Doctor visits

gearhead426hemi

Now there are plenty of reasons that some people need to see a doctor and should see a doctor when they have serious health problems but overmedicating your body does more harm than good. When you have to take pills to counteract the side effects of the pills that are giving you side effects worse than the initial problem you went to the doctor for whats the point. [/quote]

Looks like most people have a short attention span and were only reading part of my comment. I said you SHOULD see a doctor for symptoms other than the common cold. My father in law was blacking out so he went to the doctor and they found a baseball size tumor in his brain. So obviously blacking out isn't a sniffle and you should go to the doctor. Ten years ago the last time I went to the doctor I started having stabbing pains in my side so I went to the doctor and they found 2 hernias. I have lost both of my grandfathers two aunts and one uncle to cancer. All of them were showing symptoms that caused alarm so they went to the doctor. After hundreds of thousands of dollars in chemo and doctor visits the end result for all of them was the same. Now obviously this isn't true in every case so everyone will have to make that judgment call on a personal level. Talking to my grandfather before he passed away he said if he could go back he would never have gone to the doctor. He wasn't feeling well but he could still get around and do the things he loved with my grandma. They still traveled and went for walks. As soon as he started the chemo treatment it immobilized him and made him essentially bed ridden. So from my personal experiences I see no point in going to the doctor unless I absolutely have to because the end result will be the same. I would rather feel sick and function and go out doing what I love with who I love than making a doctor or a hospital rich when to them I am nothing more than a patient number.



As far as the vast amount of people who don't maintain their own cars well that's a discussion for a mechanic forum and not a health forum so I wont elaborate on that.

spiriteagle99

Gearhead - my 93 year old father had lung cancer surgery when in his 70s. He survived and got married again (for the 5th time) afterwards. My mother and sister had breast cancer surgery. Both survived and did well for many years. My brother had prostate cancer. That was 15 years ago and he's still doing well. Cancer doesn't have to be a death sentence.

Need2Exerc1se

dfnewcombe wrote: »

Everything has become protocol driven with the conversion to the electronic health record. I was just at my PCP- I had put off some screenings for a few years and hadn't even been in to see him. We talked about this kind of thing- computerized charting makes quality auditing much easier, but it also looks at medical care differently. For example, he has to be able to show that with a female clientele of x% that x of them have their recommended mammograms. If his patients are not having them done for whatever reason- then they are not meeting their requirements which could impact their ratings. If a certain percentage of the patients are overweight, he needs to be able to show that he has advised his patient on weight loss, complications of obesity, etc. Now, his asking means he can check the box- which is how it is measured not on the quality of your conversation- or even whether you are actually working on your weight management. Quite honestly, since he brought it up then it would have been a good time to talk about the plan you have been working on and your success to date. It should be in your medical record as it does impact your health.

While there is an abundance of information at the provider's fingertips with the technology, it has caused some hiccups in care. Because much of documentation is a check box now- a provider can't even really refer to his past notes where he may have hand written more specifics about your personal ongoing care which may have sparked a memory about your last visit. Now your chart looks pretty identical to the last person's he saw. With the constant flow of patients seen in the office every day, many are fortunate to feel they have a provider who even remembers them. Doesn't mean the provider is bad, but it has changed the way care is delivered today, and it will continue to evolve over time.

This is all very true. It also puts a lot of care in the hands of software developers. One wrong line of code and care can be compromised. It's an exciting and scary time for medicine.

gearhead426hemi

spiriteagle99 wrote: »

Gearhead - my 93 year old father had lung cancer surgery when in his 70s. He survived and got married again (for the 5th time) afterwards. My mother and sister had breast cancer surgery. Both survived and did well for many years. My brother had prostate cancer. That was 15 years ago and he's still doing well. Cancer doesn't have to be a death sentence.

I have multiple family members that have survived cancer as well. My grandmother survived throat cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer she was a trooper and lived until 93. My aunt survived breast cancer and my mother has survived throat cancer. My aunt who had breast cancer had the most aggressive kind and went through surgery and chemo. The insurance company said she had met the maximum amount and they would no longer pay for her chemo therapy. So her husband had to sell 3/4 of his family farm which had been in his family for 6 generations to pay for doctor visits. After hundreds of thousands of dollars and losing their farm the doctors still found cancer and gave her months to live. She quit the chemo and changed her diet and lifestyle and quit going to the doctor. That was over 5 years ago. She only visits once a year to check for the cancer and has no evidence of it returning. Now there is no way to be 100% certain that changing her lifestyle and diet cured what she had but she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on chemo and the doctors gave her months to live but then she quit going to the doctor and quit taking all their drugs and has no sign of it coming back. So just from my personal experience I don't see the point.