telling your doc you do drugs?

[angel_baby55]

just wondering, how many people who use drugs here actually tell their doctors that they use? is there any benefit from telling your doctor versus not telling? this question is open for everyone to answer though, opinions always help.

im 19, so im not worried about them telling my parents or anything, just about a doctors general reaction .. and what ways would telling my doctor not benefit me?

im asking because i get headaches after dropping e sometimes and lately im getting a weird pain below my ribcage... i have to admit im a little paranoid about my health and usually over react, but, i always like to have reassurance from my doctor, which im not sure how to go about these days.:D

 

[mean green 95]

well the good thing would be to stop taking X. but ive told my doctor before what i have done and what i was currently doing. they are doctors they hear everything and there are always worse ppl. plus its the best way to get an accurate answer from teh dr. sure he will tell you to stop, thats their job, but he will take care of you.

 

[Jamshyd]

I am a bit biased about this, but my answer would be NO, please don't tell your doctor!

This is for 3 reasons:

1. Stigma: The doctor will probably have less respect for you (and therefore you become a"less important" patient) because you're a junkie.

2. Scapegoating: With anbove stigma and doctor not wanting to bother with a disposable junkie, the doctor will simply blame the drugs for all your problems, be they anxiety, hernia, fungus, or a mutated tail you've been hiding since childhood.

3. Rx paranoia: After the above two, the doctor will assume that you will use anydrug theygiveyou for recreation, and so you will not get the drugs you need. Did you break your back in a car acceident? Thats ok, 2 advil a day and its all good.

I speak from experience.

Of course, thereare exceptions, but they tend to be rare...

 

[angel_baby55]

i use xtc every now and then, and weed too... so it isnt something i looking to quit (its been over a year of using both every now and then) so if it isnt bothering my health, it would make no sense to quit. i just wanted a doctors opinion on certian things such as side affects. but I totally agree with the:

3. Rx paranoia: After the above two, the doctor will assume that you will use anydrug theygiveyou for recreation, and so you will not get the drugs you need. Did you break your back in a car acceident? Thats ok, 2 advil a day and its all good.

because i would hate to have that happen8( but... Do doctors have to write down in their "files" what substances you use? hmm..

im still curious to see what others' experiances with telling have been.....

 

[ruski]

I am a bit biased about this, but my answer would be NO, please don't tell your doctor!

This is for 3 reasons:

1. Stigma: The doctor will probably have less respect for you (and therefore you become a"less important" patient) because you're a junkie.

2. Scapegoating: With anbove stigma and doctor not wanting to bother with a disposable junkie, the doctor will simply blame the drugs for all your problems, be they anxiety, hernia, fungus, or a mutated tail you've been hiding since childhood.

3. Rx paranoia: After the above two, the doctor will assume that you will use anydrug theygiveyou for recreation, and so you will not get the drugs you need. Did you break your back in a car acceident? Thats ok, 2 advil a day and its all good.

I speak from experience.

Of course, thereare exceptions, but they tend to be rare...

I think if your doctor has this sort of knee jerk reaction, get a new medical practioner. If you've got a trusted GP that you've been seeing and have built a decent relationship with them then they are more likley to be appreciative that you have opened up and given them that extra bit of information. If its obvious to you that your drug use is a contributing factor to your negative health then it'd be nieve (and stupid IMO) not to tell your doctor about your usage.

They are just people, and like people needed to be told the truth. By holding back information you are basically encouraging the possibility of misdiagnosis which may affect more adversley than having to find a doctor who can you can trust and respect with the extra information. You have to also remember that doctors are often pretty apt people, they didn't get into medicine by being slack, so chances are they probably have some suspicions and if they were going to be subjective about their opinion about you possibly may already have done so.

Personally I think you should find a doctor who you can respect and who respects you. Afterall, you are paying them for the treatement. If you treat them like an intelligent individual the chances are they will treat you back the same way.

 

[Jamshyd]

As I siad, there are exceptions. But I still would not tell my doc unless the relationship we have is a friendship.

I am not only speaking from experience, but also from a sociological background.

If you check yourself into a mental institution as a schizophrenic, you'll be labeled as such, and so, now no matter how sane you might be, they will still find things that make you look like a schizophrenic to them. This experiment had been done many times.

Also, due to many doctors being grossly misinformed about drugs (you'd be surprised...), they will be more than happy to stick any problem to drug use. Actually, I think that telling doctors you do drugs is what will increase the possibility of misdiagnosis.

The best thing to do is know as much as you can about the drugs you're using. That knowledge will allow you to figure out if your problem is drug-related or not. Most doctors have minimal training in pharmacology and need to consult a reference in order to prescribe.

Again, as I said, there are always exceptions. You may call me "naive" or "stupid" or whatever - but this has been my observation.

 

[dbighead2]

yeah, I would NEVER tell them, unless you don't want to ever be scheduled a scheduled drug again.

I've only met one guy that is still getting prescribed "drugs", and I think he is paying off the doctor.

 

[lifeisforliving]

I would highly advise that you, over the course of the next couple years, switch doctors until you find one that you can confide in.

