I visited the doctor today. I was apprehensive and anxious…going to the doctor is not something I have made a habit of doing. I had demonized the medical community for years. My need to be perfect and the medical community never meshed well.
As a civilian I have mostly avoided the doctor because I am not entirely fond of mine, but I also have been too lazy to seek out a new one. She told me once when I went to her for my annual blood work that I should stop lifting so heavy. She doesn’t personally know me or my relationship with the iron but I did hold it against her. She didn’t get too excited when some of my blood work came back on the higher end of normal and that infuriated me. You see my need to be perfect has alienated a lot of medical advice I have gotten and had prevented me from seeking medical advice for years.
I have realized that I am never going to be perfect and striving for that is asinine. I am dying…not today…but that is how this journey will end – understanding that is comforting to me, and no longer threatening. I’ll do everything I can to prolong my life…and my sanity…and I am tired of self-diagnosing off the Internet…because the Internet always says I have cancer, and I think it is set up that way so you GO SEEK PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE.
Alternative medicine can be great, but it is largely dangerous. Herbs and essential oils are not regulated. And now that the dietary dogma has been lifted off of me I see that it is foolish to try and cure a thyroid with Wild Yam Tincture - and actually when I read that I shake my head at that craziness.
There are some great things about alternative medicines. One of my favorites is massages. Massages were the only relief I got from the bursitis in my shoulder; well that and quitting bench press. Which was what the doctor had advised when I was under treatment and I refused and kept benching for three years, it wasn’t really the massage – it was a combination of quitting, getting the knots worked out and not re-inflaming it.
Finding medical solutions on the internet is a convoluted process you need to be aware of. You have someone blogging about their personal experience but you don’t know all the variables. And mostly you don't know this blogger - it could be a nine year old for all you know. You have to take into consideration that their experience could be a one-off or was it even a legit ailment to start with or just one of those body flukes? A body fluke is when you show symptoms of something and then even if you didn't do anything it magically disappears. We've all had this happen to us in some form or another. How do you know this person didn't just have a body fluke, rubbed some coconut oil on it and drank chamomile and wola they were cured? You don’t. You can also have someone writing a blog for sensationalism and blog hits…you just never know.
No one wants to hear “seek medical advice from a medical professional”. That means waiting and no one in 2014 is good at that. You have to wait for the appointment, you have to take time off work and rearrange your schedule, pay your co-pay and of course you have to tell your doctor everything that is happening so they can work with you on a diagnosis and treatment plan and that may not fit your “urgent” needs. Or even worse….you get a referral to a specialist; which means more waiting.
Doctors aren’t perfect but the great aspect about a doctor is there are a lot of them out there and available to you. I agree it isn’t as fast as going to google and typing in your symptoms and reading seven blogs, WebMD and Live Strong then taking your self-diagnosis figuring out the typical treatment plan then typing that into Google and finding the holistic, home remedy or alternative treatment you can do yourself.
The hard cold fact is that sometimes what ails you needs a professional diagnosis and treatment.
Yes, a healthy lifestyle that includes eating nutritious foods in appropriate quantities, exercising daily, getting ample sleep, and refraining from too much stress, caffeine and alcohol are great approaches and good measures for health. They will do nothing but improve your health journey, but we are a complex organism and sometimes we need a little more than good foods and essential oils.
Being proactive in your medical care is taking care of yourself in the aforementioned health approaches, and even researching your ails but consulting a medical professional shouldn’t be shunned and it is. We are getting away from medical science and evidence based treatments the more popular blogging and the Internet become. We can’t forget the Internet is free and that anyone can post. There is a plethora of advice and information out there and not all of it is safe or accurate.
I know that someone will want to argue their horrible experience with a medical doctor and how they found salvation in going Paleo or going Raw...I'm actually really happy for the individual who found relief, however you cannot be 100% sure that your diet fixed you and you cannot be 100% sure that advising someone else to do the same vice seek treatment is safe. So stop it.
I've been infuriated with doctors myself, nothing will make you want to pull your hair out more than being in the Shock Trauma Unit of Baltimore's largest hosptial, surrounded by the best medical team and they are telling you that your husband is imagining spleen trauma. My husband ruptured his spleen in a unconvential (not heard of yet) way and this caused a lot of grief and waiting. The head doctor came with his disciples 12 deep and we had a nice chat where he did all the listening and I did all of the talking. If I would have sat back and just accepted their diagnosis it would have prolonged him getting treatment - it was a huge pain in the ass, it was the most stressful thing I have ever gone through but still....they were the only people who could help him. Sometimes you have to embrace the suck with medical treatment....like I said we are complex organisms.
If you are adversely against medication then discuss that with your doctor. I’ve been to my doctor three times this year: once for my annual, once for the flu and now today for a new aliment and she didn’t offer me drugs at any of these appointments and if I wasn’t comfortable with something she prescribed I would have discussed it with her.
I saw a FB post where a woman claimed to have healed her bulimia with fasting. This is baffling to read but I know that there are a lot of folks out there that are trapped in their dietary dogma and believe this woman in fact healed herself with a fast. Bulimia is a serious mental illness that needs to be medically treated – fasting only fuels her mental illness. The problem here isn’t the food, but her relationship with food.
I see dietary advice being dealt out in abundance on various FB pages (and mine used to be one of them) about different medical afflictions and how to cure them with various demonization of foods, herbs, kombucha and sunshine. Yes, sometimes it is the food – most of the times it isn’t, and it is wise to check with a medical professional to be sure – and if you don’t like what they tell you seek another opinion or do what you think is best for your health. It is after all YOUR health; you can do what you like with it.
My best personal advice for everyone out there is to stop getting medical advice from the Internet and take care of yourself and this includes the occasional unplanned trip to the doctor and your routine medical check-ups.
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