She had the label Datarecords on her shirt. I waited for a long time until I knew that letting me wait so long was not only not appropriate but also part of a planned action. At 12:30 PM I insisted on seeing a nurse, and the nurse assistant from Dr. H. showed up. I asked her why she hadn’t answered my phone calls. Her reply was that I had asked about my test results and she prioritizes. I thought that these actions were not professional either. Afterwards she told me that someone else would take care of me, and she left for lunch with a black sports bag.

Here I would like to mention that I didn’t know the people I consulted with. Since I knew that their actions and behavior was neither appropriate nor justified I kept a very detailed journal.

When I entered the room of D. H. on that day, it had been a little bit re-arranged; a chessboard was sitting on a counter, more family pictures and a boy standing in front of a cross were displayed. I just thought that this didn’t look like the usual examination room.

I told him of my symptoms in my mouth: metallic taste and very dry mouth. Since I had no idea why I had now constantly, for the past few weeks, a metallic taste in my mouth, I asked him to test for some metals in my blood, too. After he had filled out the form for ordering lab tests, he said to me that I could decide now whether I want to see him again.

I had to wait for a while in the lab’s waiting room. While waiting there a young guy who wore glasses entered the waiting room. He held a digital camera in his hands. He actually sat next to me leaving an empty chair between us and played with the camera. While waiting a nurse whose nametag was M. came in and got herself some water from the water dispenser. I just knew that his and her appearance as well as many other actions had been planned, too.

Nurse A. drew again blood from me. I asked him to use the vein of my arm, but he said that he’ll use a small needle and he pulled the needle out of his coat pocket. This time he filled six vials.

While I was in a small room where blood is drawn, I was a bit nervous to contemplate about the events on this day, but later I felt very uncomfortable about the experiences on this day, specifically about the nurse pulling the needle out of his coat pocket. I recalled the words from the other nurse and the reaction on my arm after she had injected me with a needle.

That day I left Minor & James at about 2:30 PM. I was hoping that the tests results would give some hint at the strange symptoms (constantly metallic taste and very dry mouth due to not producing enough saliva). Dr. H. didn’t recommend any other procedure to examine further the cause of these symptoms.

Now, I’m actually appalled about the different experiences I encountered while contacting various health care professionals in this area. With time it became obvious that something was definitely wrong. I not only was ill-treated without receiving accurate medical care, but also misled by people who neither knew me nor I knew them.

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July 3, 2007 by SUM.

During the consultation at Minor & James on Friday, 25th March, I reported the symptoms that I experienced in my mouth: obvious symptoms of a rash, metallic taste in my mouth, and having a bitter taste while touching my gum with my tongue.

Since I had not as yet received the lab results previously ordered by Dr. H., I inquired about them while consulting with Dr. N. I was told that the lab results had come back and no medical problems had been found. Everything had looked fine including a thyroid test. On that day Dr. N. ordered another batch of blood tests including another urine test.

At the lab I requested the same male nurse A. who had drawn blood from me the last time. But this time no other female nurse assisted him. The last time when he had drawn blood from the veins on top of my hand, I had experienced no discomfort. But at this occasion I almost thought that my hand would burst because of an extreme swelling up while having blood drawn. It took A. a long time to draw blood from my vein and after a while my hand started not only to swell up, its color also turned to bluish-red. Nurse A. filled again three small containers, but the last container had hardly blood in it because of a lack of blood flow after a while. He made the remark while pointing to the small container “that does not make it.” At this moment I just was relieved that he released the pressure from my arm. Strictly speaking I hardly could believe that I had to experience such a discomfort during this procedure.

Dr. N. had prescribed medicine for a rash, and after leaving Minor & James, I drove by the pharmacy store at Costco to buy the medicine. I had been told at Dr. N’s office that the medicine wasn’t so expensive. The bottle Nystatin 100,000 Units/Ml SUSP # 240 cost $67.79, which I had to pay out of my own pocket because my insurance didn’t cover these costs. Additionally, each time I visited a physician I had to pay a co-payment of $20.00 and was charged for lab tests that weren’t done at Minor & James. Here I could mention that my monthly insurance wasn’t cheap, which I had to pay out of my own pocket, too.