The drugs you use can contribute to illnesses, and the doctor - a good doctor - deserves to know the other drugs you are taking so that he helps you properly.

I've told three doctors in total, the 1st,2nd ones were "not cool" with it. The third one was MORE than just cool with it, she classifies illicit drug use the same as alcohol - I just can't try and swing her to write scripts that she KNOWS will be abused. But she prescibes me excellent drugs such as zopiclone because she knows I use it properly. I think I am an open-ended experiment in her mind

I moved doctors because I DID have health concerns (about my heart) and needed to say there was previous cocaine use. I don't now how that could have affected my heart - but I was sure that she would need to know. Everything was fine with my heart and she did some extra tests just to make sure - that wouldn't have been done if I didn't say I used cocaine before.

Good doctors are hard to find. Too many see themselves as extensions of the "government" and are there on behalf of the gov to enforce the rules.
The GOOD doctors remember that they are there to HEAL the patient, not stigmatize them.

Not every "druggie" goes through the downward spiral, don't look hopeless and your doctors won't look at you that way either.

 

[Perpetual Indulgence]

Personally I think you should find a doctor who you can respect and who respects you. Afterall, you are paying them for the treatement. If you treat them like an intelligent individual the chances are they will treat you back the same way.

Yeah and paying for medical care means you MUST be getting the best care 8) Doctors notate more than you think. I know first hand of intelligent, caring, and excellent physicians with biases against drug users and abusers.

I would only divulge drug history if it was pertinent to the problem.

 

[Jamshyd]

Exactly.

Thats why I would advise that you eductate yourself on the drugs you're using... if you broke your leg, it probably isn't necessary to tell a doctor that you use E or K recreationally. Neither of these contribute pharmacologically to your problem. However if you DO tell the doctor, they will likely not prescribe you true pain killers, in fear that you'll use them to get high - even thogh you may have never used opioids. *

It extends beyond that as well: Say you take MDMA and have a broken leg, and they prescribe you Oxycodone for the pain. WHen you know about drug interactions, you'd know that these two drugs compete for the same enzymes, and so adjust your dose accordingly.

I'm willing to bet you anthing that very few doctors know off-hand (that is, without going back to their desk reference) that MDMA and Oxycodone compete for cytochrome enzymes.

THe doctor only knows one thing: You like to get high, therefore no good drugs for you.

Thats like my brilliant psychiatrist who INSISTED on prescribing me BUSPAR for INFREQUENT PANIC ATTACKS. The straight answer would be a benzo, since the panic attacks (at the time) where far in between, and since neither SSRIs, let alone Buspirone, are good for short-term anxiety relief. But this is what I got for being honest. (his reason for not prescribing benzos was quite frank: "They are abusable and addictive". 8)

*In the case where you use opioids and he gives you a low dose that doesn't work for your tolerance, you still don't tell him. Instead you ask for something stronger or a higher dose. A lot of people have high natural tolerances.

 

[angel_baby55]

ehh one of my docs knew i did weed and didnt care.. saying it was "the usual college thing kids my age do".... so i guess it wouldnt be a big deal.. and i can always switch docs .. or just present myself as someone who "tried it" but isnt falling into a hole of addiction.. then again, "thats what all addicts think" might be their train of thought. hahaha... who knows, this is complicated.

 

[Jamshyd]

\"thats what all addicts think" might be their train of thought. hahaha... who knows, this is complicated.

Indeed that is the train of thought - and yes we actually do know to some extent becuase many sociological experiements have been done in the same model (not necessarily word-for-word for the situation,but the same model of ethnography, especially cocncerning the issue of medicinal sociology). But you are right, it is complicated.

 

[chity]

Although I agree that many doctors will use drug use as a scapegoat for every physical or medical problem that you might have, it is possible to find ones that don't. When I became depressed a few years ago the first doctor I saw immediately put it down to drug use - even though I'd not taken any drugs for nearly a year. The fact that at one point I had tried ecstacy was enough for him to write off any other situational or mental factors that might have contributed to it.

I've now got a doctor who knows I occasionally take drugs yet isn't biased against prescribing me medication or ignoring my drug use if its not relevant to a diagnosis. What I've realised in the process, though, is that even though I might often think I have the answer to all my problems, ultimately a doctor has a lot more medical knowledge than I do and it can sometimes be worthwhile to listen to what they have to say. Obviously that's not to say that a lot of doctors aren't assholes and persist in letting their personal opinions of drug users get in the way of doing their job properly - but some of them don't and can be surprisingly informed about recreational drugs.

Its up to you to present yourself as responsbile, informed, and aware of the side-effects and dangers of drug use. If your doctor persists in bullshitting you or treating you like a junkie, get another one.

 

[MynameisnotDeja]

Ive told doctors I used drugs many times.
Never got a really bad reaction to it, the worst thing I think anyone ever said to me was "Well every day is too much to be smoking pot". From my experiance doctors have always been professional and answered my questions, not preaChed to me.

