The title of this post comes straight from the funny bone of my father. During my youth, if I got dramatic or overly concerned about something, he would say this. It always brought me to giggles and took the perceived crisis out of things I could readily cope with.
It came to mind today because I found myself in a situation where I felt like I needed to call someone. The AFO is back. I can only take one stair at a time. And while it’s not to a point where my ambulation is severely affected, I feel like I need some sort of real damage control before it gets
"Hello, do you have a minute? What the hell should I do?"
worse. Do I call my PCP to let her know? Do I go see her to find out if she can examine me to see if anything has changed since seeing her last time? Do I dare call one of the Neurologists so they can see my limited left foot dorsiflexion? Do I seek out some new specialist? What do I do???
After the mild panic subsided, I decided to do nothing though I’m not sure this is in my best interest.
This morning, my son told me in a very distressed way, “Your leg is not hurt anymore. You can’t wear your brace!”
Ugh, that got me in the gut. I’ve been able to do so much more with him since stopping physical therapy and limiting exercising and he has certainly enjoyed having his mommy back. Over the past few days, I’ve been busy and have walked more, carried more, etc. than usual and I suppose this has helped to create a flare up.
To be healed
A co-worker talked to me about a homeopathic doctor that has helped heal him, his friends, and family. To listen to him, he’s quite convincing. I even looked up the doctor through a web search. I didn’t find a lot other than contact information. My co-worker explained the cause of brain cancer (eating raw meat) and that pretty much everything else is caused by molds and toxins in our bodies. After my relief that I am an unlikely candidate for brain cancer, I started to ask questions. What do you do if you’re already taking prescriptions and then go to one of these doctors who prescribe herbs and stuff. “It’s a way of life” I was told. Does sushi count as raw meat?
I sit here thinking and worrying. How bad is my leg going to get this time around? Am I missing an opportunity to see a doctor while I’m in full flare mode? If I want to address this flare right now, who do I call? And, despite my better judgment, is it worth a shot to get an untraditional opinion? Who has an answer that can help me?
I am interested in your comments and thank you for reading!
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I studied under an excellent medical doctor who was also a licensed herbalist. He was an interesting mix of the rational and the speculative. The thing to keep in mind (and my MD/herbalist teacher would agree) is that most complimentary medicine has very little scientific research to back it up.
Recently fields like Herbalism have started to talk medical lingo, usually making unsubstantiated claims about medical diseases (all brain cancer–really?). Most alternative medicine comes from different mindsets and was created for doing things that aren’t in scientific medicine’s vocabulary, such as correcting energy imbalances or chi. If you go to alternative medicine approach it on it’s own terms: it isn’t research-based disease management. It is a faith-based system of approaching the body.
However, be aware that herbs are still chemicals entering the body that can have very real effects on medical conditions. Some herbals have problematic interactions with medicines. If you do use herbal medicines please don’t forget to tell your medical doctors what you are taking.
Doctors may discuss the unknowns and risks of alternative therapies, but be wary of doctors that get mad at you for trying a different route. Doctors should remember that some of the advice we give is based on very little evidence as well.
Good advice, as always, Doctor D. I like your description of alternative therapy being a faith-based approach. I think that is part of the intrigue for me. I don’t have a lot of faith in it so I am curious what my reaction would be to a session with someone. I do hope you caught my saracsm in my analysis of the raw meat – brain cancer statement. It’s scary to me when pateints are going around saying these things that have no research-based evidence (or are simply far-fetched) as most people are more likely to trust their friend than their doctor.
Thanks.
My experience with a homeopath was not good. You might want to look at http://whatstheharm.net/homeopathy.html
Herbs can help sometimes, but you have to be careful that they don’t interact negatively with your prescriptions. It would be worth talking to your PCP about it.
I made a list of herbs that I wanted to try and asked the nurse practitioner at my PCP’s office about them. She looked up two, then loaned me her PDR for Herbal Medicines so I could check the rest of my list.
Hi! Thanks for the link and comments. I did ask my PCP and she said that most of her patients don’t have good experiences either. It’s so tempting to want to believe what some of these homeo/naturopath docs are selling: “healing” and seemingly simple solutions.