3 YEARS OF FRUSTRATION BUT LEARNED TO DIAGNOSE MYSELF !
I now know for certain that many doctors in local surgeries are NOT aware of many medical problems with their patients.
The best thing I did was to learn from my laptop all there was to know about what my illness was and how to treat it myself.
I have previously had a quadruple heart bypass - after having a stent fitted 2 years later I had problems related to B12 deficiency which I needed to deal with myself - Two surgery doctors were not on my wavelength and so I needed to gain my knowledge from experts by means of the computer.
I also realised then I had had a problem with anaemia for many years which was neglected by surgery doctors - even though I worked for them for 5 years along with being a registered patient.
We need to be very much aware of what happens to our health in order to make sure we know how to deal with it ourselves.
I have been fortunate so far - I did help myself in lots of ways but I do have existing niggles which are the numbness and tingling in many areas and it is worse when I am in bed at night time.
I did not want to have B12 jabs because I have a skin problem and so I purchase B12 Methylcobalamin oral spray to spray under the tongue which gives me energy.
I suggest you delve into the info on the internet to learn alot more than you will in a local doctor's surgery........ I am glad I did.
J.E.G
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friends38
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oh and don't gp's hate that! When I had a private injection of b12 (I was desperate) my gp went ballistic and showed me the door. They mostly HATE it if a patient tries to help themselves.
The problem is that, although there's a lot of useful information on the interwebs, there's even more garbage. But how to tell one from the other.
A good site will have references to the scientific papers from which they take the information.
A rubbish site will have loads of adverts, often for the site owner's book(s) on the topic. They will attribute every disease under the sun to one cause - especially diseases for which there is no obvious reason for it. They will have their evangelists who believe that spreading the misinformation is somehow useful. They will often support pseudoscientific 'alternative' medicine or even communication with the dead (I kid you not).
Must say, I have always rather hoped for something like an NHS Wiki.
If nothing else, some readily accessible way of locating basic information. But not as dumbed-down as the patient-facing NHS Choices. And with a clear and open way of getting changes made in the light of new understanding and old mistakes.
I do think that on the whole that fora - like this one and Thyroid UK are good at posting websites and books that are of value. After a little time you soon become accustomed to the folk you can trust
As long as we are prepared to read and learn and not expect a quick fix - then we are on the road to wellness ....
My Doctor told me to ignore anything I read on screen yet that's the first and only thing he does during any appointment.
I've had P.A. for over 45 years and he laughs at the suggestion that I feel the need for more frequent injections. You must "do what it says on the tin" and the "one size fits all" syndrome kicks in
Last year I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and put on Metformin (4 x 500mg per day) and when my first Hba1c test results came back showing a great drop in level it was me that had to suggest a reduction in the medication.
Having been warned that, being diabetic, I must care for my feet I virtually had to beg him to examine mine and when I asked for advice on diet and exercise he sent me on a four week course (2 hours a week) which was so intensive that with my deafness and at my age of 75, I simply couldn't keep up with it. However, what I did "glean" from the course may well have made me more knowledgeable about diabetes than the doctor who sent me. Ooops!
I'm reminded of the old adage I found in my late Dad's paperwork
My Doctor told me to ignore anything I read on screen yet that's the first and only thing he does during any appointment.
I can understand both those points.
I'll bet he gets dozens of patients every week who come in and tell him that they've got lurgy - because they read on the mystic doctor website that all their symptoms are that of lurgy and all they need do is pay £126 a month for the 'natural', 'holistic' lurgy treatment only available from that site. And can I have that on the NHS please?
He, however, will have his favourite sites that are known to be reliable. He will also have access to the top medical search engines and will have had extensive training on how to use them.
And that sort of access makes a big difference, believe me. I used to be able to search all the main archives and access all the journals. Now I am restricted to just abstracts found via Google Scholar and it is most restrictive.
If only I had had access via the internet to the information I have now, thirty years ago - what a lot of unnecessary pain and misery I would have avoided.
I agree, we need to be able to take responsibility for our own health and research things for ourselves, but as the comments say there is a lot of drivel out there. I never take anything at face value, I look for medical research or bona fide evidence to back it up. My GP hates that I do that, but my haematologist and a family friend who is a retired surgeon both said that its a great thing to do. Had I not researched for myself, I would never have been diagnosed, and suspect I would be seriously ill at the very least by now.
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