OP, you are not alone. Multiple studies, and reports have shown that trust in doctors and healthcare has declined since the pandemic. For example:

“In every sociodemographic group in this survey study among 443 455 unique respondents aged 18 years or older residing in the US, trust in physicians and hospitals decreased substantially over the course of the pandemic, from 71.5% in April 2020 to 40.1% in January 2024. Individuals with lower levels of trust were less likely to have been vaccinated or received boosters for COVID-19.“



https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11292455/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, go back and tell her that’s fine, you are just going to buy HRT from India off the Internet. Her loss.

Wut?

You can buy meds online from India. They are not regulated by the FDA, so if your doc refuses a reasonable request you might have to seek alternative means. It’s on them.

My mom told her doc this and he shrugged and wrote her a prescription since she was going to take them anyway. It’s obviously not something you’d want to do for scheduled meds but for something as innocuous as HRT, it’s fine.

There’s also In House Pharmacy in Vanuatu, which has been around for like 30 years. I’ve ordered meds there (and had positive experiences) when things just got too silly attempting to deal with doctors here.

Obviously you’d want to read up online to understand your recommended dosage and everything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, go back and tell her that’s fine, you are just going to buy HRT from India off the Internet. Her loss.

Wut?

You can buy meds online from India. They are not regulated by the FDA, so if your doc refuses a reasonable request you might have to seek alternative means. It’s on them.

My mom told her doc this and he shrugged and wrote her a prescription since she was going to take them anyway. It’s obviously not something you’d want to do for scheduled meds but for something as innocuous as HRT, it’s fine.

Oh I see. I get it. One needs to take things into your own hands.

I’m on HRT already just not topical. I have ongoing mild headaches and frequent urination at night so that’s how I ended up at this doctor (a uro gyn specialist). She got basic things wrong- she seems to think my periods stopped 6 years ago, and now wants me to come back for a procedure- a cystoscopy- bc I had microscopic blood in my urinalysis (but everything else was normal- no UTI or other issues with my blood work).

I put my symptoms and lab results into ChatGPT and received better feedback and follow up questions from chat than from this gyn, my PCP and a neurologist combined. Chat says the frequent urination is common during peri, and three headaches are likely a stress/tension (I have a demanding schedule) exacerbated by peri/fluctuating hormones, teeth grinding at night, some meds I’m on (Paxil and a GLP) and dehydration (apparently these meds mask thirst so I might not even feel thirsty). None of these doctors i saw asked as many questions, put together those pieces or offered any practical fixes, and the gyn even mistakenly thought I’ve been in menopause for 6 years.

Chat said to use a mouth guard, drink an extra glass of water in AM and PM, and take magnesium at night. I’m going to try that first.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not any one doctor but the general experience of being passed around from specialist to specialist- with pricey co pays and tests and too much time spent- none of whom seem to think outside the box of their specialty. I had a gyn tell me yesterday that she could prescribe topical HRT (lotion), but not systemic HRT (patch and pills) because her practice doesn’t ’do that’ - not for any particular reason she could explain and she said she’s a proponent of HRT.

I’m not dying but I’ve had ongoing fatigue and headaches and some related issues- probably mostly hormone related and I’m on HRT and thyroid meds- and no one seems interested or able to address it well, other than being happy to shuttle me off to another doctor under their umbrella center for tests and more tests that typically come back ‘green’ eg, fine (although I’ve noticed no one bothers to note if my test results are borderline low normal or high normal as example)

I know I’m lucky to have good health insurance, and if I had cancer or another serious illness, I’d probably be happy to have doctors treat me, but everything else? Eh. So uninspiring and so expensive too.

Op. Just checked my chart. They had that my last period was 2019. Huh?

Oops- meant to add I am still menstruating. How comforting. This was a gyn too.

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust doctors as most are pretty bad and do the minimum but I have seen multiple doctors and most will not prescribe i as there are long-term issues with use. I will not take it.

Not prescribe what?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try to find a functional med doctor. They sorted out all my issues using more up to date knowledge and testing. This was stuff none of the regular doctors had even mentioned. 4 diagnoses later with treatment and I feel better in my 40s than I did in my 20s.

Those are quacks.

I went to two of these. One didn’t do much. The other was through a pricey concierge practice and she had me taking 15 vitamins a day. Also didn’t do much

Anonymous wrote:Try to find a functional med doctor. They sorted out all my issues using more up to date knowledge and testing. This was stuff none of the regular doctors had even mentioned. 4 diagnoses later with treatment and I feel better in my 40s than I did in my 20s.

Those are quacks.

I don't trust doctors as most are pretty bad and do the minimum but I have seen multiple doctors and most will not prescribe i as there are long-term issues with use. I will not take it.

Try to find a functional med doctor. They sorted out all my issues using more up to date knowledge and testing. This was stuff none of the regular doctors had even mentioned. 4 diagnoses later with treatment and I feel better in my 40s than I did in my 20s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Health care is a mess. I’m a doctor who studies patient trust in doctors. What would make you trust us more?

Probably if we didn’t have to be shuffled through an appointment in 10 minutes or less. I’m not sure how that’s going to happen.

And if you didn’t spend more time harsssing over billing than patient care

Anonymous wrote:Health care is a mess. I’m a doctor who studies patient trust in doctors. What would make you trust us more?

Probably if we didn’t have to be shuffled through an appointment in 10 minutes or less. I’m not sure how that’s going to happen.

Anonymous wrote:It’s not any one doctor but the general experience of being passed around from specialist to specialist- with pricey co pays and tests and too much time spent- none of whom seem to think outside the box of their specialty. I had a gyn tell me yesterday that she could prescribe topical HRT (lotion), but not systemic HRT (patch and pills) because her practice doesn’t ’do that’ - not for any particular reason she could explain and she said she’s a proponent of HRT.

I’m not dying but I’ve had ongoing fatigue and headaches and some related issues- probably mostly hormone related and I’m on HRT and thyroid meds- and no one seems interested or able to address it well, other than being happy to shuttle me off to another doctor under their umbrella center for tests and more tests that typically come back ‘green’ eg, fine (although I’ve noticed no one bothers to note if my test results are borderline low normal or high normal as example)

I know I’m lucky to have good health insurance, and if I had cancer or another serious illness, I’d probably be happy to have doctors treat me, but everything else? Eh. So uninspiring and so expensive too.

Op. Just checked my chart. They had that my last period was 2019. Huh?

^ low level headaches