Health: \u2018Menorexia\u2019 Is The Midlife Crisis We Don\u2019t Talk About Enough<\/a><\/p>\n Failing to disclose your full health picture to your doctor can harm your well-being, making these kinds of omissions particularly dangerous. Of course, there are many reasons why people omit the truth; they may lie because they\u2019re afraid of a lecture, wary of a new prescription or afraid of judgment from a doctor.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople really think that doctors judge them and are going to look at them differently and treat them differently if they know some of this information about their habits, good or bad,\u201d said\u00a0Dr. Katie Freeman<\/a>, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School. \u201cBut we really don\u2019t care. We don\u2019t have time to judge people. We really want to know so that we can figure out what that next step looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n Keeping things from your doctor only makes their job harder and jeopardizes your health.\u00a0Below, doctors share the topics they really wish patients would stop lying about and why it\u2019s so harmful to do so:<\/p>\n 1. Not taking your medication.<\/p>\n \u201cI find that one thing that I really, really always want to know is if someone is not taking their medication,\u201d said\u00a0Dr. Raquel Zemtsov<\/a>, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.<\/p>\n Health: 10 Everyday Habits That Are Harming Your Longevity The Most<\/a><\/p>\n This is a common problem. Research shows<\/a> that as many as 50% of people on statins, a cholesterol-lowering medication, stop taking it or don\u2019t take it as prescribed within the first year of starting the medication.<\/p>\n Zemtsov said she won\u2019t be disappointed or upset to learn that a patient has stopped taking a medication, \u201cbut if you\u2019re still having symptoms and I think you\u2019re taking a medication, I may have a different decision, or may come up with a plan that isn\u2019t helpful or safe for you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n This could look like prescribing additional medication, ordering workups or increasing dosage, Zemtsov added, when it isn\u2019t actually necessary.<\/p>\n If you aren\u2019t taking your medication for any reason (such as side effects, cost or trouble remembering to take it), it\u2019s important to tell your doctor.<\/p>\n Health: This 1 Type of Walking Could Be The Key For Upping Your Step Count Without Wrecking Your Body<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe can come up with a plan together to find either a better medicine or a better way to take it without having to have any extra tests or imaging or any other prescriptions done because I think that the treatment isn\u2019t working,\u201d Zemtsov said.<\/p>\n 2. If you\u2019re uncomfortable with a treatment plan.<\/p>\n While medication adherence certainly falls into this, it\u2019s also important to tell your doctor if you are not willing to follow through with a certain treatment plan from the start, according to Freeman.<\/p>\n If you had side effects from a medication or are nervous about a necessary procedure and plan to cancel it as a result, you should let your doctor know. This way, they can either help calm your nerves or prescribe an alternative that you\u2019re comfortable with and will follow through with.<\/p>\n If your doctor doesn’t understand your true lifestyle habits, they won’t be able to fully help with your health concerns. Portra via Getty Images<\/p>\n 3. Lifestyle habits like exercise and diet.<\/p>\n Humans are known to downplay the things we aren\u2019t proud of, Freeman explained. This includes not engaging in lifestyle habits you know you should adopt, such as\u00a0exercising<\/a> and eating enough fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I don\u2019t know that someone isn\u2019t exercising or not eating healthfully, it may not occur to me to look for other conditions that might happen, too, because of that, like diabetes or high cholesterol,\u201d Zemtsov said.<\/p>\n Health: What A Breast Lump Actually Feels Like<\/a><\/p>\n If your doctor is under the impression that you\u2019re getting the fiber you need or strength training the right amount, they may not advise you on what you actually need to be doing, either.<\/p>\n 4. Substance use, including alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.<\/p>\n For many people, when a doctor asks how much they drink<\/a>, how often they smoke, if they use cannabis or if they take illegal substances, the gut reaction is to stretch the truth, whether intentionally or not. Maybe you tell your doctor you have six drinks a week when that number is actually closer to 10. Or perhaps you share that you smoke cannabis once a month when it\u2019s actually more like five times a month.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to be honest with your doctor about your substance use, both experts told HuffPost. Substance use can impact many aspects of your health, including your sleep quality, cancer risk, breathing and cognition.<\/p>\n If a doctor thinks a patient isn\u2019t using a certain substance or is doing so in a low amount, the counseling around that topic won\u2019t be helpful since the doctor simply won\u2019t know the patient\u2019s specific needs, explained Freeman.