
In âThe Princess Bride,â Cary Elwesâ Wesley memorably tells Princess Buttercup, âLife is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.â
Mighty Warriors, have you ever heard anything more true?
As most of us go about the day in some level of pain or discomfort, the temptation to buy into the relief that doctors (and hucksters) are selling is darn near irresistible.
Relief in a pill? A powder? A confusing contraption with electrodes and wires? Sign me up!
If internet comments sections and Facebook groups are to be believed, these pills, powders, and devices provide relief to many patients. And if thatâs the case for you â mazel tov! (No, seriously. Thatâs amazing, and I am thankful you found a chronic illness work-around.)
But, if youâre a zebra like me, youâve spent thousands of dollars on such treatments, and the only result youâve seen is the ever-shrinking size of your bank account.
A few have even made your symptoms worse.
This presents a conundrum unique to people living with chronic illness. Put succinctly? You donât want to waste money, time, and hope on unproven treatments that at best do nothing, and at worst, may exacerbate symptoms or cause even more problems.
But what if this one â the newest one, the novel one, the one used by monks in the Himalayas or African Shamans for centuries â what if this is the one that works?
Do you try it? Do you open your wallet and your increasingly cynical heart again?
Or do you let the âopportunity of a lifetimeâ (as itâs often touted) pass you by?
Even when the opportunity on the table is a Big Pharma med â one tested a billion times on a billion people with mostly good results â thereâs always the chance youâll be that one-in-a-million who gets the âserious, sometimes fatalâ side effects that occur. Iâve been one of those one-in-a-million people, and let me tell you, itâs no fun.
So what do you do?
Infuriatingly, thereâs no ârightâ answer. Itâs all a crapshoot. A game of Russian roulette, but with the potential of a bullet or the ultimate prize: relief.
Relief from the pain of this chronic illness life. I canât think of a prize more worth taking a risk for. And at the same time, I canât think of anything more risky.
Wishing you relief, Mighty Warriors.
source https://www.programage.com/news/Deciding_Whether_to_Try_a_New_Treatment_for_My_Chronic_Pain_1601449214142227.html
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire