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Need to stop googling symptoms

Posted , 4 users are following.

catherineB24
catherineB24

Own worst enemy!!!!!

3 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • lyn1951
    lyn1951 catherineB24

    Posted

    Catherine - It does have its place, but you have to use carefully. If you are hypochondric I would not be using. I have educated myself from these sites about my husbands heart failure, but have followed though and found university papers on his condition and also read them, hundreds of them. Dr's tell me now I am very knowledgeable about my husbands condition, one in particular said he would employ me as a nurse on his cardiac ward and went on to ask me where I had trained, he was amazed I had no formal training. I research his medication, have found others that are better for him, less side effects, and cardiologist has agreed after I presented to him my reasons why he would be better off if he changed his medication, which he did. Recently changed his Nexium dosage, which husband wasn't very happy about, cicadas came back, but only for a few days, then settled again, cardio very happy we were able to step down from high dosage. Why hadn't cardio suggested changing medication earlier I don't know, or didn't even he know the difference between water based medication and fat based medication. Frightening isn't it, I question everything, and or look up. There is another whole story behind that caution, not once in my life but a number of times mis-diagnoses, wrong medicines given or offered. Long term use of Nexium not good for bones I do believe. Would even consider stepping down again but will have to be a change in brand, or half a tablet.
    • beverly52803
      beverly52803 lyn1951

      Posted

      lyn, that is excellent! Your husband is lucky he has you in his corner. It's pretty sad that we have to be so vigilant re what doctors are prescribing, but it;s true. I think it's because they only have so much time, make a decision in minutes if not seconds and move on the next person. I have always been amazed that there is no follow through on their part. How many times do patients not take the medication because it doesn't work or doesn't agree with them or even move on the another doctor because they aren't satisfied without the first doctor being aware of any of it. Frankly it seems an unscientific way to run a practice.

      I prefer alternative medicine because the practicioners take the time to get a feel for the person and at least give the impression they care. Insurance co's in the US are far too slow to come to the realization that they could save a whole lot of money if they covered those appointments as well as doctors (who charge so much more).

      You must be pretty bright if you can make your way through medical journals. Sometimes I can make sense of them (I refused to take statins because of what I learned from a Canadian study), but am often overwhelmed by the language.

    • lyn1951
      lyn1951 beverly52803

      Posted

      Beverley - I had no medical training, but over the years with illness myself, and my children, and then finally my bullet proof husband I had picked up alot of basic medical terms. When I started researching his heart failure I did come across alot of words I did not understand, so the use of google again as a dictonary, and i do ask the Dr's to explain please, when you show real interest some of them, some are hopeless, even get down to drawing little pictures for you, and I do try to ask sensible questions, I never made the connections between me "knowing" what was wrong with my husband until I spoke to my nursing director sister, and said laughed and said "you lived with a father who had heart failure his entire life", so you knew what it was, even if you coudn't give it a name. In some ways I am very lucky to still have him, he wasn't supposed to survive, as one of the senior Dr's who still sees him he is soooo far off our medical text books now, he is teaching us about heart failure. 
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