The Rheumatologist Told Me To Go Away, You Are Too Well! :D OK :))

Well last week I went to a traditional Rheumatologist to get checked out. 

Regardless of my still high ANA they told me that they would not recommend putting me on the traditional medicine, corticosteroids or methlotrexate. And they don't really care to figure out why the ANA is high as long as I am symptom free. Hrm. Whatever happened to preventative medicine?

She said that a lot of people have a high ANA. Now I am not satisified with this answer. I want my ANA to be at a fantastic level. Or this, why do a lot of people have high ANA's? Just because it's common that does not mean it's ok. I will be able to knock down this ANA, but it is gonna take sometime to naturally get my body at the equilibrium that I want.
Really I am having just some minor joint stuff, which a lot of people have. And also, a lot of allergies.

I was very disturbed sitting in the waiting room of my Rheumatologist. There were A LOT OF PEOPLE THERE. And I am not talking about a lot of old people, I am talking about a lot people around their 30's. There was one guy my age using a cane. :( DAMNIT! Grrr....I seriously believe that just does not need to be the case! There was an older woman sitting in a wheelchair.
Do these people know how much diet can better their life and even get them off the medicine?? Give them their life back??

So I am siting in this doctors office and she almost seemed intimidated by me. I was polite, I did not walk in there as some know it all. I walked in saying nothing more than hi. I felt some pretty strange vibes from her and I think I made her nervous. The first thing she said to me in very panicked voice was, "You, you're in school, what are you in school for?" I said, "Nursing." And she didn't say anything after that. Yeah, I am not a med student, a mere nursing student. And actually I've had some struggles in nursing school, although I am due to graduate next semester currently I am a State Tested Nurses Aide. I do the dirty work!! Really, I do do the dirty work. Hopefully someone got my pun there!

I mean seriously you don't have to be a rocket scientist to do what I've done! I mean I'm not even close to being done, this is a life long thing, but what has happened here is definitely significant.

I seriously asked that doctor why she wanted to be a doctor?? I was not trying to be a jerk. I was curious. I did not ask it assuming anything. I said, "I know this is a tough field to be a doctor in, it's confusing, it's complicated, and you have to watch a lot of long term suffering." I told her that I felt very lucky with my progress and that if what I was doing was a bad idea that she should tell me. If she thought that I was making some terrible mistake, I really wanted to know her honest opinion. I mean this is an important question to ask, we are dealing with my life here. I take this all very seