Putting it out there...
There are a few of you who follow my medical issues for one reason or another.
This past month was miserable for me. I had a strange new lower back/intestinal ache bothering me.
I thought it was my gall bladder. My dead gall bladder. You know, the one that no longer contracts.
Or, considering Dad just had kidney cancer, maybe it was my kidneys.
I couldn't sleep. Everything hurt.
And it all originated from this lower back/intestinal ache.
There's this anti-depressant supplement commercial on TV that states "Depression hurts."
I get that.
I'm depressed.
My mother suffered from depression for decades.
But my question is whether you hurt because you are depressed...
Or, are you depressed because you hurt?
You hurt and doctors tell you it's in your head.
You hurt and doctors give you a pill or remove your gall bladder and tell you you'll feel better.
But you don't.
How many years can you live that way?
I felt depressed this month.
I hurt.
But, in my heart, I believe I am depressed because I hurt and nothing seems to make it better.
In my heart, I believe my mother suffered the same way.
My chiropractor had an appointment time available before my medical doctor's office could fit me in. So I went there for help.
I told the chiropractor that I was miserable.
I hadn't slept in weeks.
"It hurts here. And here."
My medical doctor would have said, "That's your kidneys. Let's get you in for a $can."
My chiropractor said, "That's a muscle here, and here. They're twisting you this way. Let's fix that."
And he did.
He showed me where the knots were located and instructed me on how to massage them two to three times a day to loosen them up.
Not my gall bladder.
Not my kidneys.
Not intestinal at all.
It was muscular.
I slept like a log last night.
I woke up once to use the bathroom, but instead of tossing and turning in bed afterwards, I nodded right off.
I won't get into digestive details, but I'm feeling "normal" in that regard for the first time in a month.
My poor mother.
Everything seemed to make her feel sick.
Scans and tests and medications and whatnot. None of it helped.
She was told time and time again it was in her head.
But she knew how she felt. And she knew something was wrong.
In the end, I think she died because she simply got tired of talking to people who wouldn't listen.
Apparently, removing gall bladders today is as common as removing tonsils was when we were kids.
Not saying it's not necessary for some.
I am saying it's not necessary for all.
It's one of those things I'd like more information on.
I wanna know what causes a gall bladder to go bad.
They don't just up and die, you know.
And I don't buy my doctor's explanation that it's hereditary.
According to my chiropractor, my gall bladder went bad in a roundabout way because I have a leaky gut which has also caused problems with my thyroid.
(This leaky gut, he believes, was caused by a childhood diet consisting of mostly processed foods... which my entire family would have eaten, thus giving the appearance of a hereditary issue if the same diet caused the same afflictions to all of us, right?)
Removing my gall bladder would not solve my thyroid issues because I'd still have the leaky gut.
But, that's what I'd have had done last fall if I'd followed doctor's orders.
Would I feel better today?
Would I not hurt?
Would I then not be depressed?
It's all a crap shoot.
I don't know where I'm going with this.
I think... if you hurt, and your doctor tells you "it's in your head and all you need is another drug", maybe what you really need is another doctor.
9 comments:
I had an older doctor once for several years. Why? When I said "I don't feel good", he investigated before the tests. He was not for exploratory surgery without real need. He understood I would not take pills unless absolutely necessary. HE LISTENED.
He's in his late 80's and still practicing at my old clinic.
One of the finest physicians I have ever known, God bless him. I did find another doctor after I moved. ALMOST as good a listener as he. And the guy's father was, what else, a doctor who listened.
My whole family swears by chiropractic. But, we've done surgery, too. It certainly does help to have a doctor who listens -- and I've learned it's a good idea to have an advocate go with you to appointments so that there are 2 pairs of ears listening to what the doctor says.
Hope it's a better day!
A second or even third opinion is always a good idea. Doctors can be great but they are just people and they don't know everything.
Also (and this isn't just for Roses) if you are depressed for any reason (health, hormones, bad things happening in your life) ask for help. Help may be medication or it may be emotional support. The people who care about you want to help.
Just sayin'
I'm so glad you are finally finding some relief. And I totally hear you regarding the circle of pain/depression or depression/pain? It's like which came first: the chicken or the egg?
