Topic: My Doctors: Wrong Again!
started by: damien_s_lucifer
Posted by damien_s_lucifer on Jul. 18 2002,11:48
They said it couldn't be done...For two years I've been fighting a nasty, recurring rash that two different doctors diagnosed as "seborrheic dermatitis." Without going into too much detail, let's just say it itches, it's nasty looking, and according to them there is no cure, only treatment of the symptoms. They threw me a tube of hydrocortisone cream and Lotrimin and told me to rub some Selsun Blue on it to keep it under control, and that I'd suffer with it the rest of my life.
Like I'm going to take that as an answer...
a little research on my part reveals that one of the causes (THE cause, if you ask me) is a fungus. The Lotrimin and Selsun Blue help keep the fungus from growing, but they don't kill it which is obviously what needs to be done. So I try out different athlete's foot medications and discover that lo and behold, Lamisil AT (terbinafine) cream knocks this stuff out if I use it twice a day.
Trouble is, it's $15 a tube, and at the rate the rash is spreading I'm going to need a truckload of it.
So I poke around a little more and discover - wonder of wonders! - Lamisil is available in tablet form, by prescription only. It's sold as a way to cure nasty yellow toenails... and 1 tablet has more medicine than a whole TUBE of the OTC cream. I go down to the doctor and say "look, terbinafine cream makes this stuff go away, it's the most ruthless antifungal available" - and my doctor insists that no, it only controls it. I say "no, goddamn it, it makes it DISAPPEAR" and he still insists I'm only controlling it... so I say "look, let's try something. Give me a prescription for terbinafine tablets and we'll see what happens. At the very least I'll have nice toenails."
He flat out tells me there is no way he'll do that and I'm "chasing the rainbow," it's incurable and I'll have to accept that...
so I get pissed off and look into overseas pharmacies. A place down in Mexico sells it for 1/4 the price in the US, and they'll ship it to me without a prescription. So I order a month's worth.
It arrived last Saturday... a mere five days later and the entire rash is almost completely gone. This has NEVER happened before, at best I could just get it to move somewhere else for awhile. And I still have 23 days to go
No cure, my ass... I'm writing my doctor a nasty letter about this one.
Another thing they did to me was to diagnose me with dysthymia and dose me up with Paxil. They told me I was going to have to deal with my "illness" the rest of my life... I didn't accept that one either. I'll spare the details for now but after a lot of research I figured out that I sleep like shit & that's why I was always anxious and depressed. I fixed the sleep problem and suddenly I feel fine.
Anyone else have horror stories?
Posted by L33T_h4x0r_d00d on Jul. 18 2002,14:09
| Quote (damien_s_lucifer @ 18 July 2002,03:48) |
| Another thing they did to me was to diagnose me with dysthymia and dose me up with Paxil. They told me I was going to have to deal with my "illness" the rest of my life... I didn't accept that one either. I'll spare the details for now but after a lot of research I figured out that I sleep like shit & that's why I was always anxious and depressed. I fixed the sleep problem and suddenly I feel fine. |
Same damn thing happened to my dad. They loaded him up with buspar, paxil, sufosalizine and about 4 other "throw this at it and itll make it go away" wonder drugs before he discovered the healing powers of the indian herb known as "NYQUIL". Every now and then he has some camomille tea or a unisom pill and is back to normal.
Btw, your allowed to beat that fucking doctor now. Its covered under his malpractice insurance.
Posted by jim on Jul. 18 2002,14:24
I absolutley REFUSE to go to the doctor for reasons already stated above. They don't know what the fuck they are doing, and all they want is your money.My body has always had a very good defense system, and when I get sick, I just let my body fight it off.
I've got scars galore from skateboarding where I've ripped myself open and just slapped a Butterfly bandage on instead of getting stiches.
Broke both of my legs in Marine Corps Boot Camp (Stress fractures, not compound bone sticking out fractures) and never saw a Corpsman, and still finished the 10 Mile Reaper.
My mom is already freaking out, cause Prostate Cancer runs in my family, and she knows good an well I'm not going to the doctor to get an exam....
Posted by forumwhore on Jul. 18 2002,14:24
"I sleep like shit & that's why I was always anxious and depressed."And this is you on a good day?
You are a fucking saint ...
Posted by forumwhore on Jul. 18 2002,14:26
no, wait, saint's don't fuck.
Posted by Wolfguard on Jul. 18 2002,14:42
hey FW, you have been keeping up on the happenings at the cathloic church right?DSL: Report him to the AMA. God knows what else he has been screwing up. If the man cant fix a rash and a sleep disorder then he needs to be investigated. If they dont do anything then you can explore other options if you feel that this guy is a complete moron.
