Wednesday, April 15, 2015

trust me

Horfilmania posted an epitaph for a relative she just lost.  I was struck by two different feelings.

Overriding, of course, was my reaction to the quote printed concerning her health problems:  "We take pills for that."  It saddened me immensely.

This is what comes of treating our medical industry personnel like gods.  They know best, they are authorities, they have our best interests at heart, we mustn't question!  I don't know if I should be madder at them or at us.  ...Or maybe at all the television dramas in which doctors are the heroes, which help to brainwash the credulous....

In our highly-specialized society, it's tempting to leave personally-unknown details to people who set themselves up as knowledgeable professionals.  Hell, that's the way my marriage works -- some things J is better at, and he plays leader there, and some things i'm best at and he'd BETTER defer to my judgment.  ;-)  We can't each know everything, and the better part of wisdom is knowing where somebody else's expertise is needed.

But even from the earliest days of physicians, there have been areas where they THOUGHT they knew what was best but were seriously deluded.  And the guild not only managed to kill an awful lot of patients, but they battled for their supremacy with "alternative practitioners" in ways that haven't changed much through the centuries -- I wonder how many witchcraft accusations were brought by them, simply to remove the competition from business?

The AMA claims to harass midwives, recommenders of supplements, and even members of their own club who use a different approach from the ingenuous "standard of care" ONLY to protect us from shoddy medicine, but there is a smokescreen situation here.  If a treatment is shown to WORK, who are they to forbid its use simply because there is no RCT report printed up in a journal?  They never worry about obviously deleterious treatments -- like statins for women -- when it comes to something the club sanctions.  We're talking hypocrites, not Hypocrates.

Individual doctors often have the best interests of the patient as an ideal, but the association only cares about perpetuating itself, like so many other organizations (AHA, ACS, ADA ad nauseum).  Too many, though, don't really care.  Herd 'em in, sit in a room with them while looking at a computer-screen, write a scrip, herd 'em out....  The ones who work with patients to improve health from the ground up just make the "herders" look bad -- can't have that.  :-P

"We take pills for that."

People get into all kinds of trouble through poor lifestyle choices;  if we used the "pills" philosophy for crummy jobs, bad relationships, and crime, how far are we going to get?  If some guy comes down with a disease because he lives like an unhygienic animal, do we tell him to just take a pill, or do we tell him to take a bath and clean his house, ferkrisesake?  If a smoker goes to the doctor with lung disease is s/he not told to QUIT SMOKING?

When the public IS told that lifestyle changes are necessary to improve health, it is unfortunate that the changes they're told to make are so unpleasant.  Western-world puritanism is held up as the path to immortality -- and I use the term intentionally, because it's all about that "being pure will get you into heaven" mentality.  We are asked to give up red meat and ice cream and everything that provides pleasure, and instead to eat dry crusts and bitter herbs, and toil on a treadmill.  No wonder doctors can't get their patients to make "lifestyle changes" -- no wonder they give up and pull out the prescription pad.

If that's what it took, I wouldn't do it either.  Fortunately, it's not.

We desperately need to move away from "pill mentality" but of course the pharmaceutical industry will fight that tooth-and-nail.  Letting them advertise on television made the problem worse ... but it just goes to show how strong their lobby is. 

Presenting PLEASANT lifestyle changes as beneficial is our best hope for improvement.  Change the message from "get at least five hours of exercise every week" to "do something outdoors for a half-hour every day" and see if people get a little more enthusiastic.  Stop lying to them about animal protein ruining their kidneys -- if they can't tolerate a gram per pound of their ideal weight, their kidneys are ALREADY trashed.  Most of all, stop telling them that they NEED those healthywholegrains, that starch is the best thing they could possibly eat.

***

...and the other thing that leapt to mind when I read that blog-post?  That only in the 21st century could we consider a 70-year-old to be dying "young."  As Henry II put it in "The Lion in Winter,"  "I'm 50 now.  Good God, boy, I'm the oldest man I know!  I've got a decade on the Pope!"

H's cousin -- rest in peace!

