Can doctor bribe me with meds?

I am in the USA.  I don't know anything about the medical field, since I used to buy my medicine over the counter (in stores).  They took it away (to make money probably), and now I am forced to go to the doctor.  Getting angry would be helpful.... I just get depressed, which makes me sleep.  I have no idea what to do and that is a huge part of the stress!  I am new to dealing with doctors and have no idea what my legal options are, or if she can legally withold proair from me.

I did take it, and she told me I don't have to use it... but she will take proair away if I don't use it... So really, she is trying to control what she thinks I need.  I have had asthma long enough to know what I need better than a doctor.  They have degrees and research what others feel work, who don't have asthma.  Asthmatics know what works for them better than a doctor could.  I wish she would just let me have proair.  It works enough, until  I can get away from indoor triggers anyway.

Do live in UK ,? I ask because I too have Asthma but I have never heard of Proair,could explain to us/me what it is please,

No I live in the USA.  Proair is a fast action medication for asthma... It's like albuteral... do you have that in the UK?

Hi ,I can't say I have heard of it here in uk but perhaps others on here gave .

Sorry ,,,,,should have read ,,,,Have

Have the drug, and lie, I cannot count the multiple prescriptions I have been given, after an accident some fool of a doctor gave me tablets that put me right back in hospital again ( I was quite hurt and not reading the warnings) I have had asthma my whole life and it stopped me doing a lot of jobs but I cope with it my way and I am not an experimental lab animal. Yes I did have something with albuterol in but now the Symbicort 160 is better.  Last hospital (accident prone) visit they even tried to change this to a 32 one, they just love feeding drugs .  HUH. Good Luck. 

I agree that doctors love feeding drugs.  I heard they get more money for every perscription they perscribe!  I cannot lie though... it goes against who I want to be.  I will just try to talk to her again.... hope she will eventually respect my decision as mine, without taking away the only drug I feel helps me

Shareallicu, you live your own life, if you are weak thats up to you, so how can you expect anyone to respect you ?

What are you talking about?  How am I weak?

Hi I have asthma also. It sounds like your Dr wanted to put you on a preventative possibly with the reliever. You comment that the Proair " works enough until I can get away from indoor triggers anyway". That really is not a sign of asthma that is under good control.

Do you have an asthma society? I found ours great when I was first diagnosed. A helpful website and the facility to make an appointment to speak with a specialist nurse, all free. Please don't forget that asthma is a serious condition but it is possible to manage it.

You need to find a way to work with your Dr for your health. Try to find an asthma nurse to talk it through with and then write down your questions and concerns and make an appointment with your Dr. Fall and winter are trickier times for asthmatics and you do not want to be without your inhalers.

Best wishes.

Well, maybe it's time for a new doctor.  I will treat my asthma the way I see that is best for me, not the doctors who need to push drugs to get their money from the drug companies.   I treat asthma for my health and wellbeing.... i question the doctors motivations when she pushes drugs like a drug pusher.  But I suspect they are all the same anyway so getting another doctor would probably be futile.

Yes it may be time for a new doctor. However, I want to point out a couple of possibilities. Many doctors are a factory of back to back appointments with multiple exam rooms full and are terrible at explaining their reasons for such statements without a firm demand from the patient. This is slightly unrelated but when I moved to a new town a decade ago I had terrible allergies that were triggering asthma attacks I had not had since i was a child. One allergy medication seemed to work but I was forced to try three others before it was finally decided I could stick with the one that worked. The reason had been the insurance company I had at the time, wanting to go with cheaper and generic options before approving the more expensive, newer meds. Is it possible that this was an insurance requirement? Second possibility is if this is like albuteral then that is a rescue inhaler, not a preventative and doctors are supposed to prescribe to prevent the asthma. I never really understood why but you aren't supposed to use a rescue inhaler more than twice a day, at least that was the rule at the time I was seeing doctors. I eventually got used to my new enviornment and only experience allergy attacks during time of high humidity now so I cannot speak to any current rules or medicine.

Back to my original comment though, it may be time to see a new doctor if your doctors bedside manner prevents them from explaining themselves or even makes you feel threatened but whoever you see, make sure to ask for explanations.

But this is one of the problems.  You said, " One allergy medication seemed to work but I was forced to try three others before it was finally decided I could stick with the one that worked".  

People really need to take control of their own health!  Doctors treat patients like rats in a lab.   If something works, why don't they perscribe that?   Insurance/money can matter more than a persons health?  And perhaps their curiosity about a new drug could override their concern for the patient as a person.   It's about money, not people.   So I listen to my instinct.

Also, I have already explained to my doctor that I am exposed to many triggers on a daily basis, and have researched that asthma meds can become inert with so much exposure.   So a rescue inhaler IS the only way I can control asthma.   And the rule is that you can use the inhaler up to 6 times a day, that is what my doctor told me, and i also asked another medical professional.

But the main point is that I should be the one in charge of my own body and what I put in it.  She told me she signed the RX so the responsibility was hers.... I think that is twisted if it's true.   I should be responsibile (Legally) for my own body!!