IE: the press eat this shit up.
Posted by BlackFlag on Jul. 18 2002,17:14
one had a bad rash all over my chest and stomach. didn't know what the fuck it was, but it itched like CRAZY, and wouldn't let me sleep at night. after about 2 weeks, i was borderline psychotic from lack of sleep.I was starting to think maybe it was some sort of VD, since i've heard herpies can infect your brain and make you crazy. went to see a doctor. he didn't know what the fuck it was either. took some samples, ordered some tests, "come back in two weeks".
At this point, i happen to notice at some point a REALLY old medical encyclopedia lying around in my brother's room. 1935 was the copyright on it i think. was barely holding together. After about 6 hours of reading, i diagnose myself (correctly i might add): i have scabies.
Scabies are microscopic parasitic arachnids.... like "crabs", only much smaller. They tunnel under your skin, lay eggs in your skin, and cause an ungodly amount of itching. I can not stress enough how fucking much that itched. I was close to killing myself to make the itching stop.
Anyway, after convincing a doctor that "YES this is what i have, can i have some [forget the name of the ointment] to kill these fucking things", my life gets back to normal.
i have never looked at medicine the same way again.
Posted by forumwhore on Jul. 18 2002,17:28
there I was, trying to figger out why you can't log in.ack
Umm, thanks for sharing?
Can I go back to bed now?
(no)
Posted by a2n3d7y on Jul. 18 2002,19:20
FORUMWHORE - You post too much. Its all about the EDIT feature. Fix what you said that was wrong and......post less.(mabey you should check to see (post preview) how the post flows... you wont havta explain yourself as much.)
Dudes,
Doctors....>SUX.
I...like DL...was diagnosed with dysthymia. I was nearly close to killing myself when I made the appointment...and I gotta say that PAXIL helped....but JEEEZUS MAN!!!!!
IMHO - (not a doctor - have no knowledge besides the fact that I have been taking 40mil PAXIL everyday for the passed 3 years - and the mad-reasearch DL and I do) :
Ppl should only take the stuff for a LIMITED time. Saying that we have to live with our "dissorders" our entire lives makes me wanna KILL ppl.
PAXIL CURED ME I feel "cured"....but I am pissed at the same time.
Dudes......its all about:
WATER - drink LOTS of it. LOTS!
SLEEP - get ENOUGH dammit. If you can't sleep medicate yourself or find another way. If you don't medicate yourslef...the DOCTORS will.....and their medicine costs more.
FOOD - C'mon ppl....eat "right"...you will feel hella better. Lay off the fast food. Cook meals at home. You will LOOSE wait, SAVE money, and be A LOT more healthy in general.
Go back to the roots. Why do you FEEL sad/depressed/stressed....... Fix it at the root. Your body ain't just a computer/slab of meat....WAIT actually it is...
Give it what it NEEEEEEEDS.
P.S. Today was the first day in 3 years I didn't take PAXIL. I have been slowly WEENing my self off the shit for the passed 2 months. If i at all ever seem like a DICK....Prob cuz I have been going thru withdrawals for 2 months.
BUT ITS WORTH IT!!!
Dudes. You know the FAP track (< to fap or not to fap >)? On PAXIL I was WAAAAAY to spaced-out to even be motivated to do it. Go figure.
PAXIL makes creative ppl less creative...thats why they ain' so depressed all the time.......not creative enough. LOL
PLUS !!! I was WAY more a stoner than ever on PAXIL. Serioulsy ppl, as stupid as it sounds I was ADDICTED to weed. I would fucking freak out when I would run out. Now, I don't care NEARly as much....just as long as i got coffee and smokes..... LOL...don't get me wrong. SMOKE WEED!!!!!!
EDIT: I gotta add in PAXILs defense.....
I AM "CURED". Not saying THEY HOLD the key. But it worked. I just hope you have a cool enough DOC (if your taking it) thats not gonna tell you how FUCKED in the HEAD you are.
NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING.....FOR A "FACT"
Posted by Beldurin on Jul. 18 2002,22:07
*pushes a2n3d7y off of the soap box and laughs at this skinned elbows*HA HA </Nelson>
Posted by L33T_h4x0r_d00d on Jul. 18 2002,22:11
Hey a2n3d7y, does your doctor have a big fro and a fur coat? And is his office more like a street corner? And the paxil he gives you does he have a little nickname for it, like crack? I can just picture him in the school bathroom. "What are you all lookin at? Im just tryin to take my paxil."
