When did you stop seeing your pediatrician?

Our family doctor was who I saw from the time I was three until he retired when I turned sixteen. Prior to that we lived somewhere else and I saw our family doctor then as well.

I remember my sister’s kids going to the pediatrician until they were about fourteen or fifteen. They then went to the doctor that she and their dad saw.

We were very poor, so my mother let this old Italian widower who lived next door provide free medical care for my brother and me. Somehow, he convinced her that full-body physical exams were necessary a minimum of twice a week.

To this day, I still receive greeting cards from him on every holiday, which I frankly find odd, and somewhat perplexing. He says he still keeps a photo of my brother in his bathroom, of all places….

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When we moved away from the area, when I was 20. He’s not strict about seeing only minors and I had so much health history that it would have just been a huge pain in the butt to switch to someone else.

I actually have my first appointment with my new PCP on Monday.

My medical care was at Bethesda Naval Hospital and I think the navy assigned me to an adolescent doctor. Meaning, I don’t think my mom requested it, I had been seeing a pediatrician there, but then I was transferred, I think it was just a matter of course. I was around 13 or 14 years old. It was great. I think that is an excellent specialty, and I have a feeling that specialty is not very prevalent. When I became sexually active it wasn’t weird to have her take care of my needs regarding that. I think it might be odd to ask your long time pediatrician for birth controll pills, and odd to go to a brand new doctor as a teen, like a GYN, for your first pelvic exam.

@OneBadApple That doctor sounds like a pedophile.

Well, as you mention it, all of his cards do originate from a prison…
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At 17 I moved on from the family pediatrician to my first OB-gyn.

When I left my mother’s house at 17, I started going to Oacac, which is income-based OBGYN services.

My whole family had the same doctor from the time we moved to Denver when I was 7 until I left home, at age 18.

When my sister needed a blood test to get married, she went back to the original doctor, but his office said she would have to register as a new patient, so she went to a clinic near her apartment.

Well, this is easy to answer. I never had one.

I don’t really recall… I know I saw our pediatrician when I was 11, but I remember seeing the family practice doctors in High School. I don’t know why we switched, but I think the pediatrician moved elsewhere. Similarly, I loved my son’s pediatrician, whom I found by meeting his wife at the La Leche League meetings. They moved to another state when my son was ~2. I just switched him to the family practice I went to – I loved my Dr. there, too. Then we moved, but the practice had a location that was also a walk-in urgent care – Perfect for my accident-prone boy. The receptionist was mother to a classmate of his, and we became friends. They are still listed as my PCP, because they have >20 years of records, but we’ve moved ~40 minutes away. Thankfully, we’re pretty healthy and don’t need referrals.

My sister is 22 and she still goes to our pediatrician….

I myself probably stopped around 15. I don’t have a primary care doctor now. When ever I get sick/injured I just go to urgent care. It makes little sense to me to be sick and make a Dr apt for 5 days from now when I’m feeling better, I’d much rather go the day I’m feeling ill, even if that means I have to wait 2 hours instead of the normal hour in the waiting room.

I don’t remember ever going to a paediatrician, my family had a GP and that was all that was needed, I don’t think people in NZ take their children to paediatricians as a matter of course, the family GP seems more than capable, people use a specialist if some particular medical problem requires it, for instance, at around age 8 my daughter required the opinion of a cardiologist, it was arranged through the GP.

At 18. An exam was required in order to get in to college. After that, I didn’t seek medical attention until I was out of school and working for a company with an insurance plan. The doctor chosen was a member of this plan and was recommended by a co-worker.

What really bothered me about that last visit to the pediatrician was that it included a breast exam. Nobody gave me a heads up about it. The doctor was the first person to touch my budding breasts. He made a comment about how skimpy my bikini top must be based upon tan lines. It sort of creeped me out. Then my best friend told me that her doctor (a different one) told her that she should pinch her nipples and rub them in order to make them stand out more. Neither of us reported these incidents to our parents.

@Pied_Pfeffer That is creepy. I don’t even remember if I had a breast exam when I started having pelvic exams. What’s the chance an 18 year old will have breast cancer? I have had two doctors make me feel like they were perverts. One was a GYN and one a GP.

@JLeslie Thank you for confirming my feelings. In my case, I just brushed it off as an attempt at a comical statement on the doctor’s part…maybe to put me at ease. If so, it back-fired.

@Pied_Pfeffer Eww.

My PCP did a fellowship in adolescent medicine and works at a local university where she sees college students (she has me, my hubby and my parents as private patients).

I was thinking that my 16 year old might prefer to switch to her. I can’t imagine talking to my pediatrician about sex, etc., which I’m sure he’ll be addressing at some point soon.

Thanks everyone.