Since I hardly had bought medicine, I wasn’t knowledgeable about these costs. I just had the feeling that the medicine bought at Costco was a bit pricey. Thus I inquired at the Walgreen’s Pharmacy store how much they would have charged for the same medicine. To my surprise I was told that the cost would have been $50.00. Therefore I decided to talk to a manager at Costco about this price difference, and I actually received a refund.

The following Monday, 28th March, T. from the Redmond water utility department came by my house. He tested my water for its pH value and chlorine content, while he was in my kitchen. The values were okay. Since I had told him that I also had a metallic taste in my mouth, he offered to test the water a little bit more. He called it a plumbing test. He told me that he would be back the next day with a bottle to collect another water sample.

While he was in my kitchen, he took a gulp of the tap water from my kitchen faucet and said that it tasted good to him and that he is drinking it now for the past 25 years. Just to see how the water tasted, I also took a gulp of the tap water. Since the incident on the day of last Thursday I had only used water bought at a grocery store, and I had experienced no problems while using bottled water.

After T. had left, about 10-15 minutes later, I had white foam streaming like tiny bubbles out of my mouth for some time (maybe about a minute). This seemed so weird to me. Since I had taken the medicine starting last Friday, I have had no problems until I drank some tap water. I considered this incident quite strange. Somehow the tap water had an effect in some way on the medicine.

After white foam had poured out of my stomach, I left a message at the Redmond water utility department informing them of this incident, too. The next day T. handed me a print-out of the water quality test results of May 2004 from the Seattle Public Utilities, tested the chlorine content again, and took a water sample of my tap water for further testing.

After this incident I decided to contact another physician to inquire about some other tests, for example an endoscopy.

Here I would like to remind you that the symptoms started with a grayish-black burned nail in January. Slowly some new symptoms appeared: some tingling sensations in my mouth at the beginning of February, and a metallic and bitter taste starting towards the middle-end of March.

Besides having some saliva with a Q-tip extracted from my mouth, I had two other medical exams performed concerning the affected area: examination at the UW dental clinic in February and dental procedure at a dental practice in Bellevue at the beginning of March.

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June 27, 2007 by SUM.

The test results from the dermatologist’s office had come back negative; no fungus on my nail or other unusual medical condition in my saliva had been found. But the uncomfortable sensations in my mouth persisted whereas the grayish-black nail started to grow out. The tingling sensations in my mouth, which I had started to feel in January, had become now burning sensations on my inner lips. Therefore I decided to use only boiled water when brushing my teeth and sterilizing my toothbrush several times in boiling hot water.

On Tuesday, 15th March 2005, I visited the dental practice from Dr. C. in Bellevue for having my teeth cleaned. I informed the dental clerk from Dr. D. of my burning sensations, too. She asked me to bring my latest dental x-rays with me. At the dental office a few dental x-rays from my frontal teeth were taken, and Dr. C. compared the ones he had taken on that day to the ones taken last year at the Lake Washington Technical College.

While I consulted with different physicians, nobody actually had confirmed any unusual medical condition in my mouth with the exception that I felt those sensations. But that changed suddenly on Thursday, 24th March.

Later that afternoon I made myself some tea with a teabag from Bigelow. It was green tea with lemon. I actually used only one teabag for a whole teapot. The water I had used had been filtered and boiled, and I had left the teabag in the teapot for not more than five minutes.

As soon I took only one sip from the tea, I felt a sudden burn. My whole mouth was burning and hurting. I looked at my tongue, which was at that moment white. Immediately, I brushed my teeth and noticed that my tongue and the back of it were covered with little pustules; the back more than the front.

Since I didn’t know what had caused this outbreak, I assumed that something had been wrong with the water. Therefore I called the city of Redmond and reported this incident. After a few phone calls a city employee told me that someone from the Redmond city department would come by my house on Monday to take a sample of my water for testing.

The next day Friday, 25th March I made an appointment with a physician at James & Minor. Since it was an emergency I received an appointment the same day with Dr. N. He confirmed that my mouth and tongue were coated and prescribed me medication for a yeast infection.

