“Give it to me straight doc,” goes the old quote, “How long do I have to live?” That question might be harder to answer than you think. Doctors aren’t always honest with patients—not because they’re bad people, but because they are people, and no one can be honest all of the time (are you?). Sometimes they tell white lies. Sometimes they withhold information. Sometimes they keep their personal details, well, personal.
If they let you know their every thought, you might trust them less.
Curious about what’s really going on inside doctors’ minds, Eat This, Not That! Health asked the country’s top professionals to reveal 40 secrets they’d never normally tell you. Read on for the ultimate brain X-ray—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss these Sure Signs You’ve Already Had COVID.
“You’d be surprised at how frequently patients come to the ER and decide not to tell us important details pertaining to their case,” says Dr. Rachel Shively, MD, an Emergency Medicine physician and Toxicologist practicing in New York. “Plus we can tell when you’re lying. With lying, it is usually because they are embarrassed or nervous that we won’t give them the same care if they are upfront about things they do that might be disadvantageous to their health—such as drug use or not being compliant with their medications. Which is totally not true—we certainly don’t judge—but is sad. Things like what you took, or the mechanism of your injury, are important things to tell us.”
“Sometimes people will lie about the severity of their symptoms or add symptoms because they think—or have been told—that doctors won’t take them seriously unless they have ’10 out 10′ pain,” says Dr. Shively. “This is also unfounded but with them I always wonder what happened to them in prior medical experiences that made them think that way and also why that seems to be a pervasive thought in certain communities. Same goes for threatening to sue if you don’t get what you want.”
“Consider complications they have had with procedures they do,” says Dr. Thomas Horowitz of CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles. “Ask if they: a) have withdrawn from a medical staff to avoid an inquiry, b) have had any accusations or board actions, and/or c) have had to give up any privileges at a facility.”
RELATED: The #1 Cause of “Deadly” Inflammation, Says Science
“Ninety-nine of the 100 things doctors won’t share with their patients are what we don’t know!” says Jack J Springer, MD, an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra-Northwell. “For example, as an emergency physician, my primary role is to stabilize seriously ill patients and reverse their condition, if possible; next is to rule out, within reason, the presence of any life or limb threatening, or organ threatening injury/illness; and lastly to decrease pain as much as is reasonable.” He continues: “Many people come to ER expecting definitive answers and so are disappointed. But if you arrive with a benign rash, we will most often not be able to give a precise cause for the rash—and for the vast majority of time it won’t make any negative difference.”
“The earlier in the day that you schedule your appointment—especially if you are the first to be seen that day—the better the treatment you will receive,” says chiropractor Brandon Meade, DC. “Many times, by the end of the day, doctors—especially chiropractors—are mentally and, in the case of a chiropractor, physically exhausted and they may not be as focused as they are in the beginning of the shift.”
“Our culture has a general desire to ‘fight’ disease,” says Dr. Springer. “There are times, in my opinion, that patients should be told that a fight is futile. That the cost of continuing a course of therapies and poking and probing and hospitalizations is only stealing quality from the little life they have left. Many doctors, especially oncologists, are hesitant to give to patients their ‘permission’ to let go. There is withholding of a description of the emotional and physical costs of ‘battling’ when there is little likelihood of success. Doctors should take the lead in changing our cultural views around death, allowing it to be discussed everyday with comfort and acceptance.”
RELATED: Scientists Discover Surprising Possible Predictor of Dementia
“Perhaps the number one secret that doctors do not share with patients is that their training has provided little insight into the cause of illness. Statistically, within 18 seconds of a doctor entering a treatment room to see a patient, he knows what drug he is going to prescribe for whatever you have complained about,” says Dr. Michael E. Platt, MD. “For example, if the complaint is insomnia, a hypnotic will be prescribed. If you have low back pain and fatigue, the doctor might prescribe Lyrica suspecting that you might have fibromyalgia.” In order to get a more considered diagnosis, make sure you tell your doctor, in detail, everything you are experiencing, and ask what to expect from the medications prescribed.
“Most colds, coughs, fevers, ear infections, conjunctivitis, sinus ‘infections,’ bronchitis, and ‘flu’-like illnesses are caused by viruses which must run their course and no amount of antibiotics will be of benefit, and may cause harm in the form of side effects and bacterial resistance,” says Dr. Springer.
RELATED: The #1 Cause of Visceral Fat, According to Science
“A doctor won’t typically offer a treatment that might be more convenient because it’s not covered by insurance,” says Dean C. Mitchell, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine. “I do a lot of special treatments for nutrition and allergy, and I treat hundreds of patients with sublingual allergy drops which are safer, more convenient and as effective as allergy injections. But since many insurances don’t cover the drops doctors don’t even offer it to their patients. I think patients have to be their own best advocate and push their doctor to give them all the treatment options, even those not covered by insurance. Also, surprisingly, sometimes these treatments—like the allergy drops—are less expensive and save time and money in travel.”
