I Hate Conventional Medicine. by Fremdfirma

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

I Hate Conventional Medicine.

POSTED BY: FREMDFIRMA
UPDATED: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 18:09
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Monday, May 16, 2011 9:13 PM

I really, really hate conventional medicine sometimes.

"you know, I think I might have the flu..." *THUD*flail-flail...twitch...

And so, hospital and suffering misery, way out of my comfort zone and in typical hospital fashion cut off from my little vices (caffiene, nicotene) thus further weakening me spiritually, emotionally and physically by throwing some withdrawl symptoms on top of a situation already critical - just pour salt in the wounds why not, for your own "good" to weaken you so just when you most need to fight, bloody brilliant...

Oh, and as an aside, given that many horrible medical issues come with certain digestive "issues" either before or soon after admission, whoever is responsible for stocking the bathroom with toilet paper seemingly made from recycled sandpaper and ground glass really needs to be dragged out and shot, just sayin.
(Had to have some charmin smuggled in on the sly, and I found *needing* to do so quite offensive, mind you.)

Fast forward 28 hours, with ZERO actual treatment beyond a saline IV drip and a tiny, single OTC painkiller which might has well have been a fucking tic-tac when one considers my 'normal' operating level of pain, and then multiplies that to downright fucking paralyzing - muttering over diagnosis after hauling away some sixteen damn tubes of blood, plus half a dozen MORE upon the realization they screwed up drawing or storing some of the originals, all the while the patient is fading closer and closer to an outright coma - despite ALREADY having fixated on a 'diagnosis' completely incompatible with the patients medical history and not listening to a goddamn word the patient said...
Then being finally called on the carpet by the patients minder and told it MIGHT be a good idea to fish or cut bait some time BEFORE the patient dies as they hem and haw about a diagnosis they've been hell bent on since the moment he was carted in the door.

Cue start of treatment, and stabilization, then very minor improvement of patient over several days, who THEN points out proper medical care is not very meaningful if affairs left unsettled result in blown contracts, unemployment, eviction and starved/dehydraded pets - to which doctors respond with unsurety about the nature of condition, instantly shot down by pointing out the course of treatment at this time makes that distictintion materially meaningless, and patient is temporarily discharged.
(Said discussion carried out on terms which would impress R Lee Ermy, mind you.)

Follow on frenzied half-day of delegation and arrangement of life/financial/biz affairs on top of seeing to a pair of half starved, partially dehydrated cats, to which a caretaker is also appointed, before semi-collapse, and soon recieving phone call from doctor who's minority opinion was ignored in favor of consensus diagnosis despite it's total incompatibility with patient history, who now has in hand test results indicating entire previous course of treatment a complete waste of time and effort, AND seems to have at least a vague clue as to what the problem really is and a plan to treat it.

Follow on to next day, and some level of resistance and hem-haw from other doctors still clinging to original diagnosis despite it being completely debunked and dismissed by multiple tests, and finally after repeating said tests, and ordering eleven more, then six more (all with more blood draws, to where even the floor nurses are muttering about it, and taking bets on how much I can still afford to lose in my now badly weakened condition) finally and reluctantly allow said doctor to initiate *his* treatment plan...
MAD SCIENCE!
Cue damn-near instant patient improvement and neuro system symptoms evaporating within four hours, visible improvement elsewhere in eight, and rapid gains in physical condition and mental coherency.
Add in actual pain control at last and watch patients now uncrippled immune system squash whatever it is like a fucking bug in less than half a day.
Watch other doctors toss out long named conditions and syndromes, all with definitions so broad they could mean any damn thing in order to avoid admitting they still have no bloody idea as mad-science doc quietly laughs up his sleeve and prepares discharge papers.

DAYS of fucking total misery, several points of real, actual mortal-grade risk, all cause not but bloody one of em would listen to the patient, and that one was ignored by a consensus which refused to acknowledge the conflicting evidence of patient medical history.

And people wonder why I hate conventional medicine so damn much.

Oh, and as a further aside, hospital food is not only terrible, despite the *appearance* to the contrary, it's not at *all* healthy, loaded to the brim with HFCS, MSG, Trans-fats, and other nasty things imma be damned if I would eat even on a good day, much less when hauled down and weakened by illness - not to mention I don't think there's anyone in their right mind who WOULD eat a lot of those menu items even if they weren't loaded with that crap, thanks be for natural fruit juice and a nursing staff willing to supply it in any quantity necessary.

