# This is why I hate going to the doctor **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253 "2014-08-22T23:46:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/81 "2014-08-23T07:55:14Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > So this all basically boils down to “Why doesn’t reality conform to my wishes?!” > People get arthritis and there are limits to what can be done about it. It’s not a perfect world. > Next you’re gonna start complaining that doctors can’t cure your grey hair and liver spots. > I got bad news for you, we’re all gonna die and there’s no way doctors can currently prevent that either. > [@7e42](#): > > **I would not want to live off pain pills everyday** You could try stem cells therapy and see if that works. Talk to your doctor about that. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/82 "2014-08-23T09:30:46Z")
Of course fish oil does not “cure arthritis.” But there is no evidence that it can benefit arthritis sufferers. [http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/993.html](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/993.html) > **[How Fish Oil Supplements Can Provide Relief from Arthritis](https://www.healthline.com/health/arthritis-fish-oil-omega-3)** > > Fish oil supplements may reduce inflammation and boost the immune system. Find out more about how they can help people with arthritis. You know what definitely does NOT cure arthritis in any sense, nor does it claim too, is Tylenol. Fish oil has a host of other potential benefits, according to many credible sources, so why the heck not give it a try? It’s not expensive and while I guess one could always choke on a pill, there is low risk of harm. All the doctor cared about was masking symptoms, so prescribed a painkiller. Not even a suggestion of strengthening exercises. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/83 "2014-08-23T09:47:21Z")
> [@7e42](#): > > it should be another option before surgery. Doctors are too quick to try something else before surgery OK, mild to moderate OA in the knee. Original dx, recommendation was tylenol - a mild analgesic rather than a NSAID to reduce swelling. Pretty basic first dx. NSAID recommendation would probably be for aleve if you can’t do tylenol. Next jump would typically no be surgery, it would actually be for 18 or 36 sessions of physiotherapy [strengthen the muscles supporting the knee, it can actually help a lot. 36 sessions improved my range of motion by 4%.] If that doesn’t work then they can try shooting synthetic fluid in to add to fluid cushioning the joint. That doesn’t work, they can try shooting cortisone in. [OWIE.] Then if that doesn’t work, they can have at the knee with a chondroplasty [buffing the rough edges] or microfracture to make the knee joint regenerate surface to see if it improves. After that it gets into grafting, replacing and other ugly surgical stuff. Better? Get a second opinion from another ortho if you didn’t like what your doc told you [was he an ortho or just a primary care doc? Your options are very different depending on which of the two you saw.] [URL=“[http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/](http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/)”] ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Why\_Bother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19adc/32.png) [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Why_Bother)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/84 "2014-08-23T10:02:38Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > All the doctor cared about was masking symptoms, so prescribed a painkiller. Not even a suggestion of strengthening exercises. How do you know that? All we have to go on is the word of someone who thinks fish oil is a vitamin, thinks Tylenol is a “fraudulent” medicine (whatever that means), and who clearly has an axe to grind. Personally, given how stridently he’s promoted fish oil as an arthritis cure without any real proof, I wouldn’t trust him to count the moon, let alone remember everything his doctor may have said to him. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/85 "2014-08-23T11:35:36Z")
Rather than address all the many levels of stupid being thrown around here, I’ll simply offer my counter-proof. A couple of years back, I was experiencing some very unpleasant symptoms you all don’t want to hear about. I went to my doctor, and he ordered some blood tests. The blood tests showed that I was diabetic, which explained some, but not all of my symptoms. I went in for a CAT scan (invented by other medical researchers), which showed that my pancreas had essentially shriveled up and died for no good reason. Armed with that hard data, my doctor was able to put me on a regimen of medication that allows me to live a pretty normal life. Without that treatment, I’d probably be dead by now, and my children would be without a father. I don’t think my doctor is overpaid. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/86 "2014-08-23T12:11:17Z")
> [@7e42](#): > > And I went to the eye doctor because I was having a vision problem where I would experience blurry vision for about a minute and then it goes away > > After the full examination, the eye doctor said they couldn’t find anything and asked me could I live with it? > > Or if I want he can move a muscle in my eye:eek: So they gave you a solution and you rejected it out of hand because it was scary. I’m starting to see the problem. You want a miracle pill or a magic wand, not a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/87 "2014-08-23T12:21:47Z")
Moving eye muscles, IIRC, is what is done when glasses fail to correct a crossed eye in a child. I think it’s a pretty standard kind of eye surgery. Also, moving muscles in limbs can improve the quality of life immensely for people with cerebral palsy-- although, it’s not as common as it used to be, because usually Botox injections to modify muscles are often tried first. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/88 "2014-08-23T12:36:56Z")
