Posted by Dinah on April 30, 2012, at 8:55:22
In reply to Re: i cant even smile., posted by ron1953 on April 26, 2012, at 11:41:48
> It's sad enough having professionals who play doctor and prescribe medications (often with dubious results) in a trial-and-error fashion, but sadder still that there are folks on the internet who are so delusional and/or arrogant as to think they have expertise in the same foggy area. If someone on this site doesn't trust their doctor, perhaps they should question the entire paradigm instead of taking advice from a stranger in the cloud.
That's a scary prospect. It was people at Babble along with my observations that correctly concluded that my mother was having TIA's while the doctors were clueless as to what could be causing her problems. Including the doctors in whose offices she was having TIA's. Including the *neurologist* in the emergency room while she was having a moderate stroke. I was calling around her doctor's offices telling them this is what I thought was wrong. I told the doctor in the emergency room who was sure she was having a seizure that the one I saw sure looked like a TIA.
It might not have made a difference to her care as it turned out. But if I'd have seen one and *not* put my trust in the almighty doctors but instead sought out answers from strangers in the cloud, my mother might not be left with neurolgical problems from a stroke. She trusted the doctors. See where it got her. They couldn't even diagnose a horse, much less a zebra.
I've found out more information from the internet on hoarding and emetophobia than I ever have from any doctor I've ever seen.
It's *our* health. We have the right and the responsibility to seek out any knowledge we can. We and our loved ones are the ones who live with it, and we're the ones who care.
It's also our responsibility not to blindly follow the advice of strangers in the cloud just as much as it is to not blindly follow the advice of the high and mighty doctors. Information is information. It's our right and responsibility to use information wisely.
Ought doctors know best? Probably so. Do they? Probably not. And how would we know unless we seek information and advice from those who have been where we've been.
No one on Babble can prescribe. It's physically impossible. I haven't seen anyone here suggesting that people order medications illegally and follow internet advice instead of consulting with their doctors. And if anyone did, I would strongly suspect that a large number of posters would provide contrary advice.
What people do is, in the light of their personal experience and observations, offer suggestions. And thank God they do. Perhaps my insistence that my mother was having strokes and not seizures made the ER doctor run those tests a bit faster than he otherwise would. I know the doctors I contacted by phone decided to move up her tests because of my calls, had she not had a stroke on the Monday after.
Thank you Solstice, Scott, Phillipa, and Sigi. Because you cared and were willing to speak up, you were of immense help to me and to my mother.
B2, don't give up. I got worse on the wrong medicines, but infinitely better on the right ones and appropriate therapy. Don't let anyone tell you it's helpless. And please don't ever stop listening to friends in the cloud.
I haven't had the energy to keep up at Babble lately, but I hope you're feeling better.
poster:Dinah
thread:1016383
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120425/msgs/1016733.html