(no subject)

[boxofdelights]

Also had really annoying phone conversation with my doctor who decided to take that opportunity to reopen the question of why I was not taking statins. "Why is it," I asked her in return, "that in all the times you've told me I should be taking statins, you've never mentioned any possible side-effects? You've never talked about the pros and cons, only the pros."

"Oh," she said, "well the only likely side-effects are some people get aches, and sometimes they just can't tolerate them." And then she went into her rant about American diet and American cholesterol levels and she used to see two heart attacks a year but now she sees two a week and so on. And I just sat there and listened to it. I got distracted by the rant, and forgot about my question, which she didn't even pretend to answer, which was not "what are the side-effects of statins?"

My question was, why didn't her recommendation to take statins come with information about the pros and cons in the first place? Does she really think it's okay to only give me the information that supports her decision?

Comments

[hobbitbabe]

That is annoying.

Two people in my family took statins and had annoying side effects that were not mentioned in her list. When they were first offered to me last year, I said that I'd like to try making dietary changes first because of that experience. The first doctor accepted that. Then when I was in the hospital, they prescribed them, I mentioned my concern about those particular side effects, the doctor and pharmacist said they were unusual, and asked me to try them first and come back if I had trouble. Which is much better.

[amaebi]

That doctor seems to be pretty clearly a professionally-entitled bully. I kind of want to wish her bad cess, but instead I'll wish her conversion to better sense and more empathy.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[redbird]

I think at this point the question should be "Why didn't you answer my question last time? How can I trust you to warn me of the possible dangers of any medicine, surgery, or other treatment you recommend?" And possibly also "Do you even try to keep track of those dangers?"

On the specifics of statins, if she brings them up again, I would also ask her "what does 'just can't tolerate them' mean? Insomnia? Migraines? Heart problems? Nightmares?"

Possible scripts aside, the other question is whether to try to find another doctor, given that this one has given you active reason to distrust her, and seems not to respect or trust you to actually want to be healthy. It's not as though she's trying to talk you into something difficult, unpleasant, and/or time-consuming (like a regular exercise program, or quitting smoking): not unless statins commonly have unpleasant side effects.

I have taken medicine with annoying side effects and/or real risks, prescribed by doctors who did warn me (okay, not specifically "you might turn out to be allergic to this one" but that's true of any medication, the first time).

[julian]

Information on possible side effects IS NECESSARY, I yell at your doctor.

[jinian]

She's wrong to have not mentioned side effects, and I wouldn't want to keep going to her after all the stuff you've said. Your question, though, sounds in my dialect like a rhetorical one that's actually asking her to tell you the side effects now, not an honest request for meta (because my people don't do meta), so that bit could be a culture clash.