Grr

[flick]

Have just been for a pill refill at the GP. My, lovely, GP is on maternity leave, so I sat in the main waiting room full of whingy kids (my GP has her own, nice, quiet one upstairs) saw some random, incredibly young, bloke who made me go through my entire medical history, implied Mike is cheating on me, nagged me for five minutes about smoking whilst saying 'yes dear, there there' when I pointed out that I was clear for the other half dozen risk factors, then took my blood pressure and said "it's getting towards being a little high, I don't think I can prescribe this pill for you".

Grr.

Eventually got two packs out of him, but I have to have a 24 hour BP monitor done. Which, I fully expect, will show a spike when I'm riding and then another when the fucking things stops me from being able to get to sleep, and be otherwise perfectly fine, just like it is whenever my lovely GP measures it.

Comments

[damerell]

I suspect implying or suggesting that is the doctor's job, yes - because they know perfectly well what proportion of the people who don't use barrier methods because their partner would never cheat will end up back in the doctor's office as a result.

Ditto, it's not really the doctor's job to accept rationalisations of smoking as healthy; it's their job to tell the patient the truth.

[flick]

Um, I never claimed smoking was healthy. I said that it was a less significant risk factor in combination with this medication than various others, none of which apply to me.

[damerell]

All I'm saying is that realistically if you are a typical person in reasonable health there is little the doctor can do which is better than getting you to stop smoking. It might not work, but they're bound to try it.

[flick]

And what I'm saying is that the 'rule' that you must stop smoking at age 35 if you are on the pill is lazy. They don't make diabetics stop taking the pill at the same age for the same reasons, nor people who are overweight or have poor diet and exercise habits.