What is the phrase; ask a silly question and get a answer? The assistant's reply, "You can but the co-pay won't be pretty". Gotta love people who can come back at ya on a dime.
Last week I had my annual physical, I have one every year around my birthday (also last week). While there I asked for, and received, my blood work results. But they were incomplete, not all test results were on the copy I received. So I await the Doc to call me with the scoop. Planning to give these numbers as much importance as I am the scale & the tape measure. Otherwise when I was there my blood pressure was good, he was pleased at my weight loss, and all else checked out Ok. Just waiting on the blood work now.
What credence do you put in your doctor's opinions and advice?
I ask the question because I know a few folks that do not respect the advice of doctors beyond the problem they are there to see them about. Especially topics like nutrition, weight loss and exercise. Their belief is that doctors know medicine and how to check the body and repair whats sick or broke, that's it. For help with being healthy nutritionists, therapists, trainers know more about what gets & keeps a body healthy than do doctors according to them.
Agree or Disagree?
Myself I tend to listen a good deal to the doctor I have. He has earned my respect for the medicine and has proved to me that he knows more than just sniffles and drips. Do I accept every thing he says, no, but in general I give him my full attention. But, I have had doctors in the past who had not earned my respect for knowing their craft and I didn't waste time dusting them to the side.
Overall I don't buy the completeness of the notion that doctors lag greatly on the topic of being healthy. However my sense is that when looking for serious depth of knowledge in the areas of diet & exercise, that is when you need to add the help of nutritionists, therapists, & trainers on top of that your doctor.
Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!
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I like and trust my docs opinion. That being said, my doc is fairly amazing and I've never had a doc I trusted as much as her.
ReplyDeleteIn general though, I trust them. They went to med school, not me!
I trust my doctor, just because I know most often he is looking at metrics: lab work, measurements, etc. But I also think it is wise to do our own homework about whatever issues we might be facing.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the good feedback. I hope the bloodwork is great.
Like you I have had varied experiences with diferent doctors. Some I trust, some I do not. Had a great PA at a walk in clinic that had gone through similiar weight loss issues himself and therefore had a depth of knowledge on diet, exercise, and supplements (I was there fore something diferent completly btw). He even had an idea the day after I saw him and called me to add some advice. Only problem, he was the only person in the office who did not take appointments. Recently I have seen two doctors in the same clinic for the same problem, both givng be diferent answers. I am very loyal, once I find one I trust I stick with them.
ReplyDeleteThe doc experiences vary & so that question may have a differnt answer depending... sometimes I got blown off... rushing thru.. HMO's you know. That irks me. I do tend to reserch Web MD & other reputable sites too.... it is a situational basis to me.
ReplyDeletePatrick, thank you so much for your comment today!!!!! Here is to survivors! :-)
I trust my doctor and value her opinions and advice. I have been seeing her for over 20 years, so she knows me well! I have an award for you over on my blog Patrick!
ReplyDeleteDepends on the doctor. I went through a series of uber-shitty ones until I found an amazing doctor. I saw this one doctor for like 2 years for help trying to lose weight. I did everything she recommended, and would come in frequently for a checkup. I still wasn't losing weight and I was so frustrated! At year 2 she told me that I was overweight because I was lazy! What the hell! I had pages upon pages of workout logs and a note from a personal trainer about all the work I was doing! I told her to shove her judgemental and incompetent self up her ass and walked out. My doctor now LISTENS to me and is extraordinarily helpful. A year ago I went to see her regularly for issues I was having regarding being extremely tired all the time, and she called me at 10 p.m. on a Wednesday night from her house and was like, "I've been researching this for weeks and I think I found the answer!" It was some really uber rare disease that I never would have gotten diagnosed if it weren't for her listening to what I was saying and putting in some extra effort. She earned my trust over that, so if she had something to say to me, I'd totally listen to what she had to say.
ReplyDeleteI definitly think that it depends on the doc, to be honest though I like getting my nutritional info from all the books i read.
ReplyDeleteI think it's the cool thing now to complain that doctors don't know anything, they have it all backwards, etc, etc. But all I know is that when my nephew was born with a diaphramatic hernia and a collapsed lung and almost died, they sure knew what they were doing!!! He is a healthy little boy now and we are very thankful for the job that his team of doctors did.
ReplyDeleteWell, I certainly have had more experience with the inner workings of medicine than most. Doctors are people too, some more competent than others. I challenge any other field to have to maintain as high a standard as medicine under the microscope we are put under.
ReplyDeleteWe can only be as good as the effort patients put into taking care of their own health. It's a partnership. In my opinion, the doctor keeps their part of the deal better than most of the patients do.
What makes you think the sales reps ever see the doctor? Most likely their office personnel take the bribes and split up the gifts :-)
I trust the doctor that I go to - he's known me since I was young on a baseball team with his son.
ReplyDeleteI love me some Dr. J! :-)
ReplyDeleteThat is a really good question. Obviously there is gonna be some crackpots that ruin it for them all. And yeah the big flaw with medicine is they have to know so freaking much that they only know what they are pretty much told (at least until they become a specialist). There not like scientists that know every detail, nook and cranny about their research topic. But scientists specialise, whereas doctors have to know if something is wrong with you. And for that I think they do a great job. They have had pretty intensive training and I definitely respect them. I guess what Im trying to say is comparably there probably the person you most want to trust with your health but they are not infallible.
ReplyDeleteI generally believe a doctor, but I always ask questions. I once had a doctor that saw my blood pressure and wanted to immediately put me on pills. I asked if we could follow some recommended diet changes and reevaluate after three weeks. Weeks later, the numbers came down and the pills were shelved.
ReplyDeleteSeems many people he encounters that are overweight just accept pills without considering changing anything. I appreciate doctors willing to work with me on things, rather than just deciding that they're right and there are no other options.
I trust Dr. J -- that's about it.
ReplyDeleteThat said, these days to trust a doctor is to also trust the institution which produced the doctor. I have little trust in most modern institutions -- modernity issues.
Once, in the ancient world, when a boy (or girl) wanted to become a doctor, he or she would follow a doctor -- for many years, train learn, be tested, and at some point approved, or not, to also be a doctor.
In time, this process became institutionalized, agenda filled, and diluted to the point where (in my opinion) most doctors are simply parrots, repeating what they hear and read, and not what they see or know.
HAPPY Belated Bday friend!
ReplyDelete- Lisa
I moved to Montana recently and think my new doctor is awesome! When I went to this doctor she gave me advice about eating six meals a day and suggested books for me to look at. She's a GENERAL practitioner, she knows the generals about everything and she's my go to when I have a health question. If I wanted to make some huge change like redo my eating or workouts completely I would to a specialist.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your test results... :o)
ReplyDeleteAs I'm sure you know, we have a National Health Service in the UK that is free to all. This is great, but it does mean resources are stretched to the limit and often a doctor can only allow 5 minutes for an appointment, so you really need to be very concise about exactly why you need to see them! I trust my doctor to a point, but considering the variety of problems and ailments they have to deal with, I can't expect them to be spot on with every area of medicine.