If I had to guess, I’d bet that most people have lied to their doctor. Speaking for myself, sometimes it’s just easier. Now, I realize this is a stupid thing to do, but I guess I can take heart in recent news out of Dr. Barbara Korsch’s recent work out of the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in knowing that I’m not alone.
In fact, Korsch, the author of The Intelligent Patient’s Guide to the Doctor-Patient Relationship, led Fox News to recently explore the greatest areas of whopperdom faced by physicians when trying to treat their patients.
1. Not taking prescribed medication correctly, completely, or … at all.
As embarrassing as it might be to admit it, “If you don’t tell us you’re skipping pills, we’ll assume you’re taking them and they aren’t working, so we might change the dosage or the prescription”—which may put off your recovery and cause side effects, says Laura Knobel, MD, a family physician in Walpole, Massachusetts, and a member of the board of directors for the American Academy of Family Physicians.
And when you toss antibiotics before you’re done with the full course, you may not kill off all the infectious bacteria in your body, leaving them resistant to drugs and possibly causing the illness to come back with greater force.
There’s a real science to pharmaceuticals, and the balance is often a dicey one. Doctors making sound medical decisions operate under …
… the assumption that you’re using (or have used) prescribed medication, and expecting them to keep on top of your health if you’re not keeping up with the script is like expecting a pilot to fly a plane with impaired vision.
2. Keeping your participation in the latest weight-loss craze on the downlow.
Any extreme diet—from those involving laxativesor stimulants to “healthier” versions (like juice fasts)—has its risks even if you’re in good shape and follow it for just a few days. You can become dehydrated and throw off your electrolyte balance, which can harm the heart and kidneys, for starters. “Cleanse diets can also strip you of micronutrients like magnesium and vitamin D,” says Dr. Pamela F. Gallin, author of How to Survive Your Doctor’s Care.
I don’t know if any of you remember the cabbage soup diet, but my mother and I used it a lot when I was in high school and the weight literally poured off. In retrospect, it was probably about as healthy as sustaining on lemon juice and cayenne pepper a la “The Cleanse”, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
I suspect a doctor would have been mortified.
3. Being disingenuous about your sex life—past, present, and future.
When your doctor asks about your sexual partners, it’s not so she can judge your choices; it’s to assess your risk for STDs and to schedule appropriate screenings. Some types of human papillomavirus, for example, can lead to cervical cancer if not treated; untreated chlamydia can lead to infertility, and herpes can lie dormant but be passed on to your future babies, says Dr. Cheryl Iglesia, director of female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery at Washington Hospital Center, in Washington, D.C. That’s why it’s also crucial to tell your gyno if you or your partner have had an affair or you were once sexually assaulted.
I don’t talk about my sex life with my doctor, period. I get birth control, I get tested, and that’s it. Maybe it’s a lapsed Catholic thing, but this is a part of my life that stays private. I have never given a doctor numbers, never shared my sexual assault, and quite honestly I never intend to. Being in the medical field is sort of like being in education—part of your job is to maintain privacy (which is easy and goes without saying) and doing your best not to judge (which is, of course, pretty much impossible). I don’t intend to go there with a doctor.
4. Not letting your doc in on the medical skeletons in your familial closet.
If you have a family history of colon or breast cancer, for example, your doctor can advise you about screenings that could catch these scary diseases in their most treatable stages. And if depression, heart disease, or high blood pressure runs in your family, you can work out an action plan now for staying healthy down the road.
Knobel also points out that when a doctor’s questions seem to come from left field—like asking about depression when you’re suffering from back pain—there’s usually a method to the seeming madness. Your symptoms could be caused by a not-so-obvious condition, and your family history may point your doc in the right direction.
For awhile, I was embarrassed to trumpet the existence of everything from alcoholism to anorexia within my family’s ranks to my doctor, but I got over it. It really is important stuff for your doc to know.
5. Seeing another medical provider without letting your regular doc into the loop.
If you’re seeing two doctors at the same time, things can get dicey. “You need to tell each one what the other one is doing,” Dr. Gallin says. “They need to be able to share test results, make sure there aren’t any bad drug interactions, and ensure that their treatments work together.” That’s true whether you “cheat” with a traditional doctor or an alternative healer.
“We need to know what you’ve tried,” says Dr. Knobel, who adds that it’s often easier to get reimbursed for tests, such as MRI, if a patient has already tried physical therapy or a chiropractor. “Think of your main doctor as your home base, the one who keeps track of everything,” Knobel says. “If you’re not comfortable sharing all that information with her, then you may want to look for another doctor.”
And there you go.
Until I developed a fairly serious medical condition, I always thought of going to the doctor as kind of a necessary evil, a signature on the birth control prescription and the guy to call when you need an antibiotic called in for a sinus infection.
Through my battle with chronic pancreatitis, however, I’ve gained a whole new respect for and appreciation of my doctors and am consequently pretty open with them.
Do you always tell your doctor the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
