Wow, @harlowjourney. The things you have been through! This is an absolutely brilliant article. You had me at "pee in your pants asthma," but I didn't expect to be so captivated by the entire journey you've been on.
I loved your insights on doctors. Of course we all know they tend to have rather large egos. But you're absolutely right that we don't tend to consider that they have a somewhat thankless job in some ways — issuing meds and likely never getting much feedback from patients as to whether they truly matter.
He was friendlier than my doctor. However, when it came down to it, I didn’t feel like he could help me. To help me, a doctor needs two things: one is intelligence, and the other is they need to want to help. My current doctor is intelligent, but he doesn’t want to help. It’s not personal. He is just sick of being a doctor. Maybe he is depressed.
Maybe so! I was thinking that you really should pick a different doctor, but retraining your existing one to care is a unique approach and sounds like it will actually work. This would be a great topic for a fictional story, by the way. Real life experiences like this are excellent fodder.
I'm so glad to hear you're feeling better. As for the depression, hopefully with better health and more control over your life and energy, that will improve too. Have you had your vitamin D levels checked? I used to suffer so. When I finally began taking vitamin D regularly it was an absolute game changer. (Like your p.s. this is not medical advice. But for whatever reason, doctors don't seem to "get it" about this simple, cheap and effective help for one of the most common maladies on the planet.)