Jen figpiglet:
I am glad to hear that you will go back to your Doctor and try one more time to educate him on your self help progress. I have had some experiences with Doctor's being negative about what they consider alternative treatment, but were in fact working well for me and my conditions.
On-the-other-hand, we can be our own worst patients without keeping up with what we find to work. By this I mean that taking a pill is a lot easier than doing this. And not doing this and not taking the pill easier yet. But I bet for both of us, those pills have their side effects too, so far not a single bad side effect from the good food I am eating. Though I felt pretty bad the first few weeks of going vegan (before McDougall) I guess that was the detox phase!
But the medications for what ails me are really bad. The last one I was given for my fibro was actually a seizure drug, true it got rid of the pain (none of the others touched it) but my eyes were swelling shut too. Turns out one of the side effects was potential blindness, EGAD!
I actually started looking at changes in diet because of a nurse, who taught part of a 10-week "Pain Management" course I took at my medical facility. She did a whole module on foods and pain - that got me to researching. I actually called her to tell her that her section was the most valuable to me, as I had already done everything else they taught. She told me that she was about to reconsider if that portion had any value and whether to keep it in. I can't wait to tell her that I have improved some due to this. No where near as much as some other folks but noticeably, for sure. So for me I'll just keep going back to them showing them the improvements until they know it's real.
I am really lucky though my primary care physician is all excited about me going vegan, because she and the other Doctors at the med center got a lecture from Dr. Esselstyn. She said that swayed them all positively to the results of plant-based, at least in terms of cardio health. I actually think she is vegan herself because of that lecture - but they never think to recommend it to us, odd huh?
Still for both of us I'd say it's a wait see, I am a little improved and enthusiastic that things keep going this way and I will keep up with this WOE for the rest of my life no doubts, but that doesn't mean that I will rule out any medical interventions that would help if I need them.
OMG, figs at Whole Foods must be REALLY expensive. It's more expensive here anyway. The Mission figs I got were a little basket for $6 something. Outrageous, but I so craved them, and I am saving big time on this program....sooo, hehehe, I do treat myself from time to time