ASK DR. SHIROKO

Annie has five different doctors. She developed severe vertigo
one morning and was unable to function for over a year. In the
course of that year she had her regular family doctor, a
neurologist, a chiropractor, a jaw specialist, and last she ended
up in my office for her acupuncture/alternative medicine doctor.
She has faith in each of these doctors so now, when she has a
problem she ends up talking to each one to try to figure out what
to do. Each one has a different opinion. She has a hard time
knowing what will help her.
Most people end up having several doctors these days, no one can
know everything there is to know about medical conditions anymore.
How do you find your way through the craziness of our medical
world? Who should you trust when you get advice? What is the best
advice? What do you do when one of your doctors has a strong
opinion about what you should do, and you don’t believe it?
Knowledge is based only on the best available information at the
time. Quite often, research continues and changes through the
years. When a doctor tells you something with a tremendous amount
of authority, it’s still only the best of what he knows. It may not
be based on all the information out there. It may not even be based
on experience. Often these days, major pharmaceutical firms pay for
the latest research so the information may end up being biased
anyway.
Find a doctor or healer that you feel safe with and feel you can
trust what he says. Just by having the feeling of trust, you create
a lot of healing. I often tell my clients, not to work with anyone
if they don’t feel safe with that person. If you like your doctor
and feel safe you can relax in a certain sense. It allows whatever
you do in your treatment to work better.
Once you feel comfortable with the doctors that you have, allow
yourself to ask questions about therapies and procedures. If you
have ideas about alternatives, you can run them by your doctor but
if she isn’t familiar with them, you may not get an answer that you
can trust. Let’s say you have high cholesterol, and you don’t want
to take medication. There are many alternatives to cholesterol
medications including diet, and supplements. If your doctor isn’t
familiar with the alternatives you can say that you will be
exploring your options and retest in 3-6 months.
The key to a good conversation with your doctor or anyone is not
to be afraid of them. We are all human and our opinions are just
opinions. Treat your doctor like she is a human being whose
knowledge and training you respect but you want to understand your
options better. Even with the best of medical knowledge, we
physicians can’t know everything.
If you have 5 different doctors and each one has a different
opinion about what you should do, you will have to begin to listen
to your body. The real truth of what is right for any given person
is only available through a deep inner knowing. Learn to trust your
own experiences in your body. You’ll notice that some things work
and others don’t.
Dr. Shiroko Sokitch’s column appears monthly. She can be
reached at: dr*****@li***.net.