Test Results: No News is NOT Good News
You’ve done your job– you’ve seen the doctor and had your pap smear done, or your lab work done, or your x-ray done, and now you’re waiting for the call to tell you what the results are. Here’s the problem: Many doctors don’t have their practices organized in a way that makes it certain: But…
Chronic Illness Mismanagement, Clinical Inertia, and How to Get What You Need
You’ve been seeing your doctor regularly for some time now. He’s watching your diabetes, or your blood pressure, or your cholesterol, and you’re taking the medicine he gives you, and getting the blood tests he orders for you. So everything’s fine, right? No. It’s hard to believe, but many chronic illnesses like high blood pressure,…
Misdiagnosed
If your doctor has made a wrong diagnosis, then obviously your treatment is going to be incorrect, and you’re not going to get better. “There is now abundant evidence that delayed or missed diagnoses are widespread and that in more than 50% of such cases there are serious adverse outcomes.”1 The most common cause of…
Beware of the “it’s-all-in-your-head” diagnosis
In so many cases of misdiagnosed or undiagnosed illness, the patient is tested and examined by the doctor, and when nothing is found that the doctor can diagnose, he tells the patient “it’s all in your head”. Most of the time, it is NOT all in your head. When you hear this diagnosis from a…
How to Find Reputable Websites
Make sure to look for sites that end in .gov or .edu, it means that the government or an educational institution is standing behind that information. Usually when you see .org, this is provided by a non-profit organization. Websites that display ads and get revenue this way can be “specialists” at developing patient-friendly websites and…
A Solution to Not Getting Enough of Your Doctor’s Time
Doctors no longer hold the keys to all things medical. Support for you has arrived literally at your fingertips– the Internet. If you access reputable medical websites for information on your illnesses, you can learn so much more than what your doctor has time to tell you, and what you learn can be life saving….
Have More than One Illness to Discuss?
If you go to the doctor’s appointment with more than one problem that you want discussed or solved, it is very important that you either bring a list of what you want to discuss with him and give it to him at the very start of your appointment when he first comes in or tell…
First Obstacle to Get Past in the Doctor’s Office
Be cautious in a doctor’s office that has the nurse interview you at the beginning of your office visit, and she writes some things down for the doctor before the doctor comes in. Chances are she will not write down everything you tell her, and she may not use your and it’ s own words–…
Your Number One Most Important Asset for Getting Good Medical Care
You need to make and keep a “personal health record”. Because of time constraints, doctors in our medical system frequently treat you without enough information about you, often with devastating results. Here are the real facts about medical care today: Doctors see twenty or more patients daily. Each patient’s medical chart is a pile of…
Your Responsibility as an Outpatient
There are two separate medical scenarios: being an “out-patient” in which you are being treated by a doctor when not in a hospital; and being an “inpatient” in which you are being treated by a doctor while in a hospital. The amount of time your doctor is able to spend with you has not kept…
Recognizing the Problem
If you believe any of the following statements to be true: If you believe ANY of these things to be true, then you must take action to ensure the safety and well-being of your loved one. With knowledge comes responsibility and I, Dr. Carolyn Oliver, MD, know these statements to be true. If you don’t…
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