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Alan Sleater
Gordon O. Dunne
Writing 0990-006, 7am
4/15/2014
Extra Doctor Visits
Free consultation, No hidden fees, Walk-ins accepted, Quick and easy diagnosis, who
would pass up an offer like this? Would you? Who really likes spending enormous amounts of
money going to the doctors office, just to have them tell you, Everything looks normal, so I
will see you next year. What if there is something your doctor is not telling you, or maybe you
have contracted a rare disease. This sounds like a wonderful time to get a free checkup. Or is it?
Do you really know what is good for your health? Well for me, I think that having an extra visit
to the doctor is unnecessary.
Some people are considered being ether a hypochondriac, a person with an
excessive preoccupation with and worry about their health ("Hypochondriac"), or having a tad
bit of Iatrophobia, fear of doctors (Phobia List). Well whatever the case, this should not be
the deciding factor to you to scurry off to the doctors on a whim, other than for emergencies and
your normal health checkups. Even though seeing the doctor can be beneficial, extra visits to the
doctors office become unnecessary even unproductive, because doctors are not there just to
make you happy but healthy. Here are a few things to consider before stepping into that free
clinic. Frequent and reoccurring checkups can cause more harm than help, after visiting the
doctors office people have a stronger desire to take care of themselves, your body is designed to
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heal itself without being monitored, and you can have some unpleasant permanent side effects
from these extra procedures.
When you go to the doctors you and your doctor have the responsibility of your health.
As a patient you need to listen to your doctor, and in turn the doctor needs to listen to your body,
meaning when the doctor says you are normal and healthy then you dont need to come in for
every little thing that happens in your life. Doctors have studied and ben trained on listening to
the human body. They can be able to spot drastic and irregular changes in your body. All you
need to do is sit back and listen to the doctors orders.
A lot of times doctors want to make friends with their patients, because that is where they
make their money. If a patient does not like a doctor then they will see a friendlier one that
actually responds to their requests. But keep in mind, when you dont believe what your doctor
says and want another doctors opinion, the new doctor might do whatever it takes to win you
over, so you feel satisfied. Well here is a doctors position on the matter, and how they see
themselves through the eyes of a patent. Physicians love being liked. They also love doing their
jobs well. With other incentives, such as monetary returns, dwindling, the elation we get from
satisfying a patient, as well as providing them good care, is what still makes being a doctor
special (Warraich). What this doctor is saying is that he cares for his patients and wants to
provide the best health treatment possible, because he loves doing his job. The doctor is not
saying that he just wants to make friends with his patients and acquiesce to every request that
they have. The doctor is really trying to say he loves helping people, and treating them the way
they should be cared for. And that means after you have seen the doctor and they tell you that
you are good and healthy, then you should only have to see them again when they request you to
see them again. After that save all of your health questions until your next regular appointment
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with the doctor. Because if you dont listen to the doctors orders, then you wont get your
desired results form a trained professional.
When people get old enough to take care of themselves and live on their own, they enjoy
being independent. It is a small standing in life that says, I can make it on my own. And the
contrary is true as well, If I never live on my own, then I will never see my true potential.
Young couples are a wonderful example for these two sayings. If the young couple are able to
totally brake off from their parents, buy a home, start a family, and stay financially stable, then
they can say they have been able to make it on their own. But if for some reason the couple need
to return home for every new challenge they face, then this couple will never be satisfied with
their living situation. When a couple get married and start a family, their role as parents are to
teach their children to be independent. That way they can have all their precious little ones leave
the nest and successfully fly off into the world, all by themselves.
This independent trend has been going around a lot with young families that want to stay
happy and healthy. These are a young families, that dont have a ton of money to be running off
to the hospital for every little cough, sneeze, bump, and bruise. So instead of visiting the doctors
office they try to use alternative forms of medicine. About half of Americans today use some sort
of supplement in their lives, whether it is the single, health nut, adult trying to get a date, or the
person that wants to shake off a cold faster than using antibiotics at the pharmacy, people are
wanting to find the cure for themselves, without all those nasty side effects (Szabo).
Also a study was made from people that use alternative medicine, verses going to the
doctors. Alternative medicine proponents say it's popular because people are frustrated with
conventional doctors and want more control over their health (Szabo). Yet on the contrary, a
person that goes into the doctors office for every small question they have, has learned some of
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the deceptions about alternative medicine. Some of the alternative medicine practices are a cheap
form of the original drug that they propose to substitute. For instance the active ingredient in a
weight loss pill can be found in some supplements that clam to help you lose weight. And both
have the same negative and serious side effects (Szabo). And these are some chemicals that
should be closely monitored by your doctor.
