I have always disliked the medical profession as it is currently being practiced. Doctors today blindly follow the medical books and procedures. They might work for a large population but what about the outliers ? Every person's DNA is different , composition is different , lifestyle and environment might be different then how can the same medicine be given to all ? Doctors refuse to treat patients differently maybe out of sheer pressure from the medical community or insurance companies or they just lack the insight. I have seen three cases of sheer negligence in the past year which prompted me to write this blog :
Friend 1 goes to her gynac after 3 months of delivery since she feels a lump in her breast. Her gynac just shuns it off as a hardened milk duct and sends her home. Her husband insists they get further tests done and so reluctantly she gets them done only to find out to their horror she's positive for breast cancer. Thank God for the husband's intuition they could detect it early on and start treatment. She has a family history of cancer which the doctor knows. Basic question : Why doesn't the doctor think of it in the first place ?
Friend 2 complains of severe abdominal pain when she is 7 months pregnant. Doctors hospitalize her, run some routine pregnancy tests , give her IV for 2 days and send her home. She routinely complains of pain which her doctors overlook till 8 months when the pain in unbearable to the extent they need to perform a C-section and deliver the baby to diagnose the problem. A CT scan revels her pancreas has exploded risking her life and putting her in ICU for a month where they feed her liquids through a nose tube and put her on high dosage of antibiotics. I was shocked how her pain was unresolved for such a long time. When I googled pancreatitis it seems its easily diagnosed through an ultrasound which would be completely safe to perform even in her pregnancy. But they had not seen such a case before and didn't think she would have the disease and so they never tested - I find this explanation hard to digest.
My own personal stint :
Last year I was feeling unusual - cold even in summer, couldn't take the AC draft in the car, was not losing an inch even with diet control and exercise ... all the medical stuff I read suggested I should get my thyroid tested. So off I went to a doctor who tells me its all in my mind and she doesn't want to waste my blood. I was determined to get the thyroid tested and took an appointment with another doctor. She tells me the same thing, not to worry blah blah blah .. gives me a list of blood tests to be done and I firmly told her to tick the thyroid test too , anyways they are drawing my blood we can get it tested too. The blood results come back in a couple of days and guess what - everything except the thyroid is in normal range. What if I was not persistent in getting the test done ? Thyroid is the largest gland in humans and plays an important factor in metabolism, intelligence and a lot of other crucial stuff. Millions of people remain undetected because they don't sense the symptoms or their stupid doctors think its a waste of time and their blood to get it tested.
Yes medicine has advanced to a very large extent with fancy equipments and breakthrough research but if you ask me personally I wouldn't rely on just what my doctor says anymore. There is tons of valid and sound information easily accessible and the working of a human body is not rocket science either. Its time to take our health decisions in our own hands - fine tune to our own body, listen to our instincts and do our own research before heading to the doctor's office.
Friend 1 goes to her gynac after 3 months of delivery since she feels a lump in her breast. Her gynac just shuns it off as a hardened milk duct and sends her home. Her husband insists they get further tests done and so reluctantly she gets them done only to find out to their horror she's positive for breast cancer. Thank God for the husband's intuition they could detect it early on and start treatment. She has a family history of cancer which the doctor knows. Basic question : Why doesn't the doctor think of it in the first place ?
Friend 2 complains of severe abdominal pain when she is 7 months pregnant. Doctors hospitalize her, run some routine pregnancy tests , give her IV for 2 days and send her home. She routinely complains of pain which her doctors overlook till 8 months when the pain in unbearable to the extent they need to perform a C-section and deliver the baby to diagnose the problem. A CT scan revels her pancreas has exploded risking her life and putting her in ICU for a month where they feed her liquids through a nose tube and put her on high dosage of antibiotics. I was shocked how her pain was unresolved for such a long time. When I googled pancreatitis it seems its easily diagnosed through an ultrasound which would be completely safe to perform even in her pregnancy. But they had not seen such a case before and didn't think she would have the disease and so they never tested - I find this explanation hard to digest.
My own personal stint :
Last year I was feeling unusual - cold even in summer, couldn't take the AC draft in the car, was not losing an inch even with diet control and exercise ... all the medical stuff I read suggested I should get my thyroid tested. So off I went to a doctor who tells me its all in my mind and she doesn't want to waste my blood. I was determined to get the thyroid tested and took an appointment with another doctor. She tells me the same thing, not to worry blah blah blah .. gives me a list of blood tests to be done and I firmly told her to tick the thyroid test too , anyways they are drawing my blood we can get it tested too. The blood results come back in a couple of days and guess what - everything except the thyroid is in normal range. What if I was not persistent in getting the test done ? Thyroid is the largest gland in humans and plays an important factor in metabolism, intelligence and a lot of other crucial stuff. Millions of people remain undetected because they don't sense the symptoms or their stupid doctors think its a waste of time and their blood to get it tested.
Yes medicine has advanced to a very large extent with fancy equipments and breakthrough research but if you ask me personally I wouldn't rely on just what my doctor says anymore. There is tons of valid and sound information easily accessible and the working of a human body is not rocket science either. Its time to take our health decisions in our own hands - fine tune to our own body, listen to our instincts and do our own research before heading to the doctor's office.
