Why are Doctors such a$$ holes?

[MJ DeMarco]

I think my favorite "doctor scapegoat" is fibromyalgia. IMO, fibromyalgia is "I don't know WTF is wrong with you" so lets say it's that.

BTW, I was diagnosed with fybromyalgia about 10 years ago. The symptoms immediately disappeared by eating better and eliminating processed food.
I also was diagnosed with ERDs -- again, disappeared with proper diet.
I also was diagnosed with high-chol -- again, disappeared with proper diet.

And yet in each instant, I was offered medication as the fix.

What's really broken is the stuff we feed ourselves and call it food. That's another book.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[CarrieW]

I think my favorite "doctor scapegoat" is fibromyalgia. IMO, fibromyalgia is "I don't know WTF is wrong with you" so lets say it's that.

BTW, I was diagnosed with fybromyalgia about 10 years ago. The symptoms immediately disappeared by eating better and eliminating processed food.
I also was diagnosed with ERDs -- again, disappeared with proper diet.
I also was diagnosed with high-chol -- again, disappeared with proper diet.

And yet in each instant, I was offered medication as the fix.

What's really broken is the stuff we feed ourselves and call it food. That's another book.

amen to that!

I got my injection in my leg today... so far so good.

just to reiterate what Mj just said I was on 9 daily medications for many years. I came off of them all just by changing my lifestyle and eating habits.

the sleep doctor wants me to take 2 medicines. plus I have 10 action steps to retrain myself to sleep properly. I will be doing all of the steps and most likely not getting the scripts filled at all. if I trained myself to not sleep I can train myself to sleep I would rather do it naturally.

an interesting note to make my goal set by the doc is 5 hours of sleep per 24 hrs I am not allowed go to bed before 130 am (after a few of his action steps) and have to be out of bed by 630am. he said I will be fine on 4-5 hours of sleep I am/was always naturally accustomed to need less sleep. I just need help with getting my body and brain back to a normal sleep habit... lol me normal LOL we'll see

eta- 3 appts down 2 to go for today more to come

 

[Shades]

I think my favorite "doctor scapegoat" is fibromyalgia. IMO, fibromyalgia is "I don't know WTF is wrong with you" so lets say it's that.

BTW, I was diagnosed with fybromyalgia about 10 years ago. The symptoms immediately disappeared by eating better and eliminating processed food.
I also was diagnosed with ERDs -- again, disappeared with proper diet.
I also was diagnosed with high-chol -- again, disappeared with proper diet.

And yet in each instant, I was offered medication as the fix.

What's really broken is the stuff we feed ourselves and call it food. That's another book.

irritable bowel syndrome is another diagnosis that isnt a disease but is a group of symptoms. Basically means they dont have a answer. But you are right on the money with diet. There are so many ailments that just taking care of yourself with a proper diet and lifestyle can fix or at least improve. But the easier path is for doctors to prescribe a pill for the symptoms instead of looking into the actual problem. And the easier path is for patients to take that pill and keep eating McDonalds. What a shitty cycle that is.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

My pet peeve is watching one of those gastric bypass programs where they show some 400 lb woman who's "tried everything" and now wants bypass surgery. Yet when they cut to her home life and you get a glipmse of her refrigerator/pantry, it's clear she hasn't tried everything. Little Debbie snack cakes, Entemans donuts, and gallons of ice cream tell me that you haven't tried everything and that you're full of shit -- you want the short-cut.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GuestUser113]

My pet peeve is watching one of those gastric bypass programs where they show some 400 lb woman who's "tried everything" and now wants bypass surgery. Yet when they cut to her home life and you get a glipmse of her refrigerator/pantry, it's clear she hasn't tried everything. Little Debbie snack cakes, Entemans donuts, and gallons of ice cream tell me that you haven't tried everything and that you're full of shit -- you want the short-cut.

What is so astounding is that after they get the surgery. These people precede to go back to the same damn eating habits. It is like really? For the last 30 years you got fat because you ate the wrong stuff and didn't at least exercise. How is it going to be different now? lol smh

 

[Shades]

My pet peeve is watching one of those gastric bypass programs where they show some 400 lb woman who's "tried everything" and now wants bypass surgery. Yet when they cut to her home life and you get a glipmse of her refrigerator/pantry, it's clear she hasn't tried everything. Little Debbie snack cakes, Entemans donuts, and gallons of ice cream tell me that you haven't tried everything and that you're full of shit -- you want the short-cut.

