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.
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.
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?
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
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.
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.