Can anybody suggest a doctor?

[mh10]

It seems that most physicians have been trained to believe that drugs and surgery are the only solutions to all health problems. I'm tired of taking a medicine cabinet full of strange  pills every day. In fact, I've quit taking all my medications, and I would ike to find a new doctor who will work with patients on lifestyle issues, especially diet and nutrition.

Here's what I would prefer: an MD (or osteopath), sort of middle-aged (old enough to be experienced, young enough to be up on new research), and very tolerant of patients who do not want to take any drugs. I don't want to hear any more lectures about why I should be taking a lot of strange chemicals.

Is there such a doctor in the Tulsa area? If so, please email jimpurdy1943@yahoo.com or call Jim anytime (yes, 24/7) at 430-5842.

[RecycleMichael]

As your internet doctor, I recommend preservatives. They pickle the innards and fight the bad germs.

Eat a convenience store sandwich and call me in the morning.

[mh10]

As always, Dr Mike, your advice is just right! Do you have office hours?

[RecycleMichael]

I am with you MH10.

I think the medical profession is very frustrating. We just spent all day at the hospital getting my 5 year-old daughter's arm fixed. They told us the surgery would be early, yet, we had to wait four hours in the room before the doctors came to get her.

Even how we talk about health care is all screwed up. We say, "have you seen a doctor", when we should say, "has a doctor seen you?"

I am afraid of most pills too. I have probably taken a hundred pills total in my life and would never take another if I had my way.

When you find a doctor that you feel understands your personal views, let us know. I know they exist. We had a doctor friend help us quite a bit a couple of weeks ago when she broke her arm and I will always be grateful.

[Ibanez]

Jon Cox

He has been my doctor for nearly 7 years and I am very happy with him.

[brunoflipper]

quote:Originally posted by mh10

It seems that most physicians have been trained to believe that drugs and surgery are the only solutions to all health problems. I'm tired of taking a medicine cabinet full of strange  pills every day. In fact, I've quit taking all my medications...

i don't think most physicians are trained to believe that... quite the contrary, they are trained that most of life's ills are directly a result of human behavior and can be remedied by changing human behavior- eat right, lose weight, stop smoking, drink less, sleep more, exercise regularily... but they've given up on us and with good reason...

the reality is most of us won't do what they ask us to do and when when we get backed into a corner... we head off to the doctor and want something easier and we want them to save us, from ourselves...

so we get a prescription... or if your a troofer (and convinced the military-industrial-entertainment-pharmecutical is out to get us all), we seek out crackpot alternative medicines- magic beans, vitamins, elixirs, bracelets, magnets and herbs... turns out they are usually all crap- read an unbiased scientfic source and you'll see that most of it is junk science (dont get me wrong- there are plenty of herbs that have pharmecutical properties but, so far, they all act through well known pathways and receptors)... hell, if any of it worked in novel or more effective ways, the pharm industry would have bottled it and sold it or it's chemical cousion to us years ago...

but if you think your doctor is the problem then by all means get a new one... i did... i can't stand doctors... most are arrogant and rarely have the ability to back up any of what the say with good clinical data...

the system is ****ing broken... insurance is ****ed and medicine is a business... any health system will hire some crackpot who'll see 50 patients a day as long as he produces... who give a **** if he is a psycho or idiot... so, it has gotten hard to tell the quacks from the decent ones, so i just start by figuring they are all full of **** and let them prove me wrong... the sad fact is that as consumers it is nearly impossible for us to tell whacko upstairs medical college grads (who could give two ****s about any of us) from the  decent ones until it is far too late... so don't mistake me, your doctor may well be the problem...

but stop taking your meds? either your doctor was an idiot (which is quite possible) and you did not need them in the first place or you could very well wind up up hosed...

diet and nutrition? you don't need a doc for it... it aint rocket science... eat more frequent and smaller meals, more fruits and veggies, more fish, more protein, less carbs, less processed anything, less hormones, less chemicals, less fried anything and less in general... if you can't look at somethiong on a plate and readily identify the main ingredients in their natural state- limit your intake... that is it... no vitamins, no bull****... pretty damn simple...

but you really should find a new doc... if your gut is he's not on the same page as you, my experience is that he probably is not and your better off with a new one... i always meet them/interview them first and if i like them i stay, if not i move on... i just go with my gut...

[Breadburner]

Dr. Joe Wolf....He is a D.O....I have been seeing him for at least 16 years....Everyone I have sent to him over that time still go and see him as well....He's a no nonsense kinda doctor in a good old school kinda way.....PM for more info if you like.....

[Conan71]

I have a general distrust of GP's, or at least I question their motives when it comes to scrips.  When I wait for 30 minutes to see my doc and a drug company rep can march right into her office while I'm waiting, it gives me a feeling of where I fall on the priority list.  

I do like my GP, I've been going to her for almost 20 years.  My Godfather, who was our family physician growing up, was one of her mentors when she was at OU med school.  So she's sort of family in a way.

I believe there is an incestuous relationship between GP's and drug company reps.  I challenge anyone here to deny it.  Granted some of the old perks docs recieved about ten years ago have been curtailed, but a doctor is pretty much makes the final close on a sale of a prescription med.

What troubles me about drug company reps is that many of them have business degrees and little more education level than myself.  Most don't know any more about a particular med than I can figure out by reading a sample pack insert, and they are the ones educating my physician about efficacies, dosages, results, and side-effects.

I was having allergy and related sinus problems about 10 or 12 years ago.  My doc prescribed Rhynatan (sp?).  After a month, I was not pleased with the results, she put me on Claritin (it was still scrip only at the time).  I asked her: "When you have two or three drugs which are reputed to do the same thing, how do you decide which one to prescribe?  Does it depend on which drug company rep just took you golfing or to a great lunch?"

