A Thing That Bothers Me About Doctors

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
Is that they will only discuss one health concern per appointment. For instance, if a patient goes to an appointment about acid reflux, then starts to talk about headaches, the doctor will intterrupt and tell the patient to make another apointment if they want to get treated for headaches. I feel that all symptoms should be examined. If not, the doctor can miss an important diagnosis. Sometime conditions have several symptoms.
 

debodun said:
Is that they will only discuss one health concern per appointment. For instance, if a patient goes to an appointment about acid reflux, then starts to talk about headaches, the doctor will intterrupt and tell the patient to make another apointment if they want to get treated for headaches. I feel that all symptoms should be examined. If not, the doctor can miss an important diagnosis. Sometime conditions have several symptoms.
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I've never experienced that with a family practice physician or internist unless they think a problem is significant enough to refer to a specialist.

If your general practitioner is doing this, it's time to find someone else.
 
Pappy said:
Getting to see a urologist here in Florida, is like searching for a lost needle in a hay stack. First available appointment is July 2nd. Meanwhile, my prostrate may be the size of Texas… o_O
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Yes, and how can a doctor properly diagnose that with a virtual visit? Like a woman that needs a pelvic exam - how ya do that online?

I know about how backed-up physician's office appointments are. I called my PCP and told they aren't accepting any more appointments until mid-August. They are backed up because people put off doctor visits during the height of the pandemic. Now everyone wants to see the doctor and they are playing "catch-up".
 
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I’ve found what debodun said to be pretty much true for the last few years. In fact I changed health plans at the beginning of 2020 ( bad time but who knew what was coming) because in my former health plan of many years all the good primary’s quit and moved away one after another, and the 2 I tried were into the 1 symptom mode. Haven’t had a chance to judge the new ones yet; one seems ok, yet I I try to get organized ahead of the visit to prioritize .
In past, a dear Ortho doc I had when the Arth was first acting up used to tease me and say he was only going to allow me one joint per visit. He retired and moved away too.
and I’m doing the playing catch up too. I think video visits are useless, except do maybe a reassuring chat if that’s all is needed.
 
debodun said:
Is that they will only discuss one health concern per appointment. For instance, if a patient goes to an appointment about acid reflux, then starts to talk about headaches, the doctor will intterrupt and tell the patient to make another apointment if they want to get treated for headaches. I feel that all symptoms should be examined. If not, the doctor can miss an important diagnosis. Sometime conditions have several symptoms.
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I've become aware that most doctors have incredibly SHORT attention spans. In addition, they tend to not listen very carefully, they hear what they think you are saying. In general. My experience.
 
One ailment per visit is pretty much standard practice nowadays.

You need to be pretty articulate with your problem because they seem to have made up their mind with the first sentence or two. I’m not articulate.
 
debodun said:
Is that they will only discuss one health concern per appointment. For instance, if a patient goes to an appointment about acid reflux, then starts to talk about headaches, the doctor will intterrupt and tell the patient to make another apointment if they want to get treated for headaches. I feel that all symptoms should be examined. If not, the doctor can miss an important diagnosis. Sometime conditions have several symptoms.
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That's precisely what happens here. Very often several symptoms will lead to the right conclusion, but we're only permitted to mention one at the 8 minute appointment given to every patient at our GP( General practitioners)...surgery...

I'm always shouting from the rooftops about this... if they won't let us mention more than one symptom, then we're all very possibly being treated for the wrong thing...
 
The curious thing about that Holly is, I have to have an annual medical check up for life insurance purposes. It is not an NHS check up and costs ÂŁ115. The doctor always asks, "is there anything else that I should know?" Which is an invitation to relate any previously unknown symptoms, no matter what, or how many.
 
Murrmurr said:
Debodun, I used to have the same problem, but about 5 years ago I started seeing a doctor who isn't that way at all.
She's a keeper.

Have you ever written your concerns on a list and handed it to the doctor when s/he comes in? That might work.
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The doctor will subtract the time spent reading the list from the visit.
 
horseless carriage said:
The curious thing about that Holly is, I have to have an annual medical check up for life insurance purposes. It is not an NHS check up and costs ÂŁ115. The doctor always asks, "is there anything else that I should know?" Which is an invitation to relate any previously unknown symptoms, no matter what, or how many.
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yes that would happen and does happen whenever I have any kind of test Privately , paying out of pocket... but for the NHS it's actually the law that doctors have to spend only 8 minutes with each patient, and no more than one symptom.of course there are a very few who ignore that, but most live by the rule of 8 minutes one symptom...then we have to go through the rigmarole of making another appointment ...
 
Murrmurr said:
Debodun, I used to have the same problem, but about 5 years ago I started seeing a doctor who isn't that way at all.
She's a keeper.

Have you ever written your concerns on a list and handed it to the doctor when s/he comes in? That might work.
Click to expand...
I did exactly that (wrote my concerns on a piece of paper) during my first visit with the family doctor. And I make sure I have stated all of my concerns before she leaves the examining room. And if I am to forget to mention something, I'll catch her at the station where she is already dictating about my visit.
 
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