First Do No Harm

It is a widely held belief that the statement "First, do no harm" comes from the Hippocratic oath. It actually doesn't. But... in Hippocrates writing he does say "The physician must be able to tell the antecedents, know the present, and foretell the future - must mediate these things, and have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm. The art consists in three things - the disease, the patient, and the physician. The physician is the servant of the art, and the patient must combat the disease along with the physician."

So why am I bringing up Hippocrates? Well there is the fact that doctors killing patients is generally not good practice. *lol* I'm still thinking back to the treatment I have received over the last month. The first doctor I saw didn't believe fibromyalgia was real and rather then doing any blood work or tests referred me to a psychiatrist believing I was just depressed. Off to the hospital I went. Spent about a half hour with the nurse and saw the psychiatrist long enough to write a prescription for Zoloft. The Zoloft put my physical health and mental health at risk. So much for "do no harm." The second time I was at the hospital to see a psychiatrist they changed the medication to a benzodiazepine. Once again I saw the psychiatrist basically long enough to write a prescription. But benzo's tend to be highly addictive and only good for short term treatment of insomnia. Since this is a chronic condition not the ideal medication. Now I can't sleep without it. I know you are not supposed to take it continuously but every time I don't take it I end up not being able to sleep at all... I toss and turn all night. When I wake up I am restless and exhausted. When I was at the doctor's yesterday he indicated that this is prety normal. Back to "do no harm." Is it a wise idea to prescribe an addicitve medication when you have spent 5 minutes with the patient? There are other medications that are less addictive and used for treating insomnia... or they could've used a mild anti-depressant. I feel worse then I did when I started the LOA. The good news is that my new doctor will be changing the medication when I go back. The reason for not changing the medication already is that he wants the medical report from London so that he can be sure that Trazodone is the right course of actual. Finally, a doctor that is following Hippocrates advice.

I'm like many people... I took health care for granted. I had a family doctor when I was younger and then went to Western for university. I had great medical care during my 4 years there. The doctors were always willing to investigate the physical complaints and refer me when necessary. I knew nothing of the physician shortage until I moved to Peterborough. Then it became hard to get treatment since the only options were the walk-in clinic and the ER. I still remember when I had the flu. I lost 20% of my body weight and ended up at the ER twice. The second time I was hoping to be admitted since I was down to 70 pounds. Their recommendation was to eat fatty foods, especially from McDonalds. Took me 4 months to recover and I lost the semester at school.

Socrates once said "Know thyself." When it comes to the medical profession I think that should be extended to "Know your patient." Anyone with a family physician consider yourself extremely fortunate, especially if they are close to home. Right now, in Peterborough, approximately 20,000 people are without a family doctor. That's about 1/4 of the population. I know it's impossible for the doctor to really know the patient and their history when they're not the family physician. But I would compare it to russian roulette healthcare. As the patient, you never know what you're going to get. You could get a doctor that really wants to look into it for you... or you could get the wrong diagnosis... wrong treatment.... Take the last month for example. A month later I am still extremely fatigued, low on energy, and need Benzo's to get some ZZZs. Not a good place to be... Then again, I'm not even sure what the psychiatrist is treating me for... do they think it's depression? Do they think it's just insomnia? No one has really told me anything... aside from the new family doctor any ways.

Now back to Hippocrates... "to do good or to do no harm."