Quote:
Originally Posted by guilloche
Sadly, this isn't unique to neurology. Many years ago, I developed really bad hand pain. To the point that I couldn't type (I had to take unpaid leave from work), couldn't hold a glass of water without pain, couldn't easily steer my car without pain, etc.
I don't want to bash medical doctors, because there are a lot of things that they do really well, and that there aren't other cures for. If you get in a car accident and need immediate, life-saving surgery and/or organ transplants, nobody can replace those doctors.
But for my problem - they were literally useless. One that I saw spent five minutes with me and told me that I had the beginnings of carpal tunnel. Luckily, I asked for a referral to see a physical therapist (her response was, "sure, couldn't hurt I guess") - who very quickly ascertained that it was NOT carpal tunnel at all, but she wasn't sure what it was. It took me almost a year of chiropractic, plus massage therapy (including self massage and stretching) to get rid of the problem. It was insane - because it felt like it was something that modern medicine just didn't know what to do with.
The massage therapist that I had at the time (who was amazing!) told me that she often saw people misdiagnosed with carpal tunnel, including someone who was going to get surgery for it. Same thing - I don't mean to knock the surgery (I think there were folks here who had it, and found it helpful) - but if that's not the actual problem, then the surgery is not going to fix it, and carries all kinds of risks.
It's so frustrating, and I don't know what the answer is. To this day, if I mention my experience to an MD-doctor, they seem *dubious*, because they don't think chiropractors have anything to offer. Yet, I saw TWO MDs, and neither had a clue about what was happening to me at the time.
I wish there was something we could do, but I don't know what. Some of it surely politics/money (in the big sense, not in any specific sense - i.e. groups trying to protect their own interests).
It's all crazy-making. There has to be a better way!
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I am sorry you had to go through such pain, and I am glad you found out a treatment that works for you.
I suffer from mild intellectual disability as well as memory loss (I find the word 'amnesia' scary) and I've found out that nothing except psychotherapy can help me, aside from doctors' advice to get exercise , eat healthy and take meds for other issues. I have to contribute, I just have to, cause at least I can understand the science behind it and I have a now-damaged gift inside me.
Of course, politics and money, those things will exist no matter what. I, or for that matter, any person with any background, cannot change it. What can I do? Try to make a difference in the way I can. Let it be research, for example. Of course there are many, many factors like the surplus number of chemists, but I guess since I had a then-great talent and a now-great ambition, I'll be able to contribute.