tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912286501198044525.post1638182885912950183..comments2024-02-25T04:18:42.461-06:00Comments on Sam's Posts: living with painsam posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492835294287504609noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912286501198044525.post-83040036395041299532010-08-03T00:15:17.508-05:002010-08-03T00:15:17.508-05:00well, i'm certainly not trying to undermine st...well, i'm certainly not trying to undermine standard medicine, or medical science, in general. but i also don't think it's a coincidence that every doctor i saw (including psychiatrists!) failed to see clearly that i had as big, if not bigger, problem with anxiety as i did with pain, back in the day. basically none of them ever told me, or came close to telling me, "i don't know what's going on with your pain, and i can't help you, but here's how you might go about approaching it differently." of course, i realize i may not have been receptive to that at different times, but i basically had to come across it on my own...<br /><br />and yes i understand that a placebo is never an effective form of treatment because the effect is temporary. but for me it's still a clear demonstration of how significantly our mental states can affect our physical states, something that is vividly clear to me from my own experience, but perhaps not obvious to everyone.sam posthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06492835294287504609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912286501198044525.post-68614896095716214512010-08-01T18:04:35.845-05:002010-08-01T18:04:35.845-05:00I'm totally with you that purely medical appro...I'm totally with you that purely medical approaches are often a surprisingly bad way to treat (or manage) chronic health problems, particularly pain. But two quick defenses on behalf of medicine -- first, only the most ridiculously out-of-touch doctors would be against the kind of method you're espousing here. In my experience, we are told again and again to encourage (or even to strongly compel) patients to exhaust nonmedical alternatives for chronic diseases before we go in with our blunt, crappy medical instruments. (I have learned more about meditation and its benefits since starting med school than in the five years prior.) The problem is that a LOT of people just don't go in for htis kind of thing, and it's our responsibility to try to help them while "meeting them where they are" (in the parlance of my training). Here's an analogy from type 2 diabetes: by far the best way to manage that disease is to eat a better diet and exercise and lose weight. And a responsible practitioner will strongly urge patients to do this. But the fact is that many, many people are unwilling or unable to do so, so we break out the drugs. To indict doctors for encouraging people to pop pills seems entirely backward to me. I know you're addressing a slightly different issue here (presumed misdiagnoses and lack of followup), but I think there is often an unnecessary line in the sand drawn by proponents of alternative medical practices, causing them to dismiss all of medical science out of hand.<br /><br />One more quick comment -- the thing about placebos's measurable physical effects is that they are always, ALWAYS transitory. Fascinating, but not significant in terms of how we should think about pharmacology. (along the lines of, "let's just give everyone placebos and then their high blood pressure will go away forever with no side effects!" or whatever).Selfish Country Music Loving Ladyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16552762105055123971noreply@blogger.com