Doctors & Health~Reflections

Reference(s):  Medical Update 2

I am not a big fan of going to the doctor.  I will be the first to admit it.

But I do like when I do go to get some recognition for things I am improving/doing well on and constructive criticism and advice on things I do not.

I also am one who likes to know if I am being prescribed a drug what the name of the drug is (both retail and generic), what is its' purpose, and possible side effects.  Heck, sometimes the side effects are worse than what is getting cured.

At times, people go on the words of the doctor without questioning anything. The doctor did go to school for being able to practice medicine.

But we don't know what is going on behind the scenes.  Is the doctor going to get paid extra to prescribe medicine over telling someone to increase her exercise regimen to take off weight?  Does the doctor find extra stuff to treat only to find out the symptom might have gone away by itself?

These are questions I raise, not because I'm overly paranoid, but because I feel like too often, doctors are going to the drugs as the cure all.  Some of them are high priced, even in generic form.  Some of the drugs a person's insurance may not cover or the prescription discount card you get only saves you a little money or not at all.

Where is the passion, compassion, and commitment to a person's health?  What happened to giving a patient a choice if she doesn't want to constantly put pills or have new stuff placed in her body?  What about natural remedies, which in some offices, never get brought up, or sometimes get dismissed as a hoax or a scam?

More and more, particularly since I've been going to the local clinic for a primary physician, I see so many patients to one physician.

It may be more difficult for the physician to possess constant passion/compassion if you have 200 patients...but still, a little, particularly if you have to deliver some bad news, I would appreciate some.

About a month ago, I had blood work done to determine some of my levels.  There were some that were good and a few not so good.  One I knew wouldn't be so good was the cholesterol, but it is somewhat better from where it was years back.  The other was the level to determine the next step in my medical treatment...whether different medicine, increase in medicine, etc.

However, my readings (that I check daily) have improved drastically from where they were back in September.  They are actually where the doctor needs them to be, and I wanted to share that good news with her.

When I see her, the first thing she tells me was about how horrible the lab results were, how she feels the current regiment of medication isn't working, and putting me on some more medication.

Even when I told her the good news about my other levels, she didn't even say anything about the progress I had made.

It's already difficult for me to figure out how to pay for the meds I already have; the additional stuff she wanted to prescribe would double the cost.

On top of that, a couple of temp assignments I had to turn down because they weren't willing to work with me needing to take a whole day/half a day each month to make my doctor appointments.

So, I got pretty emotional and straight up told her I didn't want to be put lots of extra medication.  I don't want to get put on it and then have to stop due to not being able to afford it, since the insurance through the temp agency doesn't cover medicines at all.

I told her I didn't appreciate her not acknowledging the progress I had made in my levels or recognizing the sacrifices I'm already going through to make sure I go to my appointments and getting the lab work done.


I let her know encouragement is important in the process, too...that it is more than just changing eating habits, pills, and exercise...getting emotional support is important, too, and just because you have to be objective and deliver the news (good or bad) doesn't mean you have to lack compassion when delivering it.

Yeah, I went some kind of off, not in a bad way, but in an emotional way.

As far as affordability, she had me talk to the social worker about it, and the sad thing is the social worker had more compassion and empathy than the doctor.  Not saying the social worker wasn't supposed to be that way, but not more so than the doctor.  It was just unfortunate.

The whole experience left an unpleasant taste in my mouth, and just really made me reflect on how so much has changed.

Does the world not have time for empathy anymore?  I guess not.

If I could afford it, I would switch doctors.  Not because she's mean or anything but because I feel like even if I'm doing well, it's still not going to be enough.

What happened to me did not occur overnight...it took years for it to get to this stage, so I have already accepted it's not going to be cured overnight.

I just think the expectation of the power of medicine is unrealistic as well as where she wants me to be.

And if the medicine isn't working, how come the every day levels are down?  Something is definitely at work and is more powerful than the doctors.

Enough said.

(drops mic)