my doctor is very exceptional, he and i work together for my goals.

"As far as my health is concerned it is most important that I trust myself, to be my own health care advocate, than whether I trust doctors or not. I choose to stay away from conventional medicine as much as possible, but surely if I were bleeding profusely I would pursue care, as real emergencies are what convential medicine is good at."


In reality, at the end of the day, *you* are the only person you can trust. Education is the biggest key to leading a healthy lifestyle

Yes and No.
There are certainly doctors who I trust. I might not always agree with them, but I trust that they mean well. When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis my doctor wanted me to get on drugs right away. I refused and healed myself with nutritional and herbal medicine and lifestyle changes. I currently have no symptoms for over a year. If i took my doctors advice Id be on these unhealthy hardcore drugs that would seriously fuck my body up, and I think I would be worse off for it.

I like having a doctor who may or may not agree with my self treatment, but who at least listens to me, gives me the honest pros and cons of the options available, and is open and somewhat educated about holistic supplements.

Western medicine is great for certain things. MRIs are like magick. We can look into a person brain and see whats going on without cutting it open. Thats a miracle.....an expensive miracle that will put you in debt, even with insurance, but a miracle. Sometimes its worth while to cooperate with the doctors to get a diagnosis. However, when they prescribe treatment its best to sometimes get a second opinion and do some of your own research before quickly agreeing to do whatever they say. Sometimes the risks outweigh the benefits, and sometimes there are safer ways of treating something like addressing the cause and not just overpowering the symptoms.

i trust naturopath doctors, and the lab people they use. i havent found a western doctor that i trust, the ones i have encountered just want to mask symptoms with a pill or do invasive surgeries....but i am sure there are some out there that are really good. luckily i havent had to go to a western doctor in a really long time. i trust that alot of them want to help people, they just havent been taught the right ways...not enough questioning of the system, where are those pioneers??? alot of the doctors are caught in the system of "corporate backed universities" and pharmaceutical funded and influenced teachings.

The question came from a conversation I was having with my mom....we frequently have conversations about doctors and being able to trust their diagnosis and medications. She trusts everything they say, I don't. I another thread I posted on here I mentioned that I take birth control pills because I was skipping periods for months at a time without being pregnant, and my doctor told me I could have a high risk of getting cervical cancer if I didn't take BC pills to regulate my cycle. I had been reluctant to take them before that, and I still am....though now that I'm on them, I'm afraid to go off because I think that my body will go all out of whack if I stop taking them. I want off of them, and I want to find some other kind of way to regulate my hormones and my cycle without having to be on the pills. My mom stubbornly said that the pills were the only way, and then we got into the conversation about trusting doctors.

I do have a hard time trusting doctors. Usually theyre in a rush and they explain all their knowledge to you really fast and with this distance that makes me feel like all they care about is getting through the day. I would like a doctor that can be a little more personal, someone I would feel more comfortable talking to because they don't put off as much of that distance. I've had doctors who immeditately tried to put me on some med before they even really talked to me about the problem....I can't trust that kind of diagnosis. I don't really know how or where to find a doctor that I would like and be able to fully trust...I've only ever gone to Kaiser. I would love to have a doc that has the knowledge of both western medicine and holistic medicine...someone very well balanced and not so biased towards one side. Then I could trust that they have a full spectrum of knowledge, and could make the rgiht choices because of that.

I once went to the doctor because I was having pain in my wrists, hands and upper arms. I was wondering if I had carpal tunnel or tendonitis or anything like that. Based off of my description of the pain the doctor assumed I had tennis elbow and gave me some arm bands and then she sent me to a physical therapist. Now the physical therapist I really liked because he proved to me that he knew that everything in the body is connected, and after that I trusted everything he said. He also didn't put off that distance, he was very nice and talked to me about my life, got to know me. He told me (proving the other doctor wrong) that since the muscles in the arm are connected to the neck and the back, the pain must be originating in my neck and shoulders and he gave me a bunch of exercises that I could do...AT HOME meaning I wouldnt have to keep coming back to him and I wouldn;t have to pay for a pill for the rest of my life. He showed me that he actually cared about helping me fix my problem....not trying to get me to buy some pill or pay for tons of doctors appointments to get more money. And no, I don't have wrist pain anymore unless I stop doing the exercises for a long period of time while straining my neck at work.

I guess I just like doctors who acknowledge the connection of everything within the body. Seems like most of them just want to give you a pill and send you home after some speedy explaination.

In a nutshell, NO. I've had many many horrible experiences with allopaths (sp). Because the insurance companies are in charge, you can't keep the doctor that you do trust when changing jobs because the insurance industry controls everything. You're forced to pick a name from a catalog (provider list) without knowing a thing about them. I've had incorrect diagnosis, they don't listen to you because they have a patient load too large to deal with you properly.
I had an experience two summers ago with a dentist who caused me 3 root canals and left me in the office in pain after handing me a sheet and said "you have to see and endodontist, I don't do that!" After complaining to the insurance company, they paid for the root canals (something my new holistic dentist says my insurance doesn't cover) From my experience, they no longer care. The doctors are angry too and pass that along to the patients.
I now go to an acupuncturist who usually catches whatever it is, before I'm even aware of it. He knows if emotionally I'm going through a rough patch, talks about meditation and the proper foods for me. This is a practice that I trust he'll change the herbs when warranted, not "take this for a month and we'll see what happens" as most doctors do.
Thanks for listening to my rant.

Karen

Mmm...do I trust doctors? I trust them in a life or death situation. As far as preventative and them really knowing what my body needs to sustain itself, no I don't. Only I can know that. Doctors are trained in looking at a specific part of the body, not as a whole functioning energetic being. They treat the symptom, or slap on a bandaid per say. They don't even take nutrition classes. That is just their training, they don't know any better. However I had heart surgery when I was 13. I had no choice but to trust the doctors. Maybe if my mother had known about alternative medicine, there would've been another solution. In either case I have lived 17 years longer than they expected if I hadn't had my heart surgery. I am grateful for my life, partly why I live it to the fullest with every breath. I live a very proactive alternative lifestyle now in order to keep things in check. Part of how I sustain my sanity and body is not living in fear. Doctors have a way of putting you in fear because they are in fear themselves, due to their lack of faith in the bodies ability to heal itself. I respect doctors, but I am a very different "doctor." It is reassuring to know that conventional medicine exists, in case I am in a serious situation out of my control. There isn't much these days out of my control that I haven't been able to prevent anyways, without the help of natural remedies. Our bodies are powerful.

do any of you live in portland and have a great MD that they DO trust? i have a fabulous ND but need an MD for my insurance (red tape) and i want one that i CAN TRUST.

sorry if its a little off topic. i was actually on the computer looking for MD and saw this thread.... couldnt resist. :)


thanks!

Hi Dustin the handsome. Name one person besides an author that you know that is getting rich doing anything with alternative medicine. I've been in the game for 20 years and I don't know anyone that can make a living at it except for natrapathic doctors and they usually struggle to get clients. If you actually cure someone, they do not need you anymore. Furthermore, they always pretend that there was never anything really wrong anyway. There is a word in psychology to describe it. I just can't recall it. The memory of the problem fades when the pain associated with it isn't there anymore. I wish you were correct, however. Healers are the best people I've ever had the pleasure to know and they deserve to have the comfort money can give. Aloha, Lamaku.