Do you trust your Doctor?

1

…or nurse, or CDE, etc.

Like anyone with a chronic illness, we diabetics see our fair share of specialists: endocrinologists, opthalmologists, nephrologists, nurse practioners, and so on. The quality of these professionals can run from downright dangerous to extremely helpful and lifesaving.

I’ve only been a member of the TuDiabetes community for short time, but a trend I’ve noticed is that many people seem to be very distrustful of medical professionals – everyone from nutritionists to podiatrists.

The pattern seems to be, from my perspective at least, that a professional will suggest something that doesn’t exactly follow the generally accepted notion, and then that professional is subsequently dismissed as, “dangerous” or “uneducated” or “not up-to-date” when in fact what they are suggesting may very well agree with what current research is supporting.

To be clear, I realize there are bad doctors who give bad advice and who know nothing about diabetes. But do you trust your doctor or CDE? If they suggested something that didn’t seem to make sense, would you follow their advice? Would you do research to see what others are saying?

2

I totally trust my doctor, if I didn’t I would find someone else. Health care isn’t something to mess around with and if you don’t trust your medical care team then you will never get better

3

I am on the fence with doctors: I have a bad enough experience with my dad, so that made me a little iffy about the whole thing.

In my case, I’ve had more positive experiences than negative ones. Still there are days when I see cases where doctors seem to want to go after MORE patients rather than BETTER quality care. Currently that seems to be the case at my endo’s office: even getting them to call me back seems like a joke. Maybe they got too big for their own good.

4

I seem to be lucky. My endo actually calls his patients back with all lab results and if you call in because your blood sugar is high instead of his nurses. I asked him the other day why he does that and he said that way I know exactly what is going on since I can ask the right questions.

5

I trust my sons endo/cde’s. I don’t trust his pediatrician at all, he told me mercury is good for us and wanted Tony to get fully caught up on his vaccinations a week after he left the PICU, I saw a log book for pharma reps to log into right next to his office and rolled my eyes and pointed it out to my husband :wink:
When I was a child, we found out that I have scoliosis, curvature of the spine. My mother trusted the doctor that told us to use a brace. I wore that back brace for 4 years and my spine got even more crooked. So we went to another doctor and we discovered the brace wasn’t fitted right the whole time! So I faced ridicule for all those years from snotty kids, I have scars from the sores from it rubbing on my body since I had to wear is 23 hours a day. I had to have surgery on my spine, I have a rod fused to it before my spine would grow into my heart and lungs. I could have avoided that if the doctor didn’t mess up the brace. I now have nerve damage, I twitch (which is really embarassing in public), and it doesn’t bug me now since I’m fluffy-but I only have a waistline on my right side, the other side is flat. I know it’s nothing compared to D, but it’s taught me that doctors don’t always know what to do.
When Tony was diagnosed, the doctors pulled me aside in the e.r. and said that they think a different hospital would be better equipped for him-and boy was I thankful that they realized that they couldn’t handle him and instead of screwing up they transferred him to a great hospital!
Back then, we didn’t have the internet. I only knew one other child with scoliosis that required bracing. Now we can all hop on the internet and meet others facing the same challenges in life. I bet if we had the net back then, my mother could have researched treatments better and wouldn’t have just blindly followed the doctor. She’s still pissed to this day about what happened. She kind of went through a similar thing with her own health, looked up things on the internet and was able to find something better than what the first doctor wanted for her (I won’t go into details cause it’s “women problems”)

6

I. like Manny, have seen and had my share of horrible experiences with doctors. Needless to say, I am a bit distrustful in general. I wind up researching things, and questioning them about treatments etc… I have found that the really good doctors, are the ones who don’t become offended, who appreciate the interest and discuss the topic accordingly.

Right now, I do trust and like my endo and my new GP. While they may not always tell me what I want to hear, they can always give me good reasons and explanations. In fact, my GP requires you to come in to discuss test results, if they are abnormal. I have also never experienced a team of people really communicating with each other and me, as I have at the endos office. If I tell something to the CDE, the doctor will bring it up. My CDE, Nutritionist, Endo and now GP can easily pull up my labs and make notes to each other. It’s a little scary that way. I work at a paper and I’m definately not used to good communication. I also have never seen an office to be so on top of call backs. My endo will be the one to call promptly, unless it is prescription related and then the nurses are ON TOP OF THINGS! I give much credit to the nurses, they are wonderful and sometimes that can make all the difference.

I think the system, has really tied the hands of the exceptionally good doctors, who would like to spend more time with their patients, but just can’t. I also think insurance coverage (even people who have it) has made people very distrustful about seeking medical care. Too many hassles of red tape, who will cover, how much will they cover, what will I have to pay…

Regardless, it is important to trust your medical team & also to question them. After all it is your health they hold in their hands and you have to be your own advocate.

