Opinion - telling the doctor?

[vinylmesh]

Swim has noticed that for certain medical complaints doctors will ask if you have taken any drugs recently, sometimes mentioning particular drugs/classes.

Swim realises that different countries act differently when it comes to patients who have taken drugs. but swim wants to know what swim should do in a situation like this.

the reason swim asks is because swims friend went to hospital complaining of chest-pain. he mentioned that we been out the night before and snorted copious amounts of methylphenidate along with alcohol and energy drinks.

As it turns out the chest-pain was unrelated and the doctor told swims friend that even so, he shouldn't be doing drugs.

swims friend is now worried that he'll have a black mark on his medical record and he may be denied drugs in the future because it'll come up on his file "known drug user" or even worse "known to abuse prescription medication".

swim has told his friend he is being paranoid, but he's still worried.

anyway, in general what would be the wise course of action when dealing with doctors?

Swim thinks that if swim mentions drugs the doctor may instantly blame the drugs and miss the real problem (swim is talking about minor complaints here).

On the flip-side, if swim doesn't mention drugs to the doctor it could potentially be the difference between life and death.

(sorry if this is the wrong place, move it to somewhere else if necessary).

[Potter]

Had the ritalin been the cause of the chest pains, which is a possibility, and your friend hadn't told them, things could have gotten bad. It's always best to be upfront with your doctor. Don't feel the need to go into explicit details, if you're worried, give a bit more story. He could have said someone had given them to him so he could finish an assignment, which is a bit more responsible sounding. You don't need to admit to being a chronic user.

In the future, if it comes up that a doctor did something like this, talk it out. Tell them "I was young and stupid then, I'm older now". or "It worked back then, I'd like to go legit". The second is how no0body approached their doctor about adderall.

But to lie, when your health is in danger, foolish. Won't do a bit good if you don't make it to the future. Anyways a simple tox screen will reveal the truth, THEN you've lied about it, making it look like you're covering something worse.