Whose Medical Team Is This, Anyway?

Almost two years ago I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Since that time I’ve had my ups and my downs (fortunately mostly ups) as I work at keeping my glucose levels “in range.” I’ve gotten my A1C down below 7 and am at a point where the doctor says I have things under control but with room for improvement. I have goals that I have set for myself as far as exercise and weight loss. Hopefully I will still be able to push my A1C down even further by the end of this year. I believe I am on a good path but there’s just one thing bugging me: an area where I felt I needed to speak up and take control. That area rests squarely between the four walls of my doctor’s examination room.

Don’t get me wrong. I do believe that my doctor and his staff have my best interest at heart. Here’s the problem. My doctor likes to do things “By the book,” which means medications with occasional increases in dosage. That’s not my goal but at first I was afraid to say anything about it. Early on I asked what it would take to get off of the medications but my question was met with an answer that I did not like. Over the 1st year and a half I found myself wondering who is in charge and if we share the same goals. Yes, we share the goal of keeping me healthy but my goal is to do so with as little medication as possible and I’d rather not go down the path of a higher dose of this followed by a higher dose of that.

So here’s my question. How do you see your relationship with your doctor? Is your doctor your medical boss, giving out orders that you have to follow? At times I become a people pleaser and I think this caused me to see the relationship in these terms. God helped me see that my doctor is a medical expert giving me advice based on his experience but his experience is not alway a perfect fit for my situation. For example, he did not think I could lose enough weight to make a difference. I have. The bottom line is he gives his best advice and it’s my choice on what I do with that advice as well as with the advice I get from many other sources. Most of the time I will probably do as the doctor says but I want to have some input and I make the final decision.

I want to be clear about this. I’m not advocating for you or anyone else to ignore the advice of their doctor. I’m not on some power trip and do not plan to ignore my own doctor. What I am advocating is for all of us to become informed patients, learning all that we can including what the doctor’s “book” says. As I learn more about living with diabetes I plan to make my health a collaborative effort, one in which I do lean heavily on my doctor for advice. And I will recognize that 99% of the time it is the best advice but it is advice and not a command.

When it comes to my health I will not be a people pleaser. After all, whose medical team is this anyway? To be more accurate: Whose life is this anyway?