There is a level of independence and knowledge that is wonderful in today's world of internet MD and medical journals online. Sure we need to look up what we can but you need to find a doctor who will be a partner with you on this one. Sometimes we can catch a diagnosis that they missed or contradict them with such evidence supporting your case (as I did with the stroke symptoms) but the alternate is true. We have to listen to them when they are so adamant that the self diagnosis you are suggesting is, to them, completely wrong.
Make sure you find a doctor who is not a push over to everything you throw at him/her but is one who will listen to you and accept that you are the one with the situation occurring in your life. That maybe you know and can hopefully give him/her clearer understanding of what it is that is happening to come to a consensus that results in a quality of life improvement for you.
Thus I leave you with this - research but listen.
Cousin Rusty Bacak now suffers from arthritis, in his late 30's, because doctors failed to properly diagnose Lyme disease when he was a young man. His family felt sure he had it, but doctors would not listen for years, during which time his nervous system accumulated damage. Rusty is a doctor himself now, spending long hours on his feet day after day despite having arthritis at age 38.
ReplyDeleteMy sister Traci suffered from photosensitivity (rapid flashes of light caused seizures). The first time it happened, I did my homework and suggested that. Doctors did not give that diagnosis for years, during which time she suffered seizures in public, because all it took was a flashing video screen.
Doctors do sometimes fail. So do the patients. So do the family members of patients, on occasion. I think you know what I'm talking about. My father now really can't "take it up with the doctors;" he's not mentally fit to. It's up to my mother. Mom never has been one to stand up and say, "Wait a minute!" As you know, I am worried.
Thank you for the stroke research links on this blog. I found them helpful, and having read the materials, I'm still convinced my father had a hemorrhagic stroke, induced by high blood pressure and alcohol. And I fear his memory is permanently damaged. But I'm his daughter, not his wife or mother; there's only so much I can do.