Does Your Doctor Speak Martian?

Judging from my e-mail, most of my readers have very little idea what their physicians actually say during their office visits. Even hospital dismissal paperwork is sprinkled with Med-Speak and incomprehensible to many. So, how do you know what's actually going on with your health and your medical treatment?

Should you buy a Physician's Desk Reference to check out the drugs you take? Well...you could, but a Davis Drug Guide is handier for the layperson to use and much cheaper. New drugs enter the market monthly, but information about the majority of meds doesn't change, so a used copy purchased form Amazon.com or even at a yard sale is a good investment. The Davis Drug Guide is preferable to other such books, listing meds alphabetically, rather than by type (after all, how many laypeople know drugs ending in "lol" are usually beta-blockers? You get the idea).

Now that you're fixed on drug info, how do you know exactly what your diagnosis means or what treatment it will entail? If you just need a good medical dictionary, Tabor's is the best. Again, these books can be purchased used, and 99% of the material does not change from year to year.

If you're more concerned about treatment or progression of certain maladies, you need a Merck Manual. These are written for physicians, but much of the material is easily comprehended by the layperson. These books are harder to find used, but usually a few show up on Amazon.com.

One word of caution: Just because you have one symptom of a disease doesn't mean you actually have that illness. The only thing a physician hates more than having a patient read the Merck is having a patient who is a Merck-reading nurse, but of course I would never do that myself...

Good luck and happy book hunting,

Nurse Nan