Just some thoughts..

[EmersonAilidh]

The very first time that I saw a neurologist I was in & out in half an hour, a prescription for stimulants in my hand on the way out. That doctor had tested me for nothing. That doctor had taken my temperature, blood pressure, & checked my height/weight. You know, all of the really complex, cutting-edge procedures. Over the course of the next three years, I never ONCE talked to that doctor for more than maybe fortyfive minutes at a time, & I sure as H### didn't get anywhere close to a diagnosis. What I had absolutely no problem getting, though, were pharmaceuticals by the truckload. Test after test proved nothing & this doctor would not give P.A.N.D.A.S. the time of day, but I left his office without a prescription pad maybe three times. Aricept for Alzheimer's. Tenex for blood pressure or ADHD. Risperdal for Schizophrenia. Depakote for Epilepsy. & above all else, Trazadone, Mirtazapine, Klonopin, Xanax... More benzodiazepines than I had previously thought humanly possible. That's not even including the ones whose names have escaped me. With the exception of insomnia, which in & of itself is no diagnosis, I was never once diagnosed with a single condition that any of those pills were used to treat. So tell me why, with four years of doctors now, that I can get pills & pills & pills like you wouldn't believe at the drop of a hat, but getting something as non-detrimental & as widely prescribed as antibiotics has proven to be nearly impossible. Why is it that those of us searching for IVIG with official P.A.N.D.A.S. diagnoses, folders full of test results, & multiple doctors behind us are denied time & time again, but kids having a little trouble paying attention in class can get an ADHD diagnosis & amphetamines in one doctor visit? Are people tested for depression, Oppositional-Defiant Disorder, or bipolar disorder? No. & how many people do you know who have no trouble at all getting anti-depressants, which can be dependence building?

 

Now, I'm not doubting the validity of these disorders at all. Please don't take this that way. But I just cannot wrap my head around why the medical world seems to be handing out prescription pads to anyone who walks in with a headache, but we have to jump through hoops just to get some Augmentin. We are sick children & you have what is needed to make us feel better. What more is there?? When I was in the hospital after my appendectomy, I admired every single doctor that walked past my door thinking of how one of them might be the one that had saved me. Doctors ARE great people & the vast majority of them still have my admiration, but time has shown to me that some of them seem to have forgotten what medicine is all about. Philanthropy. Helping people. Saving lives. If we aren't receptive to new disorders, how can we expect to adapt? I wonder if "new" disorders met this same denial earlier in the century. If the new idea of a bacterial infection or an autoimmune reaction would topple the way that we look at psychiatric problems today, then so be it. Radical new ideas (like that one thing.. you know. The computer? It's only been around for a couple decades) are not only beneficial, but absolutely necessary if we expect to make any progress at all (not just in regards to P.A.N.D.A.S.) in doing exactly what medicine was meant to; STOP SUFFERING.

Edited September 3, 2010 by EmersonAilidh

[NancyD]

How old did you say you were, Emerson?????? Every time I read your posts you just AMAZE me!!! You have zeroed in on something for which I have such contempt. Let's put a band-aid on everything that's wrong until we have so many band-aids on that we cannot identify and treat the underlying cause.

 

You, my dear, have a great career ahead. You will have to carry the torch for all of us aging, tired parents! Consider helping to change policy and the medical mindset.

 

Nancy

[MomWithOCDSon]

I don't know if you can hear me from where you are, but I am standing on my chair, hands over my head, cheering your post and giving you the biggest standing ovation a single person can manage!

 

You have hit the nail on the head, and I think you ought to type that up and mail it to every doctor you've ever seen who's either 1) been a pill-pusher for you, or 2) denied you antibiotic treatment. Then I would also send it to the American Medical Association, the health columnist of your local paper, and anyone else you can think of who might actually find it to be a wake-up call.

 

I've actually thrown your logic in the face of my DS's pediatrician and psychiatrist, which is at least partially why, I believe, I finally walked away with a prescription for antibiotics, even though they both remain skeptical of PANDAS (the pediatrician more so than the psych, interestingly enough). I mean, really, what you're putting out there is part of the Hippocratic Oath that every doctor swears to:

 

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

 

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. (I admit to having to look up "nihilism" in this context; basically, this is the modern day phrase replacing the old-fashioned "above all, do no harm" and it literally means not to negate the possibility of meaningful treatment.)

 

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

 

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

 

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

 

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

 

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

 

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

 

Again, bravo for you, Emerson! You are years ahead of your time!

[emmalily]

Nancy, I love that! Everyone should send that out, with the bolds like that, to their unbelieving doctors. And then I feel that all those doctors she tattoo it on the back of their hands so they can't forget it the moment they walk out of medical school.