So, boo for conventional medicine, yet again - although one doctor has earned himself placement in my special address book along with the wackos who did my reconstructive/ortho surgery and built my prosthetics, cause THAT dude has potential, and above all else, *kept his word* to me even against his better judgement (the temp discharge to settle affairs) even when the rest of em regularly lied to or misinformed me at whim.

And yay for MAD SCIENCE!, which has, as usual, carried the day for me.
In case y'all were wondering where I was, and stuff.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011 1:42 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

Glad to have you back, and on the mend; sorry for your pain and misery.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011 1:54 AM

BYTEMITE

Scary, and yes, horray for the rare good doctors. Good to have you back.

This might be the paranoia talking, but do you think you ought to hire on a medic or maybe make a deal with a local clinician who knows his stuff?

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011 2:03 AM

HARDWARE

Good to hear you are on the mend at least. In the words of a friend of mine that went through chemotherapy; Better is only better, better is not good.

Hope you feel good soon.

The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.

...and he that has no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. Luke 22:36

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011 2:48 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Glad you got out of medical prison intact. Glad you found one good doc. Those folks are worth their weight in gold.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011 4:02 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I was wondering where you were.

Welcome back.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011 4:46 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Thanks fellow browncoats, I missed y'all too.

Still not completely coherent, or very mobile, tappin this out on a tablet-mini, but no longer touch-n-go, and it was pretty close a couple times, the old reaper snatchin at my heels in typical frustrated fury - but as I say, his ass is gonna have to catch me, cause I ain't layin down for it, nuh-uh.

One thing which seemed to repeatedly frustrate their various diagnosis and treatment attempts is that none of these docs were really familiar with me in a personal (as opposed to paperwork) fashion, and seemingly unaware I happen to be "built like a damn tiger tank!" - they practically needed a coring drill to get a biopsy sample and a mallet to set IV lines, along with other assorted difficulties, which is what clued in the one doc that the petty-ante stuff they kept thinkin it was could not have possibly felled me and had him looking for something mean enough to have done so till he matched up the symptoms and confirmed via blood and biopsy tests.
(it's really, really rare and in most cases rather immediately fatal, which is why that diagnosis was never considered)
Part of it was an auto-immune reaction and merely breaking the cycle of destruction and allowing my immune system to go after the original problem instead of to war with itself solved most of it in a stroke - only there was some whinging and wringing of hands over the "extremeness" of the mad-science trick to break the cycle cause the treatment itself was thought potentially lethal - requiring that one doc to point out that they were "used to working with aluminum, and this guy's built of steel".

Of course, the downside to having internal systems that play really rough is that an auto-immune reaction in my case is way harsher and more dangerous in scale, and thus sucks that much harder - we got it licked, I do believe, but even so, many days of complete debilitation takes a while to put back in order so I'll be running on way less physical ability and mental agility than usual for a while yet.

-Frem

PS. Plus side: got to finish reading all of Transmetropolitan - damn good stuff, the whole lot of it.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011 5:25 AM

DREAMTROVE

Good to have you back. There's been a high attrition rate in your absence.

About medicine, outside of people rising to the level of their own incompetence, and how money and people multiplied make for inefficiency, or the complete lack of accountability affects govt. war, police and hospitals; I think the latest trend is "try to find whatever is most expensive to treat." That aside, if it's at all possible for the patient to die of what they came in with, let that happen, rather than from something we did, accountability aside, on the off chance there might be some on the personal scale.

A surgeon locally was caught after killing 140 some patients, cutting various arteries and stuff because he had no clue what he was doing. He covered his tracks by pushing off dying patients he had butchered onto other doctors so they wouldn't die under his care. When they caught up with him, he was fired.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011 5:37 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Hello,

Welcome back.

Glad today is not the day.

--Anthony

_______________________________________________

“If you are not free to choose wrongly and irresponsibly, you are not free at all”

Jacob Hornberger

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.”

Mahatma Gandhi

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011 4:58 PM

WISHIMAY

You got LUCKY, hon! To come face to face with the bungering beast that is conventional medicine not only alive! but better than you went in...it is truly a damned miracle...and you HAVE to be dying before they even LOOK your way!

And finished Transmet, too! Dirty good fun....I could always see a Spider type character as a passenger on Serenity. Transmet is like 1984...or Groundhog Day...(for me) One of those things that permanently changes your perceptions. Once read, cannot be unread...

Glad yer still flyin!

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011 6:09 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

That sounds really frustrating and counterproductive a chara. I'm glad someone finally figured it out and that you are getting better. You sound coherant enough to me. Hope you're back to your normal self soon and back to your work.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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