Ive known of two people who has that surgery. They still wind up obese anyway. The surgery cant fix the mentality of the person. Its not getting to the cause of the problem. You keep eating like shit in huge portions of course your gonna still get fat. Its interesting how all that kinda ties in with Fastlane stuff. People always do want the short cut. The easy way.

So when does your book on diet and lifestyle come out?

 

[Shades]

What is so astounding is that after they get the surgery. These people precede to go back to the same damn eating habits. It is like really? For the last 30 years you got fat because you ate the wrong stuff and didn't at least exercise. How is it going to be different now? lol smh

lol guess I should have read all the posts first. Just replied with the same thing. Ive known people that have done just that. Really an amazing picture of what a decent portion of our society has become.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Vigilante]

I think my favorite "doctor scapegoat" is fibromyalgia. IMO, fibromyalgia is "I don't know WTF is wrong with you" so lets say it's that.

BTW, I was diagnosed with fybromyalgia about 10 years ago. The symptoms immediately disappeared by eating better and eliminating processed food.
I also was diagnosed with ERDs -- again, disappeared with proper diet.
I also was diagnosed with high-chol -- again, disappeared with proper diet.

And yet in each instant, I was offered medication as the fix.

What's really broken is the stuff we feed ourselves and call it food. That's another book.

I am on cholesterol meds. I will be off them as soon as I melt this fat. In progress.

 

[Vigilante]

My pet peeve is watching one of those gastric bypass programs where they show some 400 lb woman who's "tried everything" and now wants bypass surgery. Yet when they cut to her home life and you get a glipmse of her refrigerator/pantry, it's clear she hasn't tried everything. Little Debbie snack cakes, Entemans donuts, and gallons of ice cream tell me that you haven't tried everything and that you're full of shit -- you want the short-cut.

I WANT THE SHORT CUT because running and eating carrots sucks balls.

 

[CarrieW]

I am on cholesterol meds. I will be off them as soon as I melt this fat. In progress.

they still would "like" me to be on cholesterol meds. my numbers are only slightly elevated, slightly out of skew(bad ones out number the good etc) but I have respectfully declined. lol that was one of my dailies.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Lakeview]

Take away:

• take personal responsibility to take care of your body
• eat right (do we really need to explain?)
  
• exercise
• moderation
• keep look for a good doctor as they are out there
• look for doctors that introduce themselves with first and last name only. (that is the way my doc did)
• don't lump all people in one group

 

[CarrieW]

Take away:

• take personal responsibility to take care of your body
• eat right (do we really need to explain?)
  
• exercise
• moderation
• keep look for a good doctor as they are out there
• look for doctors that introduce themselves with first and last name only. (that is the way my doc did)
• don't lump all people in one group

thank you for this

 

[scott.legendre]

my favorite "doctor" has been a nurse practitioner who told me straight up, don't call me Dr, my name is x. has his own skin care line too.... but then he moved to austin and has now opened his own practice there. He still recieves royalties from the skincare portion of his clinic in town, and made sure he chose a worthy successor that I'm using now, so far so good.

While he still would recommend and push meds, i think that was to cater towards most of his patients since he was also all for proper eating habits and exercise to cure problems. If it was ever mentioned, he would do followups and tell you to get off the meds.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SarahSH]

I am on cholesterol meds. I will be off them as soon as I melt this fat. In progress.

My dad is on them as well and he started taking co-enzyme Q 10...said it has helped him with some of the side effects. I think his doc recommended it.

 

[SteveO]

What's really broken is the stuff we feed ourselves and call it food. That's another book.

This is all part of the fact that we create our own reality. We make what we are. If we don't like it, it is our responsibility to change it.

I have many stories myself. The one that really stands out is the one where I had years of spells that would knock me on my a$$. I had these episodes about once a week on average over a 4-5 year period. Sometimes they were daily. Other times there may be a month between. These basically took me out of commission for a couple of hours at a time.

