TRIGGER WARNING: I’m ranting about doctors here.
There is something wrong with Western Medicine. Why can’t we just get the help we need?
I’ve been reading “It’s Always Something” by Gilda Radner. In 1986, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer after a year of misdiagnoses and multiple doctors.
In 1988, the cancer returned. In 1989 she died after going into a coma after being sedated. She didn’t even die of the cancer.
This was Gilda Radner. A STAR. A funny woman of SNL fame.
If this happened to her, someone who had the means to get good help, what hope do the rest of us have?
Multiple Doctors
“You just need to find the right doctor.”
It’s a standard thing for people to say to other people when they are trying to figure out what the problem is. It’s fairly normal to have to go from doctor to doctor to doctor to figure out the problem.
I have a friend who went to over a dozen doctors to figure out he was allergic to lettuce.
Let’s put in an analogy here….
Let’s say you want a latte. Just a latte.
Do you go from coffee shop to coffee shop to coffee shop looking for someone who knows how to make a latte?
Of course not! Part of being a barista is knowing how to make a latte. If you can’t make a latte, you don’t keep your job!
Not so with doctors. Even though they don’t know much about humans and health, they’re allowed to continue practicing (now that’s a loaded word). Just because they have the credentials.
It’s on the patient to figure out how to find a good one. And that’s not easy.
My question is: Why are people who are not competent being allowed to be doctors? Hummm? What sorts of changes in the way they are trained will allow them to be competent?
Even in this day and age, interns are required to work brutal hours. Do you want someone who hasn’t slept properly in weeks treating you? It’s a “Rite of Passage” and the doctors training them don’t seem to be thinking about the patients at all.
Covering Up
And do the doctors even say “I don’t know” when they don’t know?
Of course not! They assume they know everything and that if they don’t know, it must be all in your head. Or you’re a hypochondriac. Or you’re making it up.
Not only does this put the patient at risk, especially if they trust the doctor, this violates the oath they give when they become doctors.
“First do no harm.”
Just look at all the people who don’t get the help they need because a doctor can’t admit that he doesn’t know.
Story Time: My great aunt was a nurse. She also knew there was something wrong with her. But because the doctors did not have the capacity to figure it out, they labeled her a “Hypochondriac”. She went untreated. She died, completely untreated, in a hospital with cancer in her legs. I hope the staff of that hospital at least felt some guilt for their actions toward my aunt. But of course, they probably said to themselves, “How were we supposed to know? She was a hypochondriac!”
The way I look at it is that the moment a doctor tells me that “it’s all in my head” or “you’re making it up” or labels me a hypochondriac, they are admitting that they are incompetent, and they are not really doctors.
Yes, I hate them with a fiery passion.
Corporate Drones
And, even if they wanted to help, and I do believe most of them got into the field with that intention, they are not able to because they’re controlled by the insurance companies and the organization they work for.
Darlin’s, it’s all financial. Your health has nothing to do with it.
Story Time: My mother died when I was 19. The doctor got us kids together and explained to us that they weren’t going to save my mother for financial reasons. They killed my mother for the bottom line. It was at that moment that I knew that healthcare not about health. It’s about money.
They want us to respect them, yet they earn no respect. They want us to believe and trust in them, yet they make decisions against our best interests.
I know a guy who is a doctor. I had a crush on him, but I just couldn’t get past the fact that he was a doctor. I kept thinking “How many people has he killed due to policy or financial reasons?”
Doctors kill. They make those choices.
Hospitals are so politically motivated that even if the doctor prescribes a killing dose, the nurses will give it to you. It’s a big problem in many hospitals. You don’t question the doctor. It’s better to kill people that lose your job because a dumbass doctor is so ego driven that they can’t handle the fact that they made an error. They’ll just cover it up.
WHY CAN’T IF FIND A DOCTOR WHO HAS A LITTLE HUMILITY? WHO IS DECENT AND KNOWS WHAT THE FUCK THEY’RE DOING?
