You have to be ready for an uphill trip if you have a treatment in mind to discuss with your doctor. Doctors are trained to treat patients with what they’ve learned. They aren’t always aware of alternative treatments.
How Not to Shut Down Your Doctor
- Don’t say you found all the information on an alternative treatment on the Internet. It comes off as a Google medical education.
- Don’t reference that you heard something in the media.
How to Talk to Your Doctor
- Educate yourself on the treatment and side effects. You can only convince your doctor you’ve really considered the treatment if you’re educated about it.
- Choose the best information to share with your doctor. Use the pieces that are most convincing and most scholarly for presentation to your doctor.
- Your doctor may mention there haven’t been double-blind studies. Prepare to have information from university studies.
- Assemble all of your information in a binder or folder. Bring it to your appointment to present, but don’t expect your doctor to read everything.
- Ask your doctor to review the information and ask if you can discuss at a future appointment. Respectfully ask for your doctor’s opinion.
Listen as patient advocate Julia Schopick joins Dr. Holly Lucille to discuss how you can speak with your doctor about alternative treatments.
**Email julia@honestmedicine.com for more information about speaking with your doctor about alternative treatments.
Julia Schopick is a best-selling author of the book, HONEST MEDICINE: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases. She is a seasoned radio talk show guest who has appeared on over 100 shows and is often invited back.