my new primary told me of a case where she had to override a cardiac surgeon who didn't believe woman had heart attacks. her patient had an emergency bypass that day.

My doctor takes the time to listen to me. He's also the one who talked me into trying low-carb eating.

Chances are it would be years before the said cancer test is approved or widely used, so personally it's a "meh". What does concern me is the new frontier of genetics/genomics - not because I don't want it to lead to cures, but because I don't think US laws are strong enough to protect privacy. It's already been proven "anonymous" data can be drilled down to the extent of identifying individuals.
So unless it's life threatening, I won't give my DNA if ever asked. And don't use 23andme and stuff like that. 23andme, you might as well be giving your DNA to a certain big search engine company (they're related).

thanks for the great thread and responses.

i guess i would say i have a relationship with my Dr's, where they "earn" my trust, similar to most relationships we form with people.

i love that my diabetes Dr will introduce me to a drug/new device/ supplement/etc, point me in right direction and tell me to do my research. Then i can ask what he thinks i should do/ what he does (he is also type I). Then i get to make a choice and he guides me through, whichever route i choose.
he doesn't treat me like a child or an idiot who needs to be told what to do at every turn, he teaches me enough so i can navigate my own course. I am a much better educated diabetic because he instills independence over blind direction follower.

when i was in a very scary situation and had the world's greatest nuero team- the chief clearly had a different opinion from the attending on what course of treatment to choose. i had to use gut instinct to pick the right path for me, and i would change my decision if i had to d it over (i basically choose much longer recovery, but no risk of inducing heart attack- albeit that risk is small).

in terms of do i trust that my Dr's are peddling me stuff bc they get kickbacks? um, no! if i ever suspected my Dr wasn't truly prioritizing my health over his income, i would never return.

as for insurance companies and pharma reps.....they are businesses. their job is to make money. i don't like it, but that is how it works......and for anyone ready to jump in and talk about the european systems or canada, etc.....let me point out that a simple insulin pump is basically unavailable in most european countries. they have been widely used in US since the 90's.....they extend life span and QOL vastly. it is extremely difficult to maintain close to normal BG on injections.....so yes, they might have better access to healthcare, but Americans have access to much better care, IF you are lucky enough to afford it.
I have the money. I am blessed.

Yes, I do trust my doctor. I think you need to just understand the limitations of what a modern medical doctor can do for you.

There are many intelligent doctors out there who understand the scientific method. These are the doctors who I trust. However learning how to think critically does not seem to be necessary for getting an MD. In some situations, that is fine. If I am on the ground bleeding to death then I don't really need a doctor to take time to critically think about how to save my life. In that case their training should kick in and they should do exactly what they need to do to keep me alive. And if growing a bit of an ego is the only way they can figure out how to stay sane while making life and death decisions every day at work then to some extent that may be acceptable.

Likewise, if I or one of my family members has a spot, lump, or something else then yes I want to go to a doctor who has seen thousands of spots, lumps, and bumps who can tell me if the spot is normal or not.

My advice is that not all doctors are equal. Talk to your doctor and get to know them. If you tell them that you are going low carb and they try to talk you out of it then get another doctor. If they are positive about the idea then get to know them a little more to see if you can really trust them. Also, if they tell you something then don't be afraid to do a little research on your own and then if need be get a second opinion.

There are thousands of diseases that for millions of years equated to a death sentence; but now the diseases can be simply and easily cured. I would say not to miss out on what a good medical doctor can do for you just because there are some bad ones out there. A good doctor will know if you really need the prescription to save your life or improve your quality of life possibly despite, and certainly not because, of what the drug companies say.

If you were on a proper paleo diet in the Middle Ages, you likely would not have gotten an infected tooth or pneumonia, and maybe not even the kinked blood vessel.

Are you being serious?

Sure. Dr. Weston Price traveled the world in the 1920s/30s to look at people's teeth and their diets and found that those with bad teeth (and often with health problems) tended to follow a more modern western diet with wheat flour, sugar etc, while those on local traditional diets had great teeth and health. His book was called something like Civilization and Degenerative Disease. Pneumonia seems to be caused by medical drugs primarily. And kinked blood vessels might be caused mainly by improper prenatal diet or lifestyle. The last statement is more a guess.

I'm not sure that I agree on the pneumonia or the kinked blood vessels: I don't take meds, nor have I taken them for a long time. But I got pneumonia last winter, and that was after 8 months of below 20 carbs/day. There are a wide variety of pneumonias, and it may be true that some are caused by meds. Others, not so much.

I would venture to guess that a bigger cause of pneumonias is the very dry heated air in buildings with central forced air heating, the most common type in the US. Dried out mucous membrane is more susceptible to infection, as small cracks can appear when the membrane is dry.

But as for the teeth? One of the first things to change about populations that move from low carb, traditional diets to high carb, grain filled diets is tooth decay. The inflammatory issues start in the mouth, where the carbs first enter the body.

