Book about US overuse of medical care

[agate]

I just finished a book that makes the point that in the US we tend to overtest and overmedicate and even overdiagnose. Sometimes less medical care can give a person a better quality of life, the author says.

The book is Less Medicine, More Health: 7 Assumptions That Drive Too Much Medical Care by H. Gilbert Welch, MD (2015).

He doesn't discuss MS but has quite a lot to say about prostate and breast cancer, which are often diagnosed and treated when they don't really need to be.

The book is full of valuable little nuggets. I liked this one:

"The passage of time can have both diagnostic and therapeutic value."

This is particularly true of MS, it seems to me. So many people wonder if they have MS and have to wait a long time before being diagnosed. But sometimes a long time has to pass before a doctor can know for sure what is going on.

Has anyone else read this book?

[Howie]

I used to find it strange my Granny took so many pills in the morning before breakfast, and here I am now with as many, or more pills, to start the day, every day.

[Sunshine]

I haven't read that book agate but it sounds thought provoking. I have a relative in UK who loves the medicine there which is pretty much wait, wait, and more wait unless it's a big emergency. She did eventually improve by waiting but I dunno, it was pretty serious problem and could've gone bad in a hurry.

[agate]

I think one of the points of the books is that some of us, now that we have such advanced medical technology and good insurance coverage, may be too inclined to move to that worst-case scenario long before it happens.

And it might not ever happen. Then a person could have gone through quite a few very serious medical ordeals and much anxiety--not to mention considerable expense.

[SuzE-Q]

I think that's the debate over regular mammograms is that it too often leads to unnecessary biopsies that turn out to be nothing, but create huge stress. Same debate over when and how often colonoscopies should be done.

No easy answer since there always ARE cases when early diagnosis and treatments have saved lives.

The excessive rx'ing of opioids though, that really needs to be curtailed, it's creating even bigger issues.

[Virginia]

This is a problem. I seldom see a Doctor with the one exception being my Neurologist once every 6 months. I just do not want to be sent to another Specialist or given another drug if I happen to mention something that is bothering me.

I have had breast cancer and had a mastectomy on my right side. I have not had a mammogram in years because I just do not think that I would do anything again other than let it run its course. I am not saying that would have been the right thing for me to do in 2003, but I was younger and even though I had MS it had not progressed to the point that it has now. I guess we all need to think about our choices as we go through life.

[SalpalSally]

Yes pill popping is in! I'mm not taking any chances...LOL!