I agree! Anyone who is seeing a doctor that only prescribes medication without exploring alternatives such as exercise and lifestyle changes should consider getting a second “opinion.” And if your doctor wouldn’t be happy when you got better, you’d be crazy to stick around.
Currently I’m seeing no doctors. Up here in Canada we actually have a shortage, so switching family doctors is nearly impossible. Quite possibly you would be stuck with the one you’ve got, or rely on emergency room visits.
I think it’s because they get poached by other countries. Both my wife and I have lost doctors that moved to the states because the money is better- one of mine, and two of her doctors. That’s good for the docs and bad for us. One of the drawbacks of public healthcare.
Of course, there’s so much money in the Sick Care system of the US that they can get higher pay.
We have our own issues up here with not enough healthcare funding for all of the new population that Canada is attracting. Same number of doctors in a city, same number of hospitals, but add thousands of new Canadians, means long wait times and shortage of doctors.
I work as a so called Health Promotion Business Partner among my colleagues, who are doctors and social counselors.
Can this be a coincidence: Among the 20+ doctors, I know of who is heavily into exercising and guess what he recommends in contrast to the rest of the group-lifestyle changes.
So I argue, it’s both part of the system that doctors lean more on the pill-side, but has a lot to do with whether they’re active, eat healthy and so on themselves…
It’s an aspect that I would look fit of I had to find a new doctor.
I don’t take advice from a doctor who does not promote and/or lead a healthy lifestyle
Ok this makes a lot of sense. If the doctor is overweight and on medication, he’s going to give advice based on what he knows.
Shopping for doctors, phoning their office: “Hi, I’d like to make an appointment. Tell me, does Dr. Brown work out? How low is his A1C? Can he still get it up naturally? Ok good!”
This is why I left nursing, I was sick of being a pill pusher! Healthcare providers would rather prescribe a pill instead of spending time educating a patient on how to be healthy.. and so much fault to the insurance companies who restrict so many doctors in providing better care.. the whole system is a mess!
You are absolutely spot on, Tim. Seven years ago I had a gall bladder attack, and was told I needed to have it surgically removed. I told my doctor I would change my diet, and have not had a problem since then. I eat everything (although I have almost completely eliminated the processed crap), and am convinced that it was completely a food related situation.
I’m glad everything turned out okay for you. Any time we can avoid having body parts removed and still get better, that’s a big win. Good job standing up for yourself.
This is such a powerful message, Tim and it needs to be voiced out and loud like you did, amazing. I'm a doctor as you know and I agree that many times colleagues seem to be on auto-mode and it's sad to see. I can't pinpoint it as an old school issue or something else. I have no judgement towards them, but what I do know is how I want to make things differently because patients deserve better, more empathy, better health education, prevention rather than just pills. The systems are wrecked, drowned and exhausted everywhere - and so are every healthcare staff. I left the system for that reason after several burnout episodes, making me loose a sense of purpose. It's frustrating... I can understand why many colleagues fail to deliver a better attention but it's no excuse when times are changing and we all need to open our eyes, question things, think outside the box. It even applies to our own selves of course. Maybe this whole wave of self-care that has become more and more present for everyone in the last few years is allowing many of us, whether old doctors or new doctors, to want to make things different and better. I for one, want to stick to the side where hope is and do my bit in my corner of internet and the world. As you can tell, I feel very strongly about this! Hope is everything. We can do better, we deserve better, patients deserve better, the world deserves better.
Thanks for this supportive comment, it means a lot to me, especially since you have seen the other side of things as a medical professional. I was very nervous about publishing this because I was afraid of upsetting hard-working people who spent so much time becoming doctors and thinking they are doing their best. But it's pretty evident that we can all do better. We need to be open minded, able to admit when we don't know or are wrong, and be proactive.
I'm hopeful that you're right and we are on the verge of change as these ideas spread out.
