My otherwise healthy-looking BIL went to the doctor because he was having regular chest pains and was told it was nothing to worry about. A few months later he died at age 27 from a heart attack.
Same thing. Went to 4 different pulmonologists because I had "allergic" asthma that wasn't going away at all even with meds and the tests clearly showed it. Just by logically analyzing the available data on my condition I basically had to push them to prescribe me other tests. Guess what? It was lung cancer š
I went to the ER 4 times over the course of 4 days with severe abdominal pains before they realized I had pancreatitis. Then 2 years later, I got pancreatitis again, but it still took 4 hospital visits before they realized I did in fact, have pancreatitis again. And those 4 last times I was telling them it was pancreatitis but they didn't believe me. Every time they sent me home, they gave me gaviscon because they thought my IMMENSE AND UNBEARABLE PAIN came from heartburn, and never once considered I was literally dying...
I donāt understand at all why people post things like this. What is your point? Nobody ever said physicians were infallible or never made mistakes. Or that extremely rare shit happens sometimes and doesnāt present in the typical way.
Sucks for your friends but doctors arenāt god. We do the best we canā¦people go to doctor expect them to catch everything 100% of the time lolā¦our bodies are way too complex to do that
I tried repeatedly to advocate for myself and my baby last year when I was pregnant and felt like something was wrong. The babyās rate of growth was continually declining and they told me āI get that youāre an engineer but I suggest you just try to ignore the numbersā¦ā I would do my own research and ask questions. My questions were met with things like ātry to stay away from the internet.ā ā Itās probably normal.ā āJust wait and see.ā It just felt like they wanted to speed through the appointment. Meanwhile, my babyās measurements and heart rate were not tracking normally. I wound up with an emergency c-section, and later discovered the umbilical cord was not getting the nutrients to my baby properly, and the placenta was too small and was also tearing away from the uterine wall. So, as a patient who tried to ask a lot of questions and genuinely tried to advocate for myself and my baby, I can tell you it was incredibly challenging to be dismissed appointment after appointment. In the future, I will feel no shame in asking even more questions, and asking for a ādifferential diagnosis.ā
Iām sorry but your doctors were just exceptionally stupid. You can be the smartest person at one thing and an absolute dunce at putting it together. It happens.
My pregnancy opened my eyes to just how little doctors know about a womanās body and experiences. EVERY SYMPTOM I ever had while pregnant was blown off and explained away as āš¤·š»āāļø pregnancy ā. My own female OBGYN wasnāt much better. I really do like her and she saved my life during L&D, but its infuriating how easily your concerns and symptoms are just pushed off when youāre a woman, and so much so when youāre creating another human being.
I ended up massively preeclamptic to the point my blood pressure was so high they were using the blood pressure cuff designed for morbidly obese grown men (which didn't fit me properly, go figure) in order to get my readings low enough that they didn't have to call in a doctor to come check anything.
Oh my god, my cousin had that same thing with her baby and they took her seriously, had her in every week, and charted things so they could determine if itās safer for baby to be in or out. They did an induction and then a c section a little early because it was better at that point for baby to eat milk instead of relying on the placenta. Iām so mad this happened to you.
Saw a psychiatrist for five years. Despite having records of behavioral problems as a child and past recommendations for testing, she refused to ever test for autism because she told me it was anxiety and girls rarely have it. She also put me on an antidepressant that worsened many symptoms directly related to my autism hoping to prove this.
Iām seeking an autism diagnosis as a woman because my parents refused to have me tested when recommended as a kid. Iām so terrified of not being taken seriously. Iām at a point where I donāt have a single doubt in my mind about it. Other autistic people I know are 100% certain of it as well. Itās just a matter of going through the strenuous diagnostic process now, hoping that some person who barely knows me will actually trust my ability to understand my own mind rather than dismiss my entire life experience based on some bullshit reason like what your psychiatrist gave.
Also good idea to remember that doctors work for you and if they get pissed at you, find someone new. You deserve someone who respects you and your time because if you're in the US, this shit costs money and nobody should belittled you when you just gave them a shitton of money.
Even in the EU this happens regularly. Skipping doctors is something Iāve done more than once! Or even just a second or even third opinion. Hell Iāve even paid a private institution who then found the problem I had at the time.
Most people donāt have the time or money to keep visiting doctors to find one that takes them seriously. If doctors canāt take their patients problems seriously, they shouldnāt be doctors.
Exactly! My mom once complained to me that her Vietnamese doctor does not take her seriously. I have to explain to her that the doctor works FOR. YOU. Not the other way around, file a complaint and ask them to find a new PCP. At the end of the day, itās YOUR health, take the initiative.
Yeah man itās really sad. Shit costs money plus most of the time you arenāt even getting checked up by a ādoctorā itās NP or PA and this shit only happens in America and nowhere else.
Doctors donāt work for patients. They work with patients to try to find out whatās going on and determine a treatment plan that works for you. Theyāre not your test ordering monkey. Donāt like your doc? Then yes by all means find a new one bc theyāre human too and make mistakes
Doctors don't work for you, they work for the hospital or their private practice and work with you in regards to your treatment. It's why you're not billed by the hour for their time alone like you would with a lawyer
When you call a plumber to fix something in your house, and you don't know the first thing about plumbing, I would advise you to just let him do his thing.
Chest pain is actually a great example. For quite a lot of people, chest pain stems from GERD or something like excessive caffeine. Not everyone who reports chest pain needs a full fleet of EKG, stress, echo, holter, etc. There should be surrounding questions - what are you eating, are you under much stress, etc.
If theyāre āgoodā doctors, they will be able to explain the differential diagnoses and explain why thatās not their primary diagnosis. If theyāre good doctors - they wonāt be annoyed with questions.
M4 over here sounding like Web MD - most attending physicians who are specialists in their field know pathology by gestalt and experience: āWhatās my chest pain?ā, well first Iām not going to list the entire differential for chest pain including myocardial infarction and PE unless I think it could be reasonably likely, it scares the patient and paints me into a corner of ordering dozens of expensive tests because I said āyou technically could be having a heart attackā. Do I think you are? No way, how do I know? My 12+ years of training to become a specialist which is hard to break down to you in a single sentence at a clinic where you are ātrying to catch me off guardā. Sure advocate for yourself, but donāt assume your doctor is just trying to rush you from the appointment, and try to trick them into broadening their differential when it doesnāt need to be. Thatās a recipe for a huge medical bill with nothing to show for it.
I don't think this video is suggesting that one should ask for and receive a full differential. Most people don't even understand what that is. This video is for the average person who's doctor isn't taking them seriously, isn't giving them answers and/or is in over their head and isn't humble enough to say, I don't know what this is, lets get another opinion or refer you to a specialist.
