A bit of a self indulgent rant follows!
Regarding doctors, one of my earlier insights into doctor human-ness (no 'e'):
4 mths post graduation I am working in a Qld coastal public hospital in the graduate position.
One morning after rounds, a doctor tells me about an elderly inpatient - bacterial pneumonia, bad O2 sats, signs of right heart failure.....then the doc adds this "we don't think he's going to make it so we're not changing his A'bs...but if you want to do your thing, go ahead."
So the docs thought he was going to die and he wasn't worth giving next level A'bs to.
I knew this gentlemen as he had been in outpatients with back pain to see me. Salt of the earth, very productive life, still living in their home of 50+ years with his independent wife.
I went in and asked him if he wanted to live, having no idea of all the reasons the docs had dismissed their proactive care. If he'd nodded his head any harder he'd have got a whiplash injury. I then asked if he would fight with me to get this dirty bug out that didn't belong in him. And more nodding and eyes wired wide open.
To cut to the chase, within 36 hours his O2 sats were normal, as was his HR, BP, and Temp. He was resting better. Over the previous 2 days, I did a lot of stuff to get his lungs saturated to loosen the thick purulent mucus blocking his airways and alveoli. Hyper-hydration with electrolytes, percussion and vibes, nasopharygneal suction, Chapman's sympathetic reflexes, out of bed for diaphragmatic and deeper breathing, thoracic spine stretches to further stimulate the sympathetics - fire in the belly HTFU and fight stuff.
I saw him 4 times a day last at 9pm (I was staying in staff quarters 100 meters away). I pushed him til he was exhausted....and he would sleep. He was in a war and needed to FIGHT to win. Might sound melodramatic, but I've seen enough disease to realize to beat a disease, one has to engage all of their inner reserves, and throw off what seeks to oppress and kill.
The guy went home 4 days after he was left to asphyxiate in bacterial mucus by the docs.
I've thought a lot about that experience. Many doctors' view on life and death is colored by the army of beaten patients they see who don't want to fight...who are worn out and ready to exit.... BUT also these doctors have often never had to fight themselves against truly overwhelming odds, nor have they had to motivate others to reach deep inside and awake and use that fiery determination.
This is one profound difference between doctors of today and 50 years ago. Today it is all this intellectual effort into getting the drug mix and dose right.....but there's little understanding of an individual's inner fire and its healing potency....there's also little respect or understanding of fundamental physiological principles and how to engage them.
Now the docs might be right that to do what I did for that patient is a costly service, and public health cannot afford to provide it for most. But if that is the case, then I think the public need to know exactly what their tax dollar is paying for in public health service.....and the scope of intervention it isn't.
And the same applies to the service offered by GPs - is the GP offering me all that is known by health care?
Too often, the answer is no....for he/she does not know how to utilize the body's and mind's own potential to heal or restore homeostasis.
What is happening today is there's too much fragmentation of health care skill and knowledge. So GPs are unlikely to be aware of all critical interventions at all times. There's just too much for them to stay on top of.
However, the worst thing they could do is give someone piecemeal advice about a field they have insignficant training in.
And this is the problem with splitting health care into different specialties who that rarely talk....
This doesn't impart knowledge of how all the different systems work together as a whole, more powerful than the sum of its parts!
In saying all that, if you get a GP who does 'get it', then they are the exception, and have my deepest respect.
As for supplements, there's not a lot of respect for physiology in how they are meted out.
I once asked a doctor whether it was more physiologically agreeable to split a medication into quarters and spread the intake across the day....rather than having a large bolus once a day. The way he looked at me he deliberately wanted to impart that he thought I was a wnkr asking a stupid question. I could have challenged him on the half life of the med, and the endogenous production of any substance the body produces (none are delivered as once a day boluses), and the effect of a large bolus on feedback signaling to higher regulatory centers.....but I realized it would be lost on a guy who had allocated me 10 minutes and rote advice.