How does your G.P. treat you?

[sandra]

I'm just interested to know what your experiences of going to the doctor are like with regard to being vegan.
My experiences are usually negative, once I tell the doctor I'm vegan I get a look of something bordering on pity and am usually told I'm probably lacking in iron. One doctor told me I needed to eat 'red meat', when I told him I hadn't eaten 'red meat' in over 30yrs and that any blood tests I ever had [including ones for iron levels] were always normal he looked at me as if to say "I find that hard to believe".
Once when I told a female G.P. that I couldn't take the tablets she was prescribing as the capsules contained gelatine, she replied, "They're made of plastic aren't they?"
Well, I'm no doctor but I don't think swallowing pieces of plastic four times a day for a week would be good for you!
I would love to hear your experiences with G.P's and how you dealt with them as it would help me the next time I have to visit my doctor.

[eve]

My doc knows that I'm vegan, and he is very interested. He said "whatever you're eating, just carry on because it is obviously doing you good!"

[foxytina_69]

i just got a new doctor, and i told her i was vegan and she said "thats good! thats a very healthy diet to be on!!" i was surprized.

[claireyveg]

I have been to see the same doc for a couple of years and i always dread it, being vegetarian i always felt she thought i was some nieve little child who didn't know what was good for her, she made me feel so small. I can't wait to see her reaction next time i see her (being vegan and all) pfft... I hate how doctors presume to know everything, she told me before any blood tests that i was anaemic and prescribed me hella strong iron tablets, i never took the tablets and a couple months later returned she did a blood test and low and behold i was no longer aneamic- bloody brilliant, she was like see i knew those tablets would be fine, but you really should include red meat in your diet- at least once a week! pfft... doctors... i think i need to find a new one, perhaps one like eve's!

[sandra]

Hi Eve, I wish I had your doctor. Do you always see the same one or do you see whoever you can get an appointment with?

[sandra]

Hi foxytina, I would hold on to that doctor of yours she seems brilliant!

[cedarblue]

i went for a platelet count blood test the other week, just to make sure all ok.

told doc i was vegan and thats why i wanted to make sure i was doing it right, health and diet wise. he said 'we dont need meat anyway' :)

test was ok too!

[foxytina_69]

i definitely will. and shes also an older lady, and usually older doctors are 'old fashioned' with diets and such. but she was very smart about several things and i was really quite excited!

[sandra]

Hi claireyveg, did you tell the doctor you didn't take the tablets? I would love to know what her reaction was if you did. My daughter is 18 and she gets the same response when she visits the doctor, she went recently about migraine headaches and was more or less told it was because she needed to eat meat!

[sandra]

Hi cedarblue, you see that's the sort of doctor I would love to have! You are very lucky.

[cedarblue]

hi sandra: generally i dont mention im vegan if i visit my gp, i dont see it as an issue that is going to 'cause' the odd ailment. when i mentioned it to him as one aspect of my wanting to check my blood health, apart from saying what he did, he didnt really see it as any sort of issue either.

if i visit the gp and i consider my diet to have any bearing on the ailment then i mention it, if i dont then i dont.:)

[sandra]

Hi cedarblue, yes I'm the same, I usually don't mention I'm vegan but since I have been troubled with stomach ulcers they usually ask me about my diet. I have noticed that since I have become vegan my stomach problems have all gone!

[fiamma]

I always see the same doc and he's a nutritionist. I haven't told him I'm vegan though - the opportunity hasn't really presented itself. I do try to go to the doc as little as possible, especially as here you can't make an appointment, you have to take a number and get in line like you're at the deli counter :eek: So you might find yourself waiting all morning :mad: Luckily I can phone up for repeat prescriptions, that saves my sanity :)

[claireyveg]

Yeh I mentioned i never took the iron tablets (they're rumoured to give you constipation and black stools :eek: , no thank-you!!) and she kinda just grunted at me, lol, i kinda half think she didn't believe me, but i think she didn't want to admit she was wrong, hehe :D

[Poppy]

[quote=sandra]Well, I'm no doctor but I don't think swallowing pieces of plastic four times a day for a week would be good for you!
quote]

That is funny Sandra. :D
My doctors knew when I was vegetarian but never commented either way. Recently I took my daughter and mentioned when we were there I'd 'gone' vegan and how my asthma had improved. All my doctor said was "You should have done it sooner then"!!! :( :) x

[aubergine]

My doctor is a moron. Her solution to everything is to drink lots of water and come back in two weeks.