I can understand you being nervous about publishing this, but even though I can't speak for other healthcare professionals, I think those of us who have felt the crippling claws of the system, can all agree on how damaging it can be for everyone, sadly... It's true that there are mindsets and mindsets, but I want to believe that more healthcare professionals are starting to see this, and that universities and hospitals are also more open to look into healthier ways to provide training so that everyone can learn a better way to do healthcare. And those of us who are many years already into this, we can always open up and look to be the change too.
Personally, This hasn’t been my experience. Maybe my primary care doctor is above average. I’ve seen some bad specialists out there though.
If someone feels like they’re not getting the right treatment, it’s always worth looking at other doctors. I’ve found that even specialists of the same age, gender and specialty can have VERY different ideas about the exact same condition.
I’m glad that you’ve had good experiences. It’s true, #notalldoctors. It should give everyone hope that they can find a doctor who supports them. Thanks for your comment!
Also, it just occurred to me that I know some people who couldn’t get relief from regular doctors but they found relief through alternative medicine. Acupuncture comes to mind as well as taking anti-parasitic supplements.
I never recommend that stuff myself because I don’t want to be responsible for someone getting worse, but I’m happy for those who got what they needed from Reiki, sound baths, cupping, hypnosis, etc.
I know that reiki has helped people, sometimes quite a bit. I think a lot of alternative medicine can help, whether it’s placebo effect or if there is more to it doesn’t really matter if it improves your situation. If you have a life threatening or serious condition though, I think you need to be talking to a regular doctor as well.
I hire and fire physicians based on whether they will accept the fact that I want help with lifestyle over medications. Thanks for highlighting this problem within the medical system.
My overweight husband went to his overweight doctor. Doctor confirmed type 2 diabetes. Husband asked what he should do. Doctor gave him pills, said absolutely nothing about eating right and exercising. So husband took lots of pills and ate lots o of crap. Husband died at age 53. Thank you for this great post!
Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Thank you for your story.
This is the second comment pointing out that a doctor should be a good example in the health part of his life, or how can you trust his advice? It makes me wonder how things would have gone if your husband had shopped around for a doctor who was a gym fanatic.
Very true! Every time I told him "you shouldn't eat that, you're diabetic", husband's response was "that's what I take medicine for". He just refused to see it any other way since his doctor of many years said pills were the answer. I choose very differently for myself!
I’ve heard that same thing: “That’s why I take medicine, so I can eat what I want!” Meanwhile, all it’s doing is hiding the symptoms while the damage keeps rolling in.
I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your latest post on Time2Thrive. Your thought-provoking take on health struck a chord with me. The way you explore lifestyle changes as an alternative to medication is both engaging and empowering. Your personal stories were especially compelling, showing the true potential for recovery. Just wonderful.
Great article, thank you! I think you could be giving the antidepressants too much credit though - you state "one in three people suffering from anxiety and depression do not respond well to medication" but I believe the evidence is actually more like only one in three people getting any benefit at all from antidepressants. And they’re only really effective if you have moderate to severe clinical depression. Yet pretty much 100% of people will get side effects, some of which as you say may be lifelong. Oh, and they're really hard to stop once you've been on them for longer than about 6 months!
Thank you for your feedback- you definitely know more about drugs than I do. I will be following up on this post with one specifically about antidepressants, so I guess more research is in order!
Those side effects. For antidepressants, one side effect can be suicide. It’s definitely a lifelong condition.
Mark Horowitz (a Dr who’s done a lot of research on this and authored a book on how to get people off these drugs safely) was in Australia talking about it a couple of weeks ago so it’s fresh in my mind. Looking forward to reading more, and more memes- they’re great!
I agree! Anyone who is seeing a doctor that only prescribes medication without exploring alternatives such as exercise and lifestyle changes should consider getting a second “opinion.” And if your doctor wouldn’t be happy when you got better, you’d be crazy to stick around.
Currently I’m seeing no doctors. Up here in Canada we actually have a shortage, so switching family doctors is nearly impossible. Quite possibly you would be stuck with the one you’ve got, or rely on emergency room visits.
Why does Canada have a shortage of doctors?
