5 ms·

Regardless of whether you think the advice from the GP is sound or not, the best way to get a doctor to listen to you is to listen to (and follow) their advice

Regardless of whether you think the advice from the GP is sound or not, the best way to get a doctor to listen to you is to listen to (and follow) their advice first. Cursing at them out of frustration only makes your situation worse.

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
That has the possibility of working out disastrously if the doctors first recommendation is surgery, when physical therapy (rest + strengthening) ought to have been the first prescription.
- armada651 7y ago
  There are exceptions of course, don't go for a treatment you aren't comfortable with. But the recommendation here was therapy.
Igelau 7y ago
The GP didn't give 'advice' so much as they said "your medical records? ha, right... you're crazy." And then proceeded to shut down all avenues to further care and pain management. Honestly it sounds like the GP is so cynical about the hot garbage they perceive UK healthcare to be that they basically said "please go away so that our utter inability to help you doesn't weigh on my conscience any further... oh thank god you invoked the loophole that lets me kick you out now and pretend it's all really your fault"
- armada651 7y ago
  > The GP didn't give 'advice' so much as they said "your medical records? ha, right... you're crazy." And then proceeded to shut down all avenues to further care and pain management. That's a patient's perspective, but how about a doctor's perspective? You've got a patient refusing treatment for what could very well be a psychosomatic condition and instead demanding opiods that are very likely to result in addiction. There is a large stigma around mental health, but there's no such thing as a person who's completely sane. Just because a doctor is saying you might have a psychosomatic condition is not the same as him saying you're deranged.
  - licebmi__at__ 7y ago
    I support your point, but there's also one more thing to consider. Some MDs share the social stigma around mental health, and won't waste the opportunity to make the patient feel like it's their fault because they don't want to get better, and that they should make space for patients who have real conditions.
marcinzm 7y ago
>Regardless of whether you think the advice from the GP is sound or not, the best way to get a doctor to listen to you is to listen to (and follow) their advice first. It's been shown that it's very hard to prove that you're not mentally ill if you're labeled as such. Getting treatment just means you'll be put on essentially random psychiatric medications (which have their own side-effects) or have to spend years in useless therapy (while your actual disease may progress). If a doctor isn't willing to do the proper testing or evaluation the first time then they won't do it a second time either but just claim you haven't gotten the right psychiatric treatment yet.
- armada651 7y ago
  > It's been shown that it's very hard to prove that you're not mentally ill if you're labeled as such. But what if you do have a condition that requires therapy? You're unlikely to recognize it yourself. Would you always refuse treatment and just go with painkillers instead? > Getting treatment just means you'll be put on essentially random psychiatric medications (which have their own side-effects) or have to spend years in useless therapy (while your actual disease may progress). The patient in this case would not see a psychiatrist since he's not depressed or mentally ill. Instead he would be sent to a psychologist who can only recommend further therapy. Ofcourse if the symptoms become worse you should immediately see the GP and not wait for therapy. > If a doctor isn't willing to do the proper testing or evaluation the first time then they won't do it a second time either If your symptoms become worse the doctor will definitely recommend testing. Therapy is something to do as part of diagnosing your ailment.
  - marcinzm 7y ago
    >The patient in this case would not see a psychiatrist since he's not depressed or mentally ill. Severe pain due to psychosomatic causes sounds like mental illness to me. >Instead he would be sent to a psychologist who can only recommend further therapy. No, they can also strongly recommend that they see a psychiatrist for potential medications. >The patient in this case would not see a psychiatrist since he's not depressed or mentally ill. Every health system I've dealt with funnels to medication pretty strongly. Therapy is a slow process and medication allows a patient to not be in distress during the years it can take. >Therapy is something to do as part of diagnosing your ailment. Therapy is a slow process that in the best of cases can take years to work and longer in other cases. It is a shitty approach to diagnosis.
einpoklum 7y ago
> the best way to get a doctor to listen to you is to listen to (and follow) their advice first. No. Because sometimes their advice is "nothing can be done, you'll need to manage." Or - "Wait for a few more weeks and if it doesn't go away, we'll rethink things".
- foldr 7y ago
  >"Wait for a few more weeks and if it doesn't go away, we'll rethink things" To be fair, this is often excellent advice.
  - einpoklum 7y ago
    Not unless you're totally clueless about your own body and about medicine.
    - foldr 7y ago
      Hmm? Lots of ailments do just get better if you leave them alone. That's probably the case for the majority of things that people go to the doctor for. If your knee hurts, you may as well wait a few weeks to see if it gets better before you start running a bunch of tests.
      - einpoklum 7y ago
        Thanks for caring so much that you would let me spend weeks in pain. I think I'll look for a doctor who actually wants to treat his/her patients' conditions.
        foldr 7y ago
        I'm not a doctor. Of course one could prescribe medication for the pain. But many ailments are difficult to diagnose and fix themselves after a few weeks, so it makes no sense to rush into things. More broadly, it's a mistake to measure how much your doctor "cares" by how eager they are to throw lots of tests and treatments at you. Modern medicine isn't magic, and there isn't always that much that a responsible doctor can do for you.

