I'm Tired of Doctors Treating My Bodily Systems Separately
It’s the strangest thing. I always thought my body was one whole person, but having multiple health issues has shown me I might be wrong.
It seems I’m just a bundle of abstract body parts to be sectioned off and tested by a large amount of doctors who rarely, if at all, communicate with each other.
It’s shocking, isn’t it? When you discover you aren’t a whole, but pieces – like a computer that’s been taken apart and strewn all over the floor.
Sarcasm. Obviously, sarcasm. Lots and lots of sarcasm.
It bothers me that multiple body system issues are often not looked at as a whole and that doctors are often horrible about communicating with each other. Another big problem is when they all disagree with each other.
When one part of the body isn’t working right, if it’s an entire body, like a normal human, it affects other parts of the body. It all is one big, living machine.
I’m going to simplify a bit because I don’t want this to be a boring medical textbook, so forgive me for leaving things out or using improper terms.
If you eat, you are using teeth and muscles to chew, your tongue, nose and brain allow you to register taste, your muscles in your mouth and throat allow you to swallow, your stomach provides acid and enzymes to digest. Now, if you react to the food, you then add even more body systems. Your immune system suits up into uniform and goes into battle.
So. If you are having a few of those things going very, very wrong, you are sent to multiple specialists. ENT, allergy/immunology, dentist, GI, etc.
If they don’t communicate, what you wind up with as answers is like a jigsaw puzzle of your body, your machine, that has half of the picture scratched off. No instruction manual to be found. No box with a picture on it.
It was a one of a kind puzzle, so there is no way to ever reconstruct what is missing. It’s going to be a guessing game. But, if the doctors talk to each other, they can make some very educated guesses and start to draw a better picture onto that puzzle. Even better is if an internal medicine specialist gets involved to help find the bigger picture.
I’m not a collection of body parts; I’m an entire operating system that has programs that won’t turn on or won’t work how they are supposed to if another one has a virus.
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Thinkstock photo via ioanmasay.
Lisa Prins is a binge hobbiest who is constantly throwing herself into many different projects. When she is not well enough to do one, she will find another. Music is her main love. She is a classically trained pianist, vocalist, songwriter, composer and ukulele player. She also enjoys writing, drawing, painting, crocheting, pixel bead art, photography, jewelry making, sewing, playing video games, robot building, and a number of other hobbies. Love, compassion, friendship and understanding are most important to her. They are what gives meaning to her life. Lisa was born with a congenital kidney disease called renal tubular acidosis. This combined with asthma, chronic infections, idiopathic angioedema and anaphylaxis have shaped her into a person who is thrilled to experience every bit of life and love, every sunset and every little joy that life has to offer. She lives with her incredible partner, who is, and has been, her love, her best friend, and, at times, her caregiver. She decided to start contributing her writing in the hopes she can help others know they aren’t alone, and help those who aren’t chronically ill better understand the people around them who are.
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