Most people visit the doctor to help get or stay healthy. But health care providers can only work with the information you present to them. If you’re dealing with a chronic health issue, the last thing you want to do is undermine a doctor’s efforts to help you get well.
“It’s so important to have a good doctor-patient relationship because the more your doctor knows you and your health, the better your care can be,” said Dr. Zachary Bittinger, a clinical assistant professor of family and community medicine at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. “But healthy relationships have boundaries. Making sure that you understand your doctor’s boundaries and your doctor understands yours is a core piece of it.”
With that in mind, we asked primary care physicians how patients might unintentionally interfere with their own care and what kind of behavior impedes a good doctor-patient relationship. Here’s what they shared.
You’ve predetermined your diagnosis and aren’t open to your doctor’s expertise.
Doctors are aware that you’ve probably already looked up your symptoms online to try to get some sense of what you could be dealing with ― especially if you’ve been trying to get a proper diagnosis for a long time. Many patients experience medical gaslighting, and sometimes the only way to take back control is to do the research yourself.
“It’s important to acknowledge that health information is everywhere,” Bittinger said. “Sifting through it independently is to be expected these days, and it’s unfair to expect patients to not do that.”
But there’s a difference between doing some research and insisting that you have a diagnosis without being open to what your doctor says. “It’s a careful balancing act,” Bittinger said.
Health care providers say they regularly hear from patients with a new health problem who think they know their diagnosis before they’re even examined.
“Many people use Google or ChatGPT to diagnose themselves, which can lead to the wrong diagnosis,” explained Dr. Michael Aziz, internist at Northwell Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. But that’s potentially dangerous, he noted.
“A strep throat can be similar to flu-like symptoms,” Aziz explained. “A stiff neck can be diagnosed as muscle spasm, when it could be a dangerous case of meningitis.”
Doctors are trained to diagnose you ― and they’ll need to hear about your symptoms and do a full evaluation before they can do that, said Dr. Andrea Manyon, chair of the department of family medicine at the University at Buffalo in New York.
“We typically make a diagnosis based on a sequence of information that we obtain from the patient,” she said. “There are certain components of that that lead to us having a differential diagnosis in our mind.” That influences what kind of tests your doctor orders to help give you a proper medical diagnosis, she added.
Stating that you think you know what your diagnosis is can also create an “implicit bias” in terms of what you take away from your doctor’s appointment, according to Dr. David Cutler, a family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.
“This is not to say it will necessarily affect care negatively, but the existence of the bias needs to be recognized, or else inordinate weight may be given to information which confirms this previously-held belief, and information which refutes this belief may not be adequately considered,” he said.
Basically, doctors say it’s more than OK to do your own research into your health. But it’s also crucial to be open to their expertise.
Morsa Images via Getty Images
You put off going to the doctor.
While self-diagnosing can be a big issue, doctors say they also regularly see patients who drag their feet before visiting their physician.
“Many people wait too long before being seen,” Aziz said. Unfortunately, Bittinger noted, that can make it harder for your doctor to treat your issue, given that many conditions tend to worsen over time.
Bittinger also said it’s crucial to see your health care provider for a persistent issue because they can help ease your fears. “I don’t want people staying up all night, worrying they might have cancer when it could be something else,” he explained.
You tell your doctor you never drink or smoke when you do.
Manyon said that “not being straightforward about confounding variables” that can influence your health is a big potential issue she sees a lot. “Things like cigarette use and alcohol use are important to know,” she said.
She stressed that doctors shouldn’t be judgmental when it comes to a patient’s health, but they do need to have all the information to help make a proper diagnosis and set a treatment plan.
You bring up a health problem at the end of your appointment.
Dr. Janet O’Mahony, a primary care physician at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, said it can be frustrating for health care professionals to spend time with a patient, only to have them bring up a big health issue at the end of a visit.
“The best time to mention your most important one or two issues is right at the beginning,” she said. “Do not tell me ‘What I really came for was…’ while I am on the way out of the door.”
O’Mahony also requests that patients have patience with the diagnostic process. “I may not have the answer on the first visit,” she said. “If I can’t make a diagnosis, I might order tests, or I might schedule a return visit to monitor if the symptoms are getting better or worse.”
You stop taking your medication before chatting with your physician.
O’Mahony stressed the importance of continuing to communicate with your doctor about your treatment plan, especially if it involves a new medication that doesn’t seem to be a good fit.
“If a treatment does not work or causes some sort of side effect, as a patient, you have to let the doctor know,” she said. “I have patients come to me and tell me that they did not go back to a particular doctor, even though they had a scheduled follow-up appointment, because ‘the medicine they gave me did not work.’”
“That might be really important information for the doctor to hear and likely why they scheduled a follow-up appointment,” she added.
Ultimately, if you have a health issue, doctors underscore how important it is to be open and honest with your doctor about what you’re experiencing.
“Immediate care is essential to the right questions to be asked and the right tests to be performed for an accurate diagnosis,” Aziz said.
