Would you trust a doctor to treat you if they have had the same illness/disease/disorder?

Question

BONUS QUESTION: does a doctor's history define who they are as a doctor? 
   
example:
   
A OB/GYN who has given birth vs one who hasn't?
   
A fertility specialist who has or has not had fertility issues? 
   
A neurosurgeon who has or has not had an aneurysm?
    
An oncologist who has or has not suffered from cancer?
   
A psychologist who has or has not had autism?

Do any of these other issue impact your level of trust?

Answer

Yes I'd trust them, I'd also trust them if they hadn't experienced something or given birth themselves. Those jobs are so hard to do. They are long shifts, you are over worked, under staffed, shit pay, you are constantly on your feet, constantly worrying about the patients you care for and bending over backwards to help them. There is so much 'behind the scenes work', people can't even begin to imagine how much there is. You go home thinking about those patients and wonder what you can do that may help them better the next day. If that's the job they want to go into then I applaud them, it's not easy at all. If you are the kind of person who cares that much and wants to make a difference then you are the right health care professional for me ❤️

Answer

I think the specialist having the disease/issue/whatever themselves would be irrelevant for me. Idc if my doctor gave birth, she spent years in medical school plus a residency working with patients from all walks of life. I'd trust her opinion over someone untrained in the medical field but who had given birth.

Answer

I had a neurologist who had to cancel my appointment because she had a migraine. My appointment was to treat my migraines. For a second a thought "how can she help me if she can't help herself?" But I dismissed the thought because that isn't fair. And later I really appreciated the fact that she really understood my symptoms. But I don't really think she is more or less qualified than any other neurologist just because she gets migraines. It just gives her a unique perspective.

Answer

I'd prefer to just not know what they have had or experienced. Either way, they could have some sort of bias towards the treatment or whatever. Like if they said "this is what I used and it didn't work for me so I'm not going to try it with you." But I'd hope a doctor would know enough to realize different treatments often work for different people. But then again, they could also empathize a lot more and provide better bed side manner as they too have gone through that. One time I saw a therapist and the whole time I was there, she just talked about her divorce and how it caused her anxiety. I was sort of annoyed by that lol.

Answer

Yes to the first question. No to the second/bonus question. 
A doctor's personal history doesn't necessarily make them any better or more worthy IMO. I will say though... one of the reasons I went on Mirena years ago was because my OB (who I loooove) had it twice without any issues and highly recommended it. Had she not had it, I likely wouldn't have thought twice about her recommendation.

Answer

Of course I would. They're obviously a professional in their chosen profession so I would believe that wether or not they have been through what they're treating people for, would be irrelevant

Answer

No I don’t think it would impact my choice. If they are qualified in their field I’ll trust them. If I go and something they say or do doesn’t seem right to me then I’d go to another specialist for another opinion.

Answer

yes. I feel like since they would relate to my struggles more, they'd be less judgemental and have a better idea on how to treat someone with the same thing as them. which can lead to them being less dismissive about certain health problems. 
for example, I seem to get quite a bit of judgement from my PCP about taking Adderall for my ADHD. The first time she met me she tried to convince me to stop taking it. If I didn't treat my ADHD, I would have dropped out of college. Another example is that I'm pretty sure I have endometriosis, yet every doctor I talk to it about it just brushes it off and says its no big deal/my pain will get better with age. The only person to not be dismissive of my pain was my mother who has it as well.

Answer

I definitely think it would depend on what it was. If I had cancer, I would be afraid they would become too emotionally attached, and push me too hard. But I can't really think of anything else that would make me not trust a doctor if they had the same issue.

Answer

I had a terrible experience with this. I am suffering from panic attacks and I saw a doctor once who said he also suffered from it and that I had to take this medicine because it worked for him. I was so creeped out because I thought it was so unprofessional of him to bring up his personal issues, and when the medicine didn't work for me he refused to get me something else because since it had worked for him it should work for me as well 😒 Changed doctor pretty fast!

Would you trust a doctor to treat you if they have had the same illness/disease/disorder?

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