overwhelmed is as easy as...

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Saw your message and thought I would reply since I can completely relate to your feelings. I know we all can.

I come from a medical family so have always known (too much) about medicine and the like. I consider myself a recovering child of the medical community (do they have an AA style group for that?). And so spent most of my 20's and early 30's turning away from allopathic doctors to naturopathy instead. All vitamins, herbs, organic foods. I was healthier than I had ever been in my life after an ND discovered a systemic candida infection from 18 years of being over-treated with antibiotics. I did a detoxifying diet and my med. cabinet was full of supplements. About the only synthetic

med in it was Tylenol or Ibuprofen for the occasional bad headache.

Pregnancy changes everything. Hormones! Hormones! Two kids and one miscarriage later (not necessarily in that order), my immune system was a wreck. Genetically I am between a rock and a rock since I have autoimmune disease on both sides of my family. The proverbial snowball turned into the avalanche after my son was born 3 1/2 yrs ago. Nothing went back to normal. I had chronic infections of all kinds and all body parts. Eventually it was discoverd that I have Hashimoto's Disease (autoimmune/thyroid) ... also found Hurthle cell tumors and Papillary cancer of the thyroid gland. Actually don't have a thyroid gland anymore, it was removed, but do still carry the antibodies and therefore will always be an Auto Immune patient. I was Dx's with some sort of neuritis or neuralgia (Fibro? maybe?) or Behcet's disease. Depends on which one of my 'ologists you ask. Just dx'd with HepC and also have pernicious B12 anemia that I take bi-monthly injections for (it does help my burning cramping legs to feel better for about a week). I take a slew of prescription meds but also still incorporate my naturopathy and vitamin supplements into my regimen. My particular favorite right now is a plant sterol marketed as Moducare. It helps regulate the immune system and cortisol levels. I also deal with periodic adrenal insufficiency or Hypoadrenia.

I have been reading, researching and learning about my illness(es) since my initial diagnosis. It is easy to go into information overload. Sometimes I think there is too much info out there for us. I miss the dark days when you just said "yes sir or maam" to your MD and took whatever they gave you. Or do I?

But the fact that you recognize that your doc doesn't know everything explains why you continue to read and research. Only YOU know your body and what is/will help it feel better. Docs are human and prone to error, arrogance, etc. But some of them really do know what they are doing and are willing to work with you! I am a bit prejudiced having had 3 very bad experiences with 3 poorly educated and dismissive doctors in the past two years. One missed my cancer diagnosis because he refused to do a scan that is standard procedure, first-line tool for Dxing my type of thyroid disease. You can bet I enjoyed the look on his face when I showed him my pathology report from my thyroidectomy!

One missed my hepC diagnosis because he just didn't bother to run the right tests, wrote me off as anxious and needing a xanax and a nap. I wrote him off as crappy! I have carefully selected my current group of specialists- fine tuning over the past two years- weeding out the docs (sorry guys: mostly men) who treat me like a neurotic mass of human attached to a problematic gland or body part. The docs I work with are kind, responsible, respectful, willing to learn, and listen to me when I present information I have found, such as LDN therapy. Maybe being in the Seattle area helps- we do have the best Naturopathic University in the nation here and most insurance plans allow you to combine both types of treatment.

My suggestion- research to your hearts content for a month or so. Then take a rest from it for atleast a month or two. That is what I did. Once I got the initial Dx and the info I needed to understand my situation I turned the computer off for a while. Just checked email. Stopped looking at the forums. Then when I was ready for the next phase, new treatment, whatever,

I started studying again. Its just like cramming for a test. Don't over do it!

My other secret- pick 2 maybe 3 websites MAX to research from at a time. Change them periodically if you find a better source of info but otherwise- stick with a forum or medical site that has proven valuable to you. Like this one.

Yes, there are so many different roads to go down in the search for something that will alleviate our ills...and it is okay to feel overwhelmed. I think we have all lived through the sensation of drowning atleast once or twice on our medical journeys.

You will know you are on the right track when your heart does not heave with worry about trying something new. You will know you have found what works for you when you find it! You will just know when you have met the right doc because going to a check up won't be something you dread completely. I think that has been the biggest lesson for me on my strange trip has been learning to release total control. It is hard, but eventually you will find a doc you can trust enough to do that, atleast partially. We don't know what will come next but we can educate ourselves about the possibilities.

Knowledge is Power? Maybe its something like that.

Best,

Lara