Re: Is it all in my head?

Morning Rant - Tear Warning!! I'm crying right now, so this might be a
bit 'over-the-top' emotional.

Sunshine&Lollipops wrote:
> It's AIYH and your all just a bunch of slackers.
> <grin>

Yesterday a doctor told me this about *MY* problems too.

My good family doctor's on holidays, so Clancy suggested I call and
make an appointment for when he gets back - be first on the list, so to
speak. I called and the nurse told me "He's away until the 28th and
you need help before that, Jane. We have a new doctor on staff. I
don't know what he's like as a doctor, but he's really nice. Come in
today at 11:00."

I felt *wrong* about it - didn't want to re-hash everything all over
again and what could he do, really? Well, maybe make a referral for me
to see my Neurologist faster or something, but not much else.

WELL - I sat there for 15 minutes listening to him tell me I just
needed to get in touch with my God more, quit fretting and just be glad
I'm alive. His idea - I should stop taking the meds my neurologist and
family doctor have me on and get out and DO things. He said he could
'feel' that I didn't have a problem and he LAUGHED at me when I said,
"Well, what about the falling down? What about the not being able to
walk? What about the Aphasia and the headaches?"

He told me he's Hindu and if he was me, he would fall back on his faith
in times like this. Just be glad I'm alive and get on with my life.
Suck it up.

Well, he'd fall back on a lot of curbs and stairs and hard surfaces and
hurt himself if he did that, <IMO>.

Said he could *tell* I'm not brain damaged at all, because I can carry
on a conversation and sit in the chair and make it down the hall and
such. Did he know me *before*????? NO!!

He had me bawling my head off again and he got Dylan VERY angry. Dylan
has *seen* it, watched it all happen - he's BEEN here. And he knows who
I was before. He told me he's just sorry he couldn't get up the
gumption to tell the guy off. How *dare* he??!! He basically told me
he could read my aura and knew I had no problems.

What was that about needing a Medium, Michael?

When I told Clancy, he said, "Well, if you've been faking it all this
time, you have other, equally serious problems. It must be hard to
fake your pupils going all whacky like they do."

WOW! Crying again just thinking about THAT one! (He was being
facetious.)

I have said all along that I think *some* of my problem is
post-traumatic stress disorder. But I had symptoms before this stress
*happened*. I had my constant headache in the same place for YEARS and
everyone told me it was stress. I had several small seizures, but
didn't recognize them as such, because all I knew about epilepsy was
what almost everyone else knows (what Grand Mal is like). I had a
Grand Mal, or at least a Complex Partial, that finally convinced
someone to send me to have my head examined.

And lo and behold - I was *right* to have been worried about those
symptoms all that time before. I had a huge brain aneurysm.

But now I *still* have some doctors telling me the symptoms I'm having
are 'nothing' and that I should just learn to live with them and be
glad I'm alive and thank my god and get on with my life.

"It's Easy." He SAID THAT to me!!

Even if *all* my symptoms were caused by post-traumatic stress
disorder, that too is an illness that should be dealt with with
patience, understanding and REAL care. It should be (and IS) accepted
as a *real* illness and doctors who send their patients home in worse
shape than they arrived, by telling them it's EASY and they just need
to trust their god and pull their socks up - should have their licenses
revoked for providing such poor care <IMO>.

First Do No Harm!

It is *not* imaginary. Fibromyalgia is *not* imaginary. Seizures are
*not* imaginary. Giant aneurysms are *not* imaginary.

I'm not even going to use the term All In Your Head anymore - at ALL.
It *is* in my head - my aneurysm, my epilepsy, my PTSD *and* my
fibromyalgia. They are ALL taking place in my brain. But they are NOT
imaginary and they are NOT problems I can deal with by "just cheering
up a bit."

He told me I could make a follow-up appt. in two days if I wanted to,
if I'd chosen to wean off all my meds and wanted to 'talk'. Yeah,
RIGHT!! I think I'll stick with dealing with all this at HOME until I
can talk to MY doctors. Why would I disregard the advice of my
Neurologist or the family doctor who's known me for five years and
knows what I used to be like?

My rant for the morning.