This medical student is shooting herself in the leg with this line. You cant just rule out all causes of chest pain on a visit. That would require enormous amounts of testing for every single patient. This is not neccesary unless there are symptoms or patient charasteristics that warrant further testing. This could be why doctors "blow off" patients concerns. Also they dont have time to explain every possible and unlikely cause of your symptoms when you wont accept the most likely one. Its extremely unlikely for a 25 year old to have an heart attack or aortic dissection as a reason for their chest pain. 65 year old smoker on the other hand is a different case. Medicine is not an exact science and doctors are not even supposed to catch all the diseases. They are supposed to live with an amount of uncertainty which makes the profession mentally demanding.
shes really not ā it (seems) more targeted towards people that have chronic issues and trouble with doctors. I have nerve damage down my spin and a lot of drs dont take you seriously when you have chronic pain/are young/are a woman. what worked for me was taking a book and writing everything down, and saying āwhat CAN we rule out?ā everytime i was brushed off ā brain injury? sure i dont have any other symptoms and i havent had any head trauma, etc etc etc. neurological pain? cant rule that out unless we find another reason, and its basically a symptom not a diagnosis. spinal nerve damage? bingo, now we can rule out neurological pain and do something. then it was a matter of āwhat treatments can we rule out?ā THATS how i got a diagnosis. the trick is to advocate for yourself when they dont know whats happening AND when theyre throwing everything at you to tire you out or see what sticks. drs dont listen unless you make them or you find a good one. you need to know how to advocate for yourself
Yes, this is horrible advice. You do not want an MRI every time you have a complaint to rule out every possibility. Not to mention, good God this is a good way to have a very bad relationship with your doctor. Find someone you trust. Then trust them. By all means, do research, get second opinionsā¦ but this just seems like more degradation in trust for expertise. Googling something will not replace your healthcare workers education and experience.
I think a lot of people have an unrealistic ideal of what doctors can actually do in a single visit. Like if you show up one time to the doctor saying "I have some chest pain" but don't have any symptoms of coronary disease or a larger problem, it's completely reasonable for the doctor to say "this is probably nothing too serious, so let's keep an eye on it" because 99% of patients will never come back with more chest pain. Then the few people who do come back get upset when they have to go back again for the second time with a continuation of the problem cus they think "They should have caught this last time!" but just the fact that you are back again is an important data point in building up the differential and this visit will go differently as a result.
My last doctor fired me as a patient and put it in writing (falsely) that I had broken federal law to try an get her to give me a controlled substance, all because I told her I objected to her tone once. Iām scared to do what the woman in the Tik Tok suggests; I canāt risk getting fired my other doctor, as my insurance network is limited, and Iām on the second of the two big hospitals that own everything here. If I get booted for talking back again, Iām kinda fucked.
If you live in a two party consent state you can record your visits. I worked with a physician who would forget things and one of our patients used to play him back his own words when he denied telling the patient certain things. Edit: Oops looks like you don't live in one.
You can try to keep your phone on audio recording as proof if something goes wrong? That way you'll be able to fight back if they lie. Can't believe something like that happened to you though.
Ha! Good luck having that conversation; especially in the 15 minutes you get with them!!! I don't know a single health care provider (MD, RN, PA or NP) that would engage at that level with a non professional.
Physicians and other providers spend their entire career advising and educating their patients and they absolutely do engage with their patients in this way. What youāre saying is objectively incorrect
It took me 5 years and multiple ER visits and plenty of doctors giving me referrals to psychologists because they thought it was in my head for a stage 4 endometriosis diagnoses. Once a surgeon finally had the idea to open me up and look inside they told me it was "one of the worst cases I've ever seen". Advocate for yourself. You don't have to be rude or a Karen, but firmly insist on your symptoms and what you know to be true. Especially as a woman with a male doctor, even though female doctors blew me off as well. Five years. Five years of being told nothing was wrong, it was in my head, etc. Some women go decades not being diagnosed. Your symptoms and feelings MATTER. Be your best advocate!!
sorry you experienced this. That said, endometriosis is one of the harder differentials it appears. Symptom clusters aren't always consistent. I don't know why having a male or female doctor should degrade the quality of healthcare especially with younger doctors who spend time for each patient at the risk of running behind for procedures/paperwork. Regardless, happy to hear the diagnosis was found
I think people would feel less dismissed if they had regular primary care checkups. But like mechanics, when things go wrong, people end up paranoid/distrustful.
But as a patient: when I come to you and you tell me it's nothing, I have to come back when it doesn't go away. It costs several hundred dollars for you to tell me it's nothing, just to have me come back and ask a second/third time before you take me seriously.
I understand your point completely but I think the pandemic has accelerated a lot of issues within healthcare systems and therefore I think there is a āhappyā (for lack of a better term) medium in regard to this.
It costs a lot of money and time to see a doctor. I should have the right to forsake manners for my visit and have my physician thoroughly tell me why they do not believe itās xyz and have a complete conversation with me.
Coming from a family of mechanics, that's actually exactly what they do if they cannot figure out what is wrong with a machine. They take it all apart, systematically piece by piece to rule things out.
Internal med PA. You are absolutely right. These people that are Iāll ask this question are the same ones that will bitch to high heavens when their bill comes back Bc everything is negative. Thereās a thing called a physical exam that people and apparently this Med student has forgettenā¦we adjust differentials based on this. A normal physical exam is usually a good sign that many of the bad scaries are not what the problem is.
I sat through my last appointment dissociating due to past medical trauma, as my doctor condescendingly told me- for probably the fifth time in the last YEAR, allll the reasons a multitude of treatment options had too many possible complications while offering no solutions. I sat there in tears as she minimized my pain, my essential tremor, and had the nerve to say I seemed ādistressedā before asking me āso what can I help you with this appointment?ā
As a person with chronic illness, all I can say is, please go fuck yourself. I was a dead ringer for hEDS and it took three doctors and a referral to get my diagnosis. I had to fire the first doctor because she insisted I had a genetic problem with autoimmunity, even though none of the testing or symptoms pointed to it. I literally work as a medical laboratory scientist and she dismissed my protestation that she was misinterpreting the test results.
Yeah I cried at my last doctor appointment because he offered me ZERO treatment. Iām likeā¦ Iām in painā¦ please helpā¦ he referred me to a neurologist but itās a 5 month waitā¦ so Iāll just be in pain for 5 months?!? And now with COVID cases going up and elective appointments getting cancelled, it could be longerā¦ :///
I once went to a doctor complaining about my shoulder dislocating like 5x in one week, they told me that it was just anxiety and I later read in my records that I "exaggerated symptoms" and was diagnosed with an "undetermined" personality disorder.
This just seems annoying lol I can't imagine the med student knows more than the practicing doctor, qnd I definitely imagine doing this will just annoy doctors.
Itās not a bad idea. I (med student) had a patient ask if his chest pain could be something serious. I said a list of differentials and he looked like he was gonna shit himself lol I told him why it probably wasnāt those things and that weāll get the right tests to make sure. That calmed him down. Moral of the story, if you ask your doctor for a differential, expect a scare (then hopefully some relief)
Can relate. I went to 4 different pulmonologists because I had "allergic" asthma that wasn't going away at all even with meds, and the tests clearly showed it. Just by logically analyzing the available data on my condition I basically pushed them to prescribe me other tests. Guess what? It was lung cancer š
Cancer can be incredibly difficult to spot and it usually requires few other diagnoses to be made and then ruled out. Iām sorry that this happened to you and I wished your cancer was caught sooner, but this is what modern medicine is. Hopefully in the future itās better, but you canāt ask every patient who has severe allergies to undergo rigorous and expensive cancer testing as well, especially when cancer can be relatively rare. Hopefully people realize itās far more nuanced than what this girl is making it out to be
the cases you are talking about are like 0.1% at most and its mostly nothing. So, the doctor doesnt order too many tests coz then you will claim that they are scamming you and blah blah blah coz the medical bills then become crazy.
Then this video doesnāt apply to you. Itās for people who have been dismissed by doctors and canāt get help for the issues that are causing them pain and impacting their lives. If you donāt need to ask these questions, then donāt.
I called my dr because one time after sex, one of my labia swelled up. They said oh its just irritated. Ok, but I was 40 years old and had been having sex for more than half my life at that point and that had never happened before. They said come in if it happens again, but one time isn't anything to worry about. A couple weeks later I had an MRI because I had a prior back surgery and they wanted to see how the hardware was looking, and discovered I had ovarian cancer.
