Under the circumstances the difference between being informed & articulate and being a hypochondriac should be obvious to any competent professional. I mention my own experience here because it pertains to the "how to communicate to EMTs/professionals" subject -- if they're not willing to be respectful or listen, you're at a loss.

I'm sure there are plenty of pretenders, but I'll venture that the number of legitimate patients far, far exceeds them. I mean, most people don't like to visit a doctor (and in fact will avoid it). In addition, most people don't have the money to be treating healthcare like a social expenditure.

What you've described in your post doesn't apply in my case. First, my info was only offered upon a doctor's visit, hospital visit, or in the case of a medical emergency. And in nearly all cases, when they'd start asking about medical history or specifics. If someone gave me a bandaid, I didn't feel the need to tell them about my gastrointestinal problems.

Second, all of my conditions had been documented and verified as legitimate, some of them are clearly related (so if you had condition 1 it was reasonable that you also had condition 2), and all of them were under doctor treatments. Managing the care is/was challenging and involved juggling a lot of information. So it made sense for both myself and my doctors that I tracked what what the various conditions were and which doctors were treating what, as well as what meds I had been on and if they had caused problems/allergies .

This was partly done to make their job easier, particularly in event I was unconscious or unable to communicate. And partly done for my own benefit: it saved me from having to recite the same damn info over and over (potentially omitting an important detail), and it helped prevent one doctor from prescribing drugs or treatment that were counter to that of another doctor.



Unfortunately, I didn't get the "pleasantly shocked you made this so easy" reactions. I got the "let's treat you suspiciously or condescendingly, or just outright accuse you of being untrustworthy or unstable" reactions.

Honestly, most of what I experienced was just medical professionals assuming any patient was a lobotomy victim, so being aware of one's own medical care was viewed as a sign of being crazy instead of being smart. When medical professionals (whether they are doctors, nurses, or EMTs) view their patients as natural born idiots it hinders proper care. It also creates an adversarial relationship that makes care more difficult for both parties. Of course a patient should not attempt to step in and direct care, but they should be allowed to (and welcomed to) be a partner in care. Particularly since the patient often needs to continue treatment on their own afterward.