Do you question your doctor?

You should ALWAYS question your doctor!! I dont know if enough people know this, but the way doctors diagnose symptoms, is basically by a book that doctors get that gets updated every year. It lists things like: to have this condition, you must have at least three of these sympotms, and cannot have this..... So, it is a guessing game for the most part on your doctors part. As concerned and as great as a doctor maybe he is human and can make mistakes! =)

As a matter of fact, yes, I question them if something they tell me doesn't make sense or just doesn't feel right to me. I just did that last Friday! I had to see my doctor because of a possible infection. I've been suffering with a really bad congestion in my chest. I also had a small cut that got infected, like almost immediately. I'm prone to infections and they can get out of hand if they're not treated. My doctor said she didn't think it was an infection. I've been around a long time and I know what an infection feels like! So, she and I 'discussed' it. She took a culture and sent me on my way. I'm suffering big-time now because, apparently, either she hasn't gotten the report back on the culture, or she's too busy to tell me anything. I'm about to change doctors because of this. I really miss my old doctor. A couple of months before we moved here, my doctor of 25 years packed up and moved to Florida. He knew me. He also knew that I knew when I had an infection and I didn't always have to go in to see him; I could call him on the phone and tell him I had an infection and he'd call the pharmacy. Some might see that as bad medical practice but, after 25 years, you get to know a person. The doctors around here don't seem to be nearly as good as my old one. I'll keep looking for the right one until I find him/her, though.

Yes i question my doctor when i visit them.I have a lot of doubts in my mind when i see the doctor.Sometimes the doctors advice doesn't suit my.Then i follow things in my own mind.If the problem is serious then i will listen to the doctor and do what he says.If its a mild problem and the doctor says its serious then i will deal with it myself.

I do that all the time! When my oldest was in hospital (she had a severe fracture manly seen in elderly - she broke the femoral neck at the age of 6) it said in the journal that I was a doctor *lol* I did diagnose her fracture my self before the real doctors did - that might have a part in it as well as being well informed and knowing the madical terminology. I think it made us get a better dialoge with the doctors and they listened to my opinions. With my own doctor I've been telling her what meds I need....

yeah i question my doctors and will even argue with them.. sometimes i will do what they say even if i dont agree but i will be overly cautious and if i see any little hint of it not being right i stop.. usually if i dont fully agree it turns out it wasnt the right thing for me anyways

first of all i go to doctors when i am ill, yes and i also go to doctor when anyone in my family is ill too and after being to a dotor i would surely ask the matter bout the illness and if there is anything sever happening then i would surely ask about its cause and find the reason why it has happened and try to know what are the ways to get rid of it and try to avoid it. mostly it happens that we go to a doctor and there is always one or the other question which arises and i have to ask that and may be sometimes i would not agree with the doctor but as you tell after a research i agree to the doctor.

yup, i question them. i had a really great family doctor and i was having issues with my period. a two week one one month, 2 the next month and he fluffed it off as perimenopausal and i told him in no uncertain terms i wanted to see a gynecologist. he finally relented and sent me to one. three weeks later i was have a partial hysterectomy because of millions of fibroids. You are the one that knows your own body, you need to make the doctors understand that. i once read about a woman that went to something like 40 doctors before she got a reasonable answer! (she has some rare disease and she knew she was sick!)

When I was much younger, I rarely questioned 'any' doctor. That's all changed now. Life experience has taught me that doctors don't know everything. 'We' know our own bodies. Just last fall, I thought I may have a urinary tract infection. My doctor disagreed, but I was able to talk her into the blood work (finally). Anyway, as it turned out, I received a call back from them, and I definitely 'did' have the infection. I have hypothyroidism, and have done a lot of research on this. I found out that even though my levels 'appear normal,' something can still be off, if I'm not feeling well. Things were pretty good, until last Novemember when I started to feel lousy. The meds for my thyroid condition, appeared to have stopped being effective. I was able to convince my doctor (with quite a bit of talking), to change the meds to a different type and dosage. It's still too early to tell, but I go back for blood work in a couple of months, and then we'll go from there. Very interesting topic, by the way. Take care.

It depends on the type of doctor and what my concerns are. I don't really question their authority, but I do ask for an explanation in lay-man's terms. You shouldn't question authority because they've studied that, and regardless what you read, you can never be better than someone who has given their lives to studying their field. I can always ask questions, post my concerns and expect a very good explanation. That's what I've always done, I query, I open my concerns, I'm open with my doctors and I'm sure that they know better than me because they're not only my doctors but they're also very known doctors and our family friends. I guess the experience is different when your doctors are actually colleagues of your parents. They treat you a little bit more special, and you can talk to them about things. But I'm sure they're doing that with their other patients as well. We can't always trust the ones we read. Little knowledge is dangerous.

I do ask my doctors questions when I don't understand something. I even questioned one doctor's opinion to do radiation.

Yes, of course I question my doctor. Remember, these doctors have a license to practice not a license to heal! I want to be healed not practiced on. And I want a solution that is more than just take a pill. Many of our ailments can be linked to diet and environment. Changes these, many times, will aid your health. Most modern western doctors do not take these factors into consideration. They treat symptoms not the root cause.

Hi TLChimes..and yes I do,,absolutely!!...Since having as series of health issues since 2003, I have quickly learned that there are no cut and dry cures or diagnosis for most things. Its mostly guess work based on findings and I can do that too! Now I write down all the questions that I want answers to before going to the docs. They dont always have time to answer patiently and this really bugs me. Its like theres an assembly line of patients going in and out. Some docs here now have new rules that only one problem per visit...Thats ridiculous! I would never have answers to my questions at that rate! Through past experiences and misdiagnosis, I have learned that its very important to ask questions, its your body and you know it best!...Also if its something serious, a second opinion does not hurt either. I would probably not be here today if I hadnt gotton a second opinion....

hi, i am intrested in this discussion,frankly speaking i never consider this problem, but if what the doctor said can't convince me, i will research, if the doctor can't answer my question, he will be changed.

doctors are human. i prefer to research what's bothering me and go to the doctor when i have to but i definitely ask a lot of questions. if i don't like what the doctor says of course i question it because it is my body. i only see doctors that i have a good give and take relationship with.

TLChimes, I always do the research before anything the Dr. prescribes for me or of any procedures that he suggests. It's a consumer world and why shoudn't we do the reasearch? Though, I have had some Dr's that take offense to what I have asked or said that I already know about because I did the reasearch. If I find a Dr. that seems that he feels that I don't trust him, then guess what? If he feels that way than I don't have the time to deal with an ego. The only time that I have no option is if I have to have an emergency procedure. That happened to me about 18 months ago. I had to take the surgeon's word for it even though I did try to get the Dr. to postpone it until the next day. He told me that I didn't have that option and he was right. I think that as consumers we do have the right to look into things. We are tested to get a driver's liscence so why shouldn't we check to see if the Dr. knows what he is doing or saying? DCMerkle