She didn't bat an eyelash: "Yep, pretty much."

[mh10]

I've noticed a recurring pattern, involving many MDs over a period of many years:'
1. Doctor prescribes me a medication for a problem I didn't even know I had.
2. Medication causes big-time adverse effects, making me feel worse than I felt before I started the med.
3. I tell doctor that the medication is causing problems.
4. Doctor chews me out, writes a presription for a higher dosage, and tells me to take the new higher dosage.
5. I change doctors.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by mh10

I've noticed a recurring pattern, involving many MDs over a period of many years:'
1. Doctor prescribes me a medication for a problem I didn't even know I had.
2. Medication causes big-time adverse effects, making me feel worse than I felt before I started the med.
3. I tell doctor that the medication is causing problems.
4. Doctor chews me out, writes a presription for a higher dosage, and tells me to take the new higher dosage.
5. I change doctors.

No, what's better is when they keep you on a scrip that has undesired side-effects, then presribe something else to counter-act the side-effects.

Ever take a look at how many meds elderly people are on???  Many are to offset the effects of something else they are taking.  I've already asked my wife to take me to the vet and have me put to sleep when it gets to the point I need more than a couple of meds for sustainability. []

One of my friends was on an absurdly high dosage of the anti-depressant Effexor, and was having horrible anxiety problems which started when she got on it.  Effexor will not only stimulate serotonin output but will work on adrenaline.  If the dosage gets too high, it amps you out.  

Instead of trying a different med, the Dr. went back and prescribed two anti-anxiety meds to be taken in conjunction w/ the Effexor. [)]

[RecycleMichael]

Doctor: Take these three red pills and these two yellow pills every morning.

Patient: What are they for?

Doctor: The red ones are to cure your ailment.

Patient: What are the yellow ones for?

Doctor: They are in case the red ones are poison.

[Ibanez]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

I have a general distrust of GP's, or at least I question their motives when it comes to scrips.  When I wait for 30 minutes to see my doc and a drug company rep can march right into her office while I'm waiting, it gives me a feeling of where I fall on the priority list.  

I do like my GP, I've been going to her for almost 20 years.  My Godfather, who was our family physician growing up, was one of her mentors when she was at OU med school.  So she's sort of family in a way.

I believe there is an incestuous relationship between GP's and drug company reps.  I challenge anyone here to deny it.  Granted some of the old perks docs recieved about ten years ago have been curtailed, but a doctor is pretty much makes the final close on a sale of a prescription med.

What troubles me about drug company reps is that many of them have business degrees and little more education level than myself.  Most don't know any more about a particular med than I can figure out by reading a sample pack insert, and they are the ones educating my physician about efficacies, dosages, results, and side-effects.

I was having allergy and related sinus problems about 10 or 12 years ago.  My doc prescribed Rhynatan (sp?).  After a month, I was not pleased with the results, she put me on Claritin (it was still scrip only at the time).  I asked her: "When you have two or three drugs which are reputed to do the same thing, how do you decide which one to prescribe?  Does it depend on which drug company rep just took you golfing or to a great lunch?"

She didn't bat an eyelash: "Yep, pretty much."

That is one of my reasons for liking my doctor so much. He actually spends time with you talking things over and doesn't just rush in and rush out. He also doesn't try to push scripts on you and doesn't laugh when I mention some of the homeopathic treatments I do.

[brunoflipper]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

I have a general distrust of GP's, or at least I question their motives when it comes to scrips.  When I wait for 30 minutes to see my doc and a drug company rep can march right into her office while I'm waiting, it gives me a feeling of where I fall on the priority list.  

I do like my GP, I've been going to her for almost 20 years.  My Godfather, who was our family physician growing up, was one of her mentors when she was at OU med school.  So she's sort of family in a way.

I believe there is an incestuous relationship between GP's and drug company reps.  I challenge anyone here to deny it.  Granted some of the old perks docs recieved about ten years ago have been curtailed, but a doctor is pretty much makes the final close on a sale of a prescription med.

What troubles me about drug company reps is that many of them have business degrees and little more education level than myself.  Most don't know any more about a particular med than I can figure out by reading a sample pack insert, and they are the ones educating my physician about efficacies, dosages, results, and side-effects.

I was having allergy and related sinus problems about 10 or 12 years ago.  My doc prescribed Rhynatan (sp?).  After a month, I was not pleased with the results, she put me on Claritin (it was still scrip only at the time).  I asked her: "When you have two or three drugs which are reputed to do the same thing, how do you decide which one to prescribe?  Does it depend on which drug company rep just took you golfing or to a great lunch?"

She didn't bat an eyelash: "Yep, pretty much."

a GP? you mean an unboard certified doc? yeah, i'd distrust them too... if you're lumping board certified family practice doctors in than you are confused...

most drug reps are very well educated about the drugs they represent... your generalization is far from fact...

i'll challenge your claims... pharma regs prevent any of the excessive physician benefits of the past... the docs i know cant get a meal without sitting through some form of educational content... the gifts are restricted to $5 or less and there is no way for a doc to otherwise benefit from writing for a particular med... if my doc had said she wrote me for a medicine because that rep took her to lunch, i'd have walked out of there and never returned...

[citizen72]

Another annoying thing about today's doctor is they tend to not return phone calls. We had my wife's very ill dad in SouthCrest and called his appointed doctor for two days and got no response. I finally had to call the hospital administrator and she forced him to call us. When I answered the phone his first question was, "What do you want?" in an annoyed bothered voice. We changed doctors that afternoon. Still would not return phone calls though.

[sgrizzle]

I use Dr Studdard who is a DO. Only time I got a prescription from him, he just gave me samples.