Day Eleven:
In regards to alternative treatments, I...
am a guinea pig.
"Alternative" is a good way to describe my specialist. He's a little... out there. He does a lot of work regarding chronic pain. I actually literally just read review on him on ratemds.com and I'm [nervous] laughing because everyone seems to hate him. In all honesty, he's not that bad. Yeah, he's forgetful...
"You have endometriosis, right?"
"DOC YOU'RE THE ONE THAT REMOVED IT IN MY SURGERY LAST AUGUST"
and yeah, he's a bit of a gruff old dude, but he is genuinely caring. He doesn't want me to suffer, and he is very caring when it comes to prescriptions and offering advice.
But he's a bit of a whack job, say some, including my mother. Once he brought out this odd contraption (he had to run out to the hospital parking lot and get it out of the trunk of his car) and hooked me up to this pain tolerance thing. I don't know how else to describe it. He made me lay on a table then gave me a button. He then had a contraption press on different areas of my body, like my arm or knee, and when it started to get uncomfortable or painful, I would press the button. He would then get a number, and that number would determine my pain tolerance. It's weird. He determines if I'm getting better with this device, which hasn't proven to be too accurate.
Pretty much how I looked at my doctor when he first did the pain tolerance test:
So I think it's safe to say that some of Doc's "experiments" are a bit alternative, but hey- he's a nice guy. He did my operation in August 2013 but unfortunately he's not doing surgeries anymore. So he's referred me to another specialist, whom I am waiting to hear from. I am looking forward to scheduling another operation. After a couple years, the endometriosis spreads and it gets so painful and uncontrollable that it's just time for another operation. Now is one of those times.
Another odd sort of thing that my doctor does is using botox as pain management. I fought him on this one. I didn't think that botox would help and I sure as hell wasn't prepared to buy some at the pharmacy. It took over a year, but finally I was desperate and Doc wanted to give it a try. I spent over $200 at the pharmacy for this tiny little bottle of botox. In one of the worst doctors appointments of my life, I had my Jaydess IUD removed (SO MUCH PAIN) I had a Depo Provera injection administered in my arm (I know that mistakes were made when the nurse like, would back then stabbed the entire needle into my bicep) and had botox injected into my abdomen and lady parts.
Seriously. Needles. In, around, and about my, er, lady parts. IT WAS AWFUL. I knew it was gonna suck when Doc said "Try not jump. Please don't kick me." It was as terrible as I thought it would be. On the upside, the treatment did actually help! Experimentation win for Doc. Will I do it again? Probably not.
So these alternative treatments are on the medical sciencey side of things (just how I like it, thank you very much). I was somewhat curious about natural, homeopathic remedies and inquired at a health food store. I was so insulted by the clueless woman working there that I was turned off of the whole thing all together.
I am trying essential oils as a treatment for pain and inflammation. I hear that Frankincense is wonderful for reducing inflammation, so I tried mixing it with my tea. I can tell you, first hand, that peppermint essential oil is wonderful at cooling down your body temp. If you have a fever (which I get on occasion) putting some near big arteries and veins helps to cool down your body and ease fevers. It also helps a tad with headaches, thank god. Chronically ill persons, take note.
Thank you all so much for reading my blog. Your support is overwhelming. If you have any questions or wish to share your thoughts/comments, feel free to comment below. You guys are the best.
-Captain Lakie
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