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago

That has the possibility of working out disastrously if the doctors first recommendation is surgery, when physical therapy (rest + strengthening) ought to have been the first prescription.

armada651 7y ago
There are exceptions of course, don't go for a treatment you aren't comfortable with. But the recommendation here was therapy.

Igelau 7y ago

The GP didn't give 'advice' so much as they said "your medical records? ha, right... you're crazy." And then proceeded to shut down all avenues to further care and pain management. Honestly it sounds like the GP is so cynical about the hot garbage they perceive UK healthcare to be that they basically said "please go away so that our utter inability to help you doesn't weigh on my conscience any further... oh thank god you invoked the loophole that lets me kick you out now and pretend it's all really your fault"

armada651 7y ago
> The GP didn't give 'advice' so much as they said "your medical records? ha, right... you're crazy." And then proceeded to shut down all avenues to further care and pain management. That's a patient's perspective, but how about a doctor's perspective? You've got a patient refusing treatment for what could very well be a psychosomatic condition and instead demanding opiods that are very likely to result in addiction. There is a large stigma around mental health, but there's no such thing as a person who's completely sane. Just because a doctor is saying you might have a psychosomatic condition is not the same as him saying you're deranged.
- licebmi__at__ 7y ago
  I support your point, but there's also one more thing to consider. Some MDs share the social stigma around mental health, and won't waste the opportunity to make the patient feel like it's their fault because they don't want to get better, and that they should make space for patients who have real conditions.

marcinzm 7y ago

>Regardless of whether you think the advice from the GP is sound or not, the best way to get a doctor to listen to you is to listen to (and follow) their advice first. It's been shown that it's very hard to prove that you're not mentally ill if you're labeled as such. Getting treatment just means you'll be put on essentially random psychiatric medications (which have their own side-effects) or have to spend years in useless therapy (while your actual disease may progress). If a doctor isn't willing to do the proper testing or evaluation the first time then they won't do it a second time either but just claim you haven't gotten the right psychiatric treatment yet.

armada651 7y ago
> It's been shown that it's very hard to prove that you're not mentally ill if you're labeled as such. But what if you do have a condition that requires therapy? You're unlikely to recognize it yourself. Would you always refuse treatment and just go with painkillers instead? > Getting treatment just means you'll be put on essentially random psychiatric medications (which have their own side-effects) or have to spend years in useless therapy (while your actual disease may progress). The patient in this case would not see a psychiatrist since he's not depressed or mentally ill. Instead he would be sent to a psychologist who can only recommend further therapy. Ofcourse if the symptoms become worse you should immediately see the GP and not wait for therapy. > If a doctor isn't willing to do the proper testing or evaluation the first time then they won't do it a second time either If your symptoms become worse the doctor will definitely recommend testing. Therapy is something to do as part of diagnosing your ailment.
- marcinzm 7y ago
  >The patient in this case would not see a psychiatrist since he's not depressed or mentally ill. Severe pain due to psychosomatic causes sounds like mental illness to me. >Instead he would be sent to a psychologist who can only recommend further therapy. No, they can also strongly recommend that they see a psychiatrist for potential medications. >The patient in this case would not see a psychiatrist since he's not depressed or mentally ill. Every health system I've dealt with funnels to medication pretty strongly. Therapy is a slow process and medication allows a patient to not be in distress during the years it can take. >Therapy is something to do as part of diagnosing your ailment. Therapy is a slow process that in the best of cases can take years to work and longer in other cases. It is a shitty approach to diagnosis.

einpoklum 7y ago

> the best way to get a doctor to listen to you is to listen to (and follow) their advice first. No. Because sometimes their advice is "nothing can be done, you'll need to manage." Or - "Wait for a few more weeks and if it doesn't go away, we'll rethink things".

foldr 7y ago
>"Wait for a few more weeks and if it doesn't go away, we'll rethink things" To be fair, this is often excellent advice.
- einpoklum 7y ago
  Not unless you're totally clueless about your own body and about medicine.
  - foldr 7y ago
    Hmm? Lots of ailments do just get better if you leave them alone. That's probably the case for the majority of things that people go to the doctor for. If your knee hurts, you may as well wait a few weeks to see if it gets better before you start running a bunch of tests.
    - einpoklum 7y ago
      Thanks for caring so much that you would let me spend weeks in pain. I think I'll look for a doctor who actually wants to treat his/her patients' conditions.
      - foldr 7y ago
        I'm not a doctor. Of course one could prescribe medication for the pain. But many ailments are difficult to diagnose and fix themselves after a few weeks, so it makes no sense to rush into things. More broadly, it's a mistake to measure how much your doctor "cares" by how eager they are to throw lots of tests and treatments at you. Modern medicine isn't magic, and there isn't always that much that a responsible doctor can do for you.