Take GOOD Care,

Jane




>
> "Randy" <GG@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1126086388.372490.301250@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > http://articles.health.msn.com/id/100108081?GT1=7003 (via Psychology
> > Today)
> > "What you believe about your illness influences how sick you become."
> >
> > Hard to believe this kinda crap is still making the rounds, but I know
> > it is because I've heard it:
> >
> > Excerpts:
> >
> > In one study conducted by Wayne Katon, professor of psychiatry at the
> > University of Washington in Seattle, 90 percent of fibromyalgia
> > patients had a prior psychiatric diagnosis. Another study, at the
> > University of Leeds, found that patients who had developed chronic
> > fatigue were nine times more likely to have suffered stressful events
> > and difficulties in the three months before the onset of disease than
> > were healthy subjects. The implication is clear: Unlike other
> > diseases, these disorders are closely connected to psychological
> > distress, whether it takes the shape of a major psychiatric disorder
> > or simply poor coping mechanisms.
> > ...
> >
> > According to Katon's clinical observations, patients with chronic
> > fatigue or fibromyalgia tend to be highly driven overachievers
> > unaccustomed to feeling any loss of control. When injured or sickened,
> > those who decide that the pain or illness has overwhelmingly and
> > permanently damaged their bodies come to feel victimized and unable to
> > cope. Learned helplessness sets in, and patients can find themselves
> > perpetually depressed and inactive.
> > ...
> >
> > Patients with chronic fatigue who attribute their illness solely to
> > external causes, such as a virus, seem to stay sicker than those who
> > acknowledge the possible interplay of psychological factors. "Your
> > beliefs about the illness are important," says Buchwald. "If you're
> > wedded to an idea that your illness has a single specific cause, your
> > chances of getting better are diminished, because you're not
> > addressing parts of the illness that could be prolonging it."
> > Instead, she suggests, patients should focus on actively following
> > treatment advice and avoiding social isolation.
> > ...
> >
> > Because beliefs have such a powerful impact on well-being, the
> > techniques that people use to cope with other diseases can backfire in
> > the case of chronic fatigue. Ironically, patient advocacy groups may
> > be more harmful than helpful, studies have suggested, possibly by
> > reinforcing a sense of victimization or by giving misguided advice,
> > such as actively discouraging all exercise.
> >
> > "The support groups are very anti-psychological," says Katon. "A lot
> > of times they act to inadvertently reinforce illness beliefs [such as
> > fear of relapse or exhaustion] that are potentially harmful to
> > patients." Those in support groups often report more severe illness,
> > and say that they feel worse since joining the group than do dropouts.
> > ___________
> >
> > Unbelievable.
> > And I've heard that very message about support groups before. Damned
> > shrinks. "If you think it's not psych-based, *you* are the problem."
> > Resistance is futile. You *will* be assimilated. Pay at the door,
> > please.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Is it all in my head?
    ... > "What you believe about your illness influences how sick you become." ... > patients had a prior psychiatric diagnosis. ... > Patients with chronic fatigue who attribute their illness solely to ... > And I've heard that very message about support groups before. ...
    (alt.med.fibromyalgia)
  • Re: Is it all in my head?
    ... > way of reminding him that she was not "using her illness" ... >> patients had a prior psychiatric diagnosis. ... >> Patients with chronic fatigue who attribute their illness solely to ... >> And I've heard that very message about support groups before. ...
    (alt.med.fibromyalgia)
  • Re: Is it all in my head?
    ... Something I think we can be glad about is that he is NOT your regular doctor ... If he treats all his patients ... > as a *real* illness and doctors who send their patients home in worse ... >>> Patients with chronic fatigue who attribute their illness solely to ...
    (alt.med.fibromyalgia)
  • Re: Is it all in my head?
    ... > "What you believe about your illness influences how sick you become." ... > patients had a prior psychiatric diagnosis. ... > Patients with chronic fatigue who attribute their illness solely to ... > And I've heard that very message about support groups before. ...
    (alt.med.fibromyalgia)
  • Is it all in my head?
    ... http://articles.health.msn.com/id/100108081?GT1=7003 (via Psychology ... "What you believe about your illness influences how sick you become." ... found that patients who had developed chronic ... And I've heard that very message about support groups before. ...
    (alt.med.fibromyalgia)