Thread by @designmom

I didn't say you are bad doctor, but now I think you are. At the very least you are completely out of touch with the patient experience. Here's why...

https://twitter.com/docobgynmom/status/1369542719626874882

50% of the worlds population will experience perimenopause. Based just on that stat alone, there should be so much information available, and it should be so commonplace, and the treatments should be so reliable and simple, that it’s like getting a headache and taking an advil.

You’re lecturing me as a doctor, about using the internet, when I said I think there should be more information widely available about perimenopause. Instead, you’re suggesting the following path:

Spend hours researching OBGYNs in my area. Talk to friends. Read reviews. Call and see if they take my insurance, confirm with my insurance company that the doctor is in-network. Ask insurance if this type of appointment is covered.

Call the doctor to find the out of pocket price in case the appointment is not covered. Find out if the doctor is taking new patients. Make an appointment. Wait 8 weeks for the appointment. Drive one hour to the appointment. Wait one hour in the waiting room.

Spend 10 mins with the doctor who tells me to track symptoms and come back in 3 months. Pay $300 for the out of pocket fee. Drive an hour back home. Spend time every day trying to track symptoms. Symptoms could be *literally anything*.

Go back for multiple follow up appointments that take 3-4 hours each time with driving and waiting. Hire a babysitter every time you have an appointment, and/or get permission from your boss to use a personal day to attend the appointment.

Make sure your car is in proper working order and have a driver’s license and money for fuel. Try the doctor’s advice and see if it works. If it doesn’t, come back for more follow up visits and try some different advice, which also may not work.

Spend $2000 in doctors appointments for advice that may or may not work. The whole time, the reason the advice may or may not work is because WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH RESEARCH AND INFORMATION ABOUT PERIMENOPAUSE, so the doctor is mostly guessing and may or may not get lucky.

What I just described is what *many* people responding to my tweet have gone through, with very sketchy results. And you want half of the entire population to go through this roll-the-dice-doctor-visit-process to get help. That’s such nonsense.

Again, perimenopause happens to so many people (half of all people!), and this information should be so commonplace, that a doctor visit would only be required if there was something unusual or dangerous happening. BUT WE DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT’S UNUSUAL OR DANGEROUS.

But how dare I suggest that we need more information, and that the information should be easily searchable.