I felt like the doctors either did not want to find the issue or that they did not believe me. One doctor just started shoving medications my way. I was taking 3 prescriptions which did not eliminate the problem and made me feel worse in other ways.

As I have stated on this forum before, I fixed myself with a google search. As soon as I stopped taking aspartame (diet sodas), the problem went away and never came back.

I sent a note to my doctor stating this fact. The response.... We have no medical evidence to support this....

I don't blame the doctors or the medical field though. We like to blame others for all the things that we are experiencing.

 

[Iwokeup]

This is all part of the fact that we create our own reality. We make what we are. If we don't like it, it is our responsibility to change it.

I have many stories myself. The one that really stands out is the one where I had years of spells that would knock me on my a$$. I had these episodes about once a week on average over a 4-5 year period. Sometimes they were daily. Other times there may be a month between. These basically took me out of commission for a couple of hours at a time.

I felt like the doctors either did not want to find the issue or that they did not believe me. One doctor just started shoving medications my way. I was taking 3 prescriptions which did not eliminate the problem and made me feel worse in other ways.

As I have stated on this forum before, I fixed myself with a google search. As soon as I stopped taking aspartame (diet sodas), the problem went away and never came back.

I sent a note to my doctor stating this fact. The response.... We have no medical evidence to support this....

I don't blame the doctors or the medical field though. We like to blame others for all the things that we are experiencing.

Thanks for this reply.

Honestly, medical science has put the average, everyday doctor in a bind. Patients expect us to know everything and to have a test/pill/procedure for them at every visit. This is a very old human reaction and honestly, I wish that we could bring back the compounded placebo pill for many folks. But alas, those days are long gone. If anyone's read the Master and Commander series by Patrick O'Bryan, the descriptions of physician thought and patient interaction is suprisingly and accurately captured.

The truth is that there is a MASSIVE amount of information just waiting to be figured out. @SteveO : Did you actually have a reaction to aspartame? Was there a psychological component to your spells (stress, etc)? Who knows? What I do know is that the more we 'know' the less we know. Hell, it turns out that cholesterol isn't as bad as we all thought, that high fat low carbohydrate diets are likely to be just fine and perhaps even better than the Standard Recommended American Diety, and oh yeah, those anti-cholesterol medications that have made BILLIONS for Big Pharma are likely more harmful than helpful. Whoops!

Two wonderful example from medical and scientific history to illustrate that we could be wrong about today's pronouncements:

1. The Curies (Marie and Pierre) used to carry around bits of raw uranium ore in their lab coats. They both died of leukemia likely brought on by low level radiation and bone marrow damage.

2. Following from this, when xrays (formerly "Roentegen rays") were first discovered, sound medical treatment for infertility was to blast both the mother and father's gonads with high dose radiation to "burn out the bad seed" and allow "fresh healthy sperm and ova" to arise. Until Muller at the University of Texas in 1926 discovered the mutagenic effects of radiation in Drosophila melanogaster. Whoops!

So @MJ DeMarco , the doctors laughing or blowing off Fibromyalgia? Probably from some combination of ignorance, dismissiveness, and just plain old not wanting to deal with yet another "Fibro Patient." Unfortunately there's no clear cause known but I wouldn't be surprised at some combination of the crap we eat, self image, and mental state of mind. (Note that for a LOT of patients the number one "cure" is anti-depressants).

Awesome posts guys, even the angry ones. I appreciate them.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SteveO]

Did you actually have a reaction to aspartame? Was there a psychological component to your spells (stress, etc)?

I don't think that I actually had a reaction. Not sure though.

I had a lot of trouble linking the symptoms to anything. They initially came into my life during a relatively stress free time but the symptoms seemed to match up to a panic attack. I would notice a bloating in my stomach and my breathing rate would start to increase. I would feel a bit dizzy and my thought process would change. Then all of a sudden I would breath real hard, feel super nauseous, lose any ability to reason or perform basic thought processes and would lose much of my vision. I would feel like there was no control and that objects were flying at me if I was moving in a car. My sight was reduced to what appeared to be a tunnel. I would end up on the ground no matter where I was at. I would try to get up and walk even though I was out of control but in my head I had a feeling that movement might bring me "out". It would not though. My wife said that I was not able to be reasoned with and that she felt like a caregiver. I had a prior girlfriend that told me the same thing when I broke up with her.

