Ex: He comes in the room, sits down and asks how she feels. She may say. “I’ve been having alot of leg and foot cramps that sometimes make me think I might be having a stroke or something.” His response “Uh Huh, I see!” “Well, your BP looks good today so I don’t think your having a stroke.” Then off on another topic for about 2 minutes. Finally doc stands up and says…”OK, all looks good with you today, lets check back in 3 months.”

“Thanks Doc, BTW, since I’m taking 3 different blood pressure pills a day (2 of which are diuretics) do you suppose I could have a paper to get my blood checked for my potassium level?” “You know, since I’m having all these leg cramps and all?” Doc’s reply, “excellent idea, I’ll have the nurse bring in the order in just a minute.” …Next day, phone call from Dr. ” I just got your blood work back, where can I call in a prescription for potassium supplement?”

1. “yes, right, it is exactly as I told you/ as we talked about” — actually this is opposite, but who remembers? I pretend that I don’t.

2. in one case (I was concerned about some condition for which women in my circumstances have slightly higher risk) – explanation of symptoms and why I needn’t be concerned. No I didn’t take that much of doctor’s time – the whole conversation took 2 minutes.

3. an admission that it is new information. I later found out that I wasn’t correct about the source for this information – I thought it came from WHI when in fact it was from MWS (British Million Women Study) which is flawed. So it is understandable why the doctor haven’t heard of the results.

Of course, I don’t just say that “I learned it on the internet”. I always start by mentioning the source – NIH, a specific study, etc. Internet is very vague and includes lots of “vitamin sellers”.