Friday, February 3, 2012

Drugs are Bad Mkay


I hate modern medicine!!! It seems all they want to do is poke and prod and kill everything inside you. What ever happened to that whole “first do no harm” thing anyway? Actually, I Googled and it turns out it’s not in the Hippocratic Oath but something even better is: “I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure”. And yet we seem to just come up with more and more drugs to cure symptoms instead of ways to stay healthy in the first place.
My disappointment with modern medicine started at a tender young age. I remember a doctor visit in my mid teens for my acne. As a teenage girl this is a very difficult thing to have. But I was reasonable and trusted my elders (naïve I know) and would have appreciated a good doctor telling me how to eat better and wear some natural foundations. But instead I got my first (of many) antibiotic prescription. These pills did absolutely nothing to cure my acne and caused many other health scares and problems.

Then there was the time I went to a doctor for a really bad sore throat that just wouldn’t go away. I guess the fact that I had good medical insurance hurt me since I was giving radioactive barium to drink while my throat was x-rayed. Then another visit to a specialist was ‘arranged’ to shove a camera through my nose to look at my throat. After these two lovely experiences I was told it was probably just stress. I’m sure the time and money for doctor visits and inconvenience of having stuff shoved up my nose didn’t do much to help my delicate ‘stress’ condition.

Next up we have my thyroid medication. For some reason my T something blood work was off and I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. This seemed unusual since I wasn’t overweight and was pretty active and hyper at times. But I was told I would need to take this medication for the rest of my life with the dosage constantly increasing. I begrudgingly started the meds but this made no sense to me as an otherwise healthy 20-something. So I started researching and trying natural remedies. I started a healthier diet, supplements, acupuncture and reflexology and lo and behold I started to feel better and even a little too shaky at times! I asked if I could reduce my dose due to the shaking but I was told no. So I did it anyway and eventually stopped taking the medication all together. My blood work from then on has shown my thyroid level to be just fine. Hmmm I guess they don’t know it all after all.

Next up was an x-ray or MRI or something from a regular doctor that showed a potential kidney problem. OMG my kidneys are bad what does that mean? It means I had to wait six weeks to get an appointment with the specialist and worry that whole time just to be told what I had was common and not a problem. Really? Then why the F was I there in the first place?

Next up we have a ‘doctor’ I was required to see for annual check ups for my job since it was considered hazardous work. ‘Doctor’ is in quotes since I still can’t believe he really graduated from medical school. I dreaded this visit every year. One time he tried to draw blood and couldn’t (in my skinny arm with ample veins showing) so he was digging around with the needle. This caused a big bump on my arm and he just pushed it back down and told me to keep pressure there and left the room. No one has ever had trouble drawing my blood before or since. My coworker had a friend working there and was told he said my veins were too small. I surely hope this was just a rumor and not actually something he said but I wouldn’t put it past him. The best part was he noticed my sinus problem and said he had a side business that could help me. What doctor has a side business??? On a good note I showed my severely black and blue arm to my boss. Between my complaint and several others we finally got a new place for our annual checkups.

Then my personal favorite that ties it all together. I was getting very gassy and bloated and it was painful. Id’ had digestive problems for a long time but this was even worse so I went to a GI doctor. The doctor was rude and pompous. He practically yelled at me since I was hesitant to get a colonoscopy. He actually said I have to get over my prudishness. So it’s prudishness not to want a cable shoved up my butt especially without trying some normal stuff first? I’m just fine now and how is that you might ask. Well I did some research and added more fiber to my diet. And most importantly I added some probiotics to counteract all the antibiotics I’d been given in my life. Of course this doctor didn’t recommend that and neither did any of the ones who prescribed the antibiotics.

Let’s not forget my recent hip injury. After a regular doctor visit, x ray, MRI and orthopedic visit all of which cost over $1,000 I was left with very little explanation of what was wrong or what to do to help it. I was told to ice, stop aggressive sports and do some physical therapy. I was already doing all of this as common sense. I asked what I did and I never even got a real answer. I was told I did some damage to a tendon in my hip. I could have told them that after all I heard it pop! They didn’t seem able or willing to tell me which tendon, how much damage or anything else. My favorite part was the orthopedic told me to come back in a month. You charged my $300 and told me absolutely nothing, why on earth would I ever go back?

Finally, the MRI for my hip found out I have a tumor on an ovary. So now I’m supposed to follow up on that with more MRIs, blood work and doctor visits. For now I’m just fed up and have named him Timmy the Tumor. I’m sure he is just visiting and will go away on his own with less stress than if I actually worry about it.

These are just the tip of all my bad doctor iceberg experiences with many different doctors in many different towns. I lost count of the amount of blood work, doctor visits and prescriptions I’ve had and yet they never once did anything to help my illnesses. I’ve had only slightly better results for my injuries since I did manage to have surgery on my broken leg that appears to be doing well.

Sorry if I went into too much detail and shared too much. I don’t normally do that but it was necessary for this blog. I think it’s true that your body heals itself and you just need to provide it with the nutrition and rest it needs to heal. So now I do yoga, eat healthy, exercise, take natural supplements and ensure a good social life to keep myself healthy. I still occasionally have doctor visits but I’m very hesitant about it and with good reason. Best wishes to all trying to heal and live healthy lives.

Cat “Just Saying NO!” Cathy