The cure is too often worse than the disease

Image from : Ontario Trial Lawyers Assoc.


The cure is too often worse than the disease.

​Trust science?  Whose science?

Just now, while sorting my laundry, I suddenly thought of two people I know who "died of cancer" -- one a lifelong friend -- who had never uttered a peep of self-concern though she had metastatic cancer found on autopsy --  and another I hadn't known more than a couple of years, but sometimes socialized with, and who seemed to be, literally, a hypochondriac.

She was always visiting her doctor for one perceived ailment or another. For instance, she was convinced that she could not walk very far, so she got a permit for a handicapped parking space.  But she could walk for an hour through a shopping centre and, once, when we were carefully trying to get across a very busy road she beat me to the other side.

She also believed she had Rosacea because sometimes her cheeks would look flushed. That happened to me all the time, but I put it down to fair skin, too much sun, a hot day, over-exertion.

It seemed it was always something. For a while she'd demonstrate that she had a mysterious cough, but she forgot about that when she decided she had some kind of equally mysterious bowel ailment - but I tell you, I would never have eaten the manufactured snacks she routinely downed while watching movies. I choked on the mini shredded wheat thingees -- they gave off a kind of dust.

Finally, an MRI showed something in her brain, and she looked quite pleased when she told me about it -- "a brain tumor", she said.

It was a meningioma, something rather common amongst us old girls, apparently. (I don't intend to find out for myself.)

MayoClinic: Meningiomas occur more commonly in women and are often discovered at older ages, but may occur at any age. Because most meningiomas grow slowly, often without any significant signs and symptoms, they do not always require immediate treatment and may be monitored over time.

MSKCC.org: Meningioma is a typically slow-growing, noncancerous (benign) tumor that forms in the membranes that surround the brain on the inside of the skull. People with meningiomas generally have a good prognosis.

Well, that doesn't sound so bad, does it? 

Except for the kicker:

• But if meningioma grows back after treatment, it can become problematic, even life- threatening.

After treatment?  For what? It was benign!

My friend seemed the happiest I'd ever seen her; but she, of course, would want to be "treated".

This is terrible to say, but she reminded me of the hypochondriac joke:- engraved on a tomb stone: "See I told you I was sick." And, of course, it wasn't long before she truly was dead.

There are far too many medical "experts" who enjoy playing with their toys (not to mention the money they make from it), and love to find patients who will allow them free reign. No big deal; there are "treatments" for the side effects.

Side effects?

Moffitt: What Are the Side Effects of Radiation Therapy for Meningioma?

• It's not cancerous, it's generally benign, but radiation therapy is a possible cure -- certainly not probable:
• Aside from cognitive changes, which can become permanent, most of these side effects are temporary and usually go away within several weeks after the completion of treatment. In the meantime, most side effects can be managed with medications and lifestyle changes.

That's one of the most cold-blooded statements I've seen in a long time.

"Cognitive changes" are no big deal? Nor are "lifestyle changes"?  Hey if we wanted to become zombies, we could just get a lobotomy and then we wouldn't know how much we were suffering.

Ah well, old ladies suffer "lifestyle" changes every day -- like dying, for instance.

The last time I spoke with her I phoned to let her know I had moved to a new apt., and she was very cheerful.  Didn't mention her health once and I was afraid to ask.  But not long afterwards she was dead.
 
I guess you know where this is leading. Why do we put so much faith in a very flawed health system? So much faith in big daddy medicine that we've been willing to alter our whole way of living -- and more importantly, the lives of our children -- because of a flu virus that has virtually no killing power unless a fraction of a percentage of us are already sick with something else -- especially with multi-thousands of critical medical errors being made each year!

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