It's a shame there's no good doctors under our local authority. I can understand why so many people go private, but I can't afford it :(

[sandra]

Hi Poppy, thats great that your asthma has improved, I feel a lot better health wise too since I've been vegan so hopefully I won't need to go back to the doctor!

[sandra]

Hi Fiamma, I don't think I'd like having to wait my turn to see the doctor, especially if you aren't feeling too well. Although I do remember as a child having to do just that, it is much better now with appointments although you nearly have to book in advance as sometime it's weeks before you can see someone!

[veganblue]

Kinda off topic but I asked my optometrist if the eye troubles I was having could be related to diet.

I was surprised when she said she could not recommend a better diet for eyes!

I felt that was the case but I didn't expect such a resounding approval. :)

Not too much fat, not too much sugar, low risk of glaucomas, high in vitamins; maybe I should take some pamphlets in. :)

[sandra]

Hi vegandrummersam, I laughed at what you said about your doctor, it is so true, they either say something like that or they put every illness down to a virus!

[sandra]

Hi veganblue, That's good news that our vegan diet is particularly good for the eyes. It's nice to know that there are some in the medical profession who actually admit that our diet is the healthiest!

[DianeVegan]

My GP thinks being vegan is great. It's the doctors I work with at the hospital who think I'm crazy! Even though I am in better health than most of them, the docs and nurses just don't get it. In old times, medicine was about nutrition. The biggest mistake ever made by the medical profession was losing this view and unfortunately, until the unwieldy system we have in place now figures out a way to make a profit off of good nutrition ....... things will continue as is.:(

[aubergine]

Hi vegandrummersam, I laughed at what you said about your doctor, it is so true, they either say something like that or they put every illness down to a virus!

I've had to become quite an expert on my own health. I'd hate to think what they'd say if I told them I was Vegan. It would probably the last thing they said as a doctor.

[Mr Flibble]

with medicine :)

I've had no problems with doctors (in Surrey, Essex and the Midlands) and my veganism - if anything it's been a positive thing. My doctor at uni was telling me about how he doesn't eat 'red' meat and said he didn't think my diet was a problem at all when i asked him whether deficiency could be a problem affecting my tiredness (which turned out just to be because i went to bed on a regular basis far too late). I asked to be referred however to a nutricianalist just incase, who said my diet was one of the healthiest she'd ever seen a uni student have and definately not a cause for concern.

Generally they aren't very helpful when it comes to prescribing things that are vegan friendly (or more so than xxx), but i've had doctors in the past get out their books and find me stuff available from companies I don't boycott or pills without lactose and geletin.

I'm sure there's a lot of really crappy doctors out there (I've seen ones which I know more about the thing after reading online for a few hours than them), but I also think that in some cases it's the patients funny attitude towards doctors/medecine which is the cause of tension. I once went to an appointment with one such person for moral support and the doctor in question could not have been more professional, yet my friend was convinced the doctor was crap, hated and couldn't give a toss about her for no reason than her own prejudice.

[Nadine]

Hi cedarblue, yes I'm the same, I usually don't mention I'm vegan but since I have been troubled with stomach ulcers they usually ask me about my diet. I have noticed that since I have become vegan my stomach problems have all gone!

Hi Sandra, I had stomach ulcer too (before I was vegan) my doc advised me to consume more dairy products- they aggravated the problem :mad:. Since being vegan I haven't had any problems though(only a minor twinge when I drink myself silly :o ). My experience with doctors has not been good.