Not afraid of doctors, but rarely have the need. I investigate my own condition and reasonable courses of action. If I need drugs or a procedure, I go to the doctor.
A few months ago I diagnosed myself with chronic pancreatitis. I’ve made significant improvement with diet, but I’m still not healthy. I just gave myself a date certain; without significant improvement by then, I’ll go submit to the initial scans.
Just my observation, but we’ve been taught that doctors are the go-to medical solution. As punishment for believing that, we have weeks to wait for a visit with a doctor who only has time for a cookie cutter diagnosis and treatment plan. Or, there’s the emergency room. Don’t get me started.
If I wind up seeing a doctor for my pancreatitis, I’ll be given from one to three scans to confirm what I already know. Given my symptom set, they’ll want to determine whether the pancreatitis is caused by gallstones. If it’s not gallstones, they’ll give me drugs. If it is, I’ll need to be driven to have my gallbladder removed, but barring complications I’ll be home that night. But, whatever happens, every time I see a doctor, for the rest of my life, they are going to insist on another battery of tests. If drugs are working for me, I’ll have to submit to their cash cow lab tests… or they’ll threaten to withhold the drugs.
It’s also possible that I have pancreatic cancer. I have no intention of battling that killer, so waiting for a diagnosis doesn’t really change anything. A few years ago, the last thing I did for my lifelong wife was to serve as her primary caregiver until she passed of multiple organ failure. I’m not confused about the issues at hand.
Neither was my wife. As a hospital lab tech and phlebotomist, she watched many people die of cancer, including our friends. That’s why she chose not to give herself over to the doctors.
They gave her 12 months, 18 max, if she refused the big three (rad mastectomy, chemo, radiation). With all three, she stood roughly a 20% chance of surviving 5 years. She refused all three, radically altering her diet and lifestyle, and lived almost 9 more years. For 8 1/2 of those years, she led a full and happy life.
Had she submitted to the treatments, however much time she had doubtless would have been in and out of the hospital and with seriously compromised immunity, nausea, vomiting, weakness, etc. That would have been because every doctor she saw insisted it was the only way.
I’m not suggesting others follow the same course, but we had good family health for decades with only rare trips to the doctor.
I’m not afraid of doctors. I’m afraid of what can happen when we treat them as a special species. I’ve had a number of friends that are medical professionals; they’re just people hoping to keep their jobs.
All I got was my sister bending one of my fingers backwards and threatening to beat the crap out of me when we got home.
