Firstly, most doctors will diagnose a patients condition as if it were something they would understand if it were the actual problem even if all evidence points to something else because one or two of ten or more symptoms match the condition that they are capable of treating.
Next, everyone, as in EVERYONE!! thinks they know what will cure your child. We've heard it all. People who have known us for a matter of days will dish out advice because they found out about our son's condition and went home and googled it and found some self help blogger who doesn't have a clue harping about the benefits of bathing in chilled artichoke dip.
Finally, I have a thousand more points here, but I'm angry about the strangers giving advice paradox right now so that's what I'm ranting on so here it is; THE PEOPLE GIVING UNSOLICITED ADVICE HAVE NO CLUE HOW INSULTING IT IS TO GIVE UNSOLICITED, ILL INFORMED, STUPID ADVICE!
They think they're helping, when in reality all the flap-mouthed noise is doing is reminding the parents or victim of a horrible medical anomaly of just how foreign the concept of sickness is to the well. They don't understand that for some things there is no course of treatment, much less a cure. The concept that someone might not just magically get better by taking a pill, or in their suggestion's case some strange "natural treatment" doesn't register. The word cure is thrown around like it's a grocery item at Wal-mart ("Hey sweety, go ahead and grab a cure while your in the dairy aisle").
Oils, Vitamins, Acupuncture, Juice Cleansing, Essential Oils, Going Vegan, Drinking Alkaline Water, and Drinking Aloe are just a few of the hundreds of suggestions we've heard over the years from idiots who think they have somehow discovered something that teams of doctors and us, the parents haven't thought of yet.
This isn't a comedy piece, and for that I apologize. If nothing else, it's a PSA to all who would offer suggestions without thinking of what they are implying.
Don't do it. If you do, you'll be encouraging this kind of frustration in the person you think you are trying to help.
And that makes you an idiot.
I could not possibly agree more. My three awesome (mostly grown-up) kids - one with rheumatoid arthritis (in for the long haul there since the age of 5), one who had a massive benign tumour on her face, and one who has endured inexplicable infections that led to brain damage, Tourette's and other stuff - together we've learnt that not everything can be controlled, not everything can be cured, and the endless repetitions of 'YES, WE HAVE TRIED THAT', and 'NO, YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!' Doctors included, maybe even especially...
ReplyDeleteI've heard about your children in the past, but never the detail of their struggles. Wow. I am truly sorry they've had to endure the things you list.
DeleteYes, some of the worst offenders we have encountered were doctors who would take one look and 'know what the problem is' without taking the time to review the history of the 7 or 8 other doctors who had already ruled out their hunch.