They ask because;
You already have a trust relationship with your Dr, hopefully.
Your Dr is bound by rules that they cannot freely share what you share, it is protected after all.
You are hopefully alone just you and Dr, no other ears to possibly hear.
You have probably already had an uncomfortable conversation with your Dr over one thing or another.
For vulnerable persons and abuse victims these are huge things. It makes perfect sense for your Dr to both ask and to care.
I recall reading a thread (probably years ago) on these boards where some poster had an issue with this question. She was in the ER and read the question as “Have you EVER had the urge to harm yourself” to which she answered truthfully “yes”. After having her original ER reason taken care of, she was held an extra day or so because she needed to be cleared by the psychiatric department before being released.
PA’s Senator John Fetterman had a stroke last year; one of his aftermath’s is difficulty comprehending speech, to the point that concessions were made both in the debates last year & in the senate this year that instead of just listening he’s allowed to use a text-to-speech teleprompter to read what others are saying. He ended up in Walter Reed Army Hospital for about 1½ months due to depression, something that is apparently quite common in stroke survivors. It would be a hollow victory to save the patient from :whatever: but then lose them to the side effects of said illness/injury/condition.
Doctors are unique in that you a) get to speak to them alone, away from a potentially controlling/abusive party & b) we’re conditioned to tell them things we don’t share publicly so that they can help us to get better.
I recently went to a new doctor, a podiatrist at an ortho practice for a running/foot injury & they asked me all of those questions during the initial visit.
I can tell you that when I had a different injury a bunch of years ago & ended up in a boot I ended up in a bad place - I was forced to cold turkey quit my drug of choice (endorphins) overnight which in & of itself put me in a funk, I lost my social circle as I couldn’t participate in a bunch of outdoor activities that I regularly did due to the injury. I was kind of stuck home staring at the four walls which is very much not my lifestyle. I wracked my brains trying to figure out what to take up in the interim that I would both enjoy & that I could learn/improve/master all while knowing I’d be giving it up in two months or less once I could go back to my preferred lifestyle.
Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked?
These types of questions have been on my pre-check-in paperwork for years. Yes they do read them.
One of my questions was something like “Do you feel tired all the time” I answered “yes”. Boy, were they all over that one. Wanted to do these tests, 20 questions about diet, exercise, any sickness… They should have asked why I thought I might be tired all the time. Well, they never did ask but I told them after they were going to schedule multiple tests for multiple problems. I was working 10 hour days (getting up at 4:00am), 6 days a week, and trying to get stuff done on Sunday that I normally would have the whole weekend to do. The doctor said that might be the reason I was tired all the time. Duh!
A post was merged into an existing topic: Troll posts April 12 2024