So I know I had a post on this not that long ago, reflecting on my own illnesses, but it's actually gone on that long now (3 months!) that I got referred to the local ENT clinic last week. Result? I'm having a tonsillectomy!
But the thing that I find most interesting is the difference in attitude of people towards illness...
I mean, a friend of mine was practising her massage on a "healthy" volunteer a couple of weeks ago (the word "healthy" on our course basically means not being under medical supervision or on any prescribed medication) who turned out to have all manner of conditions which are usually contraindicated to any form of treatment without gaining consent from a GP, and they didn't even think twice about it as they considered themselves to be healthy despite what was going on.
And yet sometimes, something like a cold or flu virus makes you feel like it's the end of the world. Or even worse, an autoimmune disease (of which there are plenty - don't know what it is about us women-folk that we seem to have a higher incidence of about 95% of all known autoimmune conditions) before it's diagnosed can reap havoc on both our physical and mental wellbeing.
Ironically, most of the symptoms we get with any kind of illness are caused by our immune system kicking in - so in a way we should be grateful that we feel ill at all, otherwise we might never know there was anything wrong!
The ENT consultant I saw spent about 5 minutes with me (and that's a generous estimate) and on the basis of a quick poke at my neck glands, shining a torch down my throat and checking my symptoms, he reckoned there's no real cause for concern as I don't meet the criteria for "risk factors". But since my tonsils have been swollen for around 3 months in total now, and I have a history of sore throats etc (I had my adenoids removed when I was 5, after spending every other week at the ENT clinic), it's best to have them taken out - I was given the option of "wait and see" but apparently that's only to find out if there's something else going on (i.e. more serious) and I really didn't feel like playing the waiting game any more. Especially since my throat aches constantly and I've developed a serious snoring problem since January that keeps both me and the other half up at night. What was interesting though, was when I asked about the risks attached to a tonsillectomy, he said I'm young and healthy so they would be minimal and I'm thinking "Hang on a minute - healthy? Me?" So it just shows you - I've felt anything but healthy recently, but maybe that's more to do with my attitude than my physical state.
It also shows that these hospital consultants, who may be specialists in their field, perhaps aren't really seeing the Big Picture when treating patients. They might be able to fix the part that's broken, but if the person affected isn't treated holistically then they might never get past that stumbling block...
But the thing that I find most interesting is the difference in attitude of people towards illness...
I mean, a friend of mine was practising her massage on a "healthy" volunteer a couple of weeks ago (the word "healthy" on our course basically means not being under medical supervision or on any prescribed medication) who turned out to have all manner of conditions which are usually contraindicated to any form of treatment without gaining consent from a GP, and they didn't even think twice about it as they considered themselves to be healthy despite what was going on.
And yet sometimes, something like a cold or flu virus makes you feel like it's the end of the world. Or even worse, an autoimmune disease (of which there are plenty - don't know what it is about us women-folk that we seem to have a higher incidence of about 95% of all known autoimmune conditions) before it's diagnosed can reap havoc on both our physical and mental wellbeing.
Ironically, most of the symptoms we get with any kind of illness are caused by our immune system kicking in - so in a way we should be grateful that we feel ill at all, otherwise we might never know there was anything wrong!
The ENT consultant I saw spent about 5 minutes with me (and that's a generous estimate) and on the basis of a quick poke at my neck glands, shining a torch down my throat and checking my symptoms, he reckoned there's no real cause for concern as I don't meet the criteria for "risk factors". But since my tonsils have been swollen for around 3 months in total now, and I have a history of sore throats etc (I had my adenoids removed when I was 5, after spending every other week at the ENT clinic), it's best to have them taken out - I was given the option of "wait and see" but apparently that's only to find out if there's something else going on (i.e. more serious) and I really didn't feel like playing the waiting game any more. Especially since my throat aches constantly and I've developed a serious snoring problem since January that keeps both me and the other half up at night. What was interesting though, was when I asked about the risks attached to a tonsillectomy, he said I'm young and healthy so they would be minimal and I'm thinking "Hang on a minute - healthy? Me?" So it just shows you - I've felt anything but healthy recently, but maybe that's more to do with my attitude than my physical state.
It also shows that these hospital consultants, who may be specialists in their field, perhaps aren't really seeing the Big Picture when treating patients. They might be able to fix the part that's broken, but if the person affected isn't treated holistically then they might never get past that stumbling block...
No comments:
Post a Comment