Back in the old days when you got sick and ended up in the hospital, it was probably because your primary care doctor put you there in the first place. Boy, have things changed.

Nowadays you have one set of doctors who see you in the clinic when you”re doing well, another set of doctors who see if you need emergency care, and yet another set of doctors who take care of you if you become hospitalized . Many times, these “hospital” doctors know little, if anything, about you except what they observe right there on the spot and /or what they can read about you from prior admissions. If you receive your medical care at a huge teaching institution like I do, it gets even more impersonal, because you have multiple teams of student doctors and residents that rotate through the system a every 3 or 4 months. Chances are, you’re gonna see a different doctor every time.

This system seems to work fine if you”re generally healthy and don’t need frequent medical care, but if you have a complicated medical history and don”t fit the mold ( like yours truly), then things can get a little frustrating…especially in the Emergency room.

That’s where the patient “intro letter” comes in. More and more Physicians are writing these kinds of letters for their medically complex patients (not just severe asthmatics) to carry with them. If you ever end up having to go to an Emergency room ,the letter basically introduces you to the staff and provides the physician with some basic information about current health problems. It can save you from having to recite your entire medical history over and over again to people who don’t know you ( this is especially helpful, when you can”t breath). It can include valuable information on what seems to work best in treating your condition.

The letter below was just updated a few days ago by my Pulmonologist, and is the actual letter I sometimes bring with me to the ER . Yes…sometimes being in a place I don’t want to be when I’m having a hard time breathing , can make me a little anxious. But c”mon…. when you”re struggling to breath and they”re threatening to shove a tube down your throat, you”re bound to get a little antsy!

IV Fentanyl in small doses sometimes works for me in helping blunt the feeling of suffocation. The only problem is, most opiates can also suppress your breathing , so most physicians are reluctant to give then unless they know you will react to it.