Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-28 08:40:37 +0100, Rod said:

Andy Hall wrote:

Only a fool allows the doctor to be the decision maker without doing
further checking themselves.


And if your illness makes you a fool, you have to rely on them.

Well, touche, but this is then a case where other capable family members
can become involved.

I can certainly relate to your point about medicine on uncharted
territory and also to conditions that can affect judgment. There will
always be these situations.

However, I was really referring to the broader situation where people
are able to check for themselves to some degree and more important to
take responsibility for themselves rather than sitting back and letting
doctors do it all.

As time goes by, I realise more and more that especially GPs don't have
the depth of knowledge on some quite common ailments and are more and
more time constrained. After that, as one reads the clinical studies,
it's also apparent that there are often not hard and fast decisions that
can be made, but rather statistical probabilities, if the subject has
been properly studied at all.

Unfortunately whenever time is critical it will be difficult to follow
your prescription. In the past three years we have pulled ourselves up
by our bootstraps to become familiar with and understanding of the area.
But we have no medical training, no medical background (neither of us
had really suffered anything significant before now). So it has been
hard work.

However our areas interest/concern are incredibly complex - directly
affecting every cell of the body. There is immense confusion and
disagreement over the meanings of even the basic tests. It is hugely
exploited by snake oil salesmen - who have every reason to misinform.

I agree about GPs not having the knowledge. But what I would have liked
ot see simply does not exist. I want a specialist nurse-led unit which
encourages people to drop in (if they are able), chat, discuss,
research, help each other - but with someone who has knowledge and
experience in charge. And I really can't see a private version of that
ever being much good. For a start, the ones who could afford it would
not get the benefit of the experiences of those who cannot.

Common? Well something like 2.1% of adults in England diagnosed with one
form. (And permanent complaints obviously don't come and go so their
persistance pushes them well up the league of what people are suffering
on any one day.)

Research? Tons of it. Some very good and very interesting. But how does
it ever get passed on to GPs and thence to patients?

--
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
www.thyromind.info www.thyroiduk.org www.altsupportthyroid.org