Are you proactive regarding your healthcare?

Jane10 I to was asked those questions at my recent foot op but the surgeon and the anaesthetist did say they were required to ask the questions by the latest DOH requirements - they thought it a bit daft and so did I. What I did of course comply with was their advice re post op management. I hope you hip is doing well - my foot is.

Mawbroon Perhaps your neighbour has her own suspicions (right or wrong) of what her condition might be, and either doesn't want it confirmed, or just doesn't want to know. So she is happy to take the pills and let nature take its course. Ignorance is bliss for some people.
As others have said she may feel it is wrong to question a doctor, a person she believes to be highly educated.

My Mum was like that, even though she had been a nurse & midwife herself. Her training had taught her that you never question the doctor's opinion and you definitely never argue with them! I don't ever remember her consulting the doctor regarding her own health, she usually self-medicated and self-diagnosed with the help of her own medical books. When I was expecting my first child Mum told me off for asking so many questions when I went for checkups! And she was shocked when I argued with my GP about my son's health.

I still ask questions about any health issues I have; precisely what the problem is; what has caused it; how is it treated; what the medication is; what does it do and how does it work etc. etc. And like most people these days I also search for answers and info online. But as I get older I can also understand the fear of not always wanting to hear the answers.

It could be that your neighbour might have a slight hearing problem and really didn't 'catch' what the doctor said, or finds it difficult to understand medical terms. Lets face it many medicines have almost unpronouncable names! Would she allow you to go into the consulting room with her as a back-up memory for what the doctor tells her?

I can well believe this. Having witnessed my husbands grandparents actually bow to the GP as he left their bedroom nothing surprises me.

I have had friends and in laws who treat the prescription as a magic potion that will cure them. They did not consider that they might be involved in their own bodies.

The Doctor cures them and the school educates their children. In their opinion there is no input needed or expected from them. If things go wrong then it's straight back to the GP for a further handful of magic beans.

Greendran -
"I would rather drop dead of a heart-attack anyway, than moulder away from dementia in a nursing home!"
If only we had that choice!
That's what happened to my Dad, well, ruptured aorta, but it was hard on poor Mum.

My mum was of the generation who didnt question the doctor, but regularly used to moan about the number of pills she was on in later life. One day I was dusting the mantlepiece and happened to move quite a sizeable ceramic jug only to find it was completely full of white pills. When I asked Mum what they were she said she didnt have a clue, but had decided not to take them any more because they were too big to swallow easily! Of course she hadnt consulted with a doctor or pharmacist before making this decision and had no idea how to use the internet. Needless to say I could hardly believe what I was hearing, because she had a number of serious conditions. What a relief when I finally found the packets and worked out they were calcium supplements.

Yes, absolutely proactive. At 71 I know I'm very fortunate to not be on any prescribed medication, although I do have digestive problems (put down to 'IBS' - the catch-all diagnosis).

Whilst the NHS is a wonderful institution, albeit on its knees, and I have enormous respect for health practitioners, GPs are not omniscient - as already said - they are 'General' practitioners, and often receive very little training in some areas. Also, the NHS is very slow to adopt new thinking in some specialities - I'm thinking of the 'Eatwell plate' for diabetics - possibly the worst diet for keeping blood sugar under control. They are just beginning to take notice of the wealth of evidence that a low-carb diet is the way to go.

10 years ago, I had a health check by my GP, who declared my cholesterol was higher than NICE dictates, and prescribed simvastatin. I duly took it, and with in a week had horrendous muscle pain. So I stopped taking it, and told him, only to be told to control with diet. Having done a lot of reading about cholesterol, I have come to the conclusion that I'm not about to drop dead from a cardiac arrest. More recently another blood test also showed high cholesterol - this time with a new GP, and once again I said I would not take statins - no problem for her.

I always ask for a print-out of blood tests, because unless any results are flagged 'Hi' or 'Low' they are considered normal, when they could be borderline top or bottom of the range. A case in point is the thyroid TSH test, which in the UK is much wider than other countries - resulting in some people having symptoms of Hypothyroidism and not being medicated. The ranges in the US are much narrower than ours.

So, yes, always be aware of prescribed medications, and do the research - don't be afraid to question whether they are appropriate for you.
I also check Mayo clinic for various conditions - they are very reliable.

And a footnote I forgot to mention - a highly regarded and influential cardiologist, Mr. Aseem Malhotra is on record as saying 'Good health doesn't come out of a medicine bottle' wise words indeed.

I do like to read up about my conditions (nothing very serious) and educate myself as much as possible. However, I must admit that I trust the Doctors I see. If a tablet disagreed with me, I'd go back and see the Doctor but this has never happened.

Dr Google has its place, indeed I consult him myself at times , but some people can go too far. We had a family the other month who told us what you should do for a TIA ( Transient Ischemic Attack). Great except
A)if you look at the ward signage it says Stroke Unit ,we know these things
B) we have one of the country's top stroke consultants working with us and
C) a lack of movement in a limb lasting two days and counting isn't transient
And don't get me started on notepads mobile phones etc

Perhaps your neighbour has her own suspicions (right or wrong) of what her condition might be, and either doesn't want it confirmed, or just doesn't want to know. So she is happy to take the pills and let nature take its course. Ignorance is bliss for some people

If only sexagenarian.
It is a sort of widespread outbreak of spots which look a bit like bug bites, so initially she thought maybe Chickenpox, shingles, some weird allergy, or even bedbugs! Another thought I had was Urticaria (Hives) as she is under a lot of stress, but I can’t understand why two doctors professed themselves baffled but didn’t suggest a referral or even to see the dr at the practice who specialises in dermatology.
She is very uncomfortable with it, has had to miss things she enjoys, gets only poor sleep but is quite clueless about what else might ease things, unless the doctor tells her.
She doesn’t seem to question anything or even consider asking for a blood test or perhaps a drug review in case anything she is on, has triggered an allergy.
Nowadays it seems that medical care has to be patient - led, but that only works if the patient is prepared to take an active part.

