4 Helpful Tips for Looking for a New Doctor

Hello readers!

In today’s post I will share a bit about why I just did the search for a new doctor, and then I will share a few tips I gleaned in the process.

For the last five years (of 23 years) of living in Ashland, Oregon, I worked in a wonderful medical office, Morningstar Healing Arts, and I saw Howard Woodwind Morningstar MD, and his wife Sue Morningstar WHCNP (Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner), as my doctors. They were very caring people, and I got used to a high standard in terms of quality medical care.

So, last Fall, when I visited my new doctor here for the first time, I was pretty shocked by her demeanor. I will just call her “Dr. B” here because she has so many terrible reviews online that I don’t feel the need to do that. When Dr. B walked into the room, after curtly introducing herself, she asked me point-blank “Why are you here?” I replied that I was there for an annual exam, and I started sending her loving energies, hoping she would soften and be friendly to me. Well, that did not happen, and many months later, when I was reflecting on that visit, I thought that when she asked me that question, a good response would have been, “Actually, Dr. B, the question is, Why are YOU here, when you clearly are not good at this work!”

At the end of the appointment I scheduled my follow-up exam with her for one year later, and I was actually planning to give her another chance, but then I read the scathing reviews about her online, and several people said that they gave her a second chance and she still wasn’t nice!

So, when I started having lots of uncomfortable health issues again in the late Winter and early Spring, I did not have a doctor that I felt comfortable with, and I felt too sick and tired to look for a new doctor… Fast-forward to this month of July, and here is the background story on why I got motivated to look for a new doctor now…

In my ideal world, I would like to regularly sleep well, and have a normal, healthy body, and be able to do satisfying, financially successful work, and live in Sedona, Arizona. Well, none of that is happening in my current reality, and while I am doing my best to make the best of the situation I’m in, some days it is just really hard to accept that I am not living in my ideal world. Those days usually coincide with “bad” days, which typically come after “bad” nights.

It is possible that I am experiencing a relapse of Fibromyalgia (after I had been symptom-free for almost 3.5 years), but it is confusing because the symptoms are always changing and the aches keep moving around. At the moment I am feeling completely fed up with this frustrating body situation, thus I am motivated to go to a doctor. Hopefully the doctor can help me figure out why I feel so bad. If a diagnosis can be made, then hopefully I will learn whether or not it can be treated, and whether or not I’ll ever be able to work again. (I have been unemployed for 3 years and have been living as a boomeranger with my parents for the past 1.5 years.) Currently I cannot imagine being able to go to a job.

So! Here are a few tips if you find yourself also looking for a new doctor:

1. Read online reviews and/or talk to people who know the doctor.

2. Look at their photo if possible. You can really tell a lot about a person by gazing at their photo.

3. When you call their office and speak to the receptionist, ask questions about things that are important to you. If they don’t know the answers, ask them to go ask the doctor!

4. Consider typing up a list of your health issues and health goals to bring with you to the first appointment. Before writing the list, spend some time getting really clear about your health goals. While typing the list, be aware that you are sending a positive message to your body that you really care about it and you are going to do everything you can to help it be healthy.

Do you have any other tips to add to this list?
Do you love your current doctor, or are you looking for a new doctor now?

 

Photo* of sunset on the trail in Sedona, Arizona, taken by Teja in November 2018.

*If you are viewing this post in an email, simply click on the title of the article and you will be taken to the StarFire Teja Blog where you can see the photo.