7

I really trust my current endo, but like everyone else, I’ve been burned in the past. No one mentioned to me that you can’t mix lantus with other insulins, and someone at the ER wanted me to drink juice with a high bloodsugar because I was dehydrated. Doctors are human, and that means some will be better at their jobs than others.

8

I’m a compulsive researcher, so I will always do my own study before any new or modified treatment (Diabetes or other). This is partly due to 2 significant (non-Diabetes related) mistakes specialists made in my medical care. It’s also because our current health system often pressures Doctors to work like they are on an Assembly Line and are only allowed X.XX minutes per patient. Many Doctors simply don’t have the time to keep up on the latest in all the different areas they may face on a given day.

Nonetheless, I highly respect the knowledge and experience of my Endo, Ophthalmologist, and many others in the medical profession I’ve seen. I realize my own research can be biased or misguided (since I don’t have the educational foundation of a Doctor) so I would never outright ignore their advice. I’ll discuss it with them and bring up what I’ve found through my own research.

9

I trusted doctors in the past.

The doctor who told me that a glucose tolerance test showing I was “prediabetic” at a weight of 108 was “Nothing to worry about.”

The doctor who told me my diagnosed Gestational Diabetes didn’t need any treatment since I was “controlling” by throwing up a lot.

The doctor who told me my son wasn’t deaf and delayed giving him a referral to a surgeon for a year–during which he lost valuable verbal processing abilities he never regained. The surgery corrected his deafness which was profound.

The doctor who wouldn’t prescribe antibiotics for the ear infection that left my daughter deaf in one ear.

The doctor who told me my son had a permanent untreatable genetic skin disease when he actually had poison oak.

The doctor who told me my blood sugar of over 250 mg/dl after a meal was “not diabetes” and required no treatment because my fasting blood sugar was under 140.

The doctor who told me the brown patch on my throat was “nothing to worry about” though it later turned out to be melanoma.

There are some VERY dangerous doctors out there. Right now I have found doctors who seem better than most, but I still double check everything they do, which is a good thing. One insisted that a frozen shoulder (confirmed by an orthopede) was NOT a frozen shoulder and given a dose for Metformin ER which was an overdose (though appropriate for regular metformin.) I also was prescribed double the dose I was supposed to get of a diabetes drug from another doctor–the pharmacist caught that one.

My belief now is that people who “trust their doctors” are people who haven’t YET discovered what mistakes their doctors have made.

10

I have had a few experiences that have really influenced my trust level with doctors.

My opinion now is that most of them are in a pharm. reps back pocket. I always wonder when a doc gives me a prescription… does he/she really believe in this drug… or is he getting a kickback from a company.

So I do my own research. If they give me a script I research the drug. Yesterday I just requested my doc take me off of Actos. I have just seen too much controversy and I dont want the added risks.

11

I had a Dr. who put me on an antibiotic that I had never heard of before. So I went home to research it and found out that the fda was considering pulling it off the market cause it had killed so many diabetics and the fda has since pulled it off the market. Obvisouly she didn’t listen to me or even bother to read my chart. I had 4 different insulins listed there so it was obivious that i was a diabetic. I called my regular doctor and told him and he took me off of it and put me on a different one. The reason i saw her was my doc was booked and had no time to fit me in and it was just a UTI, so i figured a walk in clinic could handle it. I filed a complaint with the clinic and medical board and she is no longer working at that place.

12

I trust my Endo and CDE about diabetic-related issues, but not my internist. However, I wouldn’t expect my internist to be very well educated on Type 1 diabetes so I know better than to just taker her word on things related to diabetes. I am not a naive person who blindly trusts the doc - I am a very well educated PhD who can research things on her own and when I find my endo and CDE telling me things I"ve already disovered through my own research, I believe I can trust them. Fortunately, I have been in perfect health until diagnosis so I"ve never had a doctor give me bad medical information b/c there was none to give. I realize there are “dangerous” docs out there, but come on people, many of them do very good work and are completely trustworthy. I think those who don’t trust any doc due to many many many bad “diagnoses” or prescriptions are either looking for bad docs or haven’t taken the time and initiative to find good doctors. The most important thing is to be well educated yourself and if your gut is telling you the opposite of the doc, get a second and maybe a third opinion. It does actually take some work to take care of yourself. Sorry but some of the comments above haves struck a chord with me - I don’t like to see a whole profession get slammed just b/c some people don’t seem to be satisfied with anything.

13

Yes, I trust my son’s current endocrinologist and CDE. We love them and they are with the University of Cincinnati! Should she come up with something new, I’d research it. With different doctors in the past we have changed because of poor decisions the doctors have made. Example - a pediatrician when finding out my other son had a single kidney and all she said was well he’s a healthy boy with one kidney, I left her practice. Finding something out like that, you must then go to a pediatric urologist to indeed find out the single kidney is healthy. He has grade 2 reflux.

Also, my husband’s family doctor just was sending him to have physical therapy on his shoulder while the pain was in his elbow. The doctor knew this information from the file and my husband’s office visit! Oops the doctor didn’t look at all the results of the MRI and the patient file - the problem was actually my husband’s bicep had pulled from the bone near his elbow. Now he’s at physical therapy for the real issue, and my husband has changed doctors.

