I have instructed my PCP that I will not undergo any prostate screenings,and will not do anything even if she slips in a PSA (blood) screen.
Why?
It is my considered opinion that it is a complete craps shoot - false negative leading to Bad Outcome is just as likely as false positive leading to Bad Outcome.
Whatever they are telling nosy people, they may just have made a reasoned decision to not mess with less-than-perfect-by-large-margin medical care.
Laura Nyro died at 49 of the same cancer that killed her mother at 49. Should she have done something different?
Here’s a sneaky strategy. Call up the doctor, explain the problem, and see if you can get an appointment around lunch time. Make a lunch date with your friend - then take her to the doctor.
She’ll be mad but she’ll be alive.
I don’t go to the doctors as often as I should. I’m pretty terrible at explaining my symptoms, so it can take me a while for the doctor to get any idea what’s wrong after which it’s usually nothing. One day it’ll probably be something and I won’t be happy, but here’s hoping by then medicine will consist of putting yourself into a booth and being cured instantly.
You forget to start this with “that’s a very good question and I thank you for asking”.
My husband has had 5 spinal surgeries in the last 10 years. When his back started hurting again, he refused to go to the doctor. Yet it was obvious that something was wrong. Drove me crazy, but I wasn’t going to hog-tie him and drag him there.
Fortunately, (?) it got bad enough that he suggested he might go see someone. I checked our insurance network, found a back specialist, and passed on the name and number to him. Turns out, while he needs surgery again, it’ll be a day surgery lasting maybe 2 hours and much much less involved than any of the previous operations. He probably won’t even miss a week of work.
I’ve been biting back a gigantic I-told-you-so. We have insurance, we have the copays, and, dammit, we’re just in our early 60s with plans for the future. He’s too young to end up lying in bed all day long.
Which reminds me, my shoulder has been bugging me - I should go get it checked out. (Yeah, I know…)
I could try this with J, but she isn’t even sure if her doctor is still working at the clinic where s/he used to or if she’s supposed to pick another one. Then there’s the issue of getting her to take a couple hours off of work.
I know who and where P’s doctor is, but P works quite some distance away, and would also have to be dragged out of her office, which she thinks she can’t leave.
I am a pilot and there are many of us that try to avoid doctors because we have to report every doctor visit to the FAA and a wrong diagnosis can mean losing our medical certificate… You see many planes for sale because someone lost their medical certificate… often over something trivial.
A bill recently passed the Senate to remove the Third Class medical certificate requirement for planes of 6 or fewer seats and under 6000 pounds for private flights. The bill is in the House now and would go a long way to getting pilots to visit the doctor for things that are not emergencies. There are about 600,000 pilots in the country and the vast majority of them only fly private (non-commecial). Removing the threat of losing one’s medical certificate would get these people to see their doctor more often for checkups.
My uncle has been refusing to go to the doctor for a couple years now and is basically wasting away in his basement. My cousin is an EMT and nurse and could not convince him to go. Recently the old guy started halucinating and yelling about people in the house and squirrels in the wall, so after a week (??) of this nonsense my aunt finally got my cousin’s EMT friend to come by and convince the old man it was time to get some help.
It’s possible my uncle might never come home from the hospital now - he is still resisting care even though it’s RIGHT THERE - and I just can’t understand the mindset of letting things get that bad. His whole family has to basically watch him die from conditions that could have been treated!
This.
My own philosophy is to get right on the problem when you develop one so it doesn’t become worse or get dragged out longer, as well as to get screenings regularly for things that you might not even be aware of.
If my friend P does indeed have GERD, it’s gone untreated for a long time. She is at risk for esophageal cancer, possibly. I wonder if it would do any good to tell her that.
It’s not for something that will kill me, just make life miserable. A fair question though, and one I ask about the thyroid meds and why I consider them optional.
I will visit my dentist, optometrist, and psychiatrist. That’s it. When I had cataract surgery last year and was required to give the name of my primary care physician, the best I could do was the PA (or NP?) I’d seen years ago for a plugged up ear.
I used to be a faithful yearly exam-type person. Until my previous dog became ill, that is. I didn’t care what deadly disease I might have or come down with, I wasn’t going to a dr. because I wanted to stay home and be there for her. After she died, I never went back to a health care practitioner except for the three listed above.
My feeling is that we all die of something and I’d rather not know and cocoon myself in my house, doing what I please, unbothered by anyone. It’s my life and if the way I live displeases anyone, their displeasure is their problem.
I have a Living Will filed with my lawyer, specifying DNR. I carry a copy of it with me in my wallet. The local hospital has provided me with a health care directive form, so if I end up in the ER as a vegetable, the docs will know what not to do.
purplehearingaid I feel just how you feel. Gotta hang around until the mutt dies, tho.
Sometimes people won’t go to a hospital or doctor because they’re afraid that if the problem turns out to be not serious the doctors will resent their coming in needlessly. My dad was like that until his cardiologist gave him a major lecture. The gist of it was “How dare you delay like that? This time it wasn’t serious, but you robbed me of time I might have needed to save your life!” Every doctor I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a lot of them) would MUCH rather you consult them or go to an ER for something that turns out to be trivial than to delay until it’s too late to do anything.
I know of two people who had strokes and refused to seek medical attention in the early stages when it might have helped. One of them is now permanently disabled as a result of brain damage caused by the stroke. The other is dead.
Also, if you pick a doctor and go for the little things, you have a chance of finding out if they’re a jerk before you have to depend on them for something big.
A lot of us are more-or-less stuck with perfunctory assembly-line HMO style medicine. I am allowed one so-called “wellness check-up” a year, which is nearly useless as the doctor isn’t allowed to actually go looking for problems. We just discuss my existing problems and any new symptoms I have to talk about. It’s not the doctor’s choice necessarily; it what my Medicare plan allows.
Of course, I can see the doctor when I have actual symptomatic problems to deal with.
But we hear so much (even in this thread) about “early detection” of various serious problems, even before there are any noticeable symptoms. But that’s not the kind of medical care I have available to me.
My thyroid problem was discovered during a regular checkup when the doctor felt my neck. Never thought that ever did any good, but my bloodwork was normal and I had no symptoms. So don’t knock normal checking. However, what do you mean by not being allowed to look for problems? Doing a zillion tests just to be safe isn’t necessarily a good idea. Doing tests to measure baselines is.
Plus, I don’t go on Medicare for another 10 months, but my understanding is that there are many options available. Do you have to choose an HMO? I’ve never been impressed with them myself.
I have actually visited a doctor that belittled me for coming in for a scary symptom that turned out to be nothing major.
It can happen.
Of course he was a jerk, and I will not be visiting his office again.