I think it’s because they get poached by other countries. Both my wife and I have lost doctors that moved to the states because the money is better- one of mine, and two of her doctors. That’s good for the docs and bad for us. One of the drawbacks of public healthcare.
Of course, there’s so much money in the Sick Care system of the US that they can get higher pay.
We have our own issues up here with not enough healthcare funding for all of the new population that Canada is attracting. Same number of doctors in a city, same number of hospitals, but add thousands of new Canadians, means long wait times and shortage of doctors.
That’s a drawback of public healthcare I hadn’t considered.
I work as a so called Health Promotion Business Partner among my colleagues, who are doctors and social counselors.
Can this be a coincidence: Among the 20+ doctors, I know of who is heavily into exercising and guess what he recommends in contrast to the rest of the group-lifestyle changes.
So I argue, it’s both part of the system that doctors lean more on the pill-side, but has a lot to do with whether they’re active, eat healthy and so on themselves…
It’s an aspect that I would look fit of I had to find a new doctor.
I don’t take advice from a doctor who does not promote and/or lead a healthy lifestyle
Ok this makes a lot of sense. If the doctor is overweight and on medication, he’s going to give advice based on what he knows.
Shopping for doctors, phoning their office: “Hi, I’d like to make an appointment. Tell me, does Dr. Brown work out? How low is his A1C? Can he still get it up naturally? Ok good!”
I agree 100%
It might cause a moment of silence when I throw out these questions, but it would make a interesting start into the doctor-patient-relationship.
This is why I left nursing, I was sick of being a pill pusher! Healthcare providers would rather prescribe a pill instead of spending time educating a patient on how to be healthy.. and so much fault to the insurance companies who restrict so many doctors in providing better care.. the whole system is a mess!
Sorry, but MY doctors are thrilled that I’m getting better.
If YOUR doctors aren’t, you need to change doctors.
Excellent article. All true. I’ll go one step further and add if you do have to go to the doctor be sure to ask questions and self advocate.
Yes! Ask questions and push for options. Get extra testing done.
And if you think of something or change your mind about something the next day, phone and let them know. It’s your body, not theirs.
You are absolutely spot on, Tim. Seven years ago I had a gall bladder attack, and was told I needed to have it surgically removed. I told my doctor I would change my diet, and have not had a problem since then. I eat everything (although I have almost completely eliminated the processed crap), and am convinced that it was completely a food related situation.
I’m glad everything turned out okay for you. Any time we can avoid having body parts removed and still get better, that’s a big win. Good job standing up for yourself.
This is such a powerful message, Tim and it needs to be voiced out and loud like you did, amazing. I'm a doctor as you know and I agree that many times colleagues seem to be on auto-mode and it's sad to see. I can't pinpoint it as an old school issue or something else. I have no judgement towards them, but what I do know is how I want to make things differently because patients deserve better, more empathy, better health education, prevention rather than just pills. The systems are wrecked, drowned and exhausted everywhere - and so are every healthcare staff. I left the system for that reason after several burnout episodes, making me loose a sense of purpose. It's frustrating... I can understand why many colleagues fail to deliver a better attention but it's no excuse when times are changing and we all need to open our eyes, question things, think outside the box. It even applies to our own selves of course. Maybe this whole wave of self-care that has become more and more present for everyone in the last few years is allowing many of us, whether old doctors or new doctors, to want to make things different and better. I for one, want to stick to the side where hope is and do my bit in my corner of internet and the world. As you can tell, I feel very strongly about this! Hope is everything. We can do better, we deserve better, patients deserve better, the world deserves better.
Thanks for this supportive comment, it means a lot to me, especially since you have seen the other side of things as a medical professional. I was very nervous about publishing this because I was afraid of upsetting hard-working people who spent so much time becoming doctors and thinking they are doing their best. But it's pretty evident that we can all do better. We need to be open minded, able to admit when we don't know or are wrong, and be proactive.
I'm hopeful that you're right and we are on the verge of change as these ideas spread out.
