Your Doctor and You: A Team Effort

When searching for nutritional or medical information, your doctor should always be the first one you consult, but being a well-informed and well-read patient can help you talk to your doctor about your health. Being able to talk to your doctor can be of great benefit to you should you come to a point where you must make decisions or are given options regarding your treatment and/or medications.

A lot of doctors will shy away from or get agitated with patients who ask too many questions or bring up articles they have read on medical issues, but you can be your own best advocate by being informed. Reading can also be a preventative tool if used correctly.

If you are one of these patients that prefers to take an active role in your healthcare in this way, here are a few suggestions for you:

1) Be responsible about what you read. Reading information on websites or in magazines that are ultimately selling products can be biased. Comparing your condition with other bloggers on the internet can be dangerous, as your condition may be more or less complex than theirs. They may be in a different stage, on a different medicine and may have other conditions which affect their treatment. Heck, who says they even have the same condition as you? You simply cannot trust everything you read and everyone who blogs on the internet.

2) As long as you are responsible in your reading, you should be able to discuss your issues with your doctor. However, if you don't have the confidence that you can communicate with your doctor and you feel it will affect your treatment, it may be time to look around. One of the most important aspects of your relationship with your doctor is that you feel like a team and that there's two way communication. Unfortunately there are doctors on both ends of the continuum out there. A doctor who discounts all of your input may not be a good doctor for you, but one who says yes to every prescription you suggest can be just as harmful.

3) If you disagree with your doctor on a major issue, it's best to get a second opinion before you refuse a specific treatment or course of action. There's a reason they went to school for all those years. Hopefully your doctor is aware of the latest and best treatments and this may be your best ally.