What I learn with too much time at doctors offices and hospitals for several health issues that I've been through over my short life, is to point them in the right direction, and most importantly, doing heavy home work before the visit. When possible... Often, I can have them prescribing me the tests that I need without directly telling them what to do... I found also that it is important to be gently pushy for them to go further than the usual. 4 years ago, I was almost sent back home with an antibiotic prescription for pneumonia... I insisted to push for further scan and to have the doctor in charge to check the results! I had a stage 1b lung cancer removed 2 weeks later. That's a pretty early stage! 42 years was a bit young for such a diagnostic, plus I wasn't such a heavy smoker and pretty athletic but combined with type 1 diabetes, many cancer cases in the family, 13 years in asbestos, occasional radioactive compounds handling for over a decade, too many x-rays, immuno-suppressive therapy, and living in polluted cities the odds were pretty high and I was the only one knowing that at that time. Connecting all these dots in one visit can be challenging to make the right decisions timely, even for a trained doctor. Doctors often do mistakes, have prejudices and need to be educated on many topics including many in the medical field but they also need the right information to perform properly. I trust them in their field of expertise, but not any further... And yes! Scrutinizing prescriptions, medicine compositions and side effects is a must nowadays. I had benzodiazepine prescribed for sleeping issues... Melatonine was just fine... I have to admit that, Doctors saved my life many times to date! Vaping is just not worse to mention right now. But that may change.
