Medicine has had a long history of positive negativity. The fact you go to the doctor at all is to prevent health issues or stop an illness. Positive thinkers would just assume everything is all right and never go to the doctors until it was too late. So by taking that first step into the doctor’s office, you’ve taken a negative one.
When doctors examine you, it is to rule out things first. He might have an idea what the problem may be, but he needs to eliminate other possibilities to narrow down what it actually is. If you’ve ever watched House (not my basis for medical knowledge, but a fun show nonetheless) they write down all the symptoms and try to eliminate the causes down to one, or at least a few.
Side note: I’ve yet to understand why Dr. Gregory House is supposed to be this great diagnostician. For the first 40-45 minutes of the show, he continually gives the wrong diagnosis, until the end of the show when a completely unrelated event unlocks the key in his head and he figures it out.
When a doctor prescribes medication, he has to take in account any other medications or allergies so there won’t be an adverse effect on the patient. The medication itself is clinically tested over and over again to
1. Ensure safety
2. Document any side effects and the severity of them
And sometimes those side effects themselves can accidentally create a whole new treatment. Viagra was a medication for heart patients until they discovered that it didn’t just get the heart rate up.
Side note: When did people start asking their doctors if they should take medication. Isn’t the doctor supposed to tell you what you need to take? If we ask them for medication, don’t they just become drug dealers?
And finally (though there are still plenty of great negative things in medicine) the key to any diagnosis…get a second opinion. It’s always best to get a second opinion. Doctor’s (despite their own complexes) are not god. They make mistakes. Heck, they amputate the wrong limbs, prescribe the wrong medication and just make misdiagnosis all the time. A second opinion not only protects you from harm, it also reassures you that the right steps are being taken.
You always want to think positive that a treatment will work. Evidence shows a positive attitude will help recovery. But medicine can’t become a happy, positive, look on the bright side of life profession. Too many lives depend on it to think otherwise.