Swollen labia by itself is not a sign of ovarian cancer, especially not a one time occurrence. There are 999 women with a story like yours who called their doctor, except it actually was irritation and went away, so you don't see them posting on Reddit.
Yeah but if you give MRIs to everyone you bankrupt the health system and make things worse for everyone else. So they made the right decision with all the information they had.
This is what happened to my ex. She went to the doctor for her heart and they told her that they would put a pacemaker in in a week. So I told her that she needs a 2nd opinion cause it's her heart. She kept telling me that if it was serious the doctor would have told her. My logic was if it's your heart and u need a pacemaker then it's worse to wait a week. But she didn't want to listen to me. The week that she was supposed to get the pacemaker she died. Smh. It bothered me for a while.
I agree with asking questions and keeping yourself informed. But just remember that it costs money to get answers from doctors, so just be really sure that you want absolutely everything ruled out.
I know this is counter to the tone of the thread, but while doctors are just people and do make mistakes, they are also people with extreme amounts of experience and training to recognize when something is an issue and when it isn't.
Had something like this happen with my ex gf. We were seeing this doctor for her abdominal pain and bleeding. He kept saying it was ibs, gave her some meds and thatās it. After 3 visits with him claiming to be ibs and not taking my gf seriously, i convinced her to go see another doctor. This one took us more seriously, prescribed a colonoscopy. They found sheās been suffering from ulcerative colitis, and it had spread alot because it was never taken seriously. I had to give her injections at home for a while to help her out.
This is very dumb advice. On my cardiology rotation, another student and I had to list every cause of chest pain we could think of back and forth until one of us couldnāt think of something new fast enough. We got to over 43 before I won. If you actually test for every possible cause, it would include at least, but not limited to, a cxr, CT angio, EKG, echo, transesophageal echo, bronchoscope, EGD, ERCP, 30 event monitor or implantable loop recorder, stress test, coronary cath, and trails of several medications if everything is negative. Sometimes chest pain is just heart burn or musculoskeletal pain, and doesnāt warrant a million dollar workup. And thereās no way in hell insurance will pay for that for every complaint. If you donāt trust your doctor, find someone else. Itās ok to ask questions, but if youāre going to just challenge them because you donāt trust them, then you just have the wrong doctor.
The advice is fine in the right context imo. Especially since women can exhibit vague or nonspecific symptoms of MI. The point is not to ask the doctor to test you for all the possible causes, not even to ask the doctor to do an EKG. Itās more of, if pt walks in and has chest pain, Dr says āitās just anxiety,ā then pt can ask āwhat if itās a heart attack? Do I need an EKG?ā
ADHD is a highly debated topic in the medical community, general public even. There are many people, doctors included, who believe it is over-diagnosed and overmedicated for. This does not mean they are wrong but rather that they believe differently than other doctors who are quick to prescribe. There is evidence on both sides of this debate and each individual doctor criticises and accepts this evidence differently. Medicine is never so simple unfortunately.
Why are doctors like this tho? Living for four years with chronic back pain and itās so frustrating. Nobody believes me. If I ask for solutions I get nowhere, if I ask for pain medication so I am not crying everyday in pain I am seeing as a junkie. Itās so sad and I donāt get it. Arenāt doctors supposed to care for you? To listen? Why do they think they know best than you who is living with the condition? Itās really horrible and finding a doctor who actually listens is just so rare.
I appreciate her empathy but sheās a 4th year medical student (not even a resident) so sheās not affected with the reality of the healthcare system yetā¦ Iāll be impressed if she still preaches this after practicing for a while, and if the boards havenāt come down on her for running excessive tests her patientsā¦
If you as a doctor decide a patient needs a certain test just because a patient suggested it, then you are the problem. If you really donāt think the patient needs the test, you should be able to explain to them why they donāt. If you do think they need the test but forgot, then good on them for reminding you to get the test. If the patient made you change your mind about the test, obviously your understanding of the case was not up to par, or they brought additional information to light, etc.
Problem is if doctors thoroughly investigate every single persons pain, it will mean that a whole heap of time and resource will be wasted. Because they know in the majority of cases peopleās symptoms will resolve after a short period of time.
This video is not aimed at everyone. It is aimed at people who are in pain, discomfort, or whose life is limited by their health, who have sought answers and treatment from doctors and not gotten any. Itās for pushing doctors harder. Itās not intended as a first step.
The point of the video was more towards if you as a patient are feeling as if the doctor is blowing you off or not taking you seriously, not that you necessarily think theyāre wrong.
I had requested an appointment for headache and migraine management and called to set up an appointment. They wanted me in within a week because, well, brain stuff. My normal office didn't have an opening that soon, so I had to go to the one in the next town over, with a follow up a couple weeks after at my regular doctor (later this month)
As someone who has had headaches my entire life, what a weird fucking diagnosis. Like, if I have a sinus infection, my headache would be in my face from the sinus pressure??? Not the back of my head? Idk, I'm not a doctor, but seems awfully like a "here take this and go" kind of answer.
Okay but keep in mind that doctor's offices are private businesses. I have been dropped from a doctor and banned from being seen by them again because I asked too many questions and would not accept the answers they were giving me because they didn't feel right. They don't work for you, they make money off you.
Because conditions like myocarditis are still relatively common in teenagers. From my experience most patients who come into ED with chest pain get an EKG regardless of age because it's a quick non-invasive test.
This is great advice, things I wish I knew sooner. Iāve had plenty of doctors walk all over me because I had no idea how to stand up for myself and say Iād like more done for a definite answer.
Be aggressive! If you worry that you're being too aggressive, you're not. Patients who are concerned about being too aggressive are rarely being aggressive enough.
Iām gonna write down those questions word for word!!! Thank you, young lady! Iām going to tell this to my kids as well. When they get too old for mom to come in the room with them, this is great for them to know!!
You can still go into the room with them when theyāre older if theyāre okay with that! Or they can bring a friend, significant other, or other family member! Having another person in the room helps a lot
Reddit what is your differential diagnosis about my condition. Iām opening a thread for jokesters to please point and laugh at me and each other for smiles only.
is it some american? thing?? most of my experience about doctors, they just usually give a brief list of possible illness and let me choose to what to do, like if you're really worried let's take some test.. or like even in worst case it won't be lethal so you can just wait and hope it go away but i can give you some meds... something something
Proper patient management should include a (not necessarily) disclosed DD and a monitoring period (depending on condition). Some clinicians do not disclose of the whole picture intentionally in fear of making the patient unnecessarily anxious. If you are not satisfied with a providerās reaction/service/treatment plan, then you should 100% get a second and third opinion if necessary. It is your right. A good provider should educate their patients so that they both know what to monitor for and how to move forward with treatment, no surprises, no BS.
How is this cringe? People need to take an actual interest in their health. If the Dr. isnāt giving you the info you need, ask them for it or go to a different Dr.
I had the dr leave the room huffing and puffing and have a woman from the office come in to escort me out. He was going to call security if I didnāt leave. All for asking questions.
My mom got a form of meningitis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). For a few weeks she suddenly wasn't herself but twice she went the ER and they literally said she's a drug addict or on drugs with out even testing if she was on drugs like with a blood or urine sample, just that she was so out of it and clearly something wasn't right. Wasn't until she was brought back to the ER in an ambulance that the same doctor had to take her seriously. I really wish my parents like even reported that doctor cause you can't accuse someone of being on drugs or an addict like that. Sure he could dismiss other people by saying that but maybe they're just having silent seizure or having a major panic attack.
ive been to the doctor ~ 8 times in the past 4 yesrs for my chronic ear infection, still dont know ehy i hsve it and still dont know how too fix it. This is over several doctors and even 2 specialists. Why does it seem like theyre trying to speed through the process and literally just take my money
Of course I believe that patients should advocate for themselves, but she seems to assume that doctors are a lot more stupid and less arrogant than they are.
