July 29, 2024 • 8 mins
In this episode, Dr. Paul Anderson addresses the challenging situation when medical professionals provide differing opinions on your health care. He covers:
4o
- Understanding Divergent Opinions: Why doctors might have different perspectives and approaches based on their specialties, experiences, and the latest research.
- Effective Communication: Tips on how to communicate clearly with your doctors, ensuring that you fully understand their recommendations and the reasoning behind them.
- Asking the Right Questions: Key questions to ask your doctors to clarify their opinions and help you make informed decisions about your health care.
- Seeking a Second Opinion: When and how to seek a second (or third) opinion, and the importance of finding a doctor who listens to your concerns and respects your input.
- Integrative Approaches: How to consider and incorporate integrative medicine, which combines conventional and alternative therapies, to find a balanced approach that works for you.
- Making Informed Decisions: Strategies for weighing the different opinions and recommendations, including doing your own research and considering your personal health goals and values.
- Building a Support Network: The role of a supportive network, including family, friends, and other healthcare professionals, in helping you navigate conflicting medical advice.
- Advocating for Yourself: Empowering yourself to be your own health advocate, ensuring that your voice is heard, and your preferences are considered in your care plan.
4o
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to Medicine health Time, doctor Paul, and in
our doctor pro Tips, this section is called my doctors
or my healthcare providers don't agree? What do I do?
Believe it or not? All doctors all healthcare providers, even
though they have maybe similar training and may like each
(00:21):
other and all that, they don't always agree. And the
more healthcare providers you get involved in your life, the
more chance there is that there's going to be a
disagreement about something. So in the few minutes that we
have here, what I want to just go through is
why does this happen? How can you see it coming,
(00:42):
maybe prevent it or work around it. What are the
rules around which these disagreements are supposed to be sorted out?
And then what do you do if you reach an
impasse with a particular healthcare provider. Now, the first thing
to keep in mind, said in another section here, is
that generally your healthcare providers are doing the best they can.
(01:05):
If they're specialized in the area, that's their area, that's
what they're focused. They may not think about other things
because their focus is elsewhere. If they're a very busy
primary care provider, they may only have time to do
X and Y with you and not ABCD and E.
So there's a lot of limitations for things. Then there
(01:25):
is the idea that an idea from a consulting doctor,
a specialist, or somebody else is just new to them,
because you know, we all have different specialists, we all
study different things, and so if you're really really involved
with the palliative side of cancer care and healing after therapies,
(01:46):
et cetera, you're going to have come at that from
a different point of view than the average primary care doctor.
For example, if the majority of your practice is spent
with people in prevention and so you're trying to work
with people to not become a type two diabetic or
not to have their eyes eyesight fail or whatever you're preventing,
(02:07):
your focus is just going to be different than somebody
dealing with acute care medicine, emergency medicine, or in a specialty.
So the first thing to keep in mind is how
do the boundaries work, et cetera. Well, the bottom line
is is that, and this doesn't always work out, but
you should be the focus of your health care regardless
(02:29):
of how many health care providers you have involved. So
if the focus is not on you and your needs
are not being met. You need to reassess who your
health care providers are. Probably. But the next thing is
is that the healthcare provider who prescribes, whether it's things
for you to do or nutritional advice or supplements or
(02:54):
drugs or whatever surgery, the healthcare provider who prescribe something
or recommend something is supposed to be in charge of
that area of what's going on. And so while you
may go to your other doctor and they may say,
I don't get why you're doing this stuff from you know,
(03:14):
this this other doctor that doesn't look like what we
do over here for that problem, that is the purview
of the other doctor to make comment that they don't
understand it or they don't like it or whatever. But
then unless they're going to take over all of that
care of the other the reason you're seeing in the
(03:35):
doctor number two, they kind of have to stop with
the comment about that. Now, they often will call the
other healthcare provider and say, I don't get why you're
doing this, or you know, this doesn't seem to match
the patient you know and whatever. So that could happen,
there could be some interesting discussion back and forth, but
(03:58):
a lot of times that's what it is. Yeah, there
are times where you might get a couple of doctors
in and let's say you get a doctor looking at
a number of body systems at once, and so you've
had a specialist in the endocrine world, the hormone world,
who has looked at a little bit of endocrine hormone
stuff with you. But now you're seeing another healthcare provider
(04:22):
who's looking at endocrine and how that might interact with
your immune system and other things, and so they may
make alterations in what goes on. Now. Normally you would
want your other providers to know what's happening, just so
that they don't you know, get surprised by something, etc.