The first doctor that I took this to ran some tests. He eventually said that he did not know what it was and that there was nothing more he could do. I switched doctors and the next one did not do much of anything. He sent me to a Psychologist that started giving me pills. I bailed from both of these and went to another doctor. She ran different tests for a couple of years before I gave up.

I was very active as a runner, hiker, and all around activities. Nobody knew anything was wrong with me unless they actually witnessed one of the episodes. This would freak people out if they did see it. I usually had about 10-15 minutes to get to a safe location once I felt the first twinges.

The frequency would always vary. I noticed that they would always increase around times of travel. I reduced my sugar intake (big mistake) thinking that it might be in my diet.

I was having these every couple of days when I read the article about aspartame. The problem stopped IMMEDIATELY after I dropped the artificial sweeteners. I have not had another episode in four years.

 

[SteveO]

@Iwokeup

I think that there are challenges in every field. Doctors are amplified because they work so close with people. Doctors have to be very smart to get through all of the challenges associated with getting into their field. I don't blame anyone for my problems except for me.

I agree with the statement that we need to be putting the right things into our bodies. It is not hard to do but for some reason we make other choices.

It all comes down to choices....

 

[Iwokeup]

I don't think that I actually had a reaction. Not sure though.

I had a lot of trouble linking the symptoms to anything. They initially came into my life during a relatively stress free time but the symptoms seemed to match up to a panic attack. I would notice a bloating in my stomach and my breathing rate would start to increase. I would feel a bit dizzy and my thought process would change. Then all of a sudden I would breath real hard, feel super nauseous, lose any ability to reason or perform basic thought processes and would lose much of my vision. I would feel like there was no control and that objects were flying at me if I was moving in a car. My sight was reduced to what appeared to be a tunnel. I would end up on the ground no matter where I was at. I would try to get up and walk even though I was out of control but in my head I had a feeling that movement might bring me "out". It would not though. My wife said that I was not able to be reasoned with and that she felt like a caregiver. I had a prior girlfriend that told me the same thing when I broke up with her.

The first doctor that I took this to ran some tests. He eventually said that he did not know what it was and that there was nothing more he could do. I switched doctors and the next one did not do much of anything. He sent me to a Psychologist that started giving me pills. I bailed from both of these and went to another doctor. She ran different tests for a couple of years before I gave up.

I was very active as a runner, hiker, and all around activities. Nobody knew anything was wrong with me unless they actually witnessed one of the episodes. This would freak people out if they did see it. I usually had about 10-15 minutes to get to a safe location once I felt the first twinges.

The frequency would always vary. I noticed that they would always increase around times of travel. I reduced my sugar intake (big mistake) thinking that it might be in my diet.

I was having these every couple of days when I read the article about aspartame. The problem stopped IMMEDIATELY after I dropped the artificial sweeteners. I have not had another episode in four years.

Very interesting. I'm glad that you're much better and if you don't mind I'm going to add it to my diagnostic repertoire.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Iwokeup]

@Iwokeup

I think that there are challenges in every field. Doctors are amplified because they work so close with people. Doctors have to be very smart to get through all of the challenges associated with getting into their field. I don't blame anyone for my problems except for me.

I agree with the statement that we need to be putting the right things into our bodies. It is not hard to do but for some reason we make other choices.

It all comes down to choices....

Yep, very true. Cheers man.

 

[KLaw]

This is all part of the fact that we create our own reality. We make what we are. If we don't like it, it is our responsibility to change it.

I have many stories myself. The one that really stands out is the one where I had years of spells that would knock me on my a$$. I had these episodes about once a week on average over a 4-5 year period. Sometimes they were daily. Other times there may be a month between. These basically took me out of commission for a couple of hours at a time.

I felt like the doctors either did not want to find the issue or that they did not believe me. One doctor just started shoving medications my way. I was taking 3 prescriptions which did not eliminate the problem and made me feel worse in other ways.