One story that I would like to share, is about an older couple that visited many doctors for
the same health issue that the husband was having. Harold, an elderly fellow about seventy years
old, had a rare skin disease in his legs that ate away his flesh when he would get the tiniest
scratch. Every time Harold had a flair up, he went to the doctors for more medication. When
seeing the doctors, they wanted to take a sample of his infection to see what it was. But, this
made the infection spread and get worse. After months of the same process of his leg being torn
apart by the infection, Harold was able to find a doctor that was able to help them with his
disease. He then continued to see the same doctor until he was back to normal. For Harold, this
was a long learning process of following the doctors orders the first time, when they help you
get back your health.
When people get old they need to be more responsible in taking care of their health.
Pneumonia is one of the five leading causes of death for older Americans (Zaraska). So in
order to prevent contracting life threatening diseases, they need to follow the council of their
doctor and not try too many drastic changes in their diets or food habits all at once. But people
that have done their research, and have informed their doctor, have had wonderful results. In a
research article about the Baby Boomer age turning to Vegetarianism, many older people, who
chose to take on the responsibility of becoming a vegetarian, have been able to fight off some of
the common diseases of their generation. Also, older people that regulated their daily vitamin
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intake and output were able to fight against heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity, without
having to visit the doctor for more than once a year for their regular health checkups (Zaraska).
Another side to frequent doctor visits is when your child has a mental disease. People
may argue that children with mental disabilitys need to see the doctor often, because some
mental diseases can change and the parent cant let their child live that way. Without treatment,
kids can have a hard time focusing in school and are more prone to outbursts (Lopez) But on the
other hand many parents help their children learn about their mental handicap and teach them
different ways of coping. 14% of teens with any mental disorder are on medication (Lopez).
But sometimes you need to go to the doctor and get medication. Keep in mind that begging the
doctor for medication can have a bad effect. As with any drugs, medications for bipolar disorder
have side effects. They vary from grogginess, weight gain and polycystic ovary syndrome to
tardive dyskinesia, in which the tongue thrusts out uncontrollably (Lopez). And most of these
side effects are permanent, and there is nothing that can you can take to treat them.
Here is what happened to the doctor at the beginning of the essay, when their patient
insisted on more tests and more doctor visits. My patient with belly pain saw the third
gastroenterologist, who thought she would benefit from a stent to her pancreatic duct. Just the
fact that someone appeared to be taking her symptoms more seriously gave her hope, and she
went ahead with the procedure. But the procedure gave her little relief, and soon after, she
developed inflammation in her pancreas, a common complication of this procedure (Warraich).
The doctors patient did not believe what he had to say and visited another doctor. Because the
patient went ahead and had more doctor visits, and more procedures done, the patient risked their
health and damaged their pancreas indefinitely for life.
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So when those free health care advertisements come around insisting you to come
in for a visit, stop and ask yourself, is this really necessary? When you have already visited
your doctor and they have said everything is OK, then you can rest easy knowing that extra visits
to the doctors office are unnecessary. Besides, a lot of advertisements in todays society focus
on the benefits what they are selling, rather than the pros and cons. Most people are independent
and take good care of their health, if you have any worries about your health then you can try an
alternative medicine, and some health procedures have high risks that have lasting effects. The
next time you have doubts about your health, trust your doctor and avoid taking unnecessary
trips to the doctors.











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Works Cited
"Hypochondriac." The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition.
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 15 Apr. 2014. <Dictionary.com
Lopez, Korina. "Parents of Bipolar Kids Face Hard Questions." USA TODAY. 11 Dec. 2012: D.3.
SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Phobia List: An A to Z List of Phobias Including the Strange and Common. about.com. 2014.
Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Szabo, Liz. "Alternative Medicine. Do You Buy It?." USA TODAY. 19 Jun. 2013: A.1. SIRS Issues
Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Warraich, Haider Javed. "More Care Isn't Always Better." Los Angeles Times. 10 Oct. 2013: A.15.
SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Zaraska, Marta. "Baby Boomers Embrace Vegetarianism, but Such Diets Have Risks..." Washington
Post. 14 Aug. 2012: E.4. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.