I think it's more complicated than that. Sometimes the patient is forced to become the expert on his/her condition. Doctors don't always have the expertise, and the system doesn't encourage them to spend the time required to understand truly difficult cases.

Yes, I'm sure patients sometimes get weird ideas in their heads, but doctors are far from perfect as well. I think patients should definitely study the literature and bounce what they find off their doctor. Ideally the doctor is both open to new ideas and capable of ruling out the obviously silly ones. Of course I have to qualify that by adding that occasionally, the obviously silly idea turns out to be right.

I used to agree with you. But I've seen too many doctors who are either outright bad, or who don't recognize the limits of their knowledge.

I've been told many things that were directly contrary to the reality of the situation. I've been prescribed drugs which exacerbated my condition, only to read up on them on the Internet and -- within hours -- see how they'd obviously prescribed the wrong drug based on the symptoms I had described.

In my current opinion, doctors are far too convinced of their own infallibility and supposedly immense knowledge. I believe that if you're a rational, intelligent person who actively seeks out reliable knowledge, you can in fact have far greater insight into your specific problem than any doctor can hope to reasonably attain.

I used to think it was crazy that in various other countries you can visit the pharmacist, describe your condition, and likely walk out with the drug you wanted. Now I'm convinced this is a perfectly acceptable solution, at least for me.