Posted by Jane D on October 2, 2001, at 1:02:01
In reply to Re: self medicating: pdoc horror story » pellmell, posted by Jackster on October 1, 2001, at 1:21:43
> They might be the experts on the THEORY of the medications - but we're the ones actually taking them. How many refused to believe patient's stories of withdrawal symptoms on SSRI's just because it wasn't on the packet insert? Sometimes it takes thousands of people reporting the same symptoms before the drug companies will actually acknowledge a possible side effect.
It's funny. I always looked at it the other way. I'm fairly confident in my ability to understand the theory of these medications. Or to not understand it along with the best of them. The internet is truly a wonderful place and there are always libraries as well. It is the practical experience I want from a doctor. Yes I may be the expert on my reactions to something. But I'm selfish. If it's a really nasty reaction I'd much rather learn about it from some other patient's experience. Or learn whether a given side effect usually gets better or worse. A doctor can be a pipeline to other peoples experiences. Not at all perfect but a better one than the others available. If your next door neighbor knows 3 people who take this drug (and one of them is really taking something else entirely but got confused about the name and another one is taking 10 other drugs besides) there's a limit to how useful his comments about the drug are going to be to you. If you read comments on the internet from what seems to be hundreds of people you know even less. You can't tell if it is really hundreds of different people, whether they are anything like you or, like your neighbors friend, are also taking an extra 10 medications that they never mentioned. And in both cases the people who are unhappiest are the most likely to be talking about it in the first place. You aren't going to hear much from the people who say "everythings fine".
Compared to sorting out that tangle the theory is easy.
Jane
poster:Jane D
thread:79822
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010927/msgs/80021.html