(04:44):
But there's also phenomena that happens which is not that
uncommon where maybe you were sent so you had a
primary care provider and they were doing general primary care
see you once or twice a year, and they noticed
that you were having a problem that they sent you
to specialist for. The specialist kind of finds a little
bit of a disorder disease, they're treating you for it,
but it's not really you know, it's not really a
(05:07):
high grade thing in their specialty they're just going to
treat you for it. You might go to another healthcare
provider who's doing more of an integrative approach or looking
at more systems, and they might take over the care
of that one thing that the specialists were doing. That's
totally fine. People just need to know, they just need
to be let in on the deal, you know what's
(05:30):
going on. And we've had that happen a lot with
patients where maybe they were seeing say an endocrinologist and
they were getting you know, their thyroid managed. It was
pretty straightforward, and then you know, we were going to
work with their other hormones and their thyroid and some
immune stuff, et cetera. And we may have just folded
in that one little bit that the endocrinologist was doing
(05:52):
along the way because it wasn't you know, some high
grade they wasn't like an endocrine cancer or a real tricky,
you know, and disease. That was, you know, something that
you know has to be monitored with you know, very
high precision monitoring, and you really want your antecrinologists to
do that. So there's a lot of that that goes on. Now,
(06:14):
why would doctors healthcare providers disagree, Well, beyond just different
perspectives and different specialties. Sometimes there's disagreement just because of
the way that you know one provider is trained versus
another one. So, for example, in more of an integrative
or nature pathic practice, et cetera, you might be aware
(06:36):
of and trained for the way that you know that
your primary care doctor is going to work or a
specialist because many of those people you know used to
do primary care or specially care, et cetera. Uh So
you understand it, but you may be coming from a
different point of view. And one of the things that's
incumbent upon you and your doctor when you're talking about
(06:57):
these new things is are my other doctors going to
think this is crazy? Or is there any dangerous here
or whatever? You know, just explain it to me. And
what I have found in the long run is if
you are aware up front, and you know, let's say
I'm the consulting doctor and I'm going to change something,
(07:20):
and I will warn you that your primary care is
not going to understand why we're doing it this way.
They'll understand what we're doing, they're just not going to
stand aware. That fits into the picture. So don't be
surprised if your primary care access well that looks weird
or that looks you know whatever. Here's why they might
think it's dangerous and it's not. So you need to
be able to explain those things as you go along. Now,
(07:42):
the other thing to keep in mind is it is
supposed to be about you. It's your health. And if
things go really badly and you have a doctor who
doesn't want to play well and work well with others
unless they hold the keys to something that's keeping you
alive and they won't refer you, you can fire any
healthcare provider that you want because it is your health
and it is your healthcare. Now, we try not to
(08:04):
have that happen, and we don't like that to happen,
but that is sort of a last resort if you
can't get the person on board. And a lot of
times this will come when maybe you're seeing a doctor
and they're really you know, they've told you, look, your
labs are fine, I don't know why you feel sick,
and you go to see somebody else and they come
up with reasons and a plan to treat you. Sometimes
(08:26):
the original doctor will you take that the wrong way
or something and just and get real obstinate and say No,
you shouldn't be seeing this other person there. You know
what they're doing doesn't make sense and you may indeed
be getting a lot of benefit from it. Well, we're
just about out of time. I'm doctor Paul Anderson. Check
us out doctoranow dot com. Check us out over on YouTube,
(08:47):
all the pod burners, CTR Radio Live, and Facebook, and
I will see you all on the podcast next week.
Welcome back to Medicine health Time, doctor Paul, and in
our doctor pro Tips, this section is called my doctors
or my healthcare providers don't agree? What do I do?
Believe it or not? All doctors all healthcare providers, even
though they have maybe similar training and may like each
(00:21):
other and all that, they don't always agree. And the
more healthcare providers you get involved in your life, the
more chance there is that there's going to be a
disagreement about something. So in the few minutes that we
have here, what I want to just go through is
why does this happen? How can you see it coming,
(00:42):
maybe prevent it or work around it. What are the
rules around which these disagreements are supposed to be sorted out?
And then what do you do if you reach an
impasse with a particular healthcare provider. Now, the first thing
to keep in mind, said in another section here, is
that generally your healthcare providers are doing the best they can.
(01:05):
If they're specialized in the area, that's their area, that's
what they're focused. They may not think about other things
because their focus is elsewhere. If they're a very busy
primary care provider, they may only have time to do
X and Y with you and not ABCD and E.
So there's a lot of limitations for things. Then there
(01:25):
is the idea that an idea from a consulting doctor,
a specialist, or somebody else is just new to them,
because you know, we all have different specialists, we all
study different things, and so if you're really really involved
with the palliative side of cancer care and healing after therapies,
(01:46):
et cetera, you're going to have come at that from
a different point of view than the average primary care doctor.
For example, if the majority of your practice is spent
with people in prevention and so you're trying to work
with people to not become a type two diabetic or
not to have their eyes eyesight fail or whatever you're preventing,
(02:07):
your focus is just going to be different than somebody
dealing with acute care medicine, emergency medicine, or in a specialty.