<\/p>\n Health: 9 Things These Women\u2019s Health Doctors Would Never Do<\/a><\/p>\n For example, \u201cif you\u2019re drinking at a certain level and you\u2019re minimizing that, then I don\u2019t have the space to really provide you with the right information about the effects this could have on you. What it might do to your liver? What it might do to your blood counts and your bone marrow, how it affects your energy and your sleep and your mood,\u201d Freeman noted.<\/p>\n Moreover, substance use often gives doctors a peek into your physical and mental health.\u00a0Zemtsov said she finds that when people use substances outside of healthy or legal parameters, it\u2019s a way to treat symptoms or concerns they\u2019re having. \u201cBe it anxiety, depression<\/a> or pain,\u201d Zemtsov added.<\/p>\n Understanding why someone is using a substance can allow doctors to talk about substance use risks and to address the root problem driving the substance use, she explained.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been able to have some really fruitful discussions that came from learning someone smokes every day because they have really bad anxiety. We\u2019re able to get them therapy, and I can start them on medication, and they feel so much better that maybe they stop smoking, and now their breathing feels better too,\u201d Zemtsov said.<\/p>\n 5. \u2018Embarrassing\u2019 things like bowel movements and urination.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other thing that I\u2019d love people to know is, I think people worry about talking to their doctor about their bowels or their bladder or the diarrhea that they\u2019ve been having for a long time, or that rash that\u2019s in a weird spot that no one can see but really bothers them,\u201d Freeman said.<\/p>\n \u201cI really think folks think that doctors are going to find that gross,\u201d Freeman added, noting that this couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.<\/p>\n It can be uncomfortable to talk to your physician about things that aren\u2019t commonly discussed socially, but it\u2019s important for your physician to know.<\/p>\n \u201cIf your doctor doesn\u2019t know, then they can\u2019t help you,\u201d Freeman said. While you can search for information about your \u201cembarrassing\u201d problem online, \u201cit\u2019s actually much more comfortable and probably safer and more private to tell your doctor,\u201d Freeman added.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do have things that can help and can really improve people\u2019s quality of life and ability to do things,\u201d said Freeman.<\/p>\n Additionally, certain occurrences may be signs of more significant issues that your doctor may want to test for. For example, bowel issues are often tied to colorectal cancer, and rates are currently on the rise<\/a>.<\/p>\n 6. Your sexual health.<\/p>\n \u201cI work to make an environment where my patients know that they can talk to me about anything and that sexual health is part of health,\u201d\u00a0Dr. Beth Oller<\/a>, a family physician based in Kansas, told HuffPost via email.<\/p>\n \u201cOften, when I ask someone about their sexual health, it is the first time they have been asked, and they have just assumed that painful intercourse or erectile dysfunction is something they just have to deal with,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Patients shouldn\u2019t be embarrassed about these topics,\u00a0Oller said, but should instead feel empowered to bring up sexual challenges to their doctor.<\/p>\n Sexual health issues can weigh on an individual physically and mentally, and they can sometimes be indicative of other health problems. Erectile dysfunction, for one, is linked to diabetes and heart disease, according to the Mayo Clinic<\/a>. And vaginal dryness can be a sign of menopause<\/a>\u00a0and an autoimmune disease known as Sj\u00f6gren syndrome.<\/p>\n If physicians don\u2019t know about an issue, they can\u2019t help, Oller added.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t feel comfortable talking to your physician about sexual health (or anything else that is affecting your health), it may be time to look for another provider,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n It can be challenging to find a doctor you trust, but once you do, it\u2019s easier to be honest about your lifestyle habits \u2014 good or bad.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving a regular primary care provider, whether it\u2019s a family doctor or an internal medicine doctor, pediatrician, I think, promotes trust with that doctor, which allows people to be more honest and more comfortable,\u201d Freeman said.<\/p>\n When you see the same doctor again and again, it also becomes easier to work with them to make lifestyle or habit changes, she added.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s important to make sure that you\u2019re seeing a primary care doctor who you feel advocates for you and listens to you because having a physician who you feel like does those things also makes it easier for you to talk about what\u2019s important to you and,\u201d\u00a0Zemtsov said, \u201cultimately, it\u2019s our job to help you and and we can\u2019t do that unless we know everything about you.\u201d<\/p>\n Need help with substance use disorder or mental health issues? In the U.S., call 800-662-HELP (4357) for the\u00a0SAMHSA National Helpline<\/a>.<\/p>\n Related…<\/p>\n![\"If](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/91e8766fd0d0ea85751a6d167b77b923.jpeg\"\/)
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