My favorite is the mug that says this on one side, but the other side says “Don’t confuse the 1-hour lecture you had on my condition with my 20 years of living with it.”
The most ironic aspect of that? Before the internet, MDs had copies of the PDR (Physicians Desk Reference) Merck drug Bible and many other books to consult. For anything other than common and easily diagnosible malladies like hypertension, skin rashes, etc...
Please don’t confuse your medical degree with my lived experience. Signed, everyone with a rare disease who spent years or even decades being ignored by their doctors.
Ooh yeah. I was put on the pill for the emotional symptoms of my pms which I later found out was PMDD, but it also reduced the vomiting and convulsions that no one told me weren’t normal. 🙃 It took a friend with a diagnosis to tell me.
Exactly! I became a doctor after being dismissed by my son’s doctors when I’d done my own research and figured out what was wrong with him. Wild to me that so few doctors actually listen to patients (although I do think (hope?) the younger docs are better about this these days)
Exactly. I had to inform the National Institute of Health that my rare genetic disorder existed; they had no clue of its existence until I emailed them my doctor's paper on it.
Every time I get a new Dr., they apologize for not knowing anything about it. I have to teach them; it's just how it is.
Omg that’s wild!! And yep. My sis spent 20yrs being told her thyroid was fine, even though she had all the symptoms, because her TSH was “normal”. Those ranges are literally based on people saying “I feel fine”. After her diagnosis, I spent 8yrs begging my docs to run the same tests. They wouldn’t.
My mom even had to show her oncologist, who had been practicing for 30yrs, that her symptoms were a side effect of her meds. He didn’t believe her until she showed him the fine print from the med’s website.
I'm so sorry! My thyroid is "within normal limits", but just barely. I think it would be ok if I weren't chronically ill (on top of the rare genetic disorder), but it's just not. So I take a thyroid supplement & it helps.
God yes. I get it. Being "instructed" by someone with little experience is frustrating, and often a waste of time. But the amount of doctors that don't listen to basic symptoms and actually try to find patterns over time is not only frustrating, but life-threatening.
I knew one of my diseases (Hashimoto’s), because it runs in my family. They still wouldn’t test me for it. Paid out of pocket, and my thyroid antibodies were off the charts. Instant diagnosis with a doctor who actually listens, after 8 years of begging for the tests.
That is pull-your-own-hair-out frustrating!! I think a lot of it has to be ego related. If there's just too much pride there, you have to trick the doctors into thinking they figured it out.
My daughter had to research her symptoms on her own and actually figured out she had partially collapsed blood vessels in her legs. Got a stint put in and all her symptoms, pain, inability to eat was greatly reduced. Because they just wouldn't follow up or take the time to actually help.
I knew I had Hashimoto's too. I was lucky that I found a doctor who immediately ordered a blood test for it. She knew because she also has Hashimoto's.
The first doctor just kept telling me "diet and exercise" while my weight, TSH, and cholesterol kept going up, even when dieting.
And some drs would see the elevated cholesterol and put you right on a statin, which causes a whole bunch of new problems. They only needed to treat the hashis first and cholesterol would go where the liver knows it should go.
My neurologist even asked me if I had found anything as they said you've been living with this for 3 years have you come across anything we can check out
She is a woman though so less ego to manage which is always a blessing
“Please don’t mistake your medical degree, where you spend at most one hour on a specific chronic illness, with my lived experience of it”
Doctors google all the time. Literally when you’re in front of them.
Trust the people and what they tell you and what they think is going on with them.
Maybe some doctors should not feel attacked when the patient has googled before attending a consult. I personally diagnosed myself with gallbladder stones when the so called "medical degree" doctor claimed there was nothing wrong with me.
The shitty thing I learned about gallstones is one thing that seems to be a cause is losing and gaining weight quickly. So my suspicion is... women, especially women who survived the crash dieting timeline, are gonna cop this a LOT. 😓
You are right… doctors should not feel attacked/threatened, they should take it as a great sign that ppl are interested in their own health & explain the nuance.
