Feeling Better

It is a mixed blessing to know the system from within. Even though I no longer practice, I continue to be intrigued by the contrast between what an illness feels like from inside the patient and how it ranks in the stark and rigorous protocols of EBM (evidenced-based medicine). I don't know what the US system is like, but in Canada, there is a strong push to scientifically define protocols for "best practice" - to question fuzzy anecdotal thinking, conteract the insidious effects of drug company "education",  eliminate the use of antibiotic prescriptions as easy placators of the insistent cold sufferer.

The bottom line is, you can feel really really crappy and still not merit medical intervention by any scientifically objective standard, which is one of the reasons I wait... and wait... to see a physician. Because I'll feel weak and whiney and damn-I-should-have-known-better if I go in and am told my symptoms do not rank on any treatable illness checklists. But it is hard to be objective from inside a miserable body, so I took a chance and kept yesterday's appointment.

After pronouncing my chest "clear" (which means the odds of pneumonia are statistically small or at least, if there is something present, it is minor enough that wait-and-see would be a safe approach), he checked my peak flow. Following multiple admonitions to try harder, it was conceded that there was a minor reduction. 

I got a label: "bronchitis"... which I know perfectly well that studies have shown to be overwhelmingly viral in origin. And then a little inter-physician courtesy... "I guess there could be a secondary bacterial component"... pure fuzzy conjecture, giving me a face-saving option to go for antibiotics. Which I did. He asked my preference, I named it, he wrote the script, and I went home and took it, feeling a little ashamed of myself, but undeniably relieved.

This morning, I feel like a new woman. Still a bit of a nuisance cough, but the night sweats, the paralyzing fatigue and brain fog, the foul crud, the feeling that someone is sitting on my chest.... all gone.

What does that mean? Either I am a hypochondriac with a high degree of susceptibility to the placebo effect... or the checklists have their limitations.

I'm just glad to be feeling better.

So.... needless to say, I didn't get any dyeing done in the last week, but I've got Rob labouring away today at the skeiner to make up some sampler packs, and I will try to put up a few of those over the weekend. And then get back on track with, well... everything. I've been going through email, trying to catch stuff I missed between Olympics and illness, but if you sent me a message somewhere in there that I seemingly blew off, it would sure be great if you would be so kind as to jog my memory! (I'm 99.9% sure all the orders have gone out, but I sometimes set queries aside until my brain was functioning well enough to answer and then... forgot.)

In other news, the sun is shining:

And despite the best excavatory efforts of the dog, my bulbs are coming up:

So life is good.  

Comments

[Kerri]

Yayyy! I'm so glad you're feeling better! I know Dr's do their best, and "not all bugs need drugs", but it's not all an exact science and sometimes you just have to give in when you feel so horrid for so long & give your body some drugs to try & fight back. Nothing to be ashamed of and look...it worked for you! Glad to hear that life is back to being good!

And now we're off to see a Paralympic sledge hockey game...Go, Canada, Go!!!!!

[Sheila]

It must be a powerful drug as you sounded so bad last night. Happy to hear you are on the road to recovery. Our cherry blossoms are in full bloom here & I wish I could take gorgeous pictures like you do.

[Barbara]

I experienced the exact same symptoms and visit to the dr with antibiotic assistance , which I too try to avoid. I am entering week four with an occassional coughing jag but no more disgusting crud and I am finally back on my exercise and work schedule. Thank goodness antibiotics still work. Glad to hear you are on the road to recovery.

[Cookie]

Thank goodness you're feeling better.. and it's spring! What more could you want?

xo

[Mom]

Sooooo glad you are feeling on the mend. I can quit worrying.

[Sarah]

Wow. Antibiotics make you feel shit when you don't need them, so I'd say you've done the right thing in taking them. It's impossible to get doctors here (UK) to prescribe any! I had bronchitis for about 2 1/2 months recently, it's classed as "chronic" if you have it for 3, that's the point I was planning on seeing a doctor at. Am thinking I probably should have just seen a damn doctor earlier, especially as for a month of that I was in Sri Lanka with easy access to cheap doctors who prescribe antibiotics like it's going out of fashion (which I suppose it is)

[Brenda]

Glad to hear you are feeling better.

[Deborah (aka Mt. Mom)]

Hurray, I'm glad you're feeling better!

Your view looks much like ours here in Flagstaff Arizona (7000 ft.). Wonder if any of my bulbs are coming up yet?

[Marilyn G]

So glad you're feeling better, and that your life will slowly get back to 'normal' ("whatever your normal is....") now that all the Olympic hoopla is nearly over. Sorry we missed each other while I was in Whistler ... I'll be back after the FibreFest, anyway, and lunch is on me!

[CuddleDemon]

I had a cold last fall that had me feeling like that. I went to the doctor for a note so I could stay home from work and he sent me home with a script for antibiotics too saying "If you don't feel better by day X, then get this filled."

I gave it a good try, but the doctor's note will excuse you from work only so long, so I got the script filled and felt so much better the next day.

Which is a long way of saying I believe you aren't under a placebo effect because the same thing happened to me.

[Judy G.]

So glad you're feeling better. It's nice that the hired help is done hanging around the luge track and being more useful around the house.

[Adrienne]

Glad you're feeling better!
Whether it really was the antibiotics or not, I think your use of them was appropriate b/c you didn't just rush to it, which a ton of people still do, and enough doctors will still prescribe them rather than tell their patients that three days is not long enough to get over a cold, and that's where the problem lies IMO.