tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532388825298713035.post9119122883191921713..comments2024-03-22T13:46:31.211-04:00Comments on Getting Closer To Myself: "First Do No Harm"Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13910940045470516414noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532388825298713035.post-49219818255900157102008-12-20T10:52:00.000-05:002008-12-20T10:52:00.000-05:00Thanks Barbara and Amanda for your comments! I'm ...Thanks Barbara and Amanda for your comments! I'm glad you agree and I hope you keep reading!Lesliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13910940045470516414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532388825298713035.post-32762345356667989712008-12-17T13:20:00.000-05:002008-12-17T13:20:00.000-05:00fabulous. im a chronic illness patient earning my...fabulous. im a chronic illness patient earning my nursing degree and i couldnt agree with every word of this more. it's so hard on the patient side, and it's all too easy to get used to your patients' sufferings from the doctor/nurse side. you put it all so well, and i hope others will continue to "get it"... ive wondered about the phrase myself but sadly, to a lot of doctors it seems to mean "just dont do any major harm ... intentionally... especially if it's even remotely close to a lawsuit" right?? yeah, so we can go on suffering on the meds that help one thing and make 20 other things worse. these comments are all fabulous as well. love your blog.Amandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13671746814591549114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532388825298713035.post-22698803152951263792008-12-17T12:20:00.000-05:002008-12-17T12:20:00.000-05:00"But just because the doctor remains emotionally d..."But just because the doctor remains emotionally detached, doesn’t mean that the patient does."<BR/>Brilliant line - this says it allAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532388825298713035.post-33460004565794284762008-08-23T12:39:00.000-04:002008-08-23T12:39:00.000-04:00Before any mention of specific drug or side effect...Before any mention of specific drug or side effect mentioned ... my mind did a tennis match between the serious consequences of Imuran and weight gain/diabetic risks/osteoperosis type issuse of Prednisone <BR/><BR/>For me, it's Myasthenia Gravis and Lupus. <BR/>I was on a safer drug than Imuran ...still risky, but none the less, safer. <BR/>But the insurance decided that since it had the same risks, although they were significantly LESS risky ... there was no difference and refused to pay for the Cellcept anymore and I am back on Imuran. <BR/>The fact that while on Imuran, I needed help dressing, could not walk up a flight of stairs and wore leg braces and couldn't drive more than 6 miles ...<BR/>But on cellcept, could walk up 3 flights of stairs, never thought of someone helping me, could work out 3 times a week and could drive to a town 90 miles a way ... <BR/><BR/>Imuran ... is an equal drug ...less effective, higher risk ...but ... it does the same job ...at a 10th of the cost ... <BR/><BR/>so .. I'm back on it. <BR/><BR/>There is no consideration to what that might do to my life ..or my emotions ...or to my families life ...and what happens if I do go back to where I was when on it before?<BR/>If they give me back the Cellcept ...will it work a second time?<BR/><BR/>It's a game that the medical community can afford to play, but ...it's not their body, nor their emotions is it?Dreaming againhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15717590226520457326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532388825298713035.post-23363915259103175932008-08-21T03:14:00.000-04:002008-08-21T03:14:00.000-04:00i'm all with you on this. when i was diagnosed si...i'm all with you on this. when i was diagnosed six years ago, the thing that bit me deepest and still bites deepest was that the medical profession clearly felt i had simply been *erased* as the person i had once been. to the point where they weren't even selfconscious about it, since they clearly felt the previous me wasn't even present enough in there anymore have any opinions, much less lodge a protest :D<BR/><BR/>it was awfully subtle and abstract, but from the moment i got the rubber stamp, it was *there*. and the harm it did was enormous - and made even worse by their bland incomprehension when i spoke about it. <BR/><BR/>it isn't true, of course. everyone with a chronic illness still continues to be precisely themselves, just with the illness as well. we clearly *don't* all turn overnight into the same cookie-cutter stepford patient they seem to perceive. but there's a really rough period at first where you feel stripped of the only person you ever were or even knew how to be, and you don't know how to be the new person you've begun to become. the covert, subconscious contempt in the medical profession is just so unnecessary and so harmful during that time. anyone diagnosed with a chronic illness has the sudden, massive task of re-inventing themselves against all the additional pressures of actually feeling sick, or exhausted, or fighting pain. they just shouldn't have to also fight the constant subliminal message that as a person, they've just been quietly, completely erased.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532388825298713035.post-82558638626290680232008-08-20T22:17:00.000-04:002008-08-20T22:17:00.000-04:00Thank you The Five Nomads for your comment and to ...Thank you The Five Nomads for your comment and to Donna B. and Annette for sharing your experiences with me. I think you have all brought up excellent points about about what "first do no harm" means and how it gets translated into actions by doctors. Thanks for that!Lesliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13910940045470516414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532388825298713035.post-36390486450077122952008-08-20T21:25:00.000-04:002008-08-20T21:25:00.000-04:00Your post makes me think of the surgery I had on m...Your post makes me think of the surgery I had on my feet called forefoot reconstruction. It was not until much later that I found out it was considered "salvage surgery" and was the end of the line as far as that part of the foot goes.<BR/>No one mentioned that at the time - I had hopes of more improvementanettohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14627334936337752433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532388825298713035.post-75343100941082946452008-08-19T22:44:00.000-04:002008-08-19T22:44:00.000-04:00My experience with psychiatrists (seeing my son fo...My experience with psychiatrists (seeing my son for severe depression and anxiety) following a head injury) is that really seem to think any complaint of pain is drug-seeking.<BR/><BR/>Even the psychiatrists are not willing to consider how constant pain from muscle spasms increases his depression and anxiety.<BR/><BR/>So, yeah. They've made him into a drug-seeker, looking for any kind of doc that will prescribe klonopin, which helps with the spasms and anxiety.Donna B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16771075314473811594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532388825298713035.post-27414567835903220812008-08-18T16:04:00.000-04:002008-08-18T16:04:00.000-04:00In my experience, 20+ years of chronic migraines a...In my experience, 20+ years of chronic migraines and other chronic illnesses, more doctors than I can count and actually becoming an RN myself, people who have never experienced chronic pain never do get it. (If it weren't so labels like "drug seeking" and such wouldn't be used so casually.) <BR/><BR/>"First do no harm" has been traded for, "first, make sure I can't get sued". <BR/><BR/>A psychiatrist, therapist, or possibly a really good pain control RN, or an exceptional RN period, will have your emotional well-being on their radar but No MD I have ever met, even the good ones, with compassion and some first hand experience with pain.<BR/><BR/>Sorry this isn't more hopeful, your post struck a chord with me -I feel ya'...The Five Nomadshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00058928632186282541noreply@blogger.com