I did my residency in 90s when internet went graphical w/ netscape & OMG some doctors were so freaked out when this started. Was HILARIOUS
I’m a doctor and I hate these mugs. How many women have figured out on their own they have long COVID or endometriosis or autism etc and had a doc dismiss them with this kind of line? Arrogant docs are part of the problem in the US honestly
THANK YOU! 18 months with every test including being shot up with nuclear medicine for misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis... when a blood test for hypothyroidism was what I needed
Exactly! I have been witness to my wifes mistreatment in healthcare. She has fought like hell just to get someone to listen. Weve been on a search to find doctors that actually are doctors and not a pill pusher or insurance hoe. We want real care. Sadly the us hates care because theres no profit.
For the last 2 years, I’ve been a healthcare attorney. About 7 years ago, I had two possibilities on my own differential, either endometriosis or PCOS. It took up until a month ago to be diagnosed with endometriosis.
Same, mine wasn’t even a doctor yet, they sent in an intern to talk to me about three autoimmune disorders and mold illness. When he searched and starting reading aloud, I told him I could written that myself
See, I'm also on the side of this being 90-ish% correct.
Except that doctor when I was 15 in the ER who refused to treat me because I "wouldn't stop lying" about the possibility of being pregnant (severe abdominal cramps). Google didn't exist back then, but it might have helped me.
Oh, the medical degree that meant a psychiatrist could tell I wasn't autistic after a 5 minute conversation? Or the one that meant a professor could tell I was autistic after two three hour diagnostic interviews?
Please do not confuse your medical degree for my ability to read peer reviewed research on pubmed/NIH and international publications. People with rare disease have to think outside the box you put yourself in.
My pain management doctor has that in her office and it pisses me off every time I see it because I know my body better than she does. I’ve proved it in Surgery twice. I get it, but it’s condescending as fuck when they don’t listen to you
ok but also if I didn't google the symptoms of autism 5ish years ago I would never have gotten a diagnosis bc somehow no one ever fucking picked up on it, despite the fact I check all the boxes.
Nah. I went through severe vitamin deficiency from PPIs. Saw several doctors about it who all failed to figure out the problem. I researched, thought I might be vitamin deficiency, basically had to bully a doctor in actually running tests, & what do you know. I'm tried of this elitist bullshit.
And even worse still, this is the shit that pushes people to the woo stuff. I keep thinking if doctors actually listened and took people seriously across the board, less people would be seeking out other answers and less dodgy scammers would be convincing people to drink ivermectin. 😓
I now have a female African Anerican doctor, and omfg. For the first time in my life, I have a Dr that actually listens to me & values my opinion.
She has been literally life changing for me, many with female AA drs report that same experience.
Seriously, get one of those
I feel like the comments are completely missing the point of this. Yes doctors know more than you. Medical misinformation is rampant these days. they can tell you you’re dumb if you think vaccines are bad. For example.
How about they get rid of their playbooks, look at and hear the person, and perhaps even think outside of their medical degree box? No one likes to feel like a cup on their assembly line. Sorry, not sorry.
As much as I respect those with a medical degree, I spent 3 years in agony and embarrassment due to cholecystitis, cholelithiasis, and SIBO. I lost my hair. I couldn't eat, drink, or even go to the bathroom with complications.
I advocated for myself because no one believed me and my Google search.
I wish more doctors would use Google tbh
Too many of them carry this smug arrogance as they get so much wrong. I could list all the times they've been almost comically wrong and nearly killed me, but there's not room for them all here.
thats what i came here to say. as soon as its not like. a broken arm or anything similarly usual they don't know. i had to force-volunteer my doc to look up my disease before he could continue my prescription.
You are literally proving the mug. Studies show mixed results, 2 trials underway to resolve. Current consensus does not support your assertion, it may (or may not) cause some issues in some patients, but then factor in mortality advantage of statins and its clear: statins are beneficial.
Amazing how people make sweeping assertions that defy the consensus of thousands of experts. Shows an utter lack of humility & misunderstanding of science.
I can find a few doctors who swear by ivermectin despite debunked.
I am not putting you down
I am stating facts
A cardiologist explained to me how MDs mistakenly bought into statins. People stopped their statins and their dementia like symptoms went away.