And don't even get me started on the idea that "it's all in your head." Oy!
In the health system that I belong to, everything is so compartmentalized. Each doctor passes the buck from one department to the next. I have yet to find a doctor that will look at the whole package and consider that all my symptoms are probably related. If they can't find an easy fix for one problem, they shove me off to a different doctor. And all roads lead to the mental health department: it's all in my head.
Either that, or, like you said, they throw pills at you. I have one doctor that wants to put me on daily Morphine. Morphine!?! You've got to be kidding me. Clearly, he has just given up.
So, I continue my search. And as you know, that can be depressing/exhausting itself.
Anyway, I'll get off my soap box. What I really mean to say is Thank You for sharing. The more we know and communicate, the more we can help each other.
((Hugs))
It is astonishing what some quite simple muscle strains in the lower back can do to the rest of your system. I've had a few similar experiences with medicine and have to say I'm counting my lucky stars that my doctor here in Germany listens and doesn't immediately reach for the presciptions ...
Roses, I read this post right after you published it, but am just now getting around to commenting.
I really appreciate you putting it all out there. Even though I am not a medical professional, I work very closely with hundreds of them every day. And, my own business (when I'm not only my "day job") caters to the alternative health industry...health food stores, Chiropractors, Massage Therapists, etc.
I grew up in, and still live in Louisiana. Louisiana was the LAST State in the Union to allow legal Chiropractic care. My dear wife has made use of Chiropractic care here locally...and the guy is just fabulous!
He was badly injured while bailing out of a helicopter when he was serving as a Soldier in Vietnam. He was a wreck, and could get no relief until he turned to Chiropractic care. He got so much gooder that he studied, and became one. He really helped my Pam so much that it changed some old, long-held beliefs I had about Chiropractic/alternative medical care.
Don't get me wrong. I have great respect for the people I work with every day in the traditional medical field. About 99.44% of them work their arses off, and really give a darn! I've seen too much love, concern, and...well...I can't think of any situation where the traditional medical folks I work with haven't gone to the limit to care for the patient.
But...everyone is different. Thank God, He made us all unique. The old, hackneyed saying is true..."THEY'RE PRACTICING MEDICINE...AND THEY'RE PRACTICING ON YOU!"
I am so glad for you that you've found someone that will listen, and help. There are some MDs like that, too. I know a few.
Be well!
I need to find a good chiropractor. I have some health issues going on, not blogging on it, and I'd like to try that route first.
I had to have my gall bladder taken out. It was full of stones and one of them was bigger than a superball. But, we've discussed a lot in the family why all the women in our family have this issue.
I think we don't process fat well. For some reason, cheeses, butter, fried foods, none of which we eat a lot of, we don't process well. And we're all mildly lactose intolerant. I think we don't eat a lot of the bad foods because they make us feel so lousy.
Even w/out our gall bladders, we're a mess when we eat those foods.
And... I think female hormones has something to do with it for us. My Mom went on the pill in '62, when it was one sized fits all. She had massive gall bladder attacks by '67 after two pregnancies and had to have it pulled. My sister was on the pill for 10 years and had hers out at age 32. I was NEVER on the pill, but had three kids and I think the lack of being on the pill helped me stretch it out to age 39.
So for our family, yeah, it appears hereditary, but it's not. The inability to process fats and the inability to handle raging estrogen levels does it for us.
Don't know if that helps...
*update 7/27/12*
Annual visit with my medical doctor yesterday... which is wholely unfair to the M.D. that he gets one day a year with me and I see the chiropractor at least every other month.
Doc is entirely unimpressed with my drop in thyroid anti-bodies.
Is convinced it's an anomaly, glitch in the test, that the levels fluctuate and I tested on a downish day.
When I pointed out not everyone's thyroid ani-bodies decide to kill off their thyroids and asked why mine do, he replied that some anti-bodies "go rogue".
I simply nodded politely.
He does the best he can.
But I'm not accepting "anomalies" and "rogue" body functions.
Thanks for the update, Roses. And, thanks for not "accepting" Doc's word as gospel.
Thanks again for keeping us in the loop, kiddo...
Be well!
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