US Doctors Urge Wider Use Of Cholesterol Drugs

[MADem]

104. Doctors are NOT always right. You can scold me all the live-long day, but I will not be

cowed or bowed by your demands that I sit down, shut up, and do what the "doctor" says-or else.

We're talking about statins, here. Doctors don't prescribe statins because "X is still hurting." They do it to lower cholesterol. It is possible to lower cholesterol without taking them; with diet/exercise modification. I know, because I've done it.

The doctor without a chip on her/his shoulder will listen to what the patient is saying, and will work with that patient for a good outcome. Health care is a two-way street. Patients must have an agreement with their doctors, too, and if the doctor is a didactic ass, the doctor needs to be fired and future potential patients warned (thank GAWD for the internet). The doctor doesn't "give orders" and the patient doesn't "obey, or else." If you think that's the way health care works, you're stuck in the middle of the last century.

If a patient doesn't want to rely on pills and there's another way, maybe not so quick, but just as effective in the long term, why not try that FIRST?

You know, we do have this thing called the internet. As a consequence, patients are better prepared to talk to their doctors armed with a familiarity with their conditions; they don't have to wait for their MD "font of all knowledge" to tell them what they "need" to know. Most doctors--the ones who are not insecure, anyway--not only accept this new paradigm, but many embrace it and encourage their patients to research their conditions and empower themselves.

But hey, you go on ahead, now-- take your Phen-fen, your Vioxx, your Accutane, and your Paxil...and don't ask any questions, because Doctor Knows Best!