So the first thing to keep in mind is how
do the boundaries work, et cetera. Well, the bottom line
is is that, and this doesn't always work out, but
you should be the focus of your health care regardless
(02:29):
of how many health care providers you have involved. So
if the focus is not on you and your needs
are not being met. You need to reassess who your
health care providers are. Probably. But the next thing is
is that the healthcare provider who prescribes, whether it's things
for you to do or nutritional advice or supplements or
(02:54):
drugs or whatever surgery, the healthcare provider who prescribe something
or recommend something is supposed to be in charge of
that area of what's going on. And so while you
may go to your other doctor and they may say,
I don't get why you're doing this stuff from you know,
(03:14):
this this other doctor that doesn't look like what we
do over here for that problem, that is the purview
of the other doctor to make comment that they don't
understand it or they don't like it or whatever. But
then unless they're going to take over all of that
care of the other the reason you're seeing in the
(03:35):
doctor number two, they kind of have to stop with
the comment about that. Now, they often will call the
other healthcare provider and say, I don't get why you're
doing this, or you know, this doesn't seem to match
the patient you know and whatever. So that could happen,
there could be some interesting discussion back and forth, but
(03:58):
a lot of times that's what it is. Yeah, there
are times where you might get a couple of doctors
in and let's say you get a doctor looking at
a number of body systems at once, and so you've
had a specialist in the endocrine world, the hormone world,
who has looked at a little bit of endocrine hormone
stuff with you. But now you're seeing another healthcare provider
(04:22):
who's looking at endocrine and how that might interact with
your immune system and other things, and so they may
make alterations in what goes on. Now. Normally you would
want your other providers to know what's happening, just so
that they don't you know, get surprised by something, etc.
(04:44):
But there's also phenomena that happens which is not that
uncommon where maybe you were sent so you had a
primary care provider and they were doing general primary care
see you once or twice a year, and they noticed
that you were having a problem that they sent you
to specialist for. The specialist kind of finds a little
bit of a disorder disease, they're treating you for it,
but it's not really you know, it's not really a
(05:07):
high grade thing in their specialty they're just going to
treat you for it. You might go to another healthcare
provider who's doing more of an integrative approach or looking
at more systems, and they might take over the care
of that one thing that the specialists were doing. That's
totally fine. People just need to know, they just need
to be let in on the deal, you know what's
(05:30):
going on. And we've had that happen a lot with
patients where maybe they were seeing say an endocrinologist and
they were getting you know, their thyroid managed. It was
pretty straightforward, and then you know, we were going to
work with their other hormones and their thyroid and some
immune stuff, et cetera. And we may have just folded
in that one little bit that the endocrinologist was doing
(05:52):
along the way because it wasn't you know, some high
grade they wasn't like an endocrine cancer or a real tricky,
you know, and disease. That was, you know, something that
you know has to be monitored with you know, very
high precision monitoring, and you really want your antecrinologists to
do that. So there's a lot of that that goes on. Now,
(06:14):
why would doctors healthcare providers disagree, Well, beyond just different
perspectives and different specialties. Sometimes there's disagreement just because of
the way that you know one provider is trained versus
another one. So, for example, in more of an integrative
or nature pathic practice, et cetera, you might be aware
(06:36):
of and trained for the way that you know that
your primary care doctor is going to work or a
specialist because many of those people you know used to
do primary care or specially care, et cetera. Uh So
you understand it, but you may be coming from a
different point of view. And one of the things that's
incumbent upon you and your doctor when you're talking about
(06:57):
these new things is are my other doctors going to
think this is crazy? Or is there any dangerous here
or whatever? You know, just explain it to me. And
what I have found in the long run is if
you are aware up front, and you know, let's say
I'm the consulting doctor and I'm going to change something,
(07:20):
and I will warn you that your primary care is
not going to understand why we're doing it this way.
They'll understand what we're doing, they're just not going to
stand aware. That fits into the picture. So don't be
surprised if your primary care access well that looks weird
or that looks you know whatever. Here's why they might
think it's dangerous and it's not. So you need to
be able to explain those things as you go along. Now,
(07:42):
the other thing to keep in mind is it is
supposed to be about you. It's your health. And if
things go really badly and you have a doctor who
doesn't want to play well and work well with others
unless they hold the keys to something that's keeping you
alive and they won't refer you, you can fire any
healthcare provider that you want because it is your health
and it is your healthcare. Now, we try not to
(08:04):
have that happen, and we don't like that to happen,
but that is sort of a last resort if you
can't get the person on board. And a lot of
times this will come when maybe you're seeing a doctor
and they're really you know, they've told you, look, your
labs are fine, I don't know why you feel sick,
and you go to see somebody else and they come
up with reasons and a plan to treat you. Sometimes
(08:26):
the original doctor will you take that the wrong way
or something and just and get real obstinate and say No,
you shouldn't be seeing this other person there. You know
what they're doing doesn't make sense and you may indeed
be getting a lot of benefit from it. Well, we're
just about out of time. I'm doctor Paul Anderson. Check
us out doctoranow dot com. Check us out over on YouTube,
(08:47):
all the pod burners, CTR Radio Live, and Facebook, and
I will see you all on the podcast next week.
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