To not blindly take medication?

[Misty9]

I don't often risk posting in here but am incensed after my doctors appointment and wanted to see what the general consensus is and risk getting my arse handed to me

Visit to gp for advice about digestive issues. They suggest a medication so I ask how it works/what it is affecting in my body. Lots of huffing and puffing then eventually got BNF and looked it up. But acted like I'd asked for the moon on a stick to want to know what I'd be putting into my body!

Aibu to think it was a perfectly reasonable question? And to prefer not to take medication if I don't know the proposed effect?

YANBU at all.
I once asked what they were testing for in a blood test and was met with the same response.
Why did I want to know?
Well, because it's my body and I want to know! Why shouldn't I?
But in the case of medication, even more reason to want to know as, like you point out, there may be side effects etc.

I’ve been having an argument with my dr over the reasoning for wanting to put me on a mood stabiliser for my bipolar when I am currently managing better than ever on just antidepressants.

I asked outright if my body is balanced at the moment what the benefit would be to me taking something else. I was told it wasn’t my business to ask that, I should trust him, he’s a dr. I said ok, I’m a nursery worker, your child (who he’d mentioned) should be no longer using a bottle. He said what’s that got to do with you, ive just met you, why should I take your advice???
He looked incredulous.

I sat back and said exactly. So why should I take your opinion on me taking additional pills that I don’t need, when I’ve just met you.
Got up, walked out and I refuse to see him. Pompous twat.

Posted too soon. So no, yanbu in my opinion op. You have the right to know what benefits a medicine can have and what it can do to cause any detrimental harm too

Providing options/encouraging patients to make choices about their care/shared decision making are all buzz words in GP training atm (and you would fail your exams if you didn't do this). I think perfectly reasonable to ask, might be met with a "I don't know but can find out" response. Buy everyone has bad days, and when I'm on my 50th patient contact of the day, over something relatively "minor" I have to admit I do sometimes feel "you asked my opinion, here it is.... just take the tablets!"

No YANBU. As in any profession, if you can find someone who is confident enough in their own knowledge and skill to admit when they don't know the answer, you know they're pretty good at their job.

I have Type 1 diabetes. A recent general check up with my GP included me being told that ‘ you might as well go on statins.” My cholesterol is ‘excellent” and all the other results they had were also excellent so I asked why. The reason? “Because you’re diabetic so we might as well.“ She got very irritated with me when I said I could not understand the point of putting things in my body that can often have side-effects simply because “we might as well“. And that appeared to be the best reason she could give for it, and she didn’t look particularly happy that I was questioning her apparent expertise

As the NHS is free at the point of service I think doctors think that the patient doesn’t get to choose their treatment “it’s free, you get what you are given”

Since moving to the US I have found when I go to the doctor I get treatment options explained to me and I get to choose what happens

Sorry to hear others have had similar experiences. It puts me off going to the gp - perhaps that's the intent?!

I always question new medicines ds is put on, especially as he takes so many I need to be sure things aren’t likely to clash in his body.

Was there any mention of you keeping a food diary or having a simple blood test for coeliac disease?

I had a similar sort of response once when a doctor took my blood pressure,and I had the audacity to ask what it was. His condescending response was 'Why do you need to know?'. When I said I liked to know out of interest as it's my body,he said 'It wouldn't mean anything to you anyway'. Well actually,it would. It was 125/75,which I knew was fine for my age. If he had said it was 150/95,for example,I would have known that it was too high. His assumption that I wouldn't understand it or know what it meant really annoyed me. As a sufferer of hypertension for some years,I felt that I had a responsibility to get clued up on what the readings meant. Some doctors are unfortunately still of the 'old school',in that they have been taught that doctors know best,and that patients are too stupid to understand any of it.

YANBU to ask, and YANBU at all to take an active role in making decisions about your health.

I suspect the doctor was less then pleased as they didn't have the time to go into explaining it with ten minute slots per patient, so they were probably thinking about the queue building up outside the door.

You can read the information leaflet in the box, ring NHS 111 for info or check the NHS choices website all from home if you have more questions about your medication the GP didn't have time to answer.

Oh, and the pharmacist. They are an absolute wealth of knowledge and have more time to sit and have a conversation.

my dbil was put on statins as he is diabetic. it badly affected his leg muscles. he was not told that this was a side effect and he could not read the leaflet as he is blind. he didnt havr high colesterol

Scaramoose and AJPTaylor DH had the same problem with Statins, he no longer takes them they crippled him. Last week I went to my GP about my blood test for my Underactive Thyroid and my GP mentioned putting me on Statins, I asked why as my blood test paperwork only mentioned Thyroid not cholesterol, he told me I am 63 so should be on it, then said that he noticed I hadn't had my over 60 NHS check so he would book me in, I said don't bother I am not having one, then he took my BP and said OH.... its normal. I did of course refuse the Statins

YANBU. It frustrates me, getting people to play an active part in their own health is vital in reducing demand on the NHS, but my experience of consultants is mostly that it's really difficult to get information out of them to help you help yourself. I wasn't told about something that I have that is life threatening for a few months after they found it and unknowingly put myself at risk through sport. I've now been given no advice on managing my condition, just been sent away whilst they decide what to do to me.

@LimonViola so you get your prescription, go and chat with the pharmacist, turns out you don't want to take it but there's something else that might suit you very and then go have another appointment with your GP? Not sure that's best use of resources either.

I've never had this, my GPs have generally been excellent at discussing options with me and it's never seemed to be a problem.

I cannot understand why people will just blindly take stuff without questioning it. My grandma is 94 so is on a lot of tablets. I don't know what most of them are, and I bet she doesn't either, but it really would not surprise me if she didn't actually need at least some of them.

I think the diabetic / statin connection is because you are possibly more likely to suffer from heart problems. However, if your levels are good, then taking statins regardless surely can create new problems to supposedly lessen the chances of something happening that wasn't that likely in the first place! I know GP's do an excellent job but I think that the limited time, and the culture of just handing out pills regardless, leaves a lot to be desired!

Isn't that what the patient info leaflet is for?

"Today 20:55 mirime

@LimonViola so you get your prescription, go and chat with the pharmacist, turns out you don't want to take it but there's something else that might suit you very and then go have another appointment with your GP? Not sure that's best use of resources either."

No, I go to the doctor with an idea already of what I think the problem might be and having researched the most commonly prescribed solutions. So I already have a fair idea. It helps that I have been a chronic pain patient for many years and have taken ownership over my own health management so I'm fairly aware of different types of meds, their effects and contraindications, and their mechanism of action.

It's easy to leave an appointment and then research the medication online. I suppose yes you'd have to return if you wanted something else.

Any medication im put on i specifically ask to be checked to make sure theres no side effects that can cause incontinence or bladder leakage before it is prescribed. Not once have i ever been met by any kind of hostility, they've always been more than happy to check for me. (although one doctor did still prescribe me gabapentin despite it having an up to 1 in 10 side effect of incontinence issues. Thankfully i always double check the leaflet myself before taking it)

I'm guessing they are under a lot of pressure and can't know everything off the top of their head for every medication for every condition and were trying to get through the appt as quick as possible as they have way more than they should scheduled still waiting. It doesn't excuse rudeness, but they are so over worked.