She is so right. Also as your parents age, they need someone else to advocate for them especially if theyāve been with the same doctor and ātrust and have a relationshipā with them. If they arenāt getting better and donāt have a diagnosis to explain it, something is wrong! Older people are afraid to rock the boat with their doctors because āthey know betterā.
From a doctor perspective. Yes, feel free to do this and advocate for yourself in many ways if you feel you are not being taken seriously. But also I fear that if every patient asked me this at each appointment I might never see my family again.
I went to the ER 4 times over the course of a month, each time they sent me home with tylenol. Finally found out it was a horrible infection in my bowel that had started to perforate. I was maybe hours out from needing surgery.
I had to go to two separate doctors to find out why I had abdominal pain and was peeing blood. They claimed that I was just too dehydrated when in reality it was a kidney stone
As a medical student, and hopefully a future doctor, I f**king hate this girl. Man my life is gonna be full of people who are gonna make my work (and therefore my mental health) hard, I don't need you to teach people how to make it harder. Of course I'm not saying that a doctor should be careless for his patients, but people need to realise that if a doctor had to tell every desease/syndrome/disorder related to a common symptom, the patient would probably panic for nothing, or for the US, would spend a shitton of money on unnecessary medical exams. If you're coming to me with a simple headache that you had for 2 days, of course I'm not going to tell you that you might have a brain tumor ffs
This is how to be a Karen to your doctor...also, most of the people who take this woman seriously is going to somehow try to get opioids prescribed to them. Thanks random not a doctor yet chick from tiktok!
This is 100% the best way to make things as petty as possible. How about you just talk it out like a normal person instead of escalating and antagonizing someone who - at worst - is just being lazy.
I had several terrible experiences around the birth of my child. I was accused of being anxious and crazy and faking. I thought maybe it is all in my head. Nah my man, I was going into shock due to heart failure (EF 10%} caused by pregnancy and then had a few strokes. Altogether spent around 6 weeks in the hospital, was discharged with a life vest and a āyou might need a heart transplant! Have fun with the baby!ā
I would feel better about doing this if I wasnāt American, knowing if they start running all sorts of (possibly unnecessary) diagnostics, my bill will not so slowly skyrocket.
My dad went to the doctor after experiencing chest pain and a pain in his arm. The doctor told him it was the wrong arm for a heart attack and he had nothing to worry about. He died of a heart attack the next day. Advocate for yourself as much as you can. If you canāt, bring someone who can.
Tests arenāt magical tools and theyāre not benign. This probably comes from a lack of statistics experience, but if you are in a population that has a low risk of a disease, depending on the tests sensitivity you can have magnitudes more false positives than you get true positives. Now this false positive has to be worked up, and that comes with the price of radiation, money, etc. If we tested everyone for everything, huge swaths of people would needlessly suffer.
I appreciate this and think this is amazing. Butā¦. You shouldnāt have to ask those questions just because of the color of your skin and someone doesnāt take your pin seriously.
My dad was losing weight from the start of the year after starting a medication meant to help him lose weight and manage his long-time diabetes. Considering the medication was meant for weight loss it was assumed all year that it was working. After his third quarterly visit after telling the doc that heās been losing a lot of weight, now 2+ pounds a week since September, they finally decided to do a CT scan and see if something is wrong. We found out he had pancreatic cancer.
For the outliers this is great advice. Patient education is great advice, however sometimes it really is nothing and you just end up with a large bill for all the unnecessary test.
YOU HAVE TO BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE WHEN IT COMES TO YOU HEALTH. Have I said it loud enough for those in the back? You have to insist on being taken care of. If you know something isn't right and your doctor is blowing you off. FIND A NEW DOCTOR, people don't know that YOU CAN FIRE A DOCTOR, NURSE OR OTHER HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL who is helping you with your care. FIND PROFESSIONALS THAT WILL TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY and listen to your needs. You have to live in your body, they don't. Also, ask questions and insist on getting tests preformed, even if your doctor disagrees with you. Insist on getting tests preformed, regardless of how your doctor feels. It's better to have the test run and it be negative then not have a test run and it be positive. Feel free to ask your doctor questions about something, no matter how silly it sounds, a good doctor will address every concern you have. You have the right to proper treatment and the right to be treated with respect in regards to your own health. Just don't be a douche to the professionals trying to help you. Be firm and assertive if you need to but don't be an ahole. Also, to get respect you have to be respectful. You can get what you need without being a total jerk. Still be polite and kind and don't cuss them out.
Donāt take this advice. Oh my god. I donāt know how this person made it to M4š¤¦š¼āāļø. Look at the controversial comments, this is just not how things work. You ABSOLUTELY should ask questions. We are taught to operate by rule outs and differentials, but if you say āmy chest hurtsā and ask for a differential I literally cannot give you one. I will happily investigate it and answer concerns and walk you through potential tests, but I will not say āuhhh it could be MIā and neither will 90% of physicians.
Welcome to
My friend went to the doctors 4 times for chest pain before they discovered he had cancer.
My otherwise healthy-looking BIL went to the doctor because he was having regular chest pains and was told it was nothing to worry about. A few months later he died at age 27 from a heart attack.
Is he doing okay?
Same thing. Went to 4 different pulmonologists because I had "allergic" asthma that wasn't going away at all even with meds and the tests clearly showed it. Just by logically analyzing the available data on my condition I basically had to push them to prescribe me other tests. Guess what? It was lung cancer š
To be fair Cancer is one of the least likely diagnoses when you have chest pain.
I went to the ER 4 times over the course of 4 days with severe abdominal pains before they realized I had pancreatitis. Then 2 years later, I got pancreatitis again, but it still took 4 hospital visits before they realized I did in fact, have pancreatitis again. And those 4 last times I was telling them it was pancreatitis but they didn't believe me. Every time they sent me home, they gave me gaviscon because they thought my IMMENSE AND UNBEARABLE PAIN came from heartburn, and never once considered I was literally dying...
I donāt understand at all why people post things like this. What is your point? Nobody ever said physicians were infallible or never made mistakes. Or that extremely rare shit happens sometimes and doesnāt present in the typical way.
Sucks for your friends but doctors arenāt god. We do the best we canā¦people go to doctor expect them to catch everything 100% of the time lolā¦our bodies are way too complex to do that
I tried repeatedly to advocate for myself and my baby last year when I was pregnant and felt like something was wrong. The babyās rate of growth was continually declining and they told me āI get that youāre an engineer but I suggest you just try to ignore the numbersā¦ā I would do my own research and ask questions. My questions were met with things like ātry to stay away from the internet.ā ā Itās probably normal.ā āJust wait and see.ā It just felt like they wanted to speed through the appointment. Meanwhile, my babyās measurements and heart rate were not tracking normally. I wound up with an emergency c-section, and later discovered the umbilical cord was not getting the nutrients to my baby properly, and the placenta was too small and was also tearing away from the uterine wall. So, as a patient who tried to ask a lot of questions and genuinely tried to advocate for myself and my baby, I can tell you it was incredibly challenging to be dismissed appointment after appointment. In the future, I will feel no shame in asking even more questions, and asking for a ādifferential diagnosis.ā
Iām sorry but your doctors were just exceptionally stupid. You can be the smartest person at one thing and an absolute dunce at putting it together. It happens.
