No beer for two weeks – doctor’s orders. I went in for a physical the other day (because that is what you are supposed to do when you keep getting older) and had some blood drawn for a battery of tests to see if I am fit to continue the life I have been allotted. They said they would send me the results in the mail if everything was on the up and up or give me a call if the doctor saw something he didn’t like . . . I got the call on Wednesday. Among a few other items, apparently my liver tests ran a bit on the high side and the doctor wants me to cut out alcohol for two weeks and take the test again.
This is no big deal, I took a year off of alcohol a few years back as one of my goals – two weeks will be a cinch.
More than anything, this is a relief. Now there is physical evidence that something is going on with me. It is real. I am not a hypochondriac. The fact that it has gotten harder to get up in the mornings over the last three years may not just be in my head. The tickle in my throat that never goes away is not in my head (we have proven that at an earlier doctor visit). Something is wrong with me.
What?
That is for the doctors to figure out, right? They are the professionals. The little experience I have had with modern medicine has led me to the conclusion that there is one fatal flaw: The knee-jerk reaction to treat all of your symptoms as individual, isolated occurrences.
My voice box is red and irritated – it is acid reflux and I need to take prilosec otc. That didn’t fix it – I just need to take more. That didn’t fix it – I need to go see a gastroenterologist to get a better look at my esophagus.
I get a small rash on the inside of my wrists every once and awhile – It is most likely eczema from dry skin and I should use more lotion.
I break two bones in three months that take a little longer than normal to fully heal – The x-rays don’t indicate an issue with bone density so it is likely just an unfortunate coincidence.
I feel like I have been more tired lately – No real recommendations here, maybe I should get more sleep.
So how do you get your doctors to take a more holistic approach to what is going on with you and not just treat the symptom? Identify more symptoms. And that is what these lab results just did. Now I have three or four more issues that need to be addressed, one of which suggests that I may be fighting off an allergy (DING, DING, DING!). The more symptoms get put on the board, the more likely they are to figure out what is going on, right? I’ve watched House.
So yes, the questions these tests bring up make me a little nervous and I am going to miss my Friday happy hour the next couple of weeks. But mostly it has made me feel a whole lot better because it is not in my head and I am one step closer to figuring out what it is and hopefully fixing it.
Now hopefully they figure it out before I get the Gout or have to borrow a piece of a friend’s liver.
Until next we meet.
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