I think many of these doctors are growing their practices too large and the care is definitely slipping - obviously - or is it that some really just are inept?!

14

I have had my Dr for 23 years and the simple answer is I have trusted him with my life for all that time and will continue to do so. There were times I thought I wouldn’t live another minute and he has always pulled me threw! Now for the other’s before him …ugh no!

15

Short answer: NO.

My GP seems to have a very basic knowledge of diabetes. I guess the role of a GP is to sort out the basic health issues, and pass us on for more complicated / specialised stuff. But it worries me how a lot of doctors spend too much time going down the wrong path, not updating their own education about diseases (which we all know changes all the time), and telling people completely the wrong thing.

My Endo is good… Diabetes Education Nurse is great, and always up with the ‘latest’ - She’s the only one who is keen to teach about carb counting and matching insulin to food, and doesn’t freak out about lows. I still don’t necessarily trust them, as experience has taught me to check things out myself and not trust any health professional. Just because they have a piece of paper saying they’ve trained doesn’t mean they’re on the ball or having a good day. Docs are only human.

The thing that bothers me most is that I go around in circles any time I have a new health issue. I make an appointment, I see him, I learn nothing. I suspect he’s not truly listening to everything I say. I have no answers, so a month later when things are getting worse I make another appointment, and go through it all again except maybe this time I get sent for tests. What a lot of farting around for no reason - and a waste of my money! I get the feeling that doctors deal with a lot of people who are ‘hypochondriac’ in nature, and they seem to treat all of us as if we’re the same.

It took me a long time to get the D diagnosis for instance. I went to the doctor a few times over many months. I had recurring thrush, I had cysts on my ovaries, I was tired all the time and losing a lot of weight. My father (also a patient of his) is a type 1 diabetic. You’d think the answer would be easy to find, but it took him a long time to check my BG, and even then I was assumed to be a T2 because of my age. (It took about 10 seconds for my endo to tell me I was a T1 at my first appointment!)

I considered changing doctors - but there are three good reasons why I wont.
1: My doctor is the best I’ve had so far. I’ve gone through all the same stuff with previous doctors and I don’t need to start fresh with yet another doctor who will be the same.
2: A nationwide doctor shortage… and the area I live in is apparently the worst. Waiting lists that you stay on for a couple years… ugh, as a diabetic needing regular prescriptions I really can’t do that.
3: He knows me. Better to stay with the devil you know!

I’m pro-active about my own health. I like to research things, I want to know about options on any health issue. Doctors don’t seem to like that, and maybe that’s why I get some trouble… but I want to look after this body, it’s the only one I have, and I refuse to leave someone else in charge of it!

16

Lots of interesting feedback here.
No. I do not trust my doctor. No, I do not trust any doctor. I have had DB for 33 years and have a list of incidents a yard long to back this up. Plus, my elderly mother has been pretty ill the last year, and now I have a second list.
Therefore, I have to keep as informed as possible, ask as many questions as possible, and be my own best advocate.

17

I think you’re right that doctors have to deal with bad patients, too. One of my friends is a med student, and she said that in her internist rotation, they gave antibiotics for all kinds of things that didn’t need them because many patients wouldn’t leave until they wrote them a prescription.

18

I trust my current dr (Dr. Rakash Patel Houston,tx at the Endocrine and Psyciatry Center) and my CDE (who is at Dr. Patel’s office) My diabetes was so OUT OF CONTROL when I first moved to Houston (my last dr took me of ALL my insulin before I moved saying I did not have diabetes because my A1C was below 7 what an idiot!) and felt like crap all the time. But they are GREAT would recommend them TO ANY ONE!

Although I have had my share of bad medical professionals. When I was 9 I had to go to the hospital to get a MRI and we told the nurses and the doctors that I was allergic to the dye. Well they gave it to me anyways and I was in the ICU from 2.5 months and the regular floor for a month. I got diabetes and other health problems because they refused to listen to my parents (who are medical professionals too!) and finally we got feed up with them and I was transferred to another hospital. So now I question EVERYTHING medical professionals tell me. I don’t really care if they are the ones that have the medical degree or not (that dosn’t mean they are smart that just means that they past a test.) I am not going to put myself through that again.

But yes I do trust my Dr and CDE(oh and she is my pump trainer too)

19

No kidding. I’m a newly diagnosed diabetic and it took me 6 weeks to get an appointment! My endo saw me after I got my general practitioner to prescribe an A1C so I handed him my blood work at my first appointment. My next appointment is in another 8 weeks to find out my c-peptide results.
How does that make sense. Without my own research, I would not have been educated about diabetes and would have been in really bad shape before reaching my first appointment.

20

molly that is what they made plocibo (or how ever you spell it) for. If you tell some one it is going to work and they believe it usually it will help some what.