Posted 6/18/2014 7:15 PM (GMT 0)
I don't plan on modifying my medication myself, but I suppose I will have to go outside the clinic where my therapist is. My therapist is a wonderful person, but the doctors at that clinic simply don't listen to me. There's no way they can make intelligent choices regarding my care, because they don't take the time to ask the proper questions, and when they do ask questions, they don't wait for the answers.
I--the patient, aka the guy who has to take the medication, aka the guy who has to put up with the consequences of taking the medication--am okay with dealing with a few days of an upset stomach if it eventually goes away, and the medication does what it's supposed to. As long as I am made aware of the dangers and risks, I should be the one to make the final call on what medication I take. My doctor is a paid adviser to me.
To me, it is very frustrating because I have never had this war with a doctor. All the other doctors I've had have been dealing with my physical health, but even then they stopped and let me talk. If I would start to "rabbit trail" into something irrelevant, they would smile and nod and say, "that sounds like something else, but what about this?" or "that doesn't seem like it would be a part of this, but let me know if that gets worse."
A good bedside manner cannot be overstated as a necessity for a doctor.