Do many couples attend routine medical and dental appointments together?

[momtoboys]

I have two sets of friends, both in female same sex marriages (which may not have any bearing), that attend all medical and dental appointments together. Including one of the couples goes into the dental appointment and sits next to her wife while she is in the chair having her teeth cleaned. I truly am not judging, it just never occurred to me to do that with my DH.

Do many couples do this?

Thanks.

That's just weird.

Sounds very controlling to me

Sounds practical - one planning, one journey, second pair of hannds and brains to hold things and remember stuff.

I go to the routine dentist checks with my sister. Does it count? Just a habit, but we share the journey and go for a breakfast together afterwards.

I like being taken to my appointments, but to be fair I would usually have booked our dentist appointments alongside each other for ease of planning.

But yeah, I get my husband to come with me at wait at docs etc, then we will go straight out somewhere for the day or a few hours. We like spending time together so why not?

Well it makes sense if they’ve one appointment after the other, saves a journey, but if they’re just there for the jaunt, that’s a bit odd!

I would suggest that one of the couple has had bad experiences and either:

1. Wants a chaperone that she trusts

or

2. needs emotional support.

Either way, not your business.

My DH has certainly come to appointments that I was particularly worried about eg antenatal appointments.

My in laws do. They even have medical or doctor calls on speaker phone so the other can hear. That said I think they do very little apart these days and they are in their 80's so perhaps understandable.

I don't know anyone else that does it.

When I was dealing with dental phobia, my DH would go with me.
Now I am better, I go on my own.
When I was super sick with Sarcoidosis, DH would take me to my appointments because I was so sick/zombie tired of often forget things being said/get confused or just be too tired to drive safely.

Why? You don’t know if they have plans for the day afterwards, or if the person who had the appointment wanted a bit of a handhold because they don’t like the dentist etc.

There is not enough information on this post to say that anyone is being controlling

Dentist check up yes because that’s how our dentist books them (nhs) whole family together including adult dc. Drs no unless when I was so poorly I needed dh to help me

No. A&E yes, anything non emergency no.

My dh has come to the dentist with me because im terrified. He has also come to the gp with me when ive been going back to discuss an issue that was previously dismissed. I find they take me far more seriously when dh is present

I take my husband to his medical appointments because he has a disabling neuro condition and struggles with noises, people moving around, lights flashing etc and it makes it easier for him for me to handle it all and he just try and get through it.

I go to mine alone, obviously.

Might book us both in together so it’s all done in one trip. Before I could drive dh would take me to appointments and sit there with me, rather than wait in the car. Do they both work a lot and have limited time together maybe? Or it’s just ‘on the way’ to do something else? Or one has a fear?
I don’t think it’s normal but I think there’s a lot of reasonable reasons for it.

We go to dental check ups together, or if one of us is having anything involving needles.

GP appointments if it’s something we might need each other for, such as symptoms that could be something sinister.

Also, we just really like being together. Some couples prefer time apart, each to their own.

No if it’s something serious we do. But not routine, what a waste of time off work

I go to dh’s medical appointments as he is useless at remembering medicine things. He’s so efficient at everything else that this is a real blind spot for him. I take notes. Dentists he can do on his own.

He doesn’t need to come to mine,

No. I find this so bizarre.

I'm single now, but when with my chn's dad I didn't even know what GP or dentist he was with. It was of no concern to me.

And if either of us went, why on earth would we make a day of it? It's a half hour trip. You go straight back to work, or to get the kids.

Again, why does a journey need to be shared? Most GP/dentists are a 10 minute walk. Are people driving this stuff? And how have you both managed to arrange time off together? Why do you need to make a day of something that you can squeeze into a lunch break? Who are all these people who have empty days?

Maybe this is for people of an age where annual leave isn't desperately hoarded up to cover the school holidays.

As for those booking with adult chn, you'd have a hard time here: my parents, brothers and I all live in 5 different cities. What are you all doing so near to each other in adulthood?

I do not understand any of it.

No.

DH and I do. I don’t drive so he’s with me to drive me there so he may as well have his appointment too. Efficient use of time and fuel.

We both don’t like dental appointments so we’re there as moral support for each other. DH will sit near my feet out of the way of the dentist and massage my feet to help me to be calm during the appointment. Having me present in the room is enough for DH to cope better for his appointment. Dental appointments will often result in expensive procedures (not in the UK) being discussed so we may as well both be there to discuss them immediately with each other and the dentist.

DH has a shit memory due to his ADHD so I’m kind of at medical appointments as his memory.

We go to specialist appointments together.

Simple basic GP appointments might be alone. More complex ones are both of us.

About the only type of appointments he doesn’t go in with me is Pap smear or Mirena or psychologist. Occasionally when relevant he’ll come along to my psychologist appointment at my request for a specific reason.

We’re a package deal. This is what works for us. Our doctors quickly work out that we’re a package deal.

Never ever been to the doctors with my other half, and I don’t go with him. It’s really strange.

Yeah sometimes. Usually because we'll go somewhere else after but yeah we like spending time together and things are less boring when you have someone you like with you. I'd rather be sat waiting talking to DH than scrolling my phone or staring at the wall.

No, only if you were expecting bad news or you were very anxious / needed support.. not just for a bit of a day out for a routine appointment.

My DF drives DM to some of her appointments because she doesn’t like going on the motorway but I don’t think he actually goes in the room with her.

My parents mostly do now - they are older and retired, plus my mum has mobility problems, so it’s better if there’s someone to help. Support is nice for some appointments. When we were kids they didn’t do it, mum mainly took us on her own and went to hers on her own.

I understand this bit, but does he then go into the appointment with you, or stay in the waiting room?