The education system only pretends to use scientific method for the most part. It's mostly authoritarian, meaning domineering, which is how big business has long operated under the greed system. Most doctors in training probably never stop to think about how authoritarian it is. Hopefully, the internet is helping the younger generation to become more open-minded, but the education system itself seems to be regressing, more than progressing.

I don't know of many diseases that the medical system cures. They treat most diseases with drugs and surgery, which cause more health problems, instead of curing anything. The only thing I can think of offhand is things like type-I diabetes, where they can provide a nutrient like insulin, when the body isn't able to produce it itself. But, even in such cases, modern medicine may tend to cause type-I diabetes and similar problems in the first place. And the dietary advice to diabetics tends to make them less healthy, not more. Injuries aren't usually considered diseases, but I grant that modern medicine is pretty good at fixing injuries. Not nearly as good as it could be, but fairly good.

By the way, I don't trust anyone, including myself. I just read James Sloane's critiques of Dr. Mercola yesterday and of MMS and of glandulars, which may be the same as protomorphogens, but I'm not sure. I had previously trusted all of those quite a bit, but now I don't so much.

Do you know if it was viral or bacterial pneumonia? Do you think your former diet predisposed you to pneumonia, maybe by weakening your immune system? And were you given antibiotics to cure your pneumonia? If so, did you take probiotics during or after treatment? I believe several cultures around the globe have known how to treat infections like pneumonia for a long time. Did you look for a natural remedy for pneumonia? I imagine there may be some and they may be safer than drugs, but I haven't heard of any so far, and haven't looked.

My life was just saved by my Primary care doc who saw a suspicious-looking spot which turned out melanoma. So, yes, they know what they know.

I am in the field but not an MD, and here are my summaries:
- news are often exaggerating the evidence that the docs may have put carefully into the article (e.g. the cancer story)
- docs are human and there are bad apples. I wish the medical profession would do more to remove undue influence. I recently read a NEJM (one of the top journals!) article about myths about dieting, and it claims snacking being bad is a myth - then has 1 whole page of conflicts, stating all the authors are paid by the snack industry - at least they had to report it!
- MDs were not taught health maintenance, although now they are trying. They are there to fix things that are broken.
- reimbursement favors procedures over talk - so for an MD to sit down with you to discuss health or diet or behavior, his office will lose money, as the talk will be minimally reimbursed at a level lower than the doc's salary.
- they tend to be provincial and specialists in thinking - the dermatologists recommend smothering your skin with at least factor 30 every time you go out in the sun but are NOT saying that if you do this, you WILL suffer vit D deficiency - that is not their specialty. The psychiatrists know that given bipolar folks the most common drugs will increase their weight 20-100 lb, average of 50 lb - but are not doing the cost-benefit analysis if these 50 lb will actually make the patient sicker than before. Weight control is not their specialty!

So, epidemiologists, nutritionists are better to recommend how to remain healthy, but I do trust MDs when it comes to appendicitis etc.

Luckup, I am trying not to be rude. But you ARE being rude. And presumptuous.

I've been eating relatively low carb for years--probably, over the past 15 I've averaged fewer than 200, which for a US diet is considered low, although I realize that it's not. I have been using excellent supplementation for those 15 years, as well, including probiotics. And that doesn't count the natural yogurt that I eat.

Of course I did NOT try to cure pneumonia with natural remedies. Bluntly: are you crazy? There are all sorts of things that may do better or as well, anyway, with natural remedies. Pneumonia is not one of them. And when I've been coughing up foamy phlegm for TEN DAYS, spiking temps every afternoon and having night sweats every night, enough is enough.

Given that I started to feel significantly better within 48 hours of starting antibiotics, I am quite certain that it was bacterial, as are the bulk of them.

Diet IS a predisposing factor in all sorts of diseases. For pneumonias, a more likely culprit is dry, heated indoor air, especially when it's very cold out (zero or below F) and the outdoor air is also dry.

It's good that you are doing a lot of reading about diet and health. Please be conscious, though that many of us have been doing so our entire adult lives. Also, that many of us are, or were healthcare professionals ourselves. It's not just the articles in WebMD that we can read. We can use google scholar to read the papers behind the headlines.

I agree. Back in the day, when everyone ate paleo, and then, at least organic, the population would reach a certain density and then get knocked back with epidemics. Early forms of our species have been found with evidence of arthritis. And so forth.

Eating right is a great step forward. But it doesn't mean we don't need modern medicine. We need smarter medicine.

Surgery is at its highest point, ever. Chronic disease is not.

In a word NO. I'm an active participant in my health care. If I go to a doctor or nutritionist that does not agree with me, then I drop them. I remember the days when total cholestrol (sp) guidelines was 300. That is the guideline that I use, the medical profession and the drug companies can pound sand, I will not take a statin and do not hesitate to tell them so. My over all health is excellent, at 70 I have not chronic health issues, my only health issue is allergies, life long. I have my own way to deal with them. I get an annual check up and the only other thing I seek help with is when I get contact dermititis, which I need cortisone for. Since I live in the woods that happens just about once a year. My only other issue is the usual aches and pains for my age, which I manage myself.

Judy