“Doctors are not speculators,” says Dr. Springer. “We use the best evidence available to make a diagnosis and treat illness. Don’t ask your doctor to guess.”
“A lot of people begin an exercise program by duplicating an exercise they saw someone do at the gym,” states Dr. Allen Conrad, owner of Montgomery County Chiropractic Center. “Not only may that exercise not help you achieve your goals, but also it may not be safe for someone who is a beginner. Exercising is an important part of good health, but discuss with your doctor what type of program is appropriate for you. The key is identifying your specific goals, like weight loss or muscle gain, and develop a workout plan that targets those specific goals. Just because someone at the gym was doing it doesn’t mean it’s right for you.”
“I don’t work in a clinic, so I don’t deal with cancellations, but occasionally we do get people who are opiate-seeking or seeking to be admitted to the hospital for social reasons. Those people are frustrating as they inappropriately use resources causing people with legitimate concerns longer wait times—plus they can become violent with medical staff which is clearly unsafe for everyone,” says Dr. Shively. “But, usually, they have unfortunate reasons for doing so—like homelessness and mental illness—so we try to have compassion about it.”
“What I know to be true is that there is so much doctors don’t share with their patients, because most doctors don’t have enough time with their patients. One thing doctors don’t share due to this time limitation, it’s the ‘why’ of the therapies and medications that they prescribe,” says Lisa Paladino MS RN CNM IBCLC, a nurse practitioner for women’s health care.
“Nutrition is key to all wellness. Unfortunately, most doctors aren’t learning too much about nutrition in school,” says Paladino. “Those who have further knowledge are too pressed for time to bring up the topic and give detailed information to their patients.”
RELATED: Most Common Health Problems After Age 70, Say Doctors
“I treat patients with complex pain syndromes,” says Eric D. Grahling, MD, owner/director of Comprehensive Pain Management of Central Connecticut. “Their pain is usually multifactorial—not one simple reason for their pain. Patients often are fixated on findings on MRIs which are frequently clinically not significant (meaning not the cause of any of their issues). We redirect the patient and explain to them that we treat the whole person, not just their MRI picture unlike a lot of providers. Such redirection helps them pursue a more holistic view of their being and condition and usually leads to better outcomes.”
“As an elective cosmetic surgeon, I don’t operate on all patients that see me for a consultation,” says Dr. Christopher Zoumalan MD, FACS, a Beverly Hills Oculoplastic surgeon. “Just because a patient wants a procedure doesn’t necessarily mean they are a good candidate or would benefit from the procedure. Ultimately, I use my judgment and clinical exam findings to determine if I can truly help the patient.”
RELATED: Sure Ways to Never Forget Anything, Say Experts
“If you’re having a surgical procedure performed, try to bring your caretaker or family member that will be caring for you after the surgery to your preoperative appointment,” says Dr. Zoumalan. “In my practice, which is primarily an elective cosmetic surgery practice, we encourage our patients to bring their caretaker with them for their preoperative appointment. In cases of an elective cosmetic surgery, you’re spending your money and your time to get an elective procedure by a skilled surgeon, so it’s important for you to have the best post operative care as possible to ensure optimal healing.” Check with your medical provider first about this, since many institutions do not allow guests due to COVID-19.
“Even as a board-certified physician and a graduate of multiple years of medical school and residency, I don’t understand insurance plans well and neither do my patients,” says Inessa Fishman, MD, a Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon at Aviva Plastic Surgery & Aesthetics. “I find that patients often think that having insurance means all their treatments are ‘covered in full’; this is certainly not the case for many people. Many of my patients do not understand concepts like copays and deductibles, and do not know the details of these as they pertain to their individual health insurance plans. This isn’t a secret per se, but I do think that understanding one’s health insurance plan—and preparing for a specialist visit by finding out which treatments are covered and which are not—would lead to a more effective and less frustrating experience for a patient at the doctor’s office.”
“Doctors often don’t feel comfortable sharing their personal decisions with their patients,” says Dr. Alyssa Dweck, MS MD FACOG and a medical advisor to ChromaDex. “Oftentimes, doing so might blur the lines between a personal and professional relationship and create a feeling of vulnerability. Take, for example, a birth control method, hormone replacement therapy for menopause symptoms or undergoing surgery such as hysterectomy—these decisions are fraught with multiple variables which influence a person’s decision including medical, cultural, financial and even religious. In these more complex and thought provoking cases, one provider really cannot say ‘what he/she would do.'”
That said,…
Secrets Your Doctor is Keeping From You, Revealed — Eat This Not That