My pregnancy opened my eyes to just how little doctors know about a womanās body and experiences. EVERY SYMPTOM I ever had while pregnant was blown off and explained away as āš¤·š»āāļø pregnancy ā. My own female OBGYN wasnāt much better. I really do like her and she saved my life during L&D, but its infuriating how easily your concerns and symptoms are just pushed off when youāre a woman, and so much so when youāre creating another human being.
I ended up massively preeclamptic to the point my blood pressure was so high they were using the blood pressure cuff designed for morbidly obese grown men (which didn't fit me properly, go figure) in order to get my readings low enough that they didn't have to call in a doctor to come check anything.
Oh my god, my cousin had that same thing with her baby and they took her seriously, had her in every week, and charted things so they could determine if itās safer for baby to be in or out. They did an induction and then a c section a little early because it was better at that point for baby to eat milk instead of relying on the placenta. Iām so mad this happened to you.
was the baby okay after all that?
Doctors are actually so stupid when it comes to edge cases.
The problem is that a lot of doctors are over worked and tired, and most of the time it is nothing.
Saw a psychiatrist for five years. Despite having records of behavioral problems as a child and past recommendations for testing, she refused to ever test for autism because she told me it was anxiety and girls rarely have it. She also put me on an antidepressant that worsened many symptoms directly related to my autism hoping to prove this.
Aww Iām sorry <3 glad you got your diagnosis. Have you found
I can kind of relate to this. I received so many complaints about talking on report cards in elementary through high school.
Iām seeking an autism diagnosis as a woman because my parents refused to have me tested when recommended as a kid. Iām so terrified of not being taken seriously. Iām at a point where I donāt have a single doubt in my mind about it. Other autistic people I know are 100% certain of it as well. Itās just a matter of going through the strenuous diagnostic process now, hoping that some person who barely knows me will actually trust my ability to understand my own mind rather than dismiss my entire life experience based on some bullshit reason like what your psychiatrist gave.
I'm a man, and i still had doctors straight up refuse my diagnose of Austism and ADHD.
Also good idea to remember that doctors work for you and if they get pissed at you, find someone new. You deserve someone who respects you and your time because if you're in the US, this shit costs money and nobody should belittled you when you just gave them a shitton of money.
Even in the EU this happens regularly. Skipping doctors is something Iāve done more than once! Or even just a second or even third opinion. Hell Iāve even paid a private institution who then found the problem I had at the time.
The problem is having the money to find someone new. In the US, going to the doctor even once is so damn expensive
Most people donāt have the time or money to keep visiting doctors to find one that takes them seriously. If doctors canāt take their patients problems seriously, they shouldnāt be doctors.
Exactly! My mom once complained to me that her Vietnamese doctor does not take her seriously. I have to explain to her that the doctor works FOR. YOU. Not the other way around, file a complaint and ask them to find a new PCP. At the end of the day, itās YOUR health, take the initiative.
Yeah man itās really sad. Shit costs money plus most of the time you arenāt even getting checked up by a ādoctorā itās NP or PA and this shit only happens in America and nowhere else.
Doctors donāt work for patients. They work with patients to try to find out whatās going on and determine a treatment plan that works for you. Theyāre not your test ordering monkey. Donāt like your doc? Then yes by all means find a new one bc theyāre human too and make mistakes
Doctors don't work for you, they work for the hospital or their private practice and work with you in regards to your treatment. It's why you're not billed by the hour for their time alone like you would with a lawyer
When you call a plumber to fix something in your house, and you don't know the first thing about plumbing, I would advise you to just let him do his thing.
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Chest pain is actually a great example. For quite a lot of people, chest pain stems from GERD or something like excessive caffeine. Not everyone who reports chest pain needs a full fleet of EKG, stress, echo, holter, etc. There should be surrounding questions - what are you eating, are you under much stress, etc.
If theyāre āgoodā doctors, they will be able to explain the differential diagnoses and explain why thatās not their primary diagnosis. If theyāre good doctors - they wonāt be annoyed with questions.
NO
Not as easy to do so.
Lmao I want the life you have if youāre this ignorant. Must be nice.
M4 over here sounding like Web MD - most attending physicians who are specialists in their field know pathology by gestalt and experience: āWhatās my chest pain?ā, well first Iām not going to list the entire differential for chest pain including myocardial infarction and PE unless I think it could be reasonably likely, it scares the patient and paints me into a corner of ordering dozens of expensive tests because I said āyou technically could be having a heart attackā. Do I think you are? No way, how do I know? My 12+ years of training to become a specialist which is hard to break down to you in a single sentence at a clinic where you are ātrying to catch me off guardā. Sure advocate for yourself, but donāt assume your doctor is just trying to rush you from the appointment, and try to trick them into broadening their differential when it doesnāt need to be. Thatās a recipe for a huge medical bill with nothing to show for it.
Thereās nothing more brutal than reading through comment sections of posts like this one as a medical student lol
This tiktok is a masters class in how to get lots of unnecessary, expensive medical tests and dismissed from practices.
I don't think this video is suggesting that one should ask for and receive a full differential. Most people don't even understand what that is. This video is for the average person who's doctor isn't taking them seriously, isn't giving them answers and/or is in over their head and isn't humble enough to say, I don't know what this is, lets get another opinion or refer you to a specialist.
This medical student is shooting herself in the leg with this line. You cant just rule out all causes of chest pain on a visit. That would require enormous amounts of testing for every single patient. This is not neccesary unless there are symptoms or patient charasteristics that warrant further testing. This could be why doctors "blow off" patients concerns. Also they dont have time to explain every possible and unlikely cause of your symptoms when you wont accept the most likely one. Its extremely unlikely for a 25 year old to have an heart attack or aortic dissection as a reason for their chest pain. 65 year old smoker on the other hand is a different case. Medicine is not an exact science and doctors are not even supposed to catch all the diseases. They are supposed to live with an amount of uncertainty which makes the profession mentally demanding.
shes really not ā it (seems) more targeted towards people that have chronic issues and trouble with doctors. I have nerve damage down my spin and a lot of drs dont take you seriously when you have chronic pain/are young/are a woman. what worked for me was taking a book and writing everything down, and saying āwhat CAN we rule out?ā everytime i was brushed off ā brain injury? sure i dont have any other symptoms and i havent had any head trauma, etc etc etc. neurological pain? cant rule that out unless we find another reason, and its basically a symptom not a diagnosis. spinal nerve damage? bingo, now we can rule out neurological pain and do something. then it was a matter of āwhat treatments can we rule out?ā THATS how i got a diagnosis. the trick is to advocate for yourself when they dont know whats happening AND when theyre throwing everything at you to tire you out or see what sticks. drs dont listen unless you make them or you find a good one. you need to know how to advocate for yourself
Yes, this is horrible advice. You do not want an MRI every time you have a complaint to rule out every possibility. Not to mention, good God this is a good way to have a very bad relationship with your doctor. Find someone you trust. Then trust them. By all means, do research, get second opinionsā¦ but this just seems like more degradation in trust for expertise. Googling something will not replace your healthcare workers education and experience.
I think a lot of people have an unrealistic ideal of what doctors can actually do in a single visit. Like if you show up one time to the doctor saying "I have some chest pain" but don't have any symptoms of coronary disease or a larger problem, it's completely reasonable for the doctor to say "this is probably nothing too serious, so let's keep an eye on it" because 99% of patients will never come back with more chest pain. Then the few people who do come back get upset when they have to go back again for the second time with a continuation of the problem cus they think "They should have caught this last time!" but just the fact that you are back again is an important data point in building up the differential and this visit will go differently as a result.
