Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Natalie ._c- on September 1, 2011 at 10:03pm

I absolutely think they SHOULD, but I don't think they ever WILL, because they would be too afraid that we might be giving medical advice, and that they might get sued if something went wrong.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by latvianchick on September 1, 2011 at 10:05pm

They do in the UK but as far as I am aware they do not for diabetes. There is a series of books on things like depression, bulimia, overeating, stress etc that the doctors prescribe and you can get them in the libraries whether you are a member or not and there are usually a lot of them in the library.

They do not tend to recommend diabetes ones - I found Tu quite by chance. I guess they do not know about what is available - and there are a lot. I think they are good - to a degree, but there are so many sites nowadays and probably more being set up as I write, and from what I have seen sometimes advice etc can be conflicting.

As I have said, the downside is advice sometimes is conflicting, particularly about carbs - some say eat slow acting carbs, others say do not eat any carbs ..... Also the downside wtih any kind of website, whether diabetes or other illnesses is there is a danger of people self diagnosing wrongly and either treating themselves without recourse to a doctor or frightening themselves witless!

With any site the sensible thing to do is to weigh up what you read and discard the flakey bits.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mike on September 2, 2011 at 2:38pm

I really like the idea of doctors prescribing social media sites...but I think that Natalie is right when she says that many are afraid to because we might receive medical advice outside of their office.

I also think that many doctors are unaware of the benefits of sites like TuDiabetes and Facebook when it comes to our diabetes management.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jim on September 2, 2011 at 2:47pm

Unfortunately too many people don't have any common sense and believe everything they read, so I doubt they would ever recommend social media.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kelly WPA on September 2, 2011 at 3:44pm

I think that they should, but I don’t think most of them will. Besides the sue factor, doctors are too egotistical. When what they want you to do doesn’t work, they like to blame you as non-compliant. When you get help online that actually works, that makes them look bad.

I hate to think where I would be today with the DOC. I wish everyone knew about it.

• ▶ Reply