Posted by Darth Liberus on Jul. 18 2002,23:13
minor correction - I got the pills on Monday, not Saturday, which means I had only take THREE pills when I made that post. Lamisil 0wns WG: I was talking about several different doctors. The conventional wisdom is that seborrheic dermatitis can't be cured. I visited a *lot* of websites and they all said the same thing - can't be cured, treatment = hydrocortisone + Selsun blue + clotrimazole (Lotrimin). Just taking a culture would've revealed what strain of fungus it was and the best way to kill it.
As for dysthymia - I haven't heard of ANY doctor who goes much further than "here, have some pills." They just hand you SSRI's and suggest going to therapy.
Here's a little experiment... read this list of symptoms and see if it's you when you didn't get enough sleep or slept horribly the night before:
- Difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions.
- Irritability
- Fatigue
- Loss of interest in ordinary activities, including sex.
- sad or "empty" mood.
- Feeling hopeless, helpless, worthless, pessimistic and or guilty.
Now imagine that you just don't sleep well in general... you'd feel those things most of the time, right? Well, those are the symptoms of depression, and sleep disorders are inevitably part of depression... it's usually said that depression causes sleep disorders, but I think it's the other way around.
Persistent sleep disorders may well be the #1 cause of depression.
Paxil gave me horrible insomnia. The doctor prescribed trazodone to help sleep. I did some research on the drug, and guess what - it improves "sleep architecture," which is the cycle your body goes through as you sleep. You get more (and deeper) deep sleep and less REM/light sleep. Especially nice thing is that it isn't a tranquilizer; it's closer to Benadryl than Valium.
I stopped taking Paxil AND trazodone over a month ago. Last week I couldn't sleep so I popped 25mg of trazodone. When I woke up in the morning I felt like I'd slept like a baby... I was ready to go out and kick the world's ass, in a good way. My mind was crystal clear, no drug hangover, nothing (it's almost completely metabolized by the time I wake up). I've been taking it ever since, and... wow... suddenly it all makes sense.
Poor sleep = feel like shit, can't think straight.
Can't think straight = making foolish decisions, or none at all.
Knowing you make bad decisions, or being unable to make up your mind = anxiety 'cause you feel stupid.
Anxiety = poor sleep.
Maybe depression isn't so much a "disease" but a symptom? Hmm....
Posted by demonk on Jul. 19 2002,00:02
No, there are some very real types of depression. Maybe the one you had isn't one of them, but I know for a fact that a friend of mine had a real brain chemistry embalance. Once they took the pills (not what you were taking) for a while, they stopped having thoughts of suicide and felt much better. They were weaned off the drugs by their doctor, and suddenly, they are a completely functional person again. Sometimes drugs are the answer, but only after you have addressed the sleep/drink/eating issues.Not all doctors are assholes. In any profession out there, there are always good ones and bad ones. Sounds like you have had nothing but bad ones. I've personally had nothing but good ones. Maybe it's just the geography. Come up to the Oregon area. Nothing but a bunch of very friendly, happy, Californian hating, intelligent people.
Posted by Darth Liberus on Jul. 19 2002,00:35
I'm not saying that depression isn't real, or that antidepressants don't work. Paxil definately helped me. But there is a lot of evidence that the chemical imbalance theory of depression is overblown.First, an awful lot of studies have found that SSRIs are no better than placebo. This doesn't mean that SSRIs don't do their job; what's amazing is how well a sugar pill works. I think what happens is that once you decide to kick depression's ass, you start doing all kinds of things that help alleviate it.
Antidepressants calm you down and loosen your inhibitions without impairing your ability to function too much. That's probably the key to their effect. You start thinking about things more and reacting less and eventually your automatic reactions change.
edit: moved my reply to California-bashing to a new thread
Posted by Marauder on Jul. 19 2002,05:23
I think something we're starting to see here is that doctors want you to take medications for symptoms continually. Chris Rock touched on this, claiming that doctors don't get enough money from cures, and would rather continue to give you meds to keep your symptoms down.I'm starting to get worried that doctors get too many kickbacks from drug companies - and not just the post-it note pads. I think they're getting bribes to put people on stuff like damien's, so they can keep a customer and continue to sell the drug.
My father thinks he ran into a case of this a while back: A doctor he was seeing in the area would not prescribe a non-brand-name drug for him when it cost a fraction of the price and was a very reliable substitute.
Yeah, I'm not trusting doctors much anymore, either.
Besides, the voices in my head tell me they're all secretly working for the Mexican government.
