[shanselman]

It always strikes me how often we hear that folks either won't go to the doctor to get something looked at, or they go to the doc and get the answer and then simply aren't compliant. If it's broken, fix it. I've never understood the logic behind avoiding the doc.

[reeses]

The best are people who lie to the doctor. Unless you're hoping to defraud someone (get meds, insurance, whatever) it's not only pointless, it's so counterproductive.

"I haven't pooped in a week." "Hmm, how many servings of roughage do you eat per day?" "All of them. I eat ten apples for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I eat the solids left in the juicer after making my all-organic smoothies." "OK, I guess we'll have to do a DRE. Do you mind if my interns help?"

"How often do you floss." "Ten times a day." "That's curious, because your gums started bleeding like a Tarantino movie when my hygienist waved the box of floss in your general direction."

I learned the hard way when I faked appendicitis and ended up in surgery when I was 12. :-)

[cfontes]

"How often do you floss." "Ten times a day." "That's curious, because your gums started bleeding like a Tarantino movie when my hygienist waved the box of floss in your general direction."

Awesomly put... and funny as hell too.

[WalterBright]

I tried lying to the dentist when I was a kid about how often I brushed my teeth. He just laughed at me.

[taeric]

I always had the opposite as a child. They would commend me on how I must have done a decent job since the last checkup. Reality is I probably only brushed/flossed 3 or 4 times in that interval.

[taeric]

For me, it is hard to know when things are actually bad.

I would hear stories of folks that can't see anything, look up and can make it out alright. Finally get in for a vision test at 34 to find that glasses help out tremendously. Sure, I could read before, but now it is just easy.

So, it isn't that I would avoid the doctor. But for many things, if you don't go to a specialist, the answer to the question of "how are things" is usually "getting along, no major complaints."

[lmm]

It's hard to admit there's something wrong with oneself. Physical problems are easier than mental ones, but it's still not a pleasant admission. (Probably makes sense from an evolutionary perspective, where medical care wasn't available, and it was valuable to be able to affect being ok even when one wasn't)

[mgkimsal]

Props on the use of 'affect'. :)

[outworlder]

"Avoiding" the doctor is one thing. Some people are even afraid of doing any sort of tests for fear they might discover something.

However, there is a different phenomenon. Sometimes, going to the doctor is not so straightforward. You have to go to a clinic, wait an unspecified amount of time to see the doctor. Once there, he'll prescribe several inconvenient things. And you know, we got stuff to do.

I went to a doctor a few months ago. I then had to do two tests, an abdominal ultrasound (which was fine, and I did), and several stool tests. These, I took my time. When I finally got around to doing them, I found out there is a time limit and the lab won't do them. I now have to go back to the doctor so that he can order them again. It's been months now.

I'll go back there... someday.

[thelogos]

I don't know about other people but I can tell you my reason.

1.Money 2.Takes forever to get an appointment with any specialist 3.Busy schedule 4.Money 5.See 1and 4

[k-mcgrady]

I think this is a problem in places with free health care too (so money isn't even a reason for a lot of people). It doesn't cost a penny to see a doctor or get treatment here but I know plenty of people who avoid going to the doctor until a problem has gotten out of hand.

[thelogos]

Procrastination plays a part too. It's a big effort to, 1.Find a good doctor (not all of them are equal) 2.Call to make an appointment 3.Take time off work/classes 4.Get there and wait, wait, wait

Really, all this could be solved if more medical school were allowed to be opened and get rid of the arbitrary ceiling on the number of students med school are allowed to accept .

This is only the easy part. If you don't have insurance, it's a nightmare.

In the case of my father, he went to a general doctor. Got referred to another specialist. Who then referred him to another specialist. $600 later (a huge amount of money to most normal people) and no diagnosis, he decided to just "deal with it".

[k-mcgrady]

Good point but I have to say these reasons don't really apply to me.

1. We have a local doctors surgery which has offices for around 5 GP's and 2 nurses. You can request an appointment with a specific one but most people just take whoever is available soonest. Although I've come across a few bad doctors for the most part people seem to trust the system to weed them out.

2/3. For me this means calling a number and asking for the next available appointment. If work is a problem they have a few nights where they work late and you can request the next available appointment on a late night. No need to take time off unless it's imperative you get seen quickly.

4. This is true but I find with an appointment that hasn't been arranged last minute I get seen within 10 minutes of turning up.

NB: I'm in the UK so obviously there are differences to how the systems we're both describing work.

[GotAnyMegadeth]

I am concerned that I am a hypochondriac, and I don't want to waste the (UK NHS) doctors valuable time. I usually end up waiting too long and going in with more serious symptoms than I if I had gone in earlier. Then again I often go in and get told to go away. What is it called when you worry that you are a hypochondriac?