Posted by Tomatheus on July 24, 2013, at 14:32:51
In reply to Re: Doing a fair bit better, posted by Lamdage22 on July 24, 2013, at 13:48:38
Lamdage,
It looks like we were writing our last two posts right around the same time. I was actually responding to your message from 3:45 a.m. central U.S. time in my last post, and I'll respond to your message that just came in now.
From my end, it sounds unfortunate that your doctors are telling you not to "indulge in too much activism." I think that some doctors tend to be intimidated when patients take active roles in their treatments, but I've also encountered doctors who like working with patients who are rather proactive. I don't personally see how bringing more information to the table, so to speak, can be a bad thing, but I can also see why doctors find it unsettling when patients come to them seemingly thinking that they know more about medicine than they actually do (and I'm not saying that you're doing this, just that I think that it can sometimes happen). So, maybe your doctors don't necessarily see being a bit proactive as being such a bad thing, but they might be trying to warn you that it could be possible to have too much of a good thing.
I think that you have a good point in saying that if you take your doctors' advice of not engaging in "too much activism" that you might not ever get to where you want to get with your treatment, and ultimately, your life. And yes, I think that being proactive, both with your treatment and in general, is a good thing that's essential to getting what you want out of life. But for better or for worse, one thing that you probably won't be able to change at least for now is the fact that your doctors are responsible for overseeing your care. And so, it would work to your advantage to build a good working relationship with them. How do you do this? I definitely don't have all the answers to this question, but I think that one thing that you need to do is strike a balance between saying what you want and need to say with respect to your treatment and respecting the decisions that the doctors make. You definitely don't want to be afraid of saying something that might push your treatment in a better direction, but at the same time, being too pushy in telling your doctors what medications you'd like to take might strain the relationship between you and your doctors. So, I think that a little bit of balance between being active in your treatment and respecting your doctors' decisions is something that I'd strive for.
I think that this sums up my thoughts on what you've written, but if I think of anything else that I'd like to add, I'll let you know. As always, good luck with everything.
T.
Conditions:
* chronic fatigue, hypersomnia, and related symptoms
* schizoaffective disordertomatheus.blogspot.com
poster:Tomatheus
thread:1047402
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130706/msgs/1047755.html