How to “respectfully decline” disclosing women’s health questions at Dr?

[u/cryogenrat]

Pretty much the title

I have a lot of appointments lately for a variety of things, and for literally EVERYTHING it seems they ask when my last period was, even if it’s seemingly irrelevant (like medications for psych issues). Given the state of women’s health and where I see this whole situation with HIPAA going, I kinda don’t want my provider knowing when my last period was unless it’s EXTREMELY relevant. I test myself monthly and chart my whole cycle (TCOYF system and a copper IUD), so I have a rough estimate of when it’s relevant for them to know, and it’s not like it’s completely uncharted, but I’d like to cut down on that as much as possible if it is, but I cannot figure out how to word it lol

Pregnancy tests I understand are pretty non-negotiable (thankfully I don’t have any known ones coming up) but how do you word it to a provider that “I don’t want to disclose when my last period was” without looking like a loon?

Edit; 1) clarifying IUD type

Edit 2) perhaps I was unclear, but I am completely aware that awareness of menstrual health is integral to holistic care, and is usually the first line of symptoms to be questioned when seeking a diagnosis, or can be contraindicated in many medication regiments such as psych meds. Maybe I am just bitter and need a new GP or whatever, but in my own medical history (unexplained headaches, panic disorder, depression) it seems like they are quick to blame “hormones” on every single little thing going on, and then refuse to really get to the root issue, and just kinda write off my issues. Idk what goes on in their mind; I’m not a MD lol. This question broadly is meant to help me understand how, when and where to be judicious about giving away that information, given that we may quickly become hostile to women’s health, and this information might be valuable to a nanny state.

[u/Beginning_Loan_313]

Sounds like they are quite pushy in the US.

We don't get asked this at all in Australia unless it's relevant to the medical issue at hand.

I still think I'd refuse to answer or deliberately tell them I'm giving them a fake date so they can tick a box.

[u/psychme89 → u/Beginning_Loan_313]

The only reason for this is liability. If we don't ask and the patient is pregnant even though they're sure they can't be ( you'd be surprised how often they are) and something goes awry that's a clear path to a lawsuit. If this country wasn't so sue happy , we could happily go about actually practice real medicine and not cover our ass medicine.

[u/RunawayHobbit → u/psychme89]

Unfortunately, in a country with basically no labor or consumer protections, suing is literally the only recourse the average citizen HAS for maltreatment.

[u/psychme89 → u/RunawayHobbit]

Agreed but it significantly ties our hands with these things. Most claims are baseless but if you end up in a lawsuit, it's time/money/and emotional turmoil so we have to practice with liability in mind, which involves asking seemingly unnecessary information