I can understand you being nervous about publishing this, but even though I can't speak for other healthcare professionals, I think those of us who have felt the crippling claws of the system, can all agree on how damaging it can be for everyone, sadly... It's true that there are mindsets and mindsets, but I want to believe that more healthcare professionals are starting to see this, and that universities and hospitals are also more open to look into healthier ways to provide training so that everyone can learn a better way to do healthcare. And those of us who are many years already into this, we can always open up and look to be the change too.
Personally, This hasn’t been my experience. Maybe my primary care doctor is above average. I’ve seen some bad specialists out there though.
If someone feels like they’re not getting the right treatment, it’s always worth looking at other doctors. I’ve found that even specialists of the same age, gender and specialty can have VERY different ideas about the exact same condition.
I’m glad that you’ve had good experiences. It’s true, #notalldoctors. It should give everyone hope that they can find a doctor who supports them. Thanks for your comment!
Also, it just occurred to me that I know some people who couldn’t get relief from regular doctors but they found relief through alternative medicine. Acupuncture comes to mind as well as taking anti-parasitic supplements.
I never recommend that stuff myself because I don’t want to be responsible for someone getting worse, but I’m happy for those who got what they needed from Reiki, sound baths, cupping, hypnosis, etc.
What’s your take on alternative medicine?
I know that reiki has helped people, sometimes quite a bit. I think a lot of alternative medicine can help, whether it’s placebo effect or if there is more to it doesn’t really matter if it improves your situation. If you have a life threatening or serious condition though, I think you need to be talking to a regular doctor as well.
I hire and fire physicians based on whether they will accept the fact that I want help with lifestyle over medications. Thanks for highlighting this problem within the medical system.
Thank you for your comment! I’m glad you are able to find doctors to work with.
My overweight husband went to his overweight doctor. Doctor confirmed type 2 diabetes. Husband asked what he should do. Doctor gave him pills, said absolutely nothing about eating right and exercising. So husband took lots of pills and ate lots o of crap. Husband died at age 53. Thank you for this great post!
Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Thank you for your story.
This is the second comment pointing out that a doctor should be a good example in the health part of his life, or how can you trust his advice? It makes me wonder how things would have gone if your husband had shopped around for a doctor who was a gym fanatic.
Very true! Every time I told him "you shouldn't eat that, you're diabetic", husband's response was "that's what I take medicine for". He just refused to see it any other way since his doctor of many years said pills were the answer. I choose very differently for myself!
I’ve heard that same thing: “That’s why I take medicine, so I can eat what I want!” Meanwhile, all it’s doing is hiding the symptoms while the damage keeps rolling in.
I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your latest post on Time2Thrive. Your thought-provoking take on health struck a chord with me. The way you explore lifestyle changes as an alternative to medication is both engaging and empowering. Your personal stories were especially compelling, showing the true potential for recovery. Just wonderful.
Thanks, Jon! I really appreciate the encouragement.
Great article, thank you! I think you could be giving the antidepressants too much credit though - you state "one in three people suffering from anxiety and depression do not respond well to medication" but I believe the evidence is actually more like only one in three people getting any benefit at all from antidepressants. And they’re only really effective if you have moderate to severe clinical depression. Yet pretty much 100% of people will get side effects, some of which as you say may be lifelong. Oh, and they're really hard to stop once you've been on them for longer than about 6 months!
Thank you for your feedback- you definitely know more about drugs than I do. I will be following up on this post with one specifically about antidepressants, so I guess more research is in order!
Those side effects. For antidepressants, one side effect can be suicide. It’s definitely a lifelong condition.
Mark Horowitz (a Dr who’s done a lot of research on this and authored a book on how to get people off these drugs safely) was in Australia talking about it a couple of weeks ago so it’s fresh in my mind. Looking forward to reading more, and more memes- they’re great!
Thanks! I’ll be keeping an eye on your stuff too- fantastic work
It would be hard to be a nurse in those circumstances. So now you teach English and live off the land in Columbia- quite the switch!
I know 1…sorry