Anti-Gay Doctors?

[BlackDude]

40 minutes ago, fskn said:

@BlackDude, several of your doctor's actions seem inconsistent with the CDC PrEP guidelines.

Whether you receive a 30- or 90-day PrEP prescription is ultimately an insurance matter; it should not be a matter of clinical discretion. Many health plans charge lower unit prices for 90-day prescriptions than for 30-day ones (although PrEP constitutes preventive care, so the medication and all PrEP-related services should be free of charge for the vast majority of insured Americans).

Your doctor was right to take a sexual history when you asked for PrEP, although a conscientious general practitioner would already have done so. It should be done as a matter of course for all patients who are at an age where they are likely to be sexually active (jokingly, I'd say, as was said decades ago, for all patients "of marriageable age" 🙂).

Whether STI test requests between the 3-month interval specified in the CDC PrEP guidelines should occasion further discussion of sexual habits is debatable. It is reasonable to minimize unnecessary tests. (For example, as a PrEP patient at Kaiser Permanente, I have standing orders and can go in for common STI tests as often as every 3 weeks. I go monthly regardless of my level of sexual activity, but I always decline the rectal swab because I'm a top and never have potential exposure from receptive anal sex.) It is not reasonable to make patients feel ashamed, to waste their time, or to delay access to testing.

Your doctor was right to recommend Covid-19 vaccination. Although research hasn't yet established that men who have sex with men (MSM) are at a higher risk of Covid-19 infection, of severe illness if they do become infected, and of death, plenty of research shows that GLBT people have worse health outcomes than the general population.

Research does, unfortunately, indicate that African Americans are significantly more likely to become infected, to experience severe illness, and to die from Covid-19, than the average American.

I hope you'll follow your doctor's advice to get a Covid-19 vaccination if you have not already done so, and then follow everyone's advice here, and get a new doctor.

Good luck! Remember that you are worth it. You have the right to sound medical care, free of stigma. Your life, or at least, your quality of life, depends on it.

This shot was not related for Covid or the Covid vaccine. It was unrelated (and even if it was, I’m not accepting the “Covid is a black disease” Narrative as a reason). 

And I checked with my insurance, she can do a 90 day refill for PREP and she has on occasion. But mostly it’s the pharmacist having to message her Damn near every month l. 
 

Again, I am comparing her behavior to other doctors at the same hospital. I don’t understand why I need to wait 2-3 days to hear back from a doctor to go in to see her 2-3 days later for a simple STD screening. Then instead of general questions about symptoms, it’s about activity. If my balls are itching, does it matter who sucked my dick? 

Edited October 5, 2021 by BlackDude

[fskn]

9 hours ago, BlackDude said:

To clarify, it want a COVID shot. 

I parsed this as "it was". Maybe you meant to type "it wasn't".

[jamobile]

Change doctors. When my doctor who knew all about me retired, I sought a new one. When I told him that I am gay he responded with “It doesn’t bother me. My church says it’s wrong but I’m okay with it.”  I don’t give two shits about his church and I wasn’t asking him if HE was okay with it, I was informing him about me so that he is attuned to things that may be pertinent to my health. I went through two more doctors until I finally found one who is gay himself.

[funpozbottom]

When I was diagnosed with hiv and referred to an infectious disease specialist, there were several I could choose from, but my GP said; "It doesn't matter to me who you see for care -- it's your body and your health that's important. Go to whoever you are most comfortable with. "   So yeah, I'll say the same thing that everyone else has said: you might want to find a new doctor that you are more comfortable with.

As for moving on from your current doctor, if you think she is a good doctor overall and are really interested in her reputation, at your next appointment you could tell her that you think you might be more comfortable discussing sexual health with someone else and ask for recommendations.  If she really doesn't like your lifestyle, she may be happy send you on to someone else.

[Guest]

A friend recommended I see an infectious disease doctor friend of his.  I told him I don't have HIV.  He said trust me and just do it, so I did and I have to say.  My Doctor is amazing, she and the rest of her team are always kind.  Found they care the most for everyone as they picked this line of work to truly help others.  Ever I feel I need a test it happens the same day or leaves an open LAB for me.  I went through 8 doctors in 6 months because I didn't like any of the others.  Poor Bed Side Manners.  Some Doctors are just in it for the money.  Most HIV doctors are in it to help others.  They test for everything. 

Mine tested my blood first to see what COVID vaccine works with me.  Not all vaccines are the same.  I didn't want to have any reactions so she tested my blood to find me the best fitting.  She said before anyone gets vaccinated or take meds they should have blood work done to make sure they don't have a bad reaction to everything given.   She just found out that I like dick, she doesn't drill me to have safe sex.  She told me Doctors don't always need to know ever ones life style as their personal life is theirs to live. 

[BootmanLA]

5 hours ago, NatureBoy said:

She told me Doctors don't always need to know ever ones life style as their personal life is theirs to live. 

This is the only part of this I quibble with, and only to a limited degree. No, doctors don't "always" need to know everything about a patient's lifestyle, but they should know the key points of both medical history and lifestyle/behavior so that they can be on the watch for relevant issues.

For medical history, it's obvious: if you have a family history of cancer, or diabetes, or heart disease, a doctor should know that so that they look harder during exams to head off any future issues. But the same is true for behavior; much of modern medicine is managing risk, and if the doctor doesn't know what your risks are, s/he can't help you manage them (unless they manage for everything, which can be extremely intrusive and overbearing).

And that goes for more than sex. If a patient is a smoker, for instance, his doctor should know that, so that he can monitor more closely for respiratory conditions and lung cancer.