doctor on email

Post Reply New Topic

hi, whenever i go to see the doctor (whether AS related or not) i always find it difficult to talk & tell the doctor what is wrong. i think it is maybe to do with the one on one interaction which i am not good at when all the focus is on me to talk. i was just wondering what anyone else thought to the idea of being able to email the doctor with the problem. obviously physical exams, prescriptions or referrals can not be done via email, but my idea is more that you email the doctor & then go to see them. this way the doctor already knows why you have come & so the focus is not so much on you to talk.

i think that i would benefit from this system but what does anyone else think?

I agree we should be able to email doctors with certain details for some things, I would never of been diagnosed if I had not written everything down before my visit, as knew I would forgot things and sometimes what seems to make sense to us, does not to a NT and can feel silly saying.. I kept quite about a lot of things for far to long, as one did not understand myself and two knew I was not, but did not want doctor thinking I was crazy..

I tried emailing the doctor once but she wrote back and explained why it wasn't possible and that there wasn't anything in place to make it secure or a viable option for various reasons.

I can't bear going to the docs and sometimes I have become more sick than I needed to be because of that.

i think i've been there

i am what i have referred to in a dutch documentary a 'zorgmijder':
a (social)care-avoider

for a more precise image: i am pretty sure i am one those you will
see a small item about in the local newspaper: man found dead in
house after months & the house has clearly been a mess for years
(i might leave a messless home though, knowing me

so i certainly wouldn't go to see a doctor with any small complaint

when there is something more seriously (e.g. the need for a referral),
i use the occasion to at least mention some of the less omportant stuff

i do this by means of a little (mental of even real)
'o no let's not forget that either' listing of items to be addressed

[[i'd say i can relate to asplanet's response just posted while i am writing this]]


i gather you have a specific gp out there;

first thing to remark would be: stay away from online e-mail doctoring;
too many symptoms are too ambiguous, and with 'our' ass-insecurity
i would venture the guessthat would be even more 'risky' than for 'an NT'

but that is not what you are suggesting; i think it an excellent idea

HOWEVER: why not dicuss it specifically with your gp???

If s/he's up for it, then try if that works for the both of you;
in fact the gp might even prefer it, as s/he could deal with your
e-mail at any moment of convenience -
you might even first ask at reception whether you're gp might be up for it

I have a specialist who I email for prescriptions and side effects, etc. He is more scatterbrained than me

You can also book telephone appointments. This is because seeing him is difficult because he is very busy. I think it is rare to operate like this, because of liability.

This is something I think about a lot. I communicate almost exclusively by email now- absolutely as much as possible. It makes sense to me to have the words laid out, to be able to re-read, to go back to it at a convenient time, to be able to edit. If I were able to ask my physician questions this way, it would make my own health care much easier (I am thinking generally and many specific instances.)
Now I work in a physician's office and we are trying to work out a way to do this. There are so many caveats... what do you do with an email that says "I have chest pain" that you read an hour or more after it was written (even if you make it clear at the outset, for example, "this is only for managing your blood sugars," this could happen) or, of course, the issue of electronic privacy and security.

e-mail is definitely my most comfortable medium, but I can't say I would be 100% confident using it for communications with my doctor. For simple matters I suppose it could work (i.e. follow-up questions) and I like that idea. For the most part though, I think the standard office visit is best.

My old psychiatrist who worked at the NIH basically corresponded only by email and even responded to inquires via his PDA when he was on vacation. If it were up to me, all doctors would be that easy to reach.

No, I don't think you should e-mail your doctor because the purpose of your doctor taking care of yo is, just that, to take care of you.

You shouldn't bother them, especially since they may have personal business to take care of.

well, the idea is that you'd be emailing your doctor concerning a health concern, like whether or not it's ok to drink alcohol while taking a certain medicine or if you need a refill for a prescription, for example. In those cases, emailing a doctor would fall under the scope of taking care of your health.



By the way, an AP reporter is doing an article about patients' frustrations in being unable to reach doctors via email. She emailed me to request that you guys who've posted in this thread get in contact with her so she can interview some people for the article. From what she said in her email, it sounds like the article isn't about Asperger's Syndrome, just about doctors and email in general. However, I do see how people with Asperger's may benefit even more from communicating with doctors via email.

If you feel comfortable talking to the reporter about your experience in trying to email doctors, send me an email: alex@wrongplanet.net and I'll forward her your message.

As autistics, it's always good to take any chance we get in having our voices out in the media, even when it is about something more general like emailing doctors.

Alex, I'm sorry, I'll be busy today but maybe I have a little while before it becomes a moot point.

I do this both with my psychologist and my GP. My clinic actually has an online program where I can send messages to my doctor, ask for a refill on a prescription, make appointments, etc. I sometimes email my therapist with things I want to talk about in our next session. It helps because even if I forget what I wanted to talk about, he can remind me. I think its a lot easier than a phone call, because it isn't dependent on both of us being available at the same time!