How to get along with medical doctors?

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Consider it done.

Thanks everyone for the input... I don't mean to sound ungrateful or uncooperative, but I do need to focus on realistic solutions that are available to me!

No, I'm not on Medicaid, I have regular insurance through my husband's work, which is fairly decent – though I'll be losing it in April and switching to an Obamacare option (which in my city is actually rated higher, yay!)

So it probably makes more sense for me to get established with a new doctor in April, rather than now. (I was just trying to be proactive, and face my fear now... But I'm going through a divorce at the moment, and probably should stick to one major challenge at a time! )

This discussion is really helping me to hone in on what exactly I hope to get, out of my future PCP. And I'm starting to think I just really need to work on my verbal skills, and develop a debate-team level of proficiency in my ability to make a compelling and logical presentation of my various health issues, which any mainstream doctor ought to accept, based on the strength of my evidence and its backing by the CDC.

This is SO not my strong point, but what I'm learning is that in this world, the strong survive, and the weak suffer, with no help to be had. I simply cannot afford to be a meek little sheep, and allow doctors to summarily dismiss the challenges I deal with on a daily basis. Not that I'm expecting them to treat me for conditions for which there is no approved medical treatment, but I want them to at least acknowledge that I have these conditions, and that they significantly affect my health and overall functioning ability.

Oh dear, "Dr. Google" is another challenge I will face... My last attempt at seeing a GP was before the internet era took off, and in the meantime doctors have come up with more ways to dismiss their patients' concerns!

Sorry about the divorce, this must be a very emotionally difficult time for you. Hang in there. One thing at a time, one step at a time.

If the Obamacare plan is better than your current group plan, then the good news is that most teaching hospitals and university clinics will accept those state sponsored plans. You will get excellent care from them and physicians there are usually more open to "fringe conditions" (as you refer to them) than physicians in private practice. I am not sure how enrollment works in the case of impending divorce so please be careful. Have you already filed for divorce ? If so, it is advisable that you look into Obamacare open enrollment periods, just to make sure that you don't miss it and that you will be allowed to enroll in April once the divorce is finalized.

Whatever you decide, I really hope that you will seek medical care at the earliest. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure and all that, you know.

Good luck !

Last edited by HisMom on 25 Oct 2015, 9:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I haven't had problems with medical doctors, I get along well with them.
I allow them to diagnose me instead of diagnosing myself, as my diagnoses are always wrong, like when I thought the mosquito bites that blew up on my legs were probably flesh-eating bacteria.

btbnnyr - Haha oh dear... I'm glad you were wrong about that!

HisMom - Thanks, yes we filed for divorce this month, and it will be final in April. According to healthcare.gov, divorce is a 'Qualifying Life Event' that allows me to enroll outside of the Open Enrollment period. (Thanks for the heads-up - I verified that I'm not required to take COBRA if I don't want it, and I can choose Obamacare instead!)

Good to know about the teaching hospitals... We don't have one in my city, so I'm going to try to manage with the GPs I can get to locally, but I will keep that in mind if my symptoms worsen! The CDC's belief about Lyme Disease is that the initial bacterial infection was cured by antibiotics, so what I'm left with is an 'immune reaction' (chronic pain, fatigue, neurological problems, etc.) So there's no medical treatment, I just have to manage it as best I can through basic healthy lifestyle.

Yeah, divorce is a bit stressful, but we've been separated 4 years now, and remain lifelong friends, so it's really just taking care of the legal paperwork side of things, which is not so bad.