Don't get bullied!

Speak up…even if your voice shakes

Having been on the patient side for many years, I know how incredibly frustrating it can be to not get answers from your doctor or worse yet, to have your doctor belittle you.

So, you’ve felt lousy long enough and you’ve done all the right things to get help, taking time off work to go see your doctor only to be told nothing’s wrong or not to over worry. You walk out with a feeling deep inside that tells you they are wrong and your intuition tells you that you should have pushed a little bit more so they could have understood just how bad you feel. It is enough to make you even sicker than you already are!

Well, I am proof that sometimes you just have to fire your doctor, move on and find a new one. Unfortunately, you might have to do this more than once or twice to find the perfect fit for you.

You and your doctor (or other health practitioner) should have a really good relationship, one that is mutually respectful. You should be able to speak openly and honestly with them and dare I say even respectfully disagree with them.

I have heard terrible stories from clients about being chastised for not following their doctors’ “orders” and I have personally been mocked for believing that changing what I eat might help get me well. It feels degrading and really pushes us patients down below the prestigious level of an M.D.

Who are we to question them? Who are we to know something about our disease or illness? Who are we to seek a second opinion?

Well, WE are the ones that are not well and we should not be made to feel that our conversations with our doctors are burdensome or our questions ridiculous.

I don’t believe doctors are “bad”, I know there are serious time constraints for most doctors and more so even for specialists.

For instance, a GI specialist spends on average 15-20 minutes with each patient. Granted, they are overscheduled and overworked but at some point, we really have to demand that our voices are heard, even though that can seem really scary.

If you feel like something is wrong and your practitioner doesn’t take your concerns seriously then I highly recommend you seek out a new practitioner.

I spend over an hour in my initial consultations with my clients. I want to know as much as possible about my clients because it helps me put all of the pieces of their puzzle together so we can design a plan that gets to the heart of the matter and gets them better, sooner rather than later.

That is what everyone deserves, time to be heard and understood, especially when it comes to our health, our lives!

If you are not well and you are not getting answers, demand better!

You are worth it.