What Your Doctor Should Ask You

I am about to write this article in a frank matter. I hope as a result of my frankness, that I can receive communication from caring doctors who take good care of their patients. For every caring doctor that I find, I will be happy to feature their expertise in upcoming articles. Currently, the average doctor visit lasts 10 minutes or less. I made a personal stand last year and fired my doctor for this reason. He said to me, "Would you rather wait thirty minutes in my waiting room." I said. "Yes, if I know you are caring for each patient you see, I would be more than happy to wait for you. But, I will not wait for you an hour just to rush us all out the door." My current doctor keeps me waiting an hour, however, when I see him he takes proper time with me and all of his patients.

Most doctors neglect asking key questions when prescribing medications. For example, they fail asking questions about food and diet which can concisely pinpoint better diagnostic answers then just asking a patient about their symptoms. Most patients have negative reactions to prescription drugs because their doctor failed to ask them about their food and diet.

During flu and cold season, if you are not careful taking oral decongestants, nasal decongestant sprays or decongestant eye drops, it can contribute to a rise in high blood pressure. When you have high blood pressure you can feel severe debilitating headaches. Doctors often neglect asking a patient if they are taking these medications before prescribing blood pressure medications. I have seen many cases where patients have extreme blood pressure drops when they are done taking their course of decongestant. I have also seen many cases where headaches are often ignored or misdiagnosed as a sinus headache. A patient's blood pressure result is often over looked when a doctor recommends taking a decongestant.

Diarrhea and digestive problems are often misdiagnosed. Patients are prescribed anti-diarrhea medicine and it is often written down as gastroenteritis. If problems persist, stool tests are recommended and are also often inconclusive. Most digestive problems occur due to food allergies.

Wheat is the biggest allergy trigger. Have you noticed food labels cropping up with the words "Gluten- Free"? This indicates that the product is made in a wheat free facility. Wheat allergies are notorious for digestive upset. However, by the time they show up in a typical allergy test, you may have severe symptoms. I sought the expertise of a NAET trained physician to determine if a wheat allergy existed. NAET is a non -invasive kinesiology test that can help recognize food and environmental allergy triggers. NAET was developed by Dr. Devi Nambudripad. You can also simply recognize your symptoms and deciding to omit wheat from your diet for one to two weeks. You can then determine how you feel being wheat-free. Other known food allergy triggers are milk products, yeast, corn, sugar, NutraSweet, black pepper, sage, clove, curry, artificial flavors, and food dye additives.

Yeast infections and bladder infections are often misdiagnosed. Re-occurring infections can be a sign of high blood sugar. Patients who are pre-diabetic or a stone throw away from adult onset diabetes, often do not know it because the scope of their appointment is limited to prescribing a cream or antibiotic.

It reminds me of the old story about a man who continued to rescue people who were drowning in a river. After rescuing several people, he decided to see who kept throwing them in. When you are given a diagnosis and a prescription it is often a good idea to research and determine if your illness could be related to a food allergy. It is also a good idea to determine if the recommended prescription can conflict with another health condition or food you ingest.

Dr. Ellen Cutler has written and advised extensively on the subject of food allergies and can be a good place to start with doing research online http://www.drellencutler.com/. Another way to track your health symptoms to the source of your allergy is by using the handy charts provided by Allergy Escape at http://www.allergyescape.com/allergy-symptoms.html.