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Try This One! No, Try This One! No, Try This One!

medcabLet me preface this post by saying that I am also sick of talking about kidney stones, but they’ve been the topic du jour in my body for some time now…so, that’s what I’m serving here today – kidney pie. If you will.

Try This One! No, Try This One! No, Try This One!

Here’s the thing. I’ve been to the emergency room twice and a urologist once in the last 48 hours. And I watched something happen that was just so shocking. It looked something like this:

Doc: Oh, you’re in pain from the stone? Here’s some pain medication!

Me: My stomach is killing me from the pain medication.

Doc: Oh! Take Tums and Zantac! But watch out for the side effects to your liver…

Me: I have a rash from the pain medication.

Doc: Oh! Take Benadryl! But it will make you really dizzy and you can’t drive or ….

Me: I’m nauseous from the pain medication.

Doc: Oh! Take Zofran! But you can’t use it long term because…

Me: I’m constipated from the pain medication. (Too much information? Sorry, I’m proving a point here.)

Doc: Oh! Take Colase! But it might make you have really bad diarrhea and can dehydrate you…

Call me crazy…but does anyone else here think there might be a problem with the pain medication? And why is it okay to solve the problem of the pain medication with something else that will likely cause new problems?

As I lounged around on my skinny little hospital stretcher, in a gown that refused to stay on or closed, I promised myself not to ever run a business on the western medicine model. How do you get anywhere by throwing band-aids all over the place and not addressing the real problem? Or, even worse, creating new ones?

Imagine if you came to me for web copy:

You put it up on your site, and then called me and said, ‘Every time the name of my business appears on the site, it’s in neon green. Can you help?’

And I said, “Oh, that’s the host’s fault. Try this new host, it’ll take away the green, but your site will probably crash every other day.”

Wouldn’t you run away screaming? Or have we surrendered to the fact that everything has problems, and we just have to walk around putting on band-aids…and hoping that the liver damage, dizziness and dehydration are the better option.

What’s that saying? What doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger? Yeah, that’s the one…but, it’s not the one for me.

Let’s talk about solution, prevention, looking at every angle, hearing the whole story. Just thinking about it? I feel better already.

Image courtesy of Mr. T in DC

By the way, I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. None of the items in this post are intended to be help cure, alleviate or prevent any of your health problems, nor can I verify that they are medically accurate – I was on pain medication as these events occurred.

Join the discussion 8 Comments

  • Carrie Anne says:

    I can relate to both those scenarios, having had kidney stones and still working in multi-media. Funny what we’re willing to put up with personally, we would never consider for other parts of our life. Hmm.
    Good luck with the stones. My Dr said having kidney stones is the closest men can get to the pain of delivery.
    Cheers,
    CA

  • JoanneS says:

    I have the same thing going on with a shoulder injury. Is it too much to ask that we actually fix the problem I came in with? The whole ‘take this for the pain’ then ‘take this for the stomach ache the pain pills give you’ is path I’ve been digging my heels into as my Doctor tries to drag me down it. It’s very frustrating but seems to be very common – hope you’re feeling better!

  • Oh, Julie, do not get me started with this situation. I hear what you are saying SO loud and clear. I just wish there were a bit more options to illnesses then, “here take this pill”. Because each time you take another pill it may diminish one symptom however it CAUSES another. And I am not a doctor either, however, I know I feel helpless to be able to do anything about someone I know who is taking 10 medications for different things, but mostly because they started with one and then one created another issue, which created another…it is like a domino game.
    Great post and I hope you are feeling better.

  • --Deb says:

    Gotta love modern, Western medicine…

  • Sandra Foyt says:

    I drive my husband, the ear surgeon, crazy because I avoid medicine, doctors, and hospitals like the plague.

    When my asthma became a problem, I caved and tried the various daily medicines, but that caused all kinds of side effects and I still had problems controlling the asthma. Finally, I went to an allergist, discovered my triggers, and eradicated them. Now, my asthma is under control without daily medication.

    This past week, we had a scare because my daughter exhibited symptoms of appendicitis. When we realized that this might be a problem, it was 9PM but we were hesitant to call the pediatrician, who would have had to recommend an ER visit (to mitigate liability) where residents would’ve required a CAT scan, not a good idea for a young girl. Fortunately, we conferred with medical friends, and realized that we could wait until the morning.

    Thus, she was seen by her pediatrician (not a resident) who determined that she had a UTI & kidney infection, easily treatable with antibiotics.

    Medicine is a science, but as a patient you also have to use your own common sense, and research skills.

  • Alisa Bowman says:

    Pain medicine can really screw you up.

    Same with allergy medicine, for that matter.

    Sorry to hear about your pain. Hope it passes and you feel better soon!!

  • Janine says:

    Trust your guy (sorry for the pun) and seek another opinion about the pain medication. There are all different kinds that are gentler on your stomach, etc.
    Hang in there!

  • Ha – great points!

    And as a side note, I was playing the “Try this one…” game a year ago for medical issues, and I finally just had to stop it all. I was losing my mind and making stupid decisions and on and on. I just stopped taking all the lab rat stuff and walked away. Felt better in the end.

    Hope you’re better, too!

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