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Comment by r3trohack3r | Hacker News Reader

My wife has white coat syndrome.

There was a time (~7 years ago). We were living in NYC. The doctors office was at the top of 5 flights of stairs and the elevator was out. Having just climbed 5 flights of stairs and telling the doctor she has white coat syndrome, they _immediately_ take her blood pressure. Noting it’s (unsurprisingly) high, suggests she go on blood pressure medication. A decision that would surely have damaged her health.

4 years ago, we told her OBGYN she had white coat syndrome. We got a blood pressure cuff to use at home that recorded every reading (including date/time) so we could bring it in to her. Every reading at home, out and about, was good - even borderline low. At the doctors office, it was always high. The doctor, knowing this, STILL tried to suggest we induce early labor.

TL;DR - doctors will kill you. Your health is your own - don’t delegate the most important decision in your life.

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This is especially true for pregnancy. The provider you choose has an extreme amount of power over you towards the end.

For my first we were basically threatened and coerced for near zero medical reason to get "interventions". Before we got to the hospital we were promised one thing, but when we got there it was break her water or find a new provider and potentially have our baby die.

We trusted the doctors even though we both felt coerced and lied to. It all culminated in an unnecessary C-section 12 hours later because the doctor was already woken up for someone else. She said our baby was going to have a much worse outcome. That we would just have a c-section anyway so we might as well just do it.

I think we both deal with the team from that still.

Just remember to interview your doctor's and find local patient outcomes. We wish we had the first time.

The second went with minimal intervention and, fingers crossed, the third will go the same.

Also it's not that we are against needed intervention or chosen intervention. We simple want the best outcome for everyone. Intervention imo should be a last resort or as needed for patients like my wife.

I had a similar situation a few years ago.

I knew I had strep, went to urgent care to get tested so I could get antibiotics. They said there was no way I had strep, and told me the white spots all over my throat were "stress cankers". I was really sick and ended up going back 2 hours later because I wasn't breathing well. They just blew it off again and wouldn't do anything for me.

5 hours later I was in the ER because I couldn't breathe and ended up having strep and pneumonia. ER doctor said I would have died if I had waited longer since I was had sepsis. He also told me that the strep test is only 50% effective so there is no way they should have been that dismissive of me.

Good that she could self-advocate!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_coat_hypertension describes the condition.

You are completely correct with your TLDR. I saw the same when a close family member had to battle their way through the medical system to live through (and eventually overcome) advanced cancer.

I’ve started to see doctors more like advanced chatbots than anything else.

They are good if you know what you need and how to formulate your questions. They are good at searching UpToDate (a database of DDx flows). They are good at treating specific problems.

But it is a very rare doctor who takes considerate time to understand a patient and treat them holistically. I believe this is why alternative medicine providers are able to peddle their voodoo so effectively. Many people who don’t feel understood by allopathic medicine turn to cranks, because at least the cranks listen to them and make them feel heard.

That TLDR should be on every so-called physician's office, especially in America. Actual healthcare is your own duty. Most physicians are there for medicine/testing, which are both for-profit, and they are not incentivized to keep you in optimal health. In fact, they make a little bit more money if all of their clients are not too healthy... which is why so many doctors are moral injured from hospitals putting profits ahead of health when they realize they act as prescription and diagnosis drones for so many of their patients. It's better to call US "healthcare system" the "disease maintenance industry", as once you combine the "health" lobby with the "food" lobby, you see they work synergistically to keep consumers at sub-optimal health, and maximum profitability for all the leeches involved. Disgusting.

> TL;DR - doctors will kill you.

Personal opinion only but I think that in 100 years we will look back on the standard prescription drugs of the current era with the same mixture of horror and fascination that we feel today when we look back on the medicine of the 19th century.

And it's pretty much guaranteed that some of the things we do regularly these days will be viewed as completely insane. My money is on sitting the whole day or commuting with the car.

  > commuting with the car.

preaching to the choir here... i've felt this way since i was 18 and had to commute to uni for 1hr... i thought, my god is this what everyone does for the rest of their lives?

I have a blood pressure monitor at home and my values can go from 140/100 to 110/80 within pretty short time. It's completely insane to make a medication recommendation after only one blood pressure measurement.

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