Since the symptoms of discomfort in my mouth had already started in January, but nobody of the physicians, I had spoken with, had paid more attention than doing a saliva test, at that moment I thought that something had been wrong with the water to cause this outbreak.

In the coming weeks I would experience other symptoms that were more frightening. But I’ll describe the events in chronological order. In my next posts you’ll learn more of these not everyday experiences.

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June 24, 2007 by SUM.

On Monday, 14th February 2005 I consulted with Dr. H. at James & Minor. Before I saw him I spoke with his assistant G. who agreed with me that it had been strange that the physician at the other clinic had not requested a blood test the first time I consulted with him.

The visit with Dr. H. was quite different than the one I have had with Dr. P. As far as I remember both had been listed under the section for family physicians, but Dr. H. was listed under internal medicine. Dr. P. had barely spent time with me whereas Dr. H. did a physical exam and spent a lot of time asking me questions and entering data in his computer. I was in his examination room for about 45 minutes. I had told him that I had consulted a dermatologist’s office for the injury to my nail, but I had not received the results yet. Dr. H’s examination entailed looking in my mouth, too, and he said that everything looks fine. He prescribed a blood, urine, and stool test. The blood and urine test were done the same day at the clinic’s lab. I had to do the stool test at home.

At the lab a female nurse, A., injected needles in my arms to draw blood. Though I have fine veins, I’ve never had before the problem that a nurse wasn’t able to draw blood from them. But this nurse injected a needle in my left arm and on the top of my right elbow several times, but she always missed the vein. Additionally, she turned the needle around while the needle was under my skin of my upper right elbow. No other nurse has ever done this, and often I had blood drawn from me. While living in Germany I had been a blood donor. At that point I really started to feel very uncomfortable. After this nurse also said to me “There are sideways people don’t know about.” I actually got this uneasy feeling that she had missed my veins on purpose. Afterwards I requested that someone else should draw blood. And she called a male nurse.

The male nurse’s name started with the same letter A. A female nurse, R. assisted him. This nurse held the plastic containers for him. He said to me that he’ll use a smaller needle, and he drew blood from the veins on top of my right hand. While I was sitting in the lab, I noticed that another person stuck his hand through the curtain and placed a urine sample in a box on the wall opposite my chair. I was told that I had to place my urine sample in the same box, too.

On Sunday, 20th February, I noticed a red mark next to the injection from the needle injected several times on top of my right arm. In the middle of the mark was a blister. The diameter of the red mark was about ½ inch. The appearance of the red mark with the blister worried me.

I called a neighbor and told her about my red mark and the blister on it. She told me to report this in case drawing blood from me had been mishandled. After I had spoken to her I called James & Minor, and they paged Dr. H. He called me back on the same day and said that if the red mark would spread over my whole arm I should come the next day in the clinic otherwise it would be a waste of his and my time. After the conversation with him I wasn’t appeased. I had to talk to someone else about this matter. I called another person, and T. said that the physicians/clinics are actually being afraid of being sued, therefore they tell you that there is nothing to worry about.

I certainly didn’t feel better after these conversations. The next day I called my sister in Germany and asked her to ask the dermatologist in Germany what he thinks. She called me back the next day, Tuesday, and said that he had told her that I shouldn’t worry because the blister was not at the injection point of the needle and may have been co-incidental.

After this incident I just was hoping that nothing serious would develop out of this experience. But my confidence in nurses drawing blood from me was at a low point.

At that time I had not developed yet the severe symptoms in my mouth that show up after being exposed to too much radiation. At that time I only felt sometimes a numb feeling and some tingling sensations in my mouth, which I had already described to assistant J. at Dr. G.’s practice.

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June 24, 2007 by SUM.

On the day I came back from my doctor’s visit at Dr. G.’s office, I decided to research for a family physician with emphasis on internal medicine over the Internet on my insurance’s website, First Choice. I wanted to have my blood tested, but I didn’t want to go back to Dr. P.’s practice.

While researching the database from First Choice I noticed something strange. The data list stopped at the letter ‘O’. No data was available for a physician for internal medicine after the letter ‘O’. That didn’t seem right to me. Since I had to find a physician from this list, I decided to visit the clinic of James & Minor in Seattle and scheduled an appointment with Dr. H. for Monday, 14th February 2005.