Well I told my doctor Google said I was dying so now we’re ruling out cancer given my symptoms and are finding some interesting markers so we can get more tests done. Sometimes admitting you went to doctor Google gets things moving faster. (Still waiting on imaging reports 😩)
In fairness, I have had a couple doctors who were not good either at diagnosis or else didn't care. One was a dermatologist, and I visited with her multiple times, was misdiagnosed and finally I figured out what was wrong using Google. Research and advocacy for oneself is ok.
The owner of this cup has the wrong attitude. Partner with patients and encourage them to be active participants in their journey. Point them to better sources of info, while discouraging quack medicine and injecting cleaning fluid, etc.
If providers listened, answered questions, humbly accepted challenges to their diagnoses, instead of being offended, arrogant, or belittling I think we'd have fewer anti-vaxers. Anti-vaxers are scared. Address the fear instead of shaming them.
We know, but anyone can find validated research from a good source. It takes a doctor who does not think they are always right and a patient willing to have their assumptions challenged to find out what is happening.
Two things can be true simultaneously. Self diagnosing and misinformation is certainly a problem, but so is the fact that most doctors never had a Psych 101 class and are trained in a cult of greed & profit via a system of unethical pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies & facility owners.
I would never confuse it, but I don’t respect physicians who are offended when they are asked questions. We have the absolute right to research our conditions, treatments, procedures and medications.
I want to get this for my doctor. every time I go to visit for my appointment I try to go with knowledge about what’s going on in my life, but I always think before I say anything I don’t want to refer to Internet, lol I’m sure doctors are going out of their minds with internet research
Listen, I have zero problem with someone walking in and saying I have X, Y, Z symptoms. I am happy to listen and assess. But please don’t walk in and tell me you’ve self-diagnosed Bipolar Disorder when you have no training for how many other issues those symptoms could be before it’s that issue.
Maybe people wouldn't google if doctors would get off their high horse and actually take care of their patients. Maybe listen to them instead of slapping a bandaid on every symptom. It took a year and 4 specialists before ONE considered all my symptoms were connected.
I tell my kids that nonstop. The things the thought they had due to google. So i was back and forth to the doctor for 7 months. A million blood samples, 4 body scans, 1 camera up my ass. I googled, quit gluten and 3 days later i dint have to spend 6 h on the white throne 4 times a week. Go figure..
THANK YOU. I didn’t go to medical school, through internship and residency, a postdoc fellowship and 2 years in a lab with Dr Google. Their direct to consumer ads weren’t there either. I don’t view Dr Google as a consultant either.😡
Surprisingly some doctors do know stuff. Great to see the disrespect on here, not, but I guess one crap diagnosis is postable, ten accurate ones unremarkable.
I've had some wonderful doctors. What set them apart is they listened to their patients. Now that they've retired, I see how truly dehumanizing it is, in general, to be seen by unexceptional doctors. I am a cancer survivor with ITP. I am not a medical expert. But I know my body.
Some drs. know. We don't always get drs. that do. I always check online when something is wrong with my car, too. So when I take it to the mechanic, I don't get sold a $1000 remedy when a $50 part will fix. Both my body & my car are mine & I live with them all the time. I just can't do the fix.
My daughter would strongly disagree. She has had to do a lot of doctor shopping to find a doctor that would investigate her autoimmune disorder. If you are a woman patient, don’t let the doctor tell you there is nothing wrong with you. Keep looking until you find a doctor that takes you seriously.
After 15 years of having symptoms dismissed, I lost my ability to swallow, and still was gas lit by numerous docs, including my own primary care doc. I was the one who asked for specific lab tests (after doing my own research) that uncovered a rare autoimmune disease which explained everything.
And a Google search would be an advanced way to do research these days - seems like a lot of people just listen to random internet strangers with no qualifications.
Seems the only people with a problem with all Doctors in this thread are ppl with rare diseases and/or life long chronic issues. As someone who has neither of those, I have never had an issue with a doctor. Also never met an arrogant one.
Please don’t confuse your medical degree with my daughters experience, according to your medical degree she had a cyst and functional bowel problems, as it turned out she had a translocated musicaneous cystadenoma that was borderline cancerous & moving her bowel at 90 degrees. Told you.
We could also discuss the woman with classic appendicitis symptoms who was sent home with a urine infection diagnosis to return with an acute presentation and had the inflamed appendix removed.