16 comments:

  1. Tess, thanks for this great post. I talked to my cousin's son last night and found out that he watched the video to Dr. Fung's "the two big lies of Type 2 Diabetes" (I sent him a link on FB) and has contacted Dr. Fung's office. He has all sorts of health issues for a man in his 30's, is diabetic, overweight and suffering. He also has 3 beautiful children who need their father to be healthy. Hopefully he will use Dr. Fung's resources and nurse himself back to health.

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    1. thank YOU, H -- i'm glad to hear you like it! i do so hope that young man is able to learn and profit from JF's knowledge -- his videos impressed me!

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  2. Sorry to hear about the death in Horf's family. However, living till 70 is not too bad for a very unhealthy person. Nowadays a much worse fate is possible - to be hooked to machines for years and suffer. My aunt (not a blood relative) who ate mostly sweets all her life, was obese and diabetic with a blood pressure 250/100 suddenly died at 69 couple years ago. She even didn't take medications and believed it was wrong to avoid things she liked to prolong her life. I think she was lucky not to suffer.
    What I appreciate a lot about LCarbing is the fact that it doesn't require from the followers to avoid all tasty foods, just impulses control and some immunity to a social pressure are enough.

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    1. yes, there are plenty of "luxurious" and "sinful" foods that can be innocently enjoyed on LCHF! :-) it's what adds that extra something to what is a very health-promoting WOE!

      ...and you're so right -- the miserable LINGERING is what is scary about chronic disease!

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  3. Ever wonder how your doctor chooses which medication to prescribe? Everyone who takes a prescription med should take a listen to the Underground Wellness podcast episode interview with Gerald Roliz who is the author of "The Pharmaceutical Myth". Scary stuff!

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    1. I've never heard it -- perhaps I should! thanks for the idea!

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  4. Tess, this is a fantastic post with so many valid points.

    I was so sorry to hear about 'Horfs' relation...... and yes 70 is a good age - but diabetes is affecting so many more younger people. I am convinced lifestyle, or a change in lifestyle, can help so many people. There are those who do feel cheated if they leave the Doctors surgery without a prescription - whilst for a lot of people a change in foods, exercise etc can be so beneficial.

    Indeed RIP Horfs cousin.

    All the best Jan

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    1. thanks, Jan! yes, even small pleasant changes IF THEY'RE THE RIGHT ONES can make a big difference!

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  5. Condolences to Horf. I just re-certified to taday in Family Medicine...one of my two board certs...anyway..I may have missed a few questions due to my approach to taking care of a patient. I work in wound care and that means folks that don't heal naturally because of , usually, metabolic disease. Sadly I have 30-40 year olds in worse shape than some of the 70-90 year olds....sigh. When I give them my lowcarb paleo-ish diet (just two pages long) most tell me they cannot do it. But, they can stick their finger and shoot insulin. I just don't get it. When I was told 30 years ago that I couldn't have gluten, I said okay what can I have? Over the years I have tweeted it a lot to become what my WOE is today. I am healthy, slim and happy. I enjoy food and good company. I don't miss fill in the blank so-called comfort foods.

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    1. I meant tweeked, damn auto-correct.

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    2. it's astonishing that they find it so hard to reduce their carb intake -- I have to suppose that they grew up on it and never wanted anything else.... as I kid I always craved meat, so LCHF is as naturally to me as breathing! steak IS comfort food to me! ...and damn autocorrect indeed! ;-)

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    3. I used to crave meat myself as a child, and LCarbing is a liberating-from- bread-life for me, but there are others who crave bread, cookies and even oatmeal.
      My former husband's family are full of sick people (asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromialgia, psoriasis) who ASKED me for the advice (they remember my horrible eczema 30 years ago which is gone now), but they couldn't follow it.

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    4. I would say wouldn't, rather than couldn't...

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    5. Yes, wouldn't is more appropriate than couldn't. Even my former mother-in-law (with RA) didn't support her grandson's (psoriasis, asthma, pet allergies) attempts to follow the diet I recommended (not a LCarbing, rather something what my son eats - no gluten, no hot spices, citruses, tomato based souses).

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    6. so many people are WAAAAY to preoccupied with what others do or eat....

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    7. They are bunch of intelligent but weak in a spirit people who follow life very passively. I like them for being nice, but I generally don't have much hope for that family, so I am not actually surprised by their inability to do something to improve health. It is easier to do nothing, especially for the people who are not healthy.

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