I'm an informed patient who tries to take good care of myself that's who I think I am.
A very wise former family doctor of mine (only former because she died too young of breast cancer) told me once "it's your body and your life and you know it best" and I was the most invested in seeing that I stayed healthy. She always took the time to listen to me and together we made choices and decisions. I've been lucky that my current family doctor also listens to me and works with me. I've also been lucky that this has been true of the various specialists I've seen (urologist, ophthalmologist, gastroenterologist and 2 surgeons for major surgeries). I value(d) their judgement. My late son was severely disabled and I dealt with many, many professionals over the course of his life. Whenever possible I chose medical professionals for him who were good at listening rather than the dismissive and patronizing ones. Unfortunately the dismissive and patronizing professionals do exist and I believe the stories about bad experiences people have had.
Medical professionals are human beings who can't know everything. It isn't just diabetes, virtually all of the medical professionals (except for neurologists) I talk to here (Canada) have never heard of the cause of my son's death - SUDEP - sudden death in epilepsy (awareness here is lower than the UK). (I'm trying to raise awareness for SUDEP and break the conspiracy of silence that surrounds it here.)
I don't expect medical professionals to know everything. However, I expect them to be open to discussion, willing to consider various points of view and willing to learn something new.
You don't seem to understand what angers me. I agree there are good and bad doctors. More good than bad. And yes, this is called informed consent for treatment. But Im not talking about that.
I'm talking about constantly disparaging the Med.professionals, disregarding their advice and insisting patients know better. The forceful promotion of things that the professionals know better. And believe me, they know.
I am so disappointed that I'm thinking about leaving this forum. I'm also worried that new diabetics get wrong or conflicting advice. Your attitude is the right attitude but most others on the thread I commented on were not. If you are not going to follow the advice of your doctor, or even to discuss it with them, why are going there?
Anyway, right now I have decided that I'm going with my support team. Being a nurse, I know the responsibility they shoulder, the constant studying, the research, etc. I'm not going to go with some half-assed ideas of various gurus. And I'll continue to be the other side and tell people my opinion, so they know they have options and discuss them with the correct people - The medical team.
Apropos, I know about the epileptic condition. Any epilepsy specialist knows it too.
Bye
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