And can doctors stop confusing their textbook studies of some conditions with the experience of those living it please. Eg Fibromyalgia and other similar conditions.
My rheumatologist loaned me his medical text (600+ pages) about Sjogren’s disease when I told him I think I have Sjogren’s disease - but my labs were negative (40% of Sjogren’s patients bloodwork is negative for SSA and SSB markers). He said, “You don’t have it. Here’s a book to learn more.” FFS.
Growing up with parents in the medical industry and having been a combat medic, I am forever stuck in that pre-med/Y1 phase of trying to self-diagnosis.
New doc: You think you have strep, but I don't see the textbook symptoms.
The wisened PA, 10sec later: The test came back that you were right again. It's strep.
Primary care doc: Yeah, that's a hernia. So what do you want me to do about it?
Me: You're the doc who has to refer me to the surgeon.
Indeed - medical degrees mean very little in terms of knowledge of disease and how to prevent it, especially via the most important treatment since the dawn of time - diet.
They don't treat root causes anymore. They either Google or use their online medical database to find out what drug to prescribe. Even if it's off-label. Viagra started out as a blood pressure med. Then they found a more lucrative use for it. 😉
yup - the drug companies love finding new uses for drugs they hold copyright on - preferably for symptom control of Chronic conditions.
Cure?
Prevention?
where's the profit in that?
To be fair, Google did a better job of diagnosing my type 1 diabetes than the actual trained medical professionals (intentionally plural) I consulted about my symptoms.
"While I'm here would you mind testing me for diabetes?"
Minutes later...
"Oh yeah, you need to go to emergency like right now"
Comments
They would "look it up."
Endo isn't even that exotic yet nearly everyone I have known with it has had a really tough time getting assessed for it.
Every time I get a new Dr., they apologize for not knowing anything about it. I have to teach them; it's just how it is.
If the response is to actively mock the patient, maybe dealing with patients isn't the best place for that individual.
The first doctor just kept telling me "diet and exercise" while my weight, TSH, and cholesterol kept going up, even when dieting.
She is a woman though so less ego to manage which is always a blessing
Doctors google all the time. Literally when you’re in front of them.
Trust the people and what they tell you and what they think is going on with them.
I gave mine.
Drop gooogle.
Meanwhile split your meals in smaller servings and try to avoid carbs.
The shitty thing I learned about gallstones is one thing that seems to be a cause is losing and gaining weight quickly. So my suspicion is... women, especially women who survived the crash dieting timeline, are gonna cop this a LOT. 😓
I did my residency in 90s when internet went graphical w/ netscape & OMG some doctors were so freaked out when this started. Was HILARIOUS
Nine months later, a doctor in another hospital told me my heart was fine. It was just panic attacks.
Sometimes doctors make mistakes. Sometimes they don't care.
Except that doctor when I was 15 in the ER who refused to treat me because I "wouldn't stop lying" about the possibility of being pregnant (severe abdominal cramps). Google didn't exist back then, but it might have helped me.
She has been literally life changing for me, many with female AA drs report that same experience.
Seriously, get one of those
I advocated for myself because no one believed me and my Google search.
Tried to sue and I was told that "doctors are human and make mistakes".
Too many of them carry this smug arrogance as they get so much wrong. I could list all the times they've been almost comically wrong and nearly killed me, but there's not room for them all here.
#2: you have carpal tunnel
#3: I'm pretty sure you have Lyme disease
#4: I think you might have lymphoma
#5: you're fine, go home
#6: I'm just going to treat you for Lyme
They don't know either.
#3 & 6 were right
Some doctors get it
I can find a few doctors who swear by ivermectin despite debunked.
I am stating facts
A cardiologist explained to me how MDs mistakenly bought into statins. People stopped their statins and their dementia like symptoms went away.
Sorry I just described Trump
The wisened PA, 10sec later: The test came back that you were right again. It's strep.
Primary care doc: Yeah, that's a hernia. So what do you want me to do about it?
Me: You're the doc who has to refer me to the surgeon.
Keep on googling guys.
Cure?
Prevention?
where's the profit in that?
"While I'm here would you mind testing me for diabetes?"
Minutes later...
"Oh yeah, you need to go to emergency like right now"