forgotten_aria

Not sure if you were trying to generalize about NPs (nurse practitioners) or not, but if you were, while I totally believe there are moron NPs, I don't think that's a rule. In some ways, I trust an NP more than a doc. I've heard of many people going the NP route because they get nearly all the authority/responsibility of patient care without all the rest (administration, some flavors of politics). Also, I don't know if med school / residency drums out the people going into medicine just for the status; if not, then a status-oriented person is going to go for their MD, not NP.

Now, all that said, anyone doing patient contact who doesn't listen to the patient is a moron. Go you for not putting up with that. :)

Have you tried using the question, "What else could it be?"? I forget where I read that that's a good way to get a doc to reboot their line of thinking (I think I heard that on an NPR segment, actually) because 1, they hopefully start from scratch, 2, without you implying that you think they're wrong.

I think that feeling that I'm bothering them by giving information is the biggest thing from keeping me from going to the doctor.

If you're amenable to solutions: maybe write out your signs and symptoms? Offhand, it might help you marshall your thoughts, and maybe the care provider would be more amenable to working through a fixed list.