Excluding emergency situations, the biggest issue IMO is diagnosis. So many tests, scans, listening, observation, etc. is all about understanding what the problem actually is. Once you accurately identify the problem, treatment can be effectively given (if one exists) via the current system.
For mysterious problems that elude a simple diagnosis you can really be stuck. Most doctors don’t have the time for complex cases. It’s worth becoming your own health researcher if no one else can identify the issue.
> It’s worth becoming your own health researcher if no one else can identify the issue.
This is something I have been a big advocate of. I would never claim to know more than a professional nor would I ever give medical advice to another individual.
However, it has helped me plenty of times. I feel like I have been able to ask more important and impactful questions to doctors, and I have been able to push back on some choices that doctors would have made that I think might have been incorrect.
For example, I was almost prescribed a medication. That particular medication might have treated its indicated condition well, but it is known to exacerbate my immune-mediated disease as a side-effect (to clarify, the medication was not for the immune-mediated disease).
When I mentioned it to the NP I was under the care of, she said, "I have never heard that side-effect." Well, she looked into it, and it turns out I was right. Had I not done my research prior to our visit, then I might have been subjugated to changes to a disease that could have been entirely been avoided.
I still think she is a wonderful NP, and no one can know everything.
I even have another account.
I asked an MD about a newer medication for my immune-mediated disease. He said, "I have never heard of that before." After discussing it with him, he did not seem to be interested in trying it. I swapped doctors, mentioned it to the new doctor, and she prescribed it. It's actually the single most effective treatment I have tried since I acquired the disease 7 years ago.
As Schoolhouse Rock once said, "It's great to learn 'cause knowledge is power!"
The first doctor I had wanted to send me to get my thyroid nuked because it was inflamed after a viral infection.
After 2 years and 6 doctors I found I basically had long covid years before it was recognized. Probably from a low grade garden variety viral infection. My gut developed food sensitivities and I started to develop autoimmune problems from that.
After finding the right doctor who could handle researching chronic conditions, things improved within months and a few years later I completely recovered.
Typical doctors have 5-10 minutes to listen to you and click on drop-down boxes on the computer. They won't care about chronic or complex issues. They are good for low hanging fruit and steering you towards pharmacological intervention but unusable for anything more involved.
For mysterious problems that elude a simple diagnosis you can really be stuck. Most doctors don’t have the time for complex cases. It’s worth becoming your own health researcher if no one else can identify the issue.