Taking control of the conversation in appointments.

[Charlie-Farley]

There is an article in the Telegraph today about patient’s experiences re getting a diagnosis and treatment for Lupus- so many parallels.

How do we get past the ’Doctor Knows Best’ mentality which is so widespread we might be better calling it a culture.

I have just responded to a post and the lightbulb went on. Three and a bit years in!

Relative to other's experiences, I have been blessed by being pretty much left to it after having had problems at the start of my diagnosis which you can read in my bio.

There was the writing of a report, which I submitted a week before appointment (importantly getting it scanned in by the reception staff who were always very helpful).

Then I had my telecon, submitting the report was very effective in directing the conversation, it was also the fact that rather than trying to wow them with my own knowledge, I asked them questions and got them to discuss the guidelines (amongst other things), drawing in references to back up my position.

The contradictions in the guidelines are especially useful as they trust them, rely on them so heavily and yet because they are not read with a critical eye the latitude written into them is missed.

I have made a post, as has    tattybogle both of which are fairly useful on road to dealing with the erroneous belief that lab work should be treated in preference to the patient.

The pinned posts section is a great place to look for useful info.

[asiatic]

Like you I am now, to a certain degree, left to it.

Rather than trying to wow them with my own knowledge,

Guilty as charged 😂 However as I become more confident with NICE and the latest research ( knowledge is power ) I find asking the GP questions a better approach as it leads into a discussion and an atmosphere of working together,

A phrase I have filed away which may be useful in a future “ discussion” came from rereading Dr, Midgely’s papers “An appropriate TSH level is a homeostatic concept “

[Charlie-Farley in reply to asiatic]

Asiatic! Just Brilliant 🤩

We know now (if not before) knowledge is not exclusive and with access to pretty much everything these days we can read up on anything should we desire. I came out of an average comprehensive in the 80’s with a perception I could never be a teacher, solicitor, architect, engineer, pharmacist, doctor (the list goes on). Glass ceiling firmly set, it was only in the 90’s when made redundant from my semi skilled factory job and after seeing the very influential film Educating Rita, I decided, to everyone’s amazement to go back and study.

I say to anyone reading this it is the amount of time you are prepared to put in. Had a very accomplished boyfriend about the time I was embarking on study and he said 3% ability 97% effort meaning everything could be overcome by effort that was the deciding factor. I believe he was right. By heck I did have to put a lot of effort in though! But I got there 😉👍