Sooner or later, most of us will experience a serious or chronic illness. In many situations there is a typical or common treatment that is used. It is easy to accept that treatment as sure-fire. It isn’t always the smartest thing to do.
What do I mean? We, as patients have to take part in our own treatment. Doctors follow “protocol”; “the plan for carrying out a scientific study or a patient’s treatment regimen.”(Dictionary.com), however, they cannot get inside our bodies and see how we’re responding; that is up to us.
I would like to give you two examples. Many, many years ago I was diagnosed with manic depression. This illness is serious to be sure, but, it is highly misunderstood. It consists of a person having a cycle of extreme happiness followed by depression. You see every reason to buy the Brooklyn Bridge one day, and, the next day you don’t know what you’re going to do with it. The standard treatment is lithium. Lithium is a salt and is designed to replace salts that are apparently lacking in a person’s body; this is often accompanied with an anti-depressant to keep the patient from falling into depression from the lithium while it keeps the mania at bay. I was placed on this medicine. Time went buy and I continued to “cycle”. I was sure that it would work sooner or later because it was the accepted regimen; it didn’t.
Finally I went to the internet. To my surprise I found that an anti-convulsive medication used in epilepsy, depakote, was necessary as treatment for a very small percentage of patients; lithium wasn’t always effective. I was switched, and, I got better. However, had I relied on my doctor, it would have taken a lot longer, or, perhaps would never have been found.
The results of this kind of situation can be more solemn.
My wife was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. The initial treatment for RA is prednisone followed by the standard “weaning medication” of methotrexate; actually a cancer drug. Over time my wife lost her energy. The doctors assure us that it was the prednisone. It turned out it was the methotrxate. By the time we got her to the hospital, her oxygen level was 65 percent; she could have died.Doctors are human. They follow a protocol. Just as with any profession, some had to finish in the bottom of their class. Some will do better at adjusting treatment and identifying glitches than others. Ultimately, though, it is up to you to be vigilant about your health. It may not be “Physician heal thyself” but, it is “Be aware!” There are some factors that you need to consider when finding the right doctor to attend your needs when it comes to your health. Make sure that your doctor has years of experience already, had trainings and certifications like o1 visa doctor.
