Lying to your doctor

LAWoman72

French_Peasant wrote: »

stealthq wrote: »

LAWoman72 wrote: »

newmeadow wrote: »

Gee. Your finger stick blood sugar reads 497.

Take it again! Take it in my other finger on the other hand!

Okay. I get 503 this time. Did you eat anything like ice cream or pizza recently? Like the ice cream and pizza they're serving on the 1st floor leftover from the birthday party?

NO! All I had was a cup of black coffee. Check your machine! It always gives bad readings. Cheap piece of junk!

You literally have some nurse or other individual routinely pricking people's fingers and handling their blood in the office??? Bringing in the same "machine" each time (your reference to how it "always" gives bad readings)? This happens?

I honest to God have never heard of such a thing. I can't imagine the S-storm of someone getting sick and suing the office for throwing the employees' blood around. Anything could happen, or at least be accused to have happened, under circumstances of handling blood in a public, non-hospital/non-medical place that way. Just odd.

How often do they prick your blood? Is this a routine thing? I just have never heard of this.

p.s. As much as it may be human nature to lie to cover faults, it is equally human nature to use hyperbole to draw positive comparisons of oneself to others. It's one way to keep insisting to ourselves that we are superior, and alone; the overwhelming majority of the rest of the world is inferior, and bumbling, and stupid, and oaf-like (i.e. the screaming, raging, 500+ BG - wouldn't that person be dead? Or no..? - idiot slamming cake into his face and screaming that he never ate a thing). The fact that a majority of people tend to be the one, singular, enlightened non-oaf simply is the opposite of logic, given simple math, doesn't seem to stop the practice.

We're seeing all sorts of aspects of human nature on this thread...it's actually kind of interesting.

I don't know about @newmeadow, but I work for a health care system. I am a doctor, but not of the medical variety. This was standard practice where I work. Once a year quasi-physicals and flu vaccines (required) i.e. check fasting blood sugar, cholesterol and triglyceride levels and ask some basic health history questions. I have lied to those people:

'Are you fasted?'

'Uh, sure.' (If you don't count the bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios I ate 30min ago because I forgot we were doing this today. Oh, look my blood glucose is sitting just under 100. Good, it dropped just enough to not be flagged and need a re-test).

They quit doing that a couple of years ago and now we have to hassle with getting actual yearly physical results faxed in - a serious pain with some docs. We still have them come around for the vaccines.


Anywho, I have no problem believing the percentage. Part of my job is participating in managing clinical trials. The lying that is discovered is easily up in those ranges and mostly these people have no real incentive to do it other than not looking bad. These aren't things that would have gotten them excluded from the study (that I can understand, though it's stupid and can put you at high risk of harm or death). Things like 'no, I don't smoke, don't use a patch, etc' in a vaccine efficacy trial. Or, 'yes I'm still taking my meds' when they've had an autoimmune flare.

My MIL is in a clinical trial and was asking my husband, a chemist, if he could analyze the drug she was taking to see if she was placebo group or not. Of course Mr. Ethical said no, but--LOL on the attempt to completely undermine the concept of a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial!!

That sounds like something I'd ask. I'm the curious sort.

Fuzzipeg

Also in the UK you have to fit the permitted boxes to achieve a good standard of health support. NICE, the organisation which tells the NHS where money is best spent knows there is no point in testing thyroid/endocrine function properly. The issues are so very trivial that it does not need proper testing. Proper investigations of all persons with possible symptoms would improve the quality of life of many, increase the length of working lives, cut down on the need for major and minor heart surgery, cut down on high blood pressure, diabetes and other maladies of the digestive tract, not to mention mental health problems. Thyroid function is responsible for cell reproduction, t3 medication is used along with some cancer treatments, pregnancies can fail for poor thyroid function, conception compromised, low thyroid function contributes to endometrial cancer, women are more disposed to other low thyroid problems, Fibro, ME Chronic fatigue, chemical sensitivity and more because the system to eliminate toxins is compromised, as I say the possible outcomes are so dammed trivial.

Properly treated our hospital waiting lists would be shorter, doctors would be less overworked. Invalidity problems would be reduced and so very much more. With 300 symptoms proper treatment would cost much less than no effective treatment for many.

No, I never lied to my doctor nor did keeping countless appointments do my health any good. I'm fortunate I could go outside the NHS and have a totally different enjoyable life because I paid for the tests I needed. I grew up believing if I paid my National Insurance the NHS would help me if I had health needs, free at the point of need, but the exception is not if you are hypothyroid which is probably Hashimoto's but the system is not permitted to care and treat respectfully.


Thyroid UK and other countries support sites, as well as Stop the Thyroid Madness, and many other support sites have all the information I suggest above.