Can I be honest with my doctor? Need advice.

I live in Virginia. Is it legally safe to be honest with my doctor about marijuana use?

I am attempting to live a healthier lifestyle, the problem is that for the past 16 years I have been downright self abusive -- cigarettes, other substances, alcohol in large quanities.

I've cut down the alcohol to two beers per day, stopped smoking cigarettes (quit a year ago) and vaporize rather than smoke but often.

I have various other risk factors for certain conditions and want to be up front all the way with my doc.

But is this a good idea? Could I get in trouble? Just wondering...

Doctor patient privelidges are taken pretty seriously. It would take a court order for the doctor to release any privelidge communications. I would let the doctor know that you are smoking and the reasons you're doing it.

Tell him. You can ask him not to note it down in your records if you like. He's bound by privacy laws not to share that info with anyone else unless you authorize him to. If he's one of those judgmental, uninformed, closed-minded doctors, you'll know it by how he reacts. If he's like most of them, he'll be well aware that tons of people use cannabis and be cool with it. There are lots bigger things in medicine for them to worry about. Like substances we can't talk about here.

ever since i was 16 i have told my doctors and psychiatrist that i smoke it really makes a differents in the stuff they give me to take

I live in Virginia as well, this past summer when I saw my doc for Anxiety issues, he asked me if I smoked pot, "off the record" he said. So I told him I did and he was cool about it. It's not the doctor's place to deal with legal issues, only medical.

Mine told me to get a waterpipe and not smoke joints.

We got to talking, turns out while in med school he puffed on a few joints. :thumbsup: But he WON'T give me a rec- too scared of the feds. :( When I see him, he asks how I'm doing, listens to my lungs and that's it. I've told him about vaporizers. I tell him (and now and then, give him printouts) of the latest MMJ studies. They never taught this stuff in med school and someone's got to educate them! Send or give your doctor a few pages of the link below! (anonymously if need be)- Granny:hippy:

PS- herbal confusion- your doctor needs to read the articles on "vaporizers" in my link and didn't NORML do a study that showed that there was very little benefit in using a water pipe?

They do teach cannabis pros and cons in med schools these days along with covering other types of alternative medicines. It's too prevalent not to. In my day they didn't. Any physician worth his salt who's keeping abreast of medical info runs across the same cannabis studies y'all talk about here in various publications, databases and medical info sites, only in more depth. It's not a new subject to any of the doctors I know or work with.

Definitely tell your doctor. The more he knows, the better he can treat you. If he's a disapprover for no reason, find another doctor. If he's a disapprover for a valid reason, like lung disease or a risk of cardiac arrhythmia or throat problems, then hear out what he has to say. That's supposed to be an equal relationship in there, and you're the one paying the money so he works for you.

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Originally Posted by birdgirl73

Tell him. You can ask him not to note it down in your records if you like.

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I had one Dr. in Wisconsin who would tell me to keep using cannabis, but refused to document it in my records until I threatened legal action.
I WANT it in my records!!! It legally proves my medical intent!

Thanks, everyone! I think at my April physical I am going to be honest with him about it.

The only real issue I am concerned about is oral/throat cancer. I have some risk factors (HPV, alcohol and ex-cigarette smoker) and I want to be screened regularly.

I don't know if mj is a risk factor. I have read conflicting reports. Maybe that is a question for another thread...

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by psteve

I had one Dr. in Wisconsin who would tell me to keep using cannabis, but refused to document it in my records until I threatened legal action.
I WANT it in my records!!! It legally proves my medical intent!

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The reason that many people don't want that written down anywhere, and it's a justified one, is that your medical records are, under various circumstances, shared with your insurance payor. They get a diagnostic code and can request the doctor's chart notes if and when they see fit. HIPAA regulations establish some limits on what they can do with that information and have set forth requirements that they must notify you of their privacy practices. But they can--and do--still get the information when they want it. After all, big insurance pretty well runs the medical industry. (Along with Big Pharma.)

Anyway, it's a risk that some people don't want to take because insurance companies are as uninformed about cannabis as most of the general propaganda-laden population, possibly more since they're in the business of taking on risk. People who've had their cannabis use noted down and then had that find its way to their insurance payor have sometimes found themselves vulnerable to higher claims or possible insurance cancellation.