I find higher humidity whether makes my lungs easier to breath, while a lower RH hurts my lungs.  

That is a great point too!!  A doctor CAN know what works for MOST, but she/he cannot know what works for me.  I am not usually a typical patient.  I have had many unique health situations that they have probably never come across in a patient, which will change how my body reacts to medications.  But talking to them is like going on a trip to mars!   Their ego gets in the way because they think they DO know better....

If I break my arm or get shot, I would assume the doctor knows best!  Because they see that more than I ever could, and they learn how to deal with that, but my body, and how it functions is best known by me alone.   I wish they would drop their ego, and listen to me.  I really could use their expertize in many areas, that we have not talked about, because she would rather fight with me about my choice in asthma meds.

If you are telling me you use a rescue inhaler only and you use it up to 6 times a day then I wonder why you wouldn't want to use a preventative WITH your rescue inhaler?

Is that a finance issue? It doesn't sound like it's being taken away from you, it sounds like your doctor is telling you that as often as you use a rescue inhaler you need to be on a preventative. The two together is the safest option.

Also, you quoted me when I mentioned I was forced to try 3 other allergy meds before being able to be on the one that worked best for me. At teh time I was 18 and broke so I was going to go with whatever the insurance company covered since the allergies were so new and I had no tolerance built up at all.

In quoting me though you seemed to have misunderstood my point which was that a good doctor explains what they are perscribing or why they are saying things and doesn't make the patient feel threatened. Your first post sounded really concerned and like you felt threatened. Your second post sounds more frustrated but I still you felt you have made the point in both that your doctor doesn't listen to you so I stick with my original advice of seeing a new doctor that you feel listens to you and explains themselves to you as well.

Well, I am poor and I know what is best for me.   So, the doctor should not be able to take the one I depend on away, to force me to use another type.  That seems immoral.   I have used rescue inhalers all my life, and it's what I am comfortable with, and it is what makes me feel better.

Perhaps I misunderstood your post. I took it as you asking if doctors are able to do this (the answer was yes) and you had also said that your doctor was not going to take away your medicine if you agreed to a preventative. I have made an attempt to answer your question and explain the relationship between the doctor and you and the insurance company as well as what is healthier for an asthmatic longterm. I wasn't attempting to influence your opinion, just to answer your question and provide some help but you don't seem especially interested in what other people have to say.

All I can really say is you have every right to be upset, most of us on this site have felt taken advantage of by doctors. However, no matter how many doctors you go to you will continue to have this conversation as I once had asthma and I live in the US. As I said in my first comment you deserve a doctor who will listen to you and properly explain things to you. Yet it will be a conversation that continues to happen so I suggest you openly listen and calmly tell your doctor you point of view but accept that they will all push for you to be on a preventative eventually.

If I didn't want to hear what other people have to say I would not have asked.  :P

I am new to the world of healthcare, so I am learning how things are.  I didn't realize most things in healthcare have very little to do with what the patient thinks!  I think that is weird, since I am the one who the medications will affect.

It is good to know that the doctors are all going to push the preventative drugs... I had a feeling they would, but it's really nice to have someone confirm it. 

I will not take a preventative drug!  So all I can do is tell them that I guess.  If she takes away the proair, I will find another doctor. 

I'm blown away that it's not the patients CHOICE to take what they feel works!!! That is probably why you feel that I don't care what others say....  BUT I DO!  Because I'm learning about this stuff as an adult.  My parents never brought me to the doctors as a youth, and I never got into it as a young adult.  I had an over the counter med that helped asthma, but it's currently banned because there wasn't enough money in it to the insurance companies. 

Whatever I "sound" like, I truely appreciate your input!  I am just flipping out about how things are run... that's all.  hehe

It should always be the patients choice... always.  We are the ones who will have to live with the health consequences of what we take... not the doctors.

Anyway, sorry if I sound like I am freaking out at you personally... i'm not.

I remember the frustration when I had my own insurance for the first time and finding out how the health field works. I can certainly understand how it may feel when it's new. It is bizarre that our country cares very little for the patient, just one of the many problems in the health field.

Really feel out the next doctor you speak to. Someone earlier in the chain suggested just taking the percription from the doctor but not taking it. I still suggest using a new doctor that doesn't make you feel threatened but if you tell them you won't take it and they give you the impression they will take away your medicine then I would suggest 'acting' compliant.

Yes.  I have been taking it (the perscriptions she gives me) but not using them... she is losing her patience with me... She may have to lose her patient hehe

I grew up in awe of the fictional medical people from TV.  From MASH to ER and even CSI.  TV made me believe our real healthcare system was like that.  It's difficult to learn that the reality of the healthcare system is so far from Idealic.  

I think most people grow up going to the real doctors, so they don't learn some idealized, fictional view of how it is like I did.   It's really disapointing to learn that real life doctors are so apathetic....  I'm learning why they call it "fiction" I guess.

there are some great doctors out there but they can be hard to find and even they have to deal with the politics. i really hope you find a great doctors worthy of tv!