Sometimes you notice things that seem a bit odd and you just take note of it. Within two days I saw two German built cars, a BMW and a Mercedes that had similar license plates at two different places. The BMW was parked at the Antique Mall were I had a showcase and the Mercedes at the place where I had my mammography done last year in November. On Thursday, 3rd February 2005 I went by the Overlake Breast Center to pick up my x-ray film from last year. Since quite a few strange things had happened to me for some time now, I paid a bit more attention of my surroundings.

On Saturday morning, 5th February, I talked to an elderly man who I had met a couple years ago at a Seattle Sleepless Singles meeting. He told me that he was going to their Saturday meetings. I told him that I’m not interested in going there anymore because I have heard one man saying to me or a woman who was sitting next to me “Now, no men runs after you anymore.” When I had heard him saying this to me or her or us, I was baffled. I didn’t know him. I didn’t know why he was mad at women. I just thought that he is an angry man. Afterwards I didn’t feel like going to the Seattle Sleepless Singles anymore because I didn’t know what this person actually had in mind. And later I wondered what he actually had done.

On Monday, 14th February 2005 I visited for the first time Dr. H. at James & Minor. There I had also a very unusual experience that I found alarming. I’ll write about this and the symptoms of radiation overexposure which developed more severely a little bit later in my next posts.

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June 23, 2007 by SUM.

Before I consulted another physician, a dermatologist, I talked to my insurance company and a few other people who I asked for advise, too.

On Wednesday, 26th January 2005 I talked to a specialist at my insurance company and asked him whether the insurance company has some kind of procedures that family physicians can go by when certain matters have to be examined.

The person on the phone replied that this is a matter of opinion and that I should go with what I feel. I told him that I felt uncomfortable that the family physician who had not seen me before had told me that my blood is okay, though my blood had not been tested. The specialist recommended that I write a complaint to L. H. in N. Y.

In the mean time I not only felt that I didn’t receive the appropriate medical care, I felt that something was not adding up right here.

On the same day I spoke to another neighbor and asked her for a recommendation for a physician. When I talked to her about not having a blood test done on the same day when I visited the physician, she said that physicians don’t get enough money from the insurance companies therefore they want you to schedule another appointment, a physical examination. And maybe then they request a blood test.

Here I would like to mention that, since I’m living in Washington State, I rarely called on physicians. I actually wasn’t knowledgeable about the healthcare or the health insurance business. While living in Washington State I have had on and off health care insurance. Before August 2004 I have had neither health nor dental insurance for a couple of years. In January 2005 I neither had a family physician nor did I know other physicians except Dr. F at the Bellevue Women’s clinic.

I believe that Dr. P. could have sent me to the lab for having my blood tested on the same day I had visited his practice at the Evergreen Medical Center.

Now I chose to consult a dermatologist, Dr. G., in Seattle. I had read an article about this dermatologist in the newspaper. Therefore I decided to give his practice a call. I received an appointment, but I was told that his assistant would take care of me because he was not accepting new patients.

On Wednesday, 2nd February 2005 I met his assistant J. and another female nurse. Before she clipped my nail, I asked her for a stool analysis. I mentioned that I had heard that an infection, a fungus, could be determined through a stool analysis. Her reply was that they don’t do this test.

On the same day, early in the morning, I had talked to my sister in Germany. She advised me to request a stool analysis to look for the cause of an infection, such as bacteria, or a fungus. She had asked a dermatologist in Germany, what kind of tests I needed to have done. The dermatologist recommended a stool analysis to see whether I had an infection. But J. told me that this test was not done at Dr. G.’s practice.

J. clipped parts of my nail for testing. And after I had told her that I also had sometimes a numb feeling and some prickle or tickle sensations in my mouth, which I had never felt before, she also swiped my mouth with a Q-tip to examine my saliva.

J. told me that the results of the tests would take about two weeks.

Here I would like to mention that in the coming weeks I would develop more severe symptoms of radiation overexposure. At some point I didn’t produce any saliva in my mouth for a couple of weeks. I’ll describe these experiences in more detail in my next post.

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