Doctors....

I try not to be too harsh on Doctors. After all, they spend years upon years in school, rack up mounds of dept, and then work ridiculous hours. Even if they do get paid a ton of money, they don't really have the time to enjoy it. BUT, I've been noticing a serious lack of usable information coming from Doctors recently. Let's start about a year and a half ago....

Do you all remember Jill's issue with serious stomach pain? It was so bad that she couldn't do anything but lay down in bed with a heating pad and struggle through it. Well, so we took her to the Dr. to find out what was going on. After a barrage of tests, questions, and bottles of foul tasting contrast, they told her that it could be ovarian cysts bursting. Could be. Really there wasn't much evidence of it or anything else. So they gave her birth control to help with possible cysts, and told her to eat a high fiber diet in case it was something more related to her stomach. Not a terrible outcome, but it seemed for the longest time that no-one had any idea of what was going on.

A year later we went to our to our new Dr. here in Minnesota for a routine check-up. The Dr. got our height and weight measurements and separated us into different rooms and asked us all the standard questions. Then while talking to me he pulled up a Body Mass Index chart that you can look at on-line (THE EXACT SAME ONE-FOR FREE), entered in my information, and informed me that I was obese. His recommendation? Portion control and a low-carb diet...seriously?

While at the Dr., they also had us do some blood work. When we got the results of that blood work back it came with little notes from our new Dr. Mine showed slightly high blood-sugar and cholesterol levels. My little note informed me that he wasn't too worried, but I should lower my carb intake. Jill's blood work revealed perfectly normal levels of everything except her triglycerides (things that can cause strokes, heart attacks, and all sorts of nasty things). Her note suggested that she lower her carb intake and come back in 6 months to recheck things.

OK, so some of you may be thinking, well maybe if you're eating bad, cutting carbs will help. the thing is, Jill and I have been eating on a VERY low-carb diet for almost a year now. So really I don't think that carb's are the problem. Especially considering every other one of Jill's tests came back in normal levels. So Jill does a little research on the Internet and sees that the number one side effect of her birth control is high levels of triglycerides, and potential risk of stroke and heart attack. She also found a number of posts from women who had similar issues and once they went off their birth control their triglyceride levels dropped back to normal ranges. So if this information was so readily available, and seems to be relevant, why didn't the Dr. even mention it?

Now, I read that a good friend of Jill's went to the Dr. because of difficulty breathing and chest pains. After some tests, they found a 3 inch nodule on her lung. Now, I'm no Dr., but to me it sounds like they might be related. Apparently the Dr. doesn't seem to think so. Keep in mind that she is an otherwise healthy person with no asthma or anything else like that.

So again, maybe me and my friends just seem to find the dud Dr.'s out there, but really, most of the information that we have received from the Dr.'s, has been less than helpful. And, let's not forget that this paltry information came after MANY visits to these Dr's who were paid handsomely for each visit. So, yeah, I'm a little bit bitter about the whole health care industry at the moment...

Just for the record, I think it is a noble and necessary profession to have, I just think there must be a better way of doing things. If you really don't know what's wrong with someone, tell them. Maybe it should be run like any other business, if the results aren't there, the pay isn't there either....