randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
i have had goarounds with doctors before and even had one guy yell and throw me out of his office. (he was certifiable!!)
recently a doctor, after getting some test results, was discussing cholesterol and wondered what i was on. he wanted me on 40 mg of zocor. i'm trying red yeast rice right now.
when i said my cholesterol was not that high, he became, well, very angry. finally telling me "well why should i treat you if you're going to die anyway? what's the use?"
this was all over my not wanting to take statins. needless to say ain't been back.
shouldn't doctors consider the tone and method of delivery in discussing things with their patients? where has their compassions gone and the "first do no harm"?
this has not been the worst thing a doctor has said but telling me i was in denial about my health and going to die was not exactly cheerful news either.
i know i'm overweight but he kept denying the lyme, focusing on cholesterol and weight, saying if we treated those the lyme "symptoms" would disappear.
really, so lyme would go away if i loose weight and just lower cholesterol? geee, thanks doc, hadn't thought of that.
did you know that? we could just loose weight and lyme would go away...
another one down the drain....
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- There was a tread about this very topic a couple months ago. Many replies were posted. Many. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- You ask: "Shouldn't doctors consider the tone and method of delivery in discussing things with their patients?"
You know, I used to think so but I changed my mind. I want to see their real personality. That's extremely valuable to me.
I WANT to know exactly what they think.
Then I can better judge whether they are the correct doctor for me, or not.
I don't want someone being nice to me just because they have to be so. I don't want someone to not give me their professional opinion if they think I just can't accept it.
I need to know their professional thoughts and have a clue as to their nature, too.
I can agree or disagree. Stay with them if their education, philosophy and style is good for me.
Or I can find a doctor who better suits my medical needs. They need not be a friend but a good doctor is usually a nice person and not intentionally rude.
If there are clues that a doctor you see is not in your best interest, just don't go back.
This is not as much about my being treated badly as I used to think but about my just running into jerks that happen to be in the field of medicine.
There are good doctors, too. There are also other ways to learn and other philosophies.
Find a ND (naturopathic doctor) if that better suits your needs.
We can let those doctors who are rude or stuck in their old ways be who they want to be. And we can just stay out of their way.
We have the choice. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- About weight and cholesterol, there have been dozens of threads here about how the old thinking dose not work with lyme.
Oh, sure, the very best in nutrition habits are required but what many have been taught is just not true for everyone, all the time.
Stop trying to make the doctors change who want to stay old school or just pharmacy style.
We can't teach them just the snippets that we'd gathered but need to find the doctors who understand both what lyme does that changes so much about the body
and those who also know a variety of ways to approach the matter.
Maybe it's because I've got a few years in the rear view mirror - been knocked down so hard and so often - or just tired of wasting time and money . . .
but I gave up trying to change doctors a long time ago.
There are so many splendid ones out there. I know there are some NDs near you, and at least on LL ND.
It seems that they would best know how to help you manage the issues you describe. The old medical model just can't be made to fit everyone just as swollen feet can no longer fit into a cute shoe of our teenage years.
Neither below are an ND, though most NDs know their work. I would start here:
Stephen Sinatra, MD - cardiologist, author of many good books
and
Dr. Russell Blaylock, a board-certified neurosurgeon. Author of Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills, one of the first books to address the hazards of food additives, he has also written several other medical books and numerous scientific articles. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
This book & site explain why lyme, and Cpn, caused serious weight gain in some patients and how, once the infection(s) were addressed, it just seemed to nearly fall off.
One of the important points, though, is that even thin people can have fatty veins (a sort of "interior obesity"), so this book is for everyone, not just those carrying more weight:
The authors above show HOW that can happen but - other than the obvious "treat the infections" advice which is vital - don't detail the range of support techniques for the adrenals along the way.
While not a LL doctor and not discussing lyme (but does acknowledge infections as stress), THIS author offers great advice that can benefit those with lyme.
While it's a great resource for herbal and nutritional supplements, it's not just about what supplements can help, or about low dose Cortef (hydrocortisone), but also about some self-care, habits, and such that some of us may never think about as being so important:
Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- This is ONE very good doctor who has been teaching me a lot, through her book and links. While NOT about lyme (in her case, though some with MS do have lyme as the cause) . . .
her information is still very important for those of with lyme as lyme can attach the myelin sheath and the mitochondria. Some of the nutrition actions that worked for her can surely help us, too, as part of our overall plan.
Terry Wahls, M.D. official website -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- I get excited and toss out some of the gems I've found.
But your experiences remind that - even before I knew lyme was the underlying cause of so much gone wrong . . .
one of the many times I was severely anemic (before babesia had been dx) . . .
I was told by my MD to take a certain iron Rx. My stomach could not tolerate it, or the orange juice I was told to take with it to help off set the side effects. I could not handle the acid.
So, my ND at that time suggested I take an herb, Stinging Nettle. In just about a month (maybe two), a blood test from the MD showed my iron was just perfect, a great improvement.
When he asked if I needed an iron Rx refill, I told him that I had never been able to tolerate that.
Very puzzled, he asked "then how did this text come back so fine?"
I told him that my ND suggested the Stinging Nettle instead and I thought he would be very happy that I (and then maybe others) had another option.
He was not happy. He slammed my file on the floor, stomped out and slammed the door.
I was shocked. I really thought he'd be pleased but could not even listen to me explain just how sick the iron pills had made me.
So, it may have still taken me a while to see that his style and my needs were just not a good fit.
He had the right to stick to the way he wanted to practice and I had the right to find a doctor who had methods that would work for me.
Funny thing is that, partly, I had chosen him as he'd been a pharmacist before medical school. I thought he might have some ways to help me where so many others had failed. I thought with a knowledge of pharmacology, that he would be interested in the science of herbs, too.
I was very wrong about that. I was not in the right place at all.
It's just too bad that insurance will not cover the NDs that do work so well for me. Still, it's up to me to become as educated as possible within my means (and the web and the library).
I no longer need a doctor for a lot of things that I can figure out on my own.
But I sure as hell am not going to go back to the same old torture chambers and have someone yell at me. I've been through a lot of "medical abuse" and I learned that I don't have to go back for that.
We have choices, whether MD or ND. We just have to find the best in the field and stop the bottom feeding.
If you need a new regular GP / MD, ask the LL ND near you for few MD suggestions (even if you are not a patient, you can call and ask).
Find out if that LL ND or other NDs around you have lectures planned. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Another thought.
We have to stop looking at doctors as a social relationship. Just as in a personal relationship, we can't make people see, understand, "get" us.
No more than we could make a former crush be "THE one" for use, we can't make any doctor "THE one" either. We can't make them want to think of other ways if their ways don't work for us.
We cannot make them be who we want them to be for us. We need to clear the "personal dynamics" field. Stop expecting anything other than what we pay for.
We know their background, their education. We go to them and pay for their thoughts. If we don't like their thoughts or they aren't right for us, well, too late.
To continue beating our heads against the wall, trying to make a doctor fit our needs, we just have to stop and walk away.
They are not the only doctors on the block. Other doctors can have other thoughts, other methods.
But, even then, it's not the time with them that is necessarily going to change our lives. When (we thought) medicine was simple, that we just took a problem to a doctor and they told us what it was and what could fix it . . .
well, back then, that may have worked. But we aren't in Kansas anymore. We've grown up. And we move on and encompass so much more for our total wellness plan.
And, even with all that said, I do still hope that doctors will start to open their eyes and hearts. The field of medicine could stand for some mighty important changes.
But I'm not going to hold my breath. In the meantime, I have choices.
To go, or not to go - to whom. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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