For the record. . .
Facebook is a piece of cow dung tonight.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you today about a subject that is near and dear to my heart.
I HATE doctors!
They never do anything helpful for me. Almost without exception they have abandoned me to suffer misery and torment, cold and alone in the frozen wasteland. It was to the point where I simply wouldn't go to them at all. Not even if I suffered a major injury. Who all remembers the incident with the broken foot, and the three day wait before seeking treatment??
Cut to this year. I was suffering headaches on a daily basis. And I don't mean that as hyperbole. It was near to daily. I would say 5 days out of 7 at least. Its possible it was more. I wasn't keeping precise records. Many were multi-day events where the pain never stopped. It just continued from day to day. At one point it was so miserable that I had a sore neck for six weeks from this headache pain. Every morning I would wake up with an ache in my neck that would soon become a headache once I was ambulatory again.
So I gave up my long-standing policy of flipping the bird to the medical establishment and I finally found a 'family doctor' in Saskatoon. 17 years after I moved here and was told by my first psychiatrist that I needed one. I picked a guy with an English sounding name out of the list and went to see him.
First of all, I don't think a physical should take less than 5 minutes. That doesn't seem thorough to me. Granted, I didn't want his hand up my ass, but still it didn't seem like he really did that quality of a job of checking to seeing if I was dying. I described what my most immediate concerns were and as soon as I said 'headache' he immediately jumped on the migraine bandwagon and was enthusiastic about sending me to a neurologist.
Now I have no problem with going to the neurologist. I think its something that's been due for a long time. But my point is, he didn't really check anything on his own before he ran off in this direction. He gives me these migraine pills and it was only when I asked if they counter-acted with my current psychiatric drugs that he bothered to check if it was a problem. Isn't this something that should be a matter of course??
I'm delaying myself from my point.
I've been to the neurologist and they've given me some prophylactic drug for migraine treatment. I hate it. It makes my head feel all numb. Its a very similar feeling to the one you get in your foot when you sit on it for 20 minutes. I may have told this story before. But the reason I hate doctors, and the reason I bring this up again is, I am absolutely out of options to deal with this problem.
I can't go back to the ding-bat family doctor, because I've done that once and he doesn't listen to the problem. Plus its clear he's not qualified to diagnose these problems, or suggest a solution. You can tell by the fact that he doesn't listen to you when you talk to him. And it even more clear when he matter-of-factly suggests a stupid fucking solution that I could have instituted on my own, if I wasn't coming to him for a more informed god damn idea. Cut the dose in half. Nice diagnosis Dr. Killjoy!
I called the neurologist and she's not planning to talk to me until my four month wait period is up. If we're keeping score, my four month wait period is not up yet. So I'm fat out of luck getting to talk to her. Unless of course I up and DIE, in which case she might be able to squeeze me in.
I've explained my concerns to the psychiatrist. She is at least sympathetic but, and I can't really blame her for this, she doesn't feel adequate to make medication changes on migraine pills. I suppose I can accept that. But in the mean time I have a numb damn head every time my heart rate goes up, and I feel like I'm half-asleep all the time.
If any migraine specialists are reading this post right now, I would really appreciate a diagnosis at this point. I would dearly love to stop taking Topamax, but at the same time I can't concentrate if I have to have a headache every second day or so. I need the third option.
I HATE doctors!
They never do anything helpful for me. Almost without exception they have abandoned me to suffer misery and torment, cold and alone in the frozen wasteland. It was to the point where I simply wouldn't go to them at all. Not even if I suffered a major injury. Who all remembers the incident with the broken foot, and the three day wait before seeking treatment??
Cut to this year. I was suffering headaches on a daily basis. And I don't mean that as hyperbole. It was near to daily. I would say 5 days out of 7 at least. Its possible it was more. I wasn't keeping precise records. Many were multi-day events where the pain never stopped. It just continued from day to day. At one point it was so miserable that I had a sore neck for six weeks from this headache pain. Every morning I would wake up with an ache in my neck that would soon become a headache once I was ambulatory again.
So I gave up my long-standing policy of flipping the bird to the medical establishment and I finally found a 'family doctor' in Saskatoon. 17 years after I moved here and was told by my first psychiatrist that I needed one. I picked a guy with an English sounding name out of the list and went to see him.
First of all, I don't think a physical should take less than 5 minutes. That doesn't seem thorough to me. Granted, I didn't want his hand up my ass, but still it didn't seem like he really did that quality of a job of checking to seeing if I was dying. I described what my most immediate concerns were and as soon as I said 'headache' he immediately jumped on the migraine bandwagon and was enthusiastic about sending me to a neurologist.
Now I have no problem with going to the neurologist. I think its something that's been due for a long time. But my point is, he didn't really check anything on his own before he ran off in this direction. He gives me these migraine pills and it was only when I asked if they counter-acted with my current psychiatric drugs that he bothered to check if it was a problem. Isn't this something that should be a matter of course??
I'm delaying myself from my point.
I've been to the neurologist and they've given me some prophylactic drug for migraine treatment. I hate it. It makes my head feel all numb. Its a very similar feeling to the one you get in your foot when you sit on it for 20 minutes. I may have told this story before. But the reason I hate doctors, and the reason I bring this up again is, I am absolutely out of options to deal with this problem.
I can't go back to the ding-bat family doctor, because I've done that once and he doesn't listen to the problem. Plus its clear he's not qualified to diagnose these problems, or suggest a solution. You can tell by the fact that he doesn't listen to you when you talk to him. And it even more clear when he matter-of-factly suggests a stupid fucking solution that I could have instituted on my own, if I wasn't coming to him for a more informed god damn idea. Cut the dose in half. Nice diagnosis Dr. Killjoy!
I called the neurologist and she's not planning to talk to me until my four month wait period is up. If we're keeping score, my four month wait period is not up yet. So I'm fat out of luck getting to talk to her. Unless of course I up and DIE, in which case she might be able to squeeze me in.
I've explained my concerns to the psychiatrist. She is at least sympathetic but, and I can't really blame her for this, she doesn't feel adequate to make medication changes on migraine pills. I suppose I can accept that. But in the mean time I have a numb damn head every time my heart rate goes up, and I feel like I'm half-asleep all the time.
If any migraine specialists are reading this post right now, I would really appreciate a diagnosis at this point. I would dearly love to stop taking Topamax, but at the same time I can't concentrate if I have to have a headache every second day or so. I need the third option.