Dieting with Obstacles - Good Medical Care

Do you feel like you get good medical care from your doctor? What is it about your doctor that keeps you reassured about your health?

I need some advice and support. I have been told that I am borderline diabetic and may have PCOS (and that I may not as I don't show all the symptoms and its difficult to test). My primary care physician is an internal medicine doctor and I'm beginning to wonder if she's tired of treating/checking me. I wonder this because when I see her I don't feel like I get support to make changes but rather she is just maintaining me with medication (blood pressure and blood sugar [glucophage/metformin]. I haven't been the best patient in the past as I have difficulty losing weight due to lack of motivation and discipline. I take full responsibility for that aspect as I know no changes are going to be made without my full participation. This is something I am changing right now. That said, when I do see my doctor and tell her that I need help losing weight and need support, she comes across as "we'll just manage through medication as you seem hopeless" and "go figure it out yourself... here's your prescription". For me, what I think will work is diet and exercise but a hard core support system to get through the tough days but I'm having difficulty finding it. Though I like having consistent medical care, I'm wondering if its time to start with a new doctor to get a fresh start and hopefully new perspectives to support my health and weight loss. I can randomly find a doctor but I never know if they are going to be good or well versed in weighloss/obesity.

Have you ever been in a similar situation?
What resources did you use to find an outstanding doctor who could really provide you with quality healthcare and support (and maybe some encouragement)?
If you like your current doctor, what is it about them that is keeping you reassured that you are receiving excellent care?
In your experience, what is a doctor's role in supporting one who needs to lose weight? Sometimes that line seems blurry to me and I wonder if I"m expecting too much.

Whatever you can advise would useful information for me. Thanks.

Hi! You present thoughtful questions that I suspect many of us have faced from time to time.

First, you're lucky that your PCP is an Internal Medicine doc. That gives you a leg up on proper treatment for the glucose levels & hypertension. I had a doc last year that took my blood pressure, found it to be sky high & told me to just suck it up & take the meds even though I was talking & talking about a wholistic approach using diet & exercise. It was like he didn't hear me.

He was both right & wrong. He was right in the sense that he see's countless patients with these same problems & most of them have good intentions don't carry through so he automatically shifts into pushing the medicines because until I did get dedicated to doing this health thing, those pills kept me from having a stroke. He was wrong for coming off as noncaring. Lots of doctors have flunked charm school but are focused on keeping us alive. Eventually I fired him because he had absolutely no compassion or decent advice about lifestyle changes. The next doc had a nurse practicioner that was awesome. Again I was put on medications but this time she was very supportive although she warned me that most people find it too difficult to keep the weight off & she didn't want me to be swallowed in guilt.

Fast forward to a year later I have so far taken off enough weight to come off the meds but am nowhere through with this journey. It can be done with enough patience & enough determination. You, me... we're all worth the effort.

Personally I wouldnt look to a doctor to provide the best support for weight management. I know how goofy that sounds but on the whole these people have very little training in nutrition & even less in fitness training. They've been intensely trained to diagnose your problem & prescribe a treatment that generally involves a medication. (now I'm speaking as a nurse, which I've been for thirty years) Out of all the hundreds of doctors that I've known in the past thirty years, perhaps 5 of them were up to date on safe ways to drop the weight & get healthy in the gym. The rest were as clueless as we are.

This forum is a good resource for information. Weight watchers is full of good sound science but dosent balance it out with the absolute necessity for exercise. The bottom line is simple. We're not getting healthy until we get serious about eating right & adopting an exercise plan that challenges us but dosent scare us off.

Sorry to have gone on so long. I can sum this up in one final thought. When I'm dealing with my health, I don't expect anyone else (doctor, healthcare professional, etc) to be as vested in my health as I am. In the end I'm responsible for me & have to do this thing because I'm worth this effort. You're worth this effort too.

Hope this helps & hope to hear from you soon!
Marylynn

I am fortunate that I have a doctor who really cares about his patients (and rumor has it that he's leaving soon; so I'm very concerned about that); and he is very supportive of my efforts to eat and live in a healthier way.

Have you ever considered going to a dietician or nutritionist? They may be able to help you more in your weightloss efforts; and I agree that this site is a great place for personal support as well; that's why I came here (for some extra support) . Some groups are very supportive too, like Weight Watchers, Overeater's Anonymous, and many other similar groups.

As for your doctor, if you do not feel that you are getting proper care and support, you do have the right to try and get another one. Here in Canada, we do not have that option unless we go to another town or city; we have such a shortage of doctors here that if you try to get another one, first you have to pay a transfer fee; and you may have to wait for a couple of years to find one. Many people here don't even have a doctor at all, and have to go to clinics instead; I'm sure that is the same for many people in the US as well (or so I have heard).

As much as we love our doctors and our system, a major short-coming is the lack of doctors and choice. I can't even get in to see my family doctor for at least a month at any given time; if they feel I have a serious illness, we have to go the emerg at the hospital to be accessed there. Many people think that we have free healthcare for all here, but we really don't in the province of Ontario; wealthy people have to pay what some call a health tax, but it is really a premium based on one's income.

Our seniors over 65 and our disabled (and seriously ill) persons do not have to pay; neither do students and the unemployed. So, both systems have some advantages and disadvantages. You are actually fortunate that you have to option to go to another doctor ...

A relative just ask me the same question as you, what do you do if you don't feel that you are getting proper care and support from your own doctor here in Canada, given the shortcomings of our system; where do we go? The only option for us is to go to a doctor elsewhere; and we live in an isolated area.

Sorry, if I rambled off topic a ways; but, that is how things are for us here. I think we all go thru similar experiences at least once in our lives. I agree that doctors and nurses may not be the best supporters, but I do have a personal nurse friend who is very supportive of me and my efforts; and she doesn't charge me for her advice either.

Best wishes for finding a doctor you like; the care you should be getting; and the support you need, even if you have to go elsewhere to get it ...