 

[lifeisforliving]

I've now got a doctor who knows I occasionally take drugs yet isn't biased against prescribing me medication or ignoring my drug use if its not relevant to a diagnosis. What I've realised in the process, though, is that even though I might often think I have the answer to all my problems, ultimately a doctor has a lot more medical knowledge than I do and it can sometimes be worthwhile to listen to what they have to say. Obviously that's not to say that a lot of doctors aren't assholes and persist in letting their personal opinions of drug users get in the way of doing their job properly - but some of them don't and can be surprisingly informed about recreational drugs.

Its up to you to present yourself as responsbile, informed, and aware of the side-effects and dangers of drug use. If your doctor persists in bullshitting you or treating you like a junkie, get another one.

Well said.

I think this problem may be mainly a US doctor thing....

 

[ruski]

Well said.

I think this problem may be mainly a US doctor thing....

I'm not sure its totally limited to the US, but there does seem to be a wider audience of open minded doctors in Australia, can't speak for other countries though.

Even at high turn over clinics I've found that you get good consultations from the GP's there. Albeit, I prefer to find the slightly less bulk clinics and not get treated like a sheep.

I still haven't to date told any of the doctors I have seen about any associated drug use, but I also haven't had any health issues attributed to drug usage and I tend to agree with the above comments re: not telling your doctor unless neccessary. The reality is that some GP's are great but turn ugly when they are presented with life style issues that conflict with their own ethical judgements, so why aggrevate that by letting on information that you know will feed the fire. This sort of contradicts my attitude towards the situation (and my comments below) but it does visit the more realistic circumstance most are faced with (correct me if I'm wrong as I haven't yet experienced a GP who I, if needed, couldn't have divulged more information to).

Getting back to the original topic, I still think that despite peoples bad experiences it is possible to find GP's who do understand and appreciate the full affects of drug use on a patient and will be understanding. If you know your doc won't, as difficult as it may be, look for another one. Even if you're not a drug user, what sort of doctor are you seeing that can't give you his or her professional objective opinion? The latter part isn't always going to be 100% true, but I'm sure we'd all like to get at least some objectivity for issues that affect our lifestyle such as drug use, especially from figures who are trying to increase our quality of life (oh dear, hippy rant, next think you know I'll break out the PLUR).

 

[swilow]

Well my doctor knows most of my doings, in fact I went to her for advice when quitting cannabis. Their doctors, not police- don't mistake one type of authority for the next. Incidentally, I ws prescribed Valium for the 'cannabis withdrawal' which I thought was a pretty stupid idea- however, if you take a problem to a doctor they are always going to solve it with a medical solution- its what they do.

 

[ruski]

Well my doctor knows most of my doings, in fact I went to her for advice when quitting cannabis. Their doctors, not police- don't mistake one type of authority for the next. Incidentally, I ws prescribed Valium for the 'cannabis withdrawal' which I thought was a pretty stupid idea- however, if you take a problem to a doctor they are always going to solve it with a medical solution- its what they do.

I still think thats the difference between a good doctor and a "OK" doctor. The good ones will realise that sometimes somethings are out of their scope of treatment and forward you to a recommended specailist or work with the specialist to treat you correctly.

I can't believe the amount of friends that I've heard that have just been prescribed SSRI's at even the hint of feeling a bit sad. Treatment includes being consulted by a practioner who can aid you in recovering from a specific issue, not throwing chemicals at the problem and hoping it'll go away.

I have a feel this will open up another whole can of worms

 

[angel_baby55]

Treatment includes being consulted by a practioner who can aid you in recovering from a specific issue, not throwing chemicals at the problem and hoping it'll go away.

it depends on the type of insurance you have, in my opinion. mostly with kaiser they throw drugs at you left and right (i had kaiser for about 2 years) and yeah, it sucked. the doctors all worked together as a union and didnt give a damn about you, just which meds to give and get money from... where as now have a PPO which allows me to see any doctor in my city that i choose on a continued basis, even specialists. so my doctor should hold a little respect for me and my doings i would think ... since i can easily switch to another? i would hate to have a doctor telling me to quit every time i see them and and not give me the care i needed.

 

[ruski]

it depends on the type of insurance you have, in my opinion. mostly with kaiser they throw drugs at you left and right (i had kaiser for about 2 years) and yeah, it sucked. the doctors all worked together as a union and didnt give a damn about you, just which meds to give and get money from... where as now have a PPO which allows me to see any doctor in my city that i choose on a continued basis, even specialists. so my doctor should hold a little respect for me and my doings i would think ... since i can easily switch to another? i would hate to have a doctor telling me to quit every time i see them and and not give me the care i needed.

That is an excellent point, some doctors would work as a marketing front for particular drug manufacturers (no matter how subtle). Albeit, I haven't personally encountered any but its certainly a plasuable reason why some doctors would favour particular drugs or particular drug treatments.

For the majority of GP's though, one would think this isn't true.

Also, of course doctors are going to tell you that the best advice is not take drugs (hell, thats the advice I'd give), but it is still important to find a doc who won't be bias about it.