Tips On How To Work With A Conventional Dr. Without Conflict?

[Sourdoughbanana]

Your erroneous assumption is you are going to try to get the doc on your side. In the majority of cases I think you will fail.
Hence my approach is simply to assume I'm not going to get that result and bypass the need for their agreement/approval.

You know... I can get where you're coming from. Maybe me having a degree that usually raises an MD's eyebrow helps at sitting down and browsing more options.

 

[burtlancast]

Modern medicine was alledgedly developed for battlefield use where there are clear problems, such as infected wounds and bullets inside people.

Lol.

If you say so.

 

[Hugh Johnson]

Lol.

If you say so.

And you call doctors arrogant?

 

[Blossom]

You are missing the point. Modern medicine was alledgedly developed for battlefield use where there are clear problems, such as infected wounds and bullets inside people. The solution there is obvious, and something the doctors can easily help with.

In chronic conditions a different attitude would be needed. One that is patient, exploratory and subtle. The problems we mostly face these days can't just be cut away and simply giving people pills is unlikely to work either. The arrogance and overconfidence you see are an attitude suited for battlefield conditions, but not for healing people with chronic issues. It's about how the profession functions, not what the individual doctors have experienced.

Thanks Hugh for explaining that so well.

 

[Blossom]

Whether or not people want to believe that much of the medical industrial complex is modeled after the military industrial complex is up to them. From the use of military time on down to the mandatory use of only black ink in documentation it is very much modeled after the military. It makes sense that many people like @jitsmonkey pointed out feel like they need to treat or should treat any interaction as one where they are at war.

 

[tankasnowgod]

Whether or not people want to believe that much of the medical industrial complex is modeled after the military industrial complex is up to them. From the use of military time on down to the mandatory use of only black ink in documentation it is very much modeled after the military. It makes sense that many people like @jitsmonkey pointed out feel like they need to treat or should treat any interaction as one where they are at war.

This makes sense to me. As I've been learning much the past year, the world is set up far differently than most people think it is, or the way it is generally presented (you might even say "advertised") to us. And many of these seemingly "modern" structures have their roots centuries, if not millennia, in the past. And many of these things are hidden in plain sight as well. But much like a good illusionist, people's attention is distracted to other things (sorry for using the passive voice there).

So it makes a lot of sense to me that modern medicine is setup just like the military. That also helps to explain why modern medicine tends to be great in short term and emergency situations, and incredibly poor at treating chronic and slow degenerative diseases. Almost as if they want to ratchet those up to an acute emergency, so they can use their strong suit to fix it.

 

[Blossom]

This makes sense to me. As I've been learning much the past year, the world is set up far differently than most people think it is, or the way it is generally presented (you might even say "advertised") to us. And many of these seemingly "modern" structures have their roots centuries, if not millennia, in the past. And many of these things are hidden in plain sight as well. But much like a good illusionist, people's attention is distracted to other things (sorry for using the passive voice there).

So it makes a lot of sense to me that modern medicine is setup just like the military. That also helps to explain why modern medicine tends to be great in short term and emergency situations, and incredibly poor at treating chronic and slow degenerative diseases. Almost as if they want to ratchet those up to an acute emergency, so they can use their strong suit to fix it.

Yes, hidden in plain sight is exactly right. I’m not saying there aren’t doctors or other health care workers that haven’t caused great harm but it’s way bigger than doctors and to solely focus on that particular job gives them way too much power and credit.

 

[pauljacob]

If I were living somewhere where I don't need a prescription for blood pressure medicine, I wouldn't see a doctor, but in the U.S. I have to see a doctor twice a year to get the prescription filled for five months. While I'm with the Doctor, he wants to load me with tests and procedures, and I refuse saying "I'm fine." In frustration, he retorts "Everyone say they're fine!" I think available medical information on the web and the increasing number of people taking good care of their health is impacting the profitability of general practitioners.

 

[Sourdoughbanana]

If I were living somewhere where I don't need a prescription for blood pressure medicine, I wouldn't see a doctor, but in the U.S. I have to see a doctor twice a year to get the prescription filled for five months. While I'm with the Doctor, he wants to load me with tests and procedures, and I refuse saying "I'm fine." In frustration, he retorts "Everyone say they're fine!" I think available medical information on the web and the increasing number of people taking good care of their health is impacting the profitability of general practitioners.

Well I’d take the tests provided you can keep the results and share them online so that you have more information on your general health :)

 

[pauljacob]

Well I’d take the tests provided you can keep the results and share them online so that you have more information on your general health :)

In the U.S. in my personal experience getting results of tests have been difficult. For example, when I go for a blood test, they'd send the results to the doctor immediately, but I'll have to wait a month before I can ask for them, and by that time I'd forgotten about them.

 

[Birdie]

In the U.S. in my personal experience getting results of tests have been difficult. For example, when I go for a blood test, they'd send the results to the doctor immediately, but I'll have to wait a month before I can ask for them, and by that time I'd forgotten about them.

This must vary by state. In Washington state I would go to the lab the next day or so and get my results.

 

[Birdie]

From @jitsmonkey :

I just made sure they knew who was in charge and who was making the decisions.
I treat them exactly the same way I treat the plumber or the refrigerator repairman.
"Tell me what you want to do and I'll decide if that's what gets done"

I don't need to present them with research or a reasonable argument or whatever. There's no debate to be had. The plumber doesn't debate me if I say I don't want a repair. He says Ok and he leaves. The doctor recommends X and I decide if we do X and I make it clear that's how
the information flow happens. If that means we leave to do research and come back that's what we do. If that means we find a new doc. That's what we do.

The doc is just a mechanic/diagnostic nothing more. He/she is a tool to be used not an authority to be impressed or negotiated with. I don't even care if the doc answers my questions. I'll get answers elsewhere. The doc is an over-confident, over-educated trade school graduate. Nothing more.




Thanks @jitsmonkey for your comments.

I found our present doctor through Stop the Thyroid Madness and he has been good about Rxing our thyroid meds. And he discusses options with us when asked. He is way above others we tested in our new hometown.

However, one must keep the guard up. The training will rear up unexpectedly. Last visit my husband complained of pellet stools. So, no questions asked, the doc orders a colonoscopy. "If we catch these early." I was stunned and speechless. However, I spent a few days reminding my husband of the downfalls of colonoscopy and that the doc did no differential diagnosis at all. So, took a Peat approach, problem better and certainly no colonoscopy.

I am thrilled to receive your advice on attitude. Investing time on having it be important to have the doc understand is useless. When he does, that's very nice, but it's hard enough to do the research and make decisions, and that's where I must spend my efforts. Gotta remember what it's about: solving a problem.

It becomes difficult when some surprise event occurs and we panic. I think this happens to the best of us. Thinking of the op, @PowertothePeatple. Glad you contacted Dr Peat.

 

[Sourdoughbanana]

This must vary by state. In Washington state I would go to the lab the next day or so and get my results.

It does vary by state. In NYC I always got my results by email.