MawBroon I'm kinda with you on this. Our health and wellbeing is so important that it's hard to understand why some people won't question diagnosis/medications etc. But like everything else in life people deal differently with things, some to the point of baffling the rest of us. I think attitudes towards medical professionals have changed and more people are prepared to question doctors decisions rather than look on them with awe and accept their every word. Doctors, like everyone else, are fallible and we should question anything we are unhappy about. But i do think all the publicity regarding pressure on GPs and NHS does make a lot of people think they really don't want to bother the doctor. A while back I went (on a very rare visit) to the doctor with a painful knee that I had put up with for a while and had researched possible causes on line. Young GP examined me and said a possible couple of sources of the pain. I said I was pretty sure it wasn't coming from one of the areas he considered. To which he responded quite rudely 'are you a doctor?' I will endeavour never to see him again. I think we should all listen to our own bodies, be pro active and seek further consultation if we are unhappy, but of course doctors are the experts and ultimately we do have to put our trust in them. And most of them are wonderful.

Mawbroon you've got it in one. My youngest is training to be a doctor and the emphasis is very much on patient-led care.

The dream patient is one who has consulted Dr Google (the respectable one, not their snake oil-peddling twin), has a complete list of symptoms and case history (90% of a diagnosis is made from the patient's history, examination is a mere 10% which is why Drs rarely examine you nowadays).

If the patient has an idea of what they think might be wrong and also how they would like to proceed wrt treatment, so much the better. It's advantageous all round.

This is a newer type of patient/doctor interaction, though, so some older doctors may still be of the 'Just do as I say.' mindset, although I haven't come across one of the those for many years. Thank goodness.

I've just remembered an example I had last year. At the time I was having to urinate about 6 times a night. I had looked up my BP pills and found they work by taking water from organs to dilute blood. so I went to the Dr and asked, could it be those? Dr. said possibly, but did nothing.
Soon after I had to go into hospital for symptoms of stomach ulcers. My blood test showed very high sodium, the result of the action of the BP pills draining fluid, and possibly to do with the irritation of the ulcer. So they changed the pills.
Now only once a night .

SueDonim, how very interesting!

I meet these criteria for a dream patient. However there is the following snag. I forget to mention that I have osteoporisis last Tuesday. The GP who is recommending me to the physiotherapist may not communicate the fact of my osteoporosis and the physio may give me an exercise that breaks a vertebra.

Is there a possibility you could please ask your youngest about this, and let me know, as it is concerning me right now?

I really couldn't do that, Alexa, as she's only a student, and isn't allowed to give advice - sorry.

Ime physios ask you loads of questions anyway before doing anything but when you go for your appointment make sure you tell them straight away about the osteoporosis so they can make adjustments. You could also contact the GP and ask for the info to be passed on, too. I hope they can help you!

Thanks SueDonim will do.

I definitely agree with you SueDonim! Same thoughts here.

Before I was diagnosed with osteoporosis I went to the Dr with pains in my upper back. I did not suspect osteoporosis.I asked the doc "Should I do exercises for my back?" The doc did not query osteoporosis and referred me to the physio, who asked no diagnostic questions and taught me some exercises. Now I have a dowagers hump.

I actually have bought and worn a cheap and comfortable orthopaedic neck collar from an Amazon seller and this gave me almost immediate relief from the neck pain and stiffness. So as regards exercises I shall use my common sense and save the physio's time.

Osteoporosis is ‘silent’ until it hurts Alexa by which time damage is already done.

Personally I’d advise every post menopausal woman to ask her GP for a DEXA scan and catch it at the osteopenia stage.

It's always best to check what you are being given by your doctor.
My nearly 90-year-old father rang me yesterday. He has an infected cut on his leg and the duty GP prescribed him some antibiotics. As he collected them from Boots he asked the pharmacist to just check that they didn't contain penicillin (to which he is severely allergic) - sure enough, he had been prescribed penicillin. He has been with the same practice for 30 years, so they should be well aware of his allergy. Thank goodness he still has the sense to question things!

GrnadmaKT, it's just too bad that happened! If one rings 111 they have an algorythm which the receptionist appliies to the series of questions, and this would highlight contraindications like penicillin allergy. I cannot understand why a GP would not be at least as good as the 111 receptionist!
As for the bone density scan. I agree that all women over menopuse should have one as routine before any pain or deformity appears. Alendronic acid is quite good as a preventive of bone loss. May be it's too expensive for the NHS to do routinely in which case the doc should tell the patient how it can be done privately.

I was diagnosed with MS in a very dramatic manner,
I collapsed our shopping and was out of it for over a week and hospitalised for seven months.

I have never ever googled my disease.

I also asked my three adult sons and my husband not to google it.
Maybe they did, but they have never mentioned anything.

I prefer to take it day by day, reporting back to my consultant and taking his advice.
There isn't a lot that can change this so I carry on using every day as it appears, depending on my body.
I know what each of my medications are for and am not ignorant of what I take.

GrandmaKT How neglectful of the GP.

Years ago when I was a teenager I witnessed one of my adult relatives have some sort of strange catatonic fit after taking penicillin that she was allergic to.

The family doctor who prescribed had delivered all of the family babies and had seen the family through every illness and family trauma for decades.

They assumed he knew them and so they trusted him.

How wrong can you be, our family was just one of many and he didn't know us personally.

That was horrible gmelon. Yes doctors can make mistakes too. Nobody's perfect.