Spreading the Word

[Aliwally]

I have just come back from a GP appointment to get some more cholestagel. He asked if I would mind speaking to a fifth year medical student and he left the room.

What an opportunity to tell the next generation of doctors about statin side effects, risk versus benefits, the disparity of genetic testing for FH in England and Scotland, the difficulty in getting a diagnosis, the polarity of the statin debate, should you ask about muscle disorder before prescribing statins.

I couldn't get it all in and was most disappointed when he came back in! I felt like saying "Please go away and let me continue this interesting discussion". Unfortunately I was much too polite.

[florence5]

What an enlightened GP you have and, as Traci said, what a marvellous opportunity! Well done! Actually, my GP is good too, but I didn't have such a positive experience with one of the hospital doctors ( not my cardiologist), who treated me as if I was incapable of understanding the matter, or indeed, my own mind and body, as he was showing off to a student. I gave as good as I got and won my points. I will be meeting him again in a few weeks, so I will see if that experience has had any impact on him. If not, I don't see any point in going back and will write a formal complaint, if only to make myself feel better.

[Aliwally]

The greatest insult I had was when another GP in the practice sneered at me and said "Where did you read that, the Daily Mail?".

Patients now have access to all sorts of professional journals, clinical papers and this blog of course, so hopefully the next generation of GP's will take that on board, really listen to their patients and treat everybody as an informed adult.

I do not know why our health should be viewed differently to any other aspect of our lives where we are encouraged to research and make informed choices.

[suki65 in reply to Aliwally]

we all have to keep the good work up on here keep spreading the word around from experience on what statins can do to some of us as they think (the doctors) they know it all if you ask every doctor who prescribes statins to go on them themselves or give them to their family members what would their reply be ?

My arms are now just getting right after the statin damage i will never take another statin ever b12 ,b6 ,opti-omega 3 and vitamin D with calcium are what i take and i am about 90%back to myself after one year on and off statins .

if i had taking statins like i wasn told by my specialist i would have ended up in a wheelchair (no joking)

good luck everyone (some people they work for ) but listen to people they dont HELPthem

[florence5]

I completely agree with you, Aliwally. Too many doctors still expect to be treated with the reverence they were accorded a hundred years ago, when many of the public were illiterate. Medicine is a science and requires challenge and inquiry to progress. Experience is a major factor in learning. As doctors cannot ever experience all the ailments of their patients or the medications they prescribe, they must listen to their patients in order to learn. One person can never deny another person's experience, regardless of their own opinion or knowledge. This is basic psychology. All knowledge is only current understanding and open to challenge. I become so angry when I meet people who have such closed minds or who will only accept challenge from those they consider to have a higher status or intellect.

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What is it about people who think it OK to sneer at the Daily Mail? They have such an interesting health supplement each Tuesday. A god daughter who's a GP couldn't believe I read the Mail [implication - I must be stupid!] she complained some of her patients tell her what their treatment should be as they'd read it in the Mail.