Someone who can say “I don’t know?” Someone who can actually sit down with me, listen, and help?
Scientific Method?
Doctors can only give you so much time, so they diagnose you really fast and put you on a medication.
Nope, that didn’t work.
They only have so much time, so they change the diagnosis really fast and put you on another medication.
Nope, that didn’t work.
I only have 5 minutes for you, try this medication.
Nope, that didn’t work.
I think this is all in your head, maybe you’re just depressed. Here’s an anti-depressant.
Nope, that didn’t work.
You’re wasting my time, there’s nothing wrong with you. Take this.
Nope, that didn’t work.
There’s nothing wrong with you! You’re just a hypochondriac!
Dead as a Doornail.
I did everything I could. They must not have given me all the information I needed. Clearly, there was nothing I could do. My conscious is clear… NEXT!
I have no respect for doctors like this.
My Health
Mammograms
When I was 41, Group Health was giving away mammograms. I went and got one. It was one of the most upsetting experiences of my life, and I’ve had a lot of traumas. I had no idea how attached I was to “the girls.”
I know a lot of women who are all for mammograms, and cancer screenings, etc…I even have a cousin in-law who is all for it. Yet, it was my cousin in-law who unwittingly convinced me to never have another mammogram. She had one, it came back negative, and 4 months later she was having an emergency mastectomy.
I came to believe that mammograms cause cancer. And I’ve read a lot of articles saying the same thing.
I had a doctor who dropped me because I wouldn’t get one. I told her my fear, but instead of even trying to prove to me they don’t cause cancer, she dropped me. I figure it was policy or something. Or she was just dumb.
Insomnia and Panic
I spent 10 years going to doctors because I couldn’t sleep, and it felt like I was having a panic attack all the time. No one ever even tried to figure it out.
The longest I went without sleeping was 10 days. I was insane.
I meditated a lot, especially at night, and I think it was the only thing that kept me alive. I could have died. I should have died.
It took me having what I thought was a heart attack to finally find out what the problem was. A friend took me to the emergency room. I wouldn’t have gone otherwise.
It was acid reflux. 10 years of it and no one could help me. WTF?!?
I learned, the emergency room is where you go if you want REAL help, not a doctor’s office.
And
The last time I went to a doctor was to have a very bad sliver removed from under my fingernail.
I haven’t had a checkup or a pelvic exam or anything in years.
They’re not going to find anything, or if they do, they won’t be able to fix it. Why bother?
I’ll go if my arm falls off. Or I break something. Or if it’s bad enough that I can justify the emergency room. No more doctors.
There is an office that opened across the street from me. They said they would spend at least a half hour with you. What a gem! But when I tried to contact them about fees and insurance, I was ignored. I guess they only want patients who don’t worry about money.
I tried to get a primary not long ago, but she had no time for me either. In fact, once I contacted her via email about a problem and she set me up with appointments and prescriptions and didn’t even bother to tell me. I was getting weird texts saying my prescriptions were ready and that this doctor I’d never heard of was ready for me. What a moron.
Now
Add in the apocalypse, with all of its stressors, and my stomach issues and insomnia are back. I also have a knot on my leg that I’m worried is cancer. I’m going to go in for that since treating it like a pimple, a wart or a mole didn’t work. I’ve been losing functionality in my arms. I suspect it has to do with me having to “sleep” sitting up. When I slide down, pressure is put on my elbows. I went to an acupuncturist for that, but if I can’t stop what’s causing it, it’ll just come back.
I do a lot of energy medicine. Reiki, Donna Eden, Shaking, Trauma Release and EFT. I would be lost without it.
I’m exhausted. There is no help to be had. Not even if you’re Gilda Radner.
It’s a sad state of affairs. I don’t know what to do about it. I figure I’ll just keep going until I finally die. Dealing with doctors is extremely stressful.
And next to doctors, stress is the biggest killer of all.
