The Disease Syndrome
by Steve Bruhn
I started this blog to discuss what bugs me about health care, what I call "The Disease Syndrome."
What I mean by that is I think medicine is not very good at looking at chronically sick people. It seems they rush to label you with a disease so they can give it a name, then they proceed with care as if everyone's experience with that disease applies to you.
In other words, they ignore you and expect you to conform to what they decided what was wrong with you. Then as care proceeds and nothing works, its your fault.
This was my experience trying to solve what turned out to be an adrenal and thyroid problem together. It was 1993 when I first when to a doctor about it, and I was diagnosed as thyroid and got poor care and poor health for years. No one looked for what else it could be. The drs just stuck to a wrong assumption in the beginning and stuck to it.
My health has been terrible since and my weight roller coasting and out of control, until I found a "Longevity Center" type clinic in 2007 that is the exact opposite of what I was experiencing. My doctor told me "We will find it and we will control it." Wow, what a thing to hear from a doctor!
That's "The Disease Syndrome." The victims are patients, but its not us with the Syndrome, its medicine, at least in the US.
I don't know why medicine does this but I think it's out of control. Maybe doctors have to label you right away with a disease name so they can proceed with care in a standard way for that disease. That way they can give you the standard pill and send you on your way, careful to not do anything they could be criticized for. I don't know, but as I ask around I think this problem is real.
I would like to hear from others that think they are getting the runaround trying to solve a chronic problem because their care is based on guessing and waiting for something to work because it worked for someone else.
What I mean by that is I think medicine is not very good at looking at chronically sick people. It seems they rush to label you with a disease so they can give it a name, then they proceed with care as if everyone's experience with that disease applies to you.
In other words, they ignore you and expect you to conform to what they decided what was wrong with you. Then as care proceeds and nothing works, its your fault.
This was my experience trying to solve what turned out to be an adrenal and thyroid problem together. It was 1993 when I first when to a doctor about it, and I was diagnosed as thyroid and got poor care and poor health for years. No one looked for what else it could be. The drs just stuck to a wrong assumption in the beginning and stuck to it.
My health has been terrible since and my weight roller coasting and out of control, until I found a "Longevity Center" type clinic in 2007 that is the exact opposite of what I was experiencing. My doctor told me "We will find it and we will control it." Wow, what a thing to hear from a doctor!
That's "The Disease Syndrome." The victims are patients, but its not us with the Syndrome, its medicine, at least in the US.
I don't know why medicine does this but I think it's out of control. Maybe doctors have to label you right away with a disease name so they can proceed with care in a standard way for that disease. That way they can give you the standard pill and send you on your way, careful to not do anything they could be criticized for. I don't know, but as I ask around I think this problem is real.
I would like to hear from others that think they are getting the runaround trying to solve a chronic problem because their care is based on guessing and waiting for something to work because it worked for someone else.
11/13/2007 3:59:47 AM
Written by Steve Bruhn
NASA Systems Engineer,
Ex-Motorsports photographer, recovering "big" person.
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Comments
http://www.wellness.com/blog/20325/the-disease-syndrome/steve-bruhn
One new buzz phrase for the nation's solution to the problems you started to point out is referred to as "consumer-directed health care." Look it up if you're interested. It involves going with less costly high deductible health plan and shopping for the best services as an educated "consumer" not as a blindly compliant patient. Since anything under your deductible you'll be paying for out-of-pocket, the theory is that you'll do a better job of managing your own health and keeping your costs low. As an addtional benefit, the federal government allows people under these plans to pay for their out-of-pocket costs with pre-tax dollars.
I don't have one of these plans yet, but I'm looking into it more. Regardless, the answer is in our hands. It always has been. Blind faith has almost always disapointed in other industries and it is no different in medical.
If you go to a car dealership and say; "I trust you'll give me a good deal, just tell me how much to pay for this car." You're going to pay way too much for much less car. When you shop that car at multiple dealers and get referrals to the dealer with the best after-sale care, you'll know what to pay and who to buy from. If we all become a little less blindly trusting and use the Internet and other people's experiences to guide us, it is possible we will improve things.
The problem is the poor docs are not paid enough by insurance companies to deal with us half-educated nosey consumers with our endless questions. But, that's business for you. Th customer is always right and you get what you pay for or go somewhere else. That leads to another problem of course. Consumers want quick fixes (drugs) and that puts the docs in a tight spot. It is the easy way out, but not always the right one. So, the moral of the story is... you'll get what you are willing to pay for, but not much more. The homework is our job, not our doctor's.
Posted by John Valenty
http://www.wellness.com/blog/20325/the-disease-syndrome/steve-bruhn
I believe this stuff happens all the time. It's especially frustrating when you do a bit of your own research and bring some ideas to the doctor and he shoots them down immediately because they were not taught to him by the pharmaceutical-company-funded medical school he went to.
Have you read this nightmare blog?
http://www.wellness.com/<url removed>
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