# When people won't go to the doctor **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 15, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-wont-go-to-the-doctor/743242 "2016-01-15T16:40:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-wont-go-to-the-doctor/743242/41 "2016-01-19T21:03:48Z")
Voyager: > [@](#): > > However, what do you mean by not being allowed to look for problems? I suspect he means something like what I’ve experienced at a certain dermatology practice. I went in for a very specific problem, and they “suggest” that I get a full dermatological screening. Turns out that they discovered three things I had absolutely no complaints about, and guess what…they actually sell the shampoo/lotion/cream to cure those things for sale, right in their office! Lucky coincidence they happened to find it, eh? I’m sure there are many doctors who are purely patient-driven and not profit-hungry hucksters, but I tend to be cynical of doctors who go on fishing expeditions for conditions you were never aware of. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-wont-go-to-the-doctor/743242/42 "2016-01-19T22:37:05Z")
P finally went to the doc yesterday and came away with the following: Diagnosis: a bad case of asthma and a possible infection Prescriptions for an inhaler, antibiotics, prednisone, cough syrup with codeine Scheduled for full physical in a month, at which time she will also arrange for colonoscopy and endoscopy as well as mammogram. It’s about time. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-wont-go-to-the-doctor/743242/43 "2016-01-19T22:45:17Z")
I tend to avoid going because I can’t seem to find a doctor who won’t lecture me about my weight. At my last check up, I had lost about 60 lbs from the previous visit (different doctor). I was really looking forward to an “atta girl!” instead I got a lecture about how I was still obese and needed to lose 40 more lbs. I tried to talk to her about some minor back pain I was having (hoping to prevent it getting worse) and was told to keep losing weight and it will go away. The thing is, the pain wasn’t there before I lost weight, why would losing more make it go away? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-wont-go-to-the-doctor/743242/44 "2016-01-20T02:07:36Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > P finally went to the doc yesterday . . . . Hey! That’s a win! ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-wont-go-to-the-doctor/743242/45 "2016-01-20T02:30:58Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Hey! That’s a win! Indeed! What finally convinced her? For me it would have been the inability to breathe. ---
**Author:** ![NJ22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4af34b/32.png) [@NJ22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NJ22)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-wont-go-to-the-doctor/743242/46 "2016-01-20T02:41:19Z")
There is nothing exciting about going to a doctor. You do it because it’s necessary but I always had a issue of a building full of people hoping something is wrong with you so they can make money ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-wont-go-to-the-doctor/743242/47 "2016-01-20T04:07:18Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Could someone go with them to the doctor, drive them and hold their hands as it were? And go out to lunch afterwards. Are you offering? I’ll go if I get miserably sick (every couple of years) but haven’t gone for the routine physical in I-don’t-remember-how-long. I am an endurance athlete, which means I do boatloads of cardio exercise, am relatively thin & in the ‘normal’ range for BMI. Yes, I could eat healthier, but I could also eat much worse. I’m a few years away from needing the colonoscopy. Treating of my ‘ailments’ would be better off at a sports med doc rather than a GP, but really, I know what to do but have just been too lazy/stubborn to do the proper thing with them. What am I missing by not going? ---
**Author:** ![NJ22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4af34b/32.png) [@NJ22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NJ22)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-wont-go-to-the-doctor/743242/48 "2016-01-20T04:09:12Z")
I been to the doctor with joint issues and they had no idea how to resolve it ---
**Author:** ![DeepLiquid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deepliquid/32/14893_2.png) [@DeepLiquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepLiquid)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-wont-go-to-the-doctor/743242/49 "2016-01-20T13:46:32Z")
I will go once a year for a physical, once a year to the dermatologist (I was a lifeguard for many years before sunscreen was available), and whenever I have to have my knee implant checked. But that’s it unless I get really really sick. At 55, with a lifetime of sports injuries, if I went every time something felt “off” I’d live at the docs office. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-wont-go-to-the-doctor/743242.md?page=2)