> [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](#): > > How do you know that? All we have to go on is the word of someone who thinks fish oil is a vitamin, thinks Tylenol is a “fraudulent” medicine (whatever that means), and who clearly has an axe to grind. Personally, given how stridently he’s promoted fish oil as an arthritis cure without any real proof, I wouldn’t trust him to count the moon, let alone remember everything his doctor may have said to him. I’m not taking his word, I am taking him AT his word. The premise that the doctor told him to take Tylenol for his knee pain and sent him on his way is hardly preposterous or unusual. My point is that saving useful, low-risk, non-invasive advice for a second appointment is ridiculous, not a defensible course of action. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/89 "2014-08-23T12:40:19Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > So they gave you a solution and you rejected it out of hand because it was scary. I’m starting to see the problem. You want a miracle pill or a magic wand, not a doctor. Or maybe he rejected it because someone who can’t find the problem should not be proposing to move eye muscles around? I certainly would not have surgery done by someone who does not even believe they have identified what is wrong! ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/90 "2014-08-23T12:57:29Z")
My post #82 should read “there is evidence,” not “there is no evidence,” sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/91 "2014-08-23T13:21:41Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > Or maybe he rejected it because someone who can’t find the problem should not be proposing to move eye muscles around? I certainly would not have surgery done by someone who does not even believe they have identified what is wrong! I suspect they did find the problem, but because it was not something that could be solved by waving a magic wand, the OP states the doctor was clueless. For starters, no insurance company will pay for surgery to move eye muscles without a diagnosis, and as noted previously, there are indeed eye problems that are solved with surgery. (Also, I worked in ophthalmology for over a decade, but IANAD/N.) ---
**Author:** ![JayRx1981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@JayRx1981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayRx1981)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/92 "2014-08-23T13:33:57Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > I’m not taking his word, I am taking him AT his word. The premise that the doctor told him to take Tylenol for his knee pain and sent him on his way is hardly preposterous or unusual. My point is that saving useful, low-risk, non-invasive advice for a second appointment is ridiculous, not a defensible course of action. While I understand where you are coming from, from our perspective as healthcare practitioners, the premise that a patient is presenting only part of the information necessary is also neither preposterous or unusual. I run into this particular issue at _least_ once a week in my on weeks. In some cases, it’s benign and they honestly just forgot or didn’t think it would be relevant. In other cases, however, it’s not so benign, like with a patient who presented to the ER for lower back pain who received a prescription for Percocet from the (that night, at least) rushed ER prescriber, with the patient having failed to tell the prescriber in question that they quite literally 2 days before had finished a Suboxone taper therapy for substance abuse treatment. Let’s just say on discovering this fact, the prescriber was quite appreciative of my phone call, while the patient was…decidedly not. And for those already reaching for a “but” response there, the lesson here is NOT that those who have a history of substance abuse can’t have adequate pain relief via opioids if it is the only viable option, but instead that you really, really, REALLY should not fail to disclose this fact to your prescriber and/or pharmacist. We very much appreciate honesty from our patients. We very much detest dishonesty from our patients, particularly when drugs of abuse are involved. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/93 "2014-08-23T14:22:18Z")
> [@7e42](#): > > I could tell by the way I was running for the train last week. I was flying Wingless man flies after train. Film at 11. ---
**Author:** ![PorchePine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@PorchePine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PorchePine)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/94 "2014-08-23T14:49:40Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Rather than address all the many levels of stupid being thrown around here, I’ll simply offer my counter-proof. > > A couple of years back, I was experiencing some very unpleasant symptoms you all don’t want to hear about. I went to my doctor, and he ordered some blood tests. The blood tests showed that I was diabetic, which explained some, but not all of my symptoms. I went in for a CAT scan (invented by other medical researchers), which showed that my pancreas had essentially shriveled up and died for no good reason. Armed with that hard data, my doctor was able to put me on a regimen of medication that allows me to live a pretty normal life. Without that treatment, I’d probably be dead by now, and my children would be without a father. > > I don’t think my doctor is overpaid. Perhaps you should have just tried some fish oil. But only one particular brand–GNC brand is the only one that does anything. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/95 "2014-08-23T17:00:25Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Exactly my point. Modern medicine can help a lot of people but it can’t cure everyone. > We just recently made great strides in the treatment of Ebola. As medicine progresses it will be able to more effectively treat people but I honestly don’t see a day when every little discomfort can be fixed much less eliminating all the tragic ways people die. I do see that happening, but not in our lifetimes. Again, western/modern medicine is only about 160 years old, the life of 2 regular humans back to back. Our species is 200,000 years old already. The human body is finite in its complexity and finite in the number of things that can go wrong. Our ability to learn and manipulate our environment does not seem finite anytime soon. It doesn’t matter if it takes 100 or 10,000 years sooner or later pretty much every medical problem will be solvable. If 160 years led us to this point, and if technology compounds and gets better so that each year the tools/info is better than the one before it it is only a matter of time. Too bad none of us will see it though. Thats neither here nor there as far as the OP, but in my experience I have met some doctors who really think they have it all figured out already. And when they come up against something they can’t fix or don’t understand they blame their patients by saying everything is psychosomatic. There are lots of diseases and disorders we haven’t even discovered and named yet, let alone found effective treatments for and diagnostic tests for. A lot of things can only be managed, and that is only if you get a proper diagnosis which is many times the hardest thing about medicine, finding out what is actually wrong and why it is going wrong. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/96 "2014-08-23T17:14:30Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I do see that happening, but not in our lifetimes. Again, western/modern medicine is only about 160 years old, the life of 2 regular humans back to back. Good point. I might put the start of modern medicine back a little further, but we got from bleeding and purging, and thinking medicine worked better if you took it under moonlight, to disease specific antibiotics, vaccines, laproscopic surgery, organ transplants, and hormone substitutes to help people with diabetes, hypothyroidism and pituitary dwarfism. > [@](#): > > I have met some doctors who really think they have it all figured out already. And when they come up against something they can’t fix or don’t understand they blame their patients by saying everything is psychosomatic. I’ve never met a real doctor like that. That sounds more like TV doctors, whose hubris is their tragic flaw, and the point of the story, or else it’s a show like _House_ or _Bones_, where the diagnosis is a mystery, and something very rare, so they make a lot of wrong guesses. According to a book I read by Paul Offit, doctors are actually more likely to overlook psychogenesis as a cause, because they can’t offer a fix for that, and they want to offer a fix-- and are often reluctant to suggest a referral to a psychiatrist, because patients don’t like to hear that. ---
**Author:** ![7e42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/7/51bf81/32.png) [@7e42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/7e42)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/97 "2014-08-23T20:57:52Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > I know this one person was getting dizzy and passing out and almost got into a accident. The Doctor and no idea what was going on and thought it was nothing.It turn out the person had brain tumor. > > Other person head pain. Doctors have no idea.Think it is nothing. > Other person cold joints and pain.The doctor saying in all my years being doctor you the first with that case.No idea why that is the case. > > Has for being dumb? In my experience a book smart doctor does not mean smart logic.You could go to school passing of 99% with medical books of 10,000 pages does not = smart logic. > Some doctors like to get to cause of the problems and other doctors down play problems and oly investegate it when problems get worse. > > Also family doctors , medical clinics /medical walk in clinics and ER are the worse for \*\*\*non specific problems cases \*\*\*because of the assembly line of people waiting to see the doctor and lack of knowledge.Most of these cases you need to work with specialists not family doctor , medical clinics /medical walk in clinics and ER. If you have pain in hip or knee you need a bone specialist. > > Many cases with out MRI ,CT scan ,biopsy ,blood work and other tests a doctor has no idea wht is going on in side you.Some Insurance companies and state run heathcare doctors will down play MRI ,CT scan ,biopsy ,blood work to keep costs down. > > I’m sorry to we have working medical tricorder this is the type of problems people will have. Unless you get good family doctor that never down plays any thing and cautious this is the healthcare you going to get. Doctors don’t seem to know the cause or how to resolve the problem which is why it’s easy as pointless. Atleast act like you know something when someone is paying ,oney to see you I can’t tell the clients at my job “I don’t know” ---
**Author:** ![7e42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/7/51bf81/32.png) [@7e42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/7e42)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/98 "2014-08-23T20:59:03Z")
> [@PorchePine](#): > > Perhaps you should have just tried some fish oil. But only one particular brand–GNC brand is the only one that does anything. It was already stated that Fish Oil to eliminate joint pain ---
**Author:** ![7e42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/7/51bf81/32.png) [@7e42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/7e42)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/99 "2014-08-23T21:01:15Z")
> [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](#): > > Fish oil doesn’t cure arthritis. You just made that up. > > Disagree? Then show us some proof. > > Put up, or shut up. Then explain why I since I started taking the Fish Oil I have not experienced anymore knee or hip pain??? I don’t even have to use ice when I wake up in the morning because of Fish Oil ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253/100 "2014-08-23T21:09:09Z")
Because it was a temporary inflammation that resolved on its own? And Tylenol would at least have you feeling better during that time? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor/696253.md?page=6)