My last doctor fired me as a patient and put it in writing (falsely) that I had broken federal law to try an get her to give me a controlled substance, all because I told her I objected to her tone once. Iām scared to do what the woman in the Tik Tok suggests; I canāt risk getting fired my other doctor, as my insurance network is limited, and Iām on the second of the two big hospitals that own everything here. If I get booted for talking back again, Iām kinda fucked.
Bring someone with you to your appointments. They can back you up and have a record of what was said. Iām sorry youāre in that situation. :(
Jesus
If you live in a two party consent state you can record your visits. I worked with a physician who would forget things and one of our patients used to play him back his own words when he denied telling the patient certain things. Edit: Oops looks like you don't live in one.
You can try to keep your phone on audio recording as proof if something goes wrong? That way you'll be able to fight back if they lie. Can't believe something like that happened to you though.
That is scary. Iām sorry that happened to you
Than ask why your bill is through the roof because your insurance is denying all the extra testing.
Ha! Good luck having that conversation; especially in the 15 minutes you get with them!!! I don't know a single health care provider (MD, RN, PA or NP) that would engage at that level with a non professional.
Physicians and other providers spend their entire career advising and educating their patients and they absolutely do engage with their patients in this way. What youāre saying is objectively incorrect
It took me 5 years and multiple ER visits and plenty of doctors giving me referrals to psychologists because they thought it was in my head for a stage 4 endometriosis diagnoses. Once a surgeon finally had the idea to open me up and look inside they told me it was "one of the worst cases I've ever seen". Advocate for yourself. You don't have to be rude or a Karen, but firmly insist on your symptoms and what you know to be true. Especially as a woman with a male doctor, even though female doctors blew me off as well. Five years. Five years of being told nothing was wrong, it was in my head, etc. Some women go decades not being diagnosed. Your symptoms and feelings MATTER. Be your best advocate!!
sorry you experienced this. That said, endometriosis is one of the harder differentials it appears. Symptom clusters aren't always consistent. I don't know why having a male or female doctor should degrade the quality of healthcare especially with younger doctors who spend time for each patient at the risk of running behind for procedures/paperwork. Regardless, happy to hear the diagnosis was found
As a physician this is honestly just bad advice. This person has not even practiced medicine yet.
I think people would feel less dismissed if they had regular primary care checkups. But like mechanics, when things go wrong, people end up paranoid/distrustful.
But as a patient: when I come to you and you tell me it's nothing, I have to come back when it doesn't go away. It costs several hundred dollars for you to tell me it's nothing, just to have me come back and ask a second/third time before you take me seriously.
I understand your point completely but I think the pandemic has accelerated a lot of issues within healthcare systems and therefore I think there is a āhappyā (for lack of a better term) medium in regard to this.
It costs a lot of money and time to see a doctor. I should have the right to forsake manners for my visit and have my physician thoroughly tell me why they do not believe itās xyz and have a complete conversation with me.
Coming from a family of mechanics, that's actually exactly what they do if they cannot figure out what is wrong with a machine. They take it all apart, systematically piece by piece to rule things out.
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Internal med PA. You are absolutely right. These people that are Iāll ask this question are the same ones that will bitch to high heavens when their bill comes back Bc everything is negative. Thereās a thing called a physical exam that people and apparently this Med student has forgettenā¦we adjust differentials based on this. A normal physical exam is usually a good sign that many of the bad scaries are not what the problem is.
Comparing a person concerned about their health to a car mechanic is pretty terrible.
I sat through my last appointment dissociating due to past medical trauma, as my doctor condescendingly told me- for probably the fifth time in the last YEAR, allll the reasons a multitude of treatment options had too many possible complications while offering no solutions. I sat there in tears as she minimized my pain, my essential tremor, and had the nerve to say I seemed ādistressedā before asking me āso what can I help you with this appointment?ā
This is probably an American problem where doctors have to think twice before using expensive testing equipment. Idk.
Thank you.
As a person with chronic illness, all I can say is, please go fuck yourself. I was a dead ringer for hEDS and it took three doctors and a referral to get my diagnosis. I had to fire the first doctor because she insisted I had a genetic problem with autoimmunity, even though none of the testing or symptoms pointed to it. I literally work as a medical laboratory scientist and she dismissed my protestation that she was misinterpreting the test results.
I REALLY needed this. Itās insane that doctors can dismiss patient concerns time and time again without any real explanation.
Do you have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome?
Yeah I cried at my last doctor appointment because he offered me ZERO treatment. Iām likeā¦ Iām in painā¦ please helpā¦ he referred me to a neurologist but itās a 5 month waitā¦ so Iāll just be in pain for 5 months?!? And now with COVID cases going up and elective appointments getting cancelled, it could be longerā¦ :///
I once went to a doctor complaining about my shoulder dislocating like 5x in one week, they told me that it was just anxiety and I later read in my records that I "exaggerated symptoms" and was diagnosed with an "undetermined" personality disorder.
Sometimes there is no easy solution. Healthcare is not a complete science. There are many issue for which solutions are inadequate or non-existent.
This just seems annoying lol I can't imagine the med student knows more than the practicing doctor, qnd I definitely imagine doing this will just annoy doctors.
Once she becomes a real doctor and starts seeing patients i think she will quickly realize that sometimes you just have to tell people "no".
Itās not a bad idea. I (med student) had a patient ask if his chest pain could be something serious. I said a list of differentials and he looked like he was gonna shit himself lol I told him why it probably wasnāt those things and that weāll get the right tests to make sure. That calmed him down. Moral of the story, if you ask your doctor for a differential, expect a scare (then hopefully some relief)
Can relate. I went to 4 different pulmonologists because I had "allergic" asthma that wasn't going away at all even with meds, and the tests clearly showed it. Just by logically analyzing the available data on my condition I basically pushed them to prescribe me other tests. Guess what? It was lung cancer š
Cancer can be incredibly difficult to spot and it usually requires few other diagnoses to be made and then ruled out. Iām sorry that this happened to you and I wished your cancer was caught sooner, but this is what modern medicine is. Hopefully in the future itās better, but you canāt ask every patient who has severe allergies to undergo rigorous and expensive cancer testing as well, especially when cancer can be relatively rare. Hopefully people realize itās far more nuanced than what this girl is making it out to be
Yāall really wasting your medical professionalās time with bs
the cases you are talking about are like 0.1% at most and its mostly nothing. So, the doctor doesnt order too many tests coz then you will claim that they are scamming you and blah blah blah coz the medical bills then become crazy.
Then this video doesnāt apply to you. Itās for people who have been dismissed by doctors and canāt get help for the issues that are causing them pain and impacting their lives. If you donāt need to ask these questions, then donāt.
I called my dr because one time after sex, one of my labia swelled up. They said oh its just irritated. Ok, but I was 40 years old and had been having sex for more than half my life at that point and that had never happened before. They said come in if it happens again, but one time isn't anything to worry about. A couple weeks later I had an MRI because I had a prior back surgery and they wanted to see how the hardware was looking, and discovered I had ovarian cancer.
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Swollen labia by itself is not a sign of ovarian cancer, especially not a one time occurrence. There are 999 women with a story like yours who called their doctor, except it actually was irritation and went away, so you don't see them posting on Reddit.
Yeah but if you give MRIs to everyone you bankrupt the health system and make things worse for everyone else. So they made the right decision with all the information they had.
