Stay away from Patricia Monroe
Stay away from Patricia Monroe, who is a provider for Push Health. Not only does she not know what she’s doing but she’s rude and demeaning on top of it. I would be wary of any health organization that hires ableist providers and has low standards. I reported Patricia to Push Health and sent Push the entire (very long) conversation with her and they said they would be taking action but I highly doubt they did anything as she’s still employed by them. She has an aversion to medical research and when you prove her wrong or challenge the obvious script she’s reading, she insults you on a very personal level. I have thyroid cancer (I also have no thyroid) and cannot exercise more than walking 4 miles in a day without experiencing severe exhaustion and she legit told me I need to exercise more to lose weight - and that the fact she had me on the same dose of Zepbound for 8 months and my body got used to it had nothing to do with my plateau. When I told her I had a double level spinal fusion very recently and couldn’t manage to do more than my physical therapy routine + walk due to the fusion and cancer combined, she suggested I exercise from bed if need be. Not increase a dose of medication that wasn’t working anymore, but exercise somehow from bed LOL I sent her research to back up my request for a dose increase and that’s when she lost it - nurse practitioners are allergic to scientific research. She said “why don't you have one of your many specialists prescribe it for you” and BLOCKED ME. The lack of professionalism is a problem with the entire NP community but she blew my mind. The reasons she gave for denying my request were 1) “I have tons of patients on 5 mg for a year and a half that are still losing 1-2lbs a week” (I didn’t realize all patients were the same!!!! She also had no idea what a “non responder” to Zepbound was btw) 2) you’re not eating enough to lose weight (then how did I lose weight for 6 months straight!?!) 3) you don’t exercise enough (this makes no sense after she just accused me of not eating enough. Why would I need to exercise MORE if I wasn’t eating enough?!) 4) “I’ve been prescribing this medication for years and never had a patient like you..” (Zepbound is a year old). The way in which she demanded I have one of my specialists prescribe it for me was callous because she knows oncology and neurology have no business prescribing weight loss medication. She acted like a spoiled brat - she wanted 0 input from me, the patient, regarding MY OWN treatment plan. Zepbound is NOT a narcotic and I was on 7.5 mg (not a starting dose) so if I felt my body had gotten used to it and thus was no longer losing weight what would be the harm of increasing my dose??? 0 harm whatsoever- she just had an impossible ego and has no business being a medical provider. The only thing she should be focused on is seeing a shrink. I went to my PCP for Zepbound after this and they increased my dose and I immediately started losing again. I refused to go back to Push to see a different provider because this incident proves they have no hiring standards and that’s dangerous. Well folks, you’ve been warned!