As I have stated on this forum before, I fixed myself with a google search. As soon as I stopped taking aspartame (diet sodas), the problem went away and never came back.

I sent a note to my doctor stating this fact. The response.... We have no medical evidence to support this....

I don't blame the doctors or the medical field though. We like to blame others for all the things that we are experiencing.

Very interesting @SteveO , I drink about 3 cans of diet mountain dew 5 days a week. I've got similar symptoms you describe but not to the extremes levels you've described. What did you replace your diet drinks with?

On a side note, my Father used to have frequent heartburn for years. His Doc told him to not eat anything out of a can (corn, green beans, etc...). Eat frozen instead. My Dad did this and his heartburn has almost been completely eliminated. Coincidence? I don't think so.

 

[SteveO]

I drink about 3 cans of diet mountain dew 5 days a week.

Water, orange juice, and an occasional regular soda. I started taking caffeine in tablets for a while but gave that up as well.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MJ DeMarco]

As soon as I stopped taking aspartame (diet sodas), the problem went away and never came back.

http://www.the-open-mind.com/the-effect-of-aspartame-on-your-brain/

 

[Iwokeup]

http://www.the-open-mind.com/the-effect-of-aspartame-on-your-brain/

Great link, thanks!

Edit: one wonders how much aspartame is too much... Says the guy who loves Diet Coke

 

[SteveO]

Edit: one wonders how much aspartame is too much... Says the guy who loves Diet Coke

After my experience, I treat it like poison. Of course it is going to be different for everyone. A cup of coffee will keep me up all night. Others may not even notice any affect.

From the article link "The researcher concluded that spatial orientation skills were significantly reduced for the participants after their high-aspartame diet". My experience with this was that for periods of time I lost almost all of the ability to see what was going on around me. It was much more intense than being sprawled on the ground drunk.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Iwokeup]

After my experience, I treat it like poison. Of course it is going to be different for everyone. A cup of coffee will keep me up all night. Others may not even notice any affect.

From the article link "The researcher concluded that spatial orientation skills were significantly reduced for the participants after their high-aspartame diet". My experience with this was that for periods of time I lost almost all of the ability to see what was going on around me. It was much more intense than being sprawled on the ground drunk.

Which is a good way to approach aspartame given your experience.

From the article, a high dose aspartame diet was defined as one half of the RDA, or about 11.5 cans of DC... I wonder if the follow on study has been done, where they work with the lower doses.

Interesting that in the young and healthy the effects were so profound.

 

[SteveO]

From the article, a high dose aspartame diet was defined as one half of the RDA, or about 11.5 cans of DC... I wonder if the follow on study has been done, where they work with the lower doses.

It would be interesting to see a study that uses lower doses over an extended period of time.

 

[throttleforward]

I gave myself what I suspect was an aspartame overdose after consuming an entire mio package in about an hour, after a day of drinking diet drinks. Had classic pre-seizure symptoms (disorientation, sudden copper taste in mouth, inability to speak in completes sentence, and impending feeling of doom) even though I've never had a seizure (I was an EMT so I'm familiar with the warning signs, and my symptoms matched what a lot of my patients with first time seizures said they experienced). ER visit and neurologist follow up showed nothing. For a while I stopped having artificial sweeteners and caffeine completely - now I only consume both in moderation.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[CarrieW]

2 yrs ago the start of this thread I was in a medical crisis. I have no idea what specifically brought it on. but it was scary enough for me to change everything. I really thought I was dying.

long story short. junk food is severely bad for you. it almost killed me at the age of 35. I was preparing to leave my kids to grow up alone. (nothing will put the fear of life into you like not wanting to leave your babies) if I would have continued eating the way I was and drinking soda all the time, there is no doubt in my mind I would not be sitting here typing today...

 

[Tengen]

I kind of skimmed this thread and was fascinated by the rage in here, the level of which i usually reserve for MLM junkies.

How about some articles to lighten the mood?

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-horrifying-truths-about-being-medical-doctor/
http://www.cracked.com/article_21177_5-things-your-doctor-really-wants-to-say-to-you-but-wont.html

Reminds me of his classic Glengarry Glen Ross speech.

Alec Baldwin's a pretty good actor if he can make you hate his characters so viscerally.