Jesus. Are you okay now? :(
This is what happened to my ex. She went to the doctor for her heart and they told her that they would put a pacemaker in in a week. So I told her that she needs a 2nd opinion cause it's her heart. She kept telling me that if it was serious the doctor would have told her. My logic was if it's your heart and u need a pacemaker then it's worse to wait a week. But she didn't want to listen to me. The week that she was supposed to get the pacemaker she died. Smh. It bothered me for a while.
I agree with asking questions and keeping yourself informed. But just remember that it costs money to get answers from doctors, so just be really sure that you want absolutely everything ruled out.
Foreal though doctors are just people and make mistakes and get complacent. This might save a few lives. I think it's very useful information.
I know this is counter to the tone of the thread, but while doctors are just people and do make mistakes, they are also people with extreme amounts of experience and training to recognize when something is an issue and when it isn't.
"What is your differential diagnosis for this symptom?" will be as effective a thing to ask a doctor as asking a cop "Am I being detained?"
Commenting because I have an appointment soon and some real anxiety, gotta watch this video daily
Hugs <3 I suggest making a bulleted list of things you want to discuss, symptoms you have, and questions you have
Had something like this happen with my ex gf. We were seeing this doctor for her abdominal pain and bleeding. He kept saying it was ibs, gave her some meds and thatās it. After 3 visits with him claiming to be ibs and not taking my gf seriously, i convinced her to go see another doctor. This one took us more seriously, prescribed a colonoscopy. They found sheās been suffering from ulcerative colitis, and it had spread alot because it was never taken seriously. I had to give her injections at home for a while to help her out.
I love this.
Yeah, America is a joke
This is the most money fucking advice Iāve heard in a line time. Thank you for sharing this.
This is very dumb advice. On my cardiology rotation, another student and I had to list every cause of chest pain we could think of back and forth until one of us couldnāt think of something new fast enough. We got to over 43 before I won. If you actually test for every possible cause, it would include at least, but not limited to, a cxr, CT angio, EKG, echo, transesophageal echo, bronchoscope, EGD, ERCP, 30 event monitor or implantable loop recorder, stress test, coronary cath, and trails of several medications if everything is negative. Sometimes chest pain is just heart burn or musculoskeletal pain, and doesnāt warrant a million dollar workup. And thereās no way in hell insurance will pay for that for every complaint. If you donāt trust your doctor, find someone else. Itās ok to ask questions, but if youāre going to just challenge them because you donāt trust them, then you just have the wrong doctor.
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The advice is fine in the right context imo. Especially since women can exhibit vague or nonspecific symptoms of MI. The point is not to ask the doctor to test you for all the possible causes, not even to ask the doctor to do an EKG. Itās more of, if pt walks in and has chest pain, Dr says āitās just anxiety,ā then pt can ask āwhat if itās a heart attack? Do I need an EKG?ā
I spend time in
ADHD is a highly debated topic in the medical community, general public even. There are many people, doctors included, who believe it is over-diagnosed and overmedicated for. This does not mean they are wrong but rather that they believe differently than other doctors who are quick to prescribe. There is evidence on both sides of this debate and each individual doctor criticises and accepts this evidence differently. Medicine is never so simple unfortunately.
Why are doctors like this tho? Living for four years with chronic back pain and itās so frustrating. Nobody believes me. If I ask for solutions I get nowhere, if I ask for pain medication so I am not crying everyday in pain I am seeing as a junkie. Itās so sad and I donāt get it. Arenāt doctors supposed to care for you? To listen? Why do they think they know best than you who is living with the condition? Itās really horrible and finding a doctor who actually listens is just so rare.
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This is good and bad. Some pts should not be spending all their time trying to convince their drs theyāre wrong/not trusting their drs.
People with 0 knowledge in medecine telling a physician how to do his job. Lmao.
I appreciate her empathy but sheās a 4th year medical student (not even a resident) so sheās not affected with the reality of the healthcare system yetā¦ Iāll be impressed if she still preaches this after practicing for a while, and if the boards havenāt come down on her for running excessive tests her patientsā¦
If you as a doctor decide a patient needs a certain test just because a patient suggested it, then you are the problem. If you really donāt think the patient needs the test, you should be able to explain to them why they donāt. If you do think they need the test but forgot, then good on them for reminding you to get the test. If the patient made you change your mind about the test, obviously your understanding of the case was not up to par, or they brought additional information to light, etc.
Problem is if doctors thoroughly investigate every single persons pain, it will mean that a whole heap of time and resource will be wasted. Because they know in the majority of cases peopleās symptoms will resolve after a short period of time.
This video is not aimed at everyone. It is aimed at people who are in pain, discomfort, or whose life is limited by their health, who have sought answers and treatment from doctors and not gotten any. Itās for pushing doctors harder. Itās not intended as a first step.
Ah yes! The good olā I donāt trust the person who went to school to study this for 8 years.
Whatās wrong with asking questions
The point of the video was more towards if you as a patient are feeling as if the doctor is blowing you off or not taking you seriously, not that you necessarily think theyāre wrong.
This is great advice. To bad I canāt afford health insuranceā¦
NEVER CHANGE LADY
I had requested an appointment for headache and migraine management and called to set up an appointment. They wanted me in within a week because, well, brain stuff. My normal office didn't have an opening that soon, so I had to go to the one in the next town over, with a follow up a couple weeks after at my regular doctor (later this month)
As someone who has had headaches my entire life, what a weird fucking diagnosis. Like, if I have a sinus infection, my headache would be in my face from the sinus pressure??? Not the back of my head? Idk, I'm not a doctor, but seems awfully like a "here take this and go" kind of answer.
Itās totally fine and normal to message or call the office explaining the cost and ask for an alternative.
Karen tactics. Get what you want
If the doctor isn't taking their job seriously, they shouldn't be a doctor. It's a job, not just a title.
Okay but keep in mind that doctor's offices are private businesses. I have been dropped from a doctor and banned from being seen by them again because I asked too many questions and would not accept the answers they were giving me because they didn't feel right. They don't work for you, they make money off you.
Meanwhile, I as a white male teenager said my chest hurt (anxiety) and they kicked me to the front of the line and got me an EKG within 10 minutes.
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Because conditions like myocarditis are still relatively common in teenagers. From my experience most patients who come into ED with chest pain get an EKG regardless of age because it's a quick non-invasive test.
Thanks Iāll make sure to ruin your day when youāre a doctor, Iāll quiz you on my haemorrhoids
Doctors request test for every minute complaint: -->REEEEE BILL TOO EXPENSIVE REEEEEE
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Tests get you out of their office quicker than questions do, I guess. But youād think questions would be less costā¦. (And better for the patient)
Awesome impressions of an arrogant too- busy- to-care male doctor.
I canāt wait to finally have insurance and see literally any doctor so I can do this
Why do you want to even see doctors if you just want to be an annoying Karen?
<3
This is great advice, things I wish I knew sooner. Iāve had plenty of doctors walk all over me because I had no idea how to stand up for myself and say Iād like more done for a definite answer.
Be aggressive! If you worry that you're being too aggressive, you're not. Patients who are concerned about being too aggressive are rarely being aggressive enough.
Plz be my doctor Ms smart doctor lady!!!
I like her ālazy doctorā face š
Can I have her as my doctor?
Doctors hate this one simple trick.. -patient nervously rubs rabbits foot
Iām gonna write down those questions word for word!!! Thank you, young lady! Iām going to tell this to my kids as well. When they get too old for mom to come in the room with them, this is great for them to know!!
You can still go into the room with them when theyāre older if theyāre okay with that! Or they can bring a friend, significant other, or other family member! Having another person in the room helps a lot
Reddit what is your differential diagnosis about my condition. Iām opening a thread for jokesters to please point and laugh at me and each other for smiles only.
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is it some american? thing?? most of my experience about doctors, they just usually give a brief list of possible illness and let me choose to what to do, like if you're really worried let's take some test.. or like even in worst case it won't be lethal so you can just wait and hope it go away but i can give you some meds... something something
A doctor went through this process with me and he was the best doctor I've ever had.
āThis is your lifeā fantasticā¦ is not only ok but necessary to be curious about healthā¦.
Proper patient management should include a (not necessarily) disclosed DD and a monitoring period (depending on condition). Some clinicians do not disclose of the whole picture intentionally in fear of making the patient unnecessarily anxious. If you are not satisfied with a providerās reaction/service/treatment plan, then you should 100% get a second and third opinion if necessary. It is your right. A good provider should educate their patients so that they both know what to monitor for and how to move forward with treatment, no surprises, no BS.
How is this cringe? People need to take an actual interest in their health. If the Dr. isnāt giving you the info you need, ask them for it or go to a different Dr.
I had the dr leave the room huffing and puffing and have a woman from the office come in to escort me out. He was going to call security if I didnāt leave. All for asking questions.
Most patients will not understand the thorough explanations the doctors give thoughā¦
My mom got a form of meningitis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). For a few weeks she suddenly wasn't herself but twice she went the ER and they literally said she's a drug addict or on drugs with out even testing if she was on drugs like with a blood or urine sample, just that she was so out of it and clearly something wasn't right. Wasn't until she was brought back to the ER in an ambulance that the same doctor had to take her seriously. I really wish my parents like even reported that doctor cause you can't accuse someone of being on drugs or an addict like that. Sure he could dismiss other people by saying that but maybe they're just having silent seizure or having a major panic attack.
ive been to the doctor ~ 8 times in the past 4 yesrs for my chronic ear infection, still dont know ehy i hsve it and still dont know how too fix it. This is over several doctors and even 2 specialists. Why does it seem like theyre trying to speed through the process and literally just take my money
Of course I believe that patients should advocate for themselves, but she seems to assume that doctors are a lot more stupid and less arrogant than they are.
She is so right. Also as your parents age, they need someone else to advocate for them especially if theyāve been with the same doctor and ātrust and have a relationshipā with them. If they arenāt getting better and donāt have a diagnosis to explain it, something is wrong! Older people are afraid to rock the boat with their doctors because āthey know betterā.
From a doctor perspective. Yes, feel free to do this and advocate for yourself in many ways if you feel you are not being taken seriously. But also I fear that if every patient asked me this at each appointment I might never see my family again.
Unless you're asking questions about the vaccine... then you're an antivax
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I went to the ER 4 times over the course of a month, each time they sent me home with tylenol. Finally found out it was a horrible infection in my bowel that had started to perforate. I was maybe hours out from needing surgery.
I had to go to two separate doctors to find out why I had abdominal pain and was peeing blood. They claimed that I was just too dehydrated when in reality it was a kidney stone
As a medical student, and hopefully a future doctor, I f**king hate this girl. Man my life is gonna be full of people who are gonna make my work (and therefore my mental health) hard, I don't need you to teach people how to make it harder. Of course I'm not saying that a doctor should be careless for his patients, but people need to realise that if a doctor had to tell every desease/syndrome/disorder related to a common symptom, the patient would probably panic for nothing, or for the US, would spend a shitton of money on unnecessary medical exams. If you're coming to me with a simple headache that you had for 2 days, of course I'm not going to tell you that you might have a brain tumor ffs
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Bravo!!! Something on Reddit I can use!
Wow... This is amazing advice. Thank you
This is how to be a Karen to your doctor...also, most of the people who take this woman seriously is going to somehow try to get opioids prescribed to them. Thanks random not a doctor yet chick from tiktok!
This is 100% the best way to make things as petty as possible. How about you just talk it out like a normal person instead of escalating and antagonizing someone who - at worst - is just being lazy.
How many CT scanners are there? How many radiology techs, nurses, and radiologists are there?
I had several terrible experiences around the birth of my child. I was accused of being anxious and crazy and faking. I thought maybe it is all in my head. Nah my man, I was going into shock due to heart failure (EF 10%} caused by pregnancy and then had a few strokes. Altogether spent around 6 weeks in the hospital, was discharged with a life vest and a āyou might need a heart transplant! Have fun with the baby!ā
Hereās how you can come home with a very big medical bill every time you have a headache.
This ISNāT Cringe. This is Helpful!
I would feel better about doing this if I wasnāt American, knowing if they start running all sorts of (possibly unnecessary) diagnostics, my bill will not so slowly skyrocket.
Truth.
This is the most student shit I've ever heard.
My dad went to the doctor after experiencing chest pain and a pain in his arm. The doctor told him it was the wrong arm for a heart attack and he had nothing to worry about. He died of a heart attack the next day. Advocate for yourself as much as you can. If you canāt, bring someone who can.
Tests arenāt magical tools and theyāre not benign. This probably comes from a lack of statistics experience, but if you are in a population that has a low risk of a disease, depending on the tests sensitivity you can have magnitudes more false positives than you get true positives. Now this false positive has to be worked up, and that comes with the price of radiation, money, etc. If we tested everyone for everything, huge swaths of people would needlessly suffer.
I appreciate this and think this is amazing. Butā¦. You shouldnāt have to ask those questions just because of the color of your skin and someone doesnāt take your pin seriously.
My dad was losing weight from the start of the year after starting a medication meant to help him lose weight and manage his long-time diabetes. Considering the medication was meant for weight loss it was assumed all year that it was working. After his third quarterly visit after telling the doc that heās been losing a lot of weight, now 2+ pounds a week since September, they finally decided to do a CT scan and see if something is wrong. We found out he had pancreatic cancer.
LPT: If your physician disagrees with a diagnosis or medication request, ask them to put that rejection in writing for your patient record.
For the outliers this is great advice. Patient education is great advice, however sometimes it really is nothing and you just end up with a large bill for all the unnecessary test.
YOU HAVE TO BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE WHEN IT COMES TO YOU HEALTH. Have I said it loud enough for those in the back? You have to insist on being taken care of. If you know something isn't right and your doctor is blowing you off. FIND A NEW DOCTOR, people don't know that YOU CAN FIRE A DOCTOR, NURSE OR OTHER HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL who is helping you with your care. FIND PROFESSIONALS THAT WILL TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY and listen to your needs. You have to live in your body, they don't. Also, ask questions and insist on getting tests preformed, even if your doctor disagrees with you. Insist on getting tests preformed, regardless of how your doctor feels. It's better to have the test run and it be negative then not have a test run and it be positive. Feel free to ask your doctor questions about something, no matter how silly it sounds, a good doctor will address every concern you have. You have the right to proper treatment and the right to be treated with respect in regards to your own health. Just don't be a douche to the professionals trying to help you. Be firm and assertive if you need to but don't be an ahole. Also, to get respect you have to be respectful. You can get what you need without being a total jerk. Still be polite and kind and don't cuss them out.
Lol she posts this video as if I can afford going to see a doctor lmfao! What America is she living in???
Just Google what's up , like a normal person!
Donāt take this advice. Oh my god. I donāt know how this person made it to M4š¤¦š¼āāļø. Look at the controversial comments, this is just not how things work. You ABSOLUTELY should ask questions. We are taught to operate by rule outs and differentials, but if you say āmy chest hurtsā and ask for a differential I literally cannot give you one. I will happily investigate it and answer concerns and walk you through potential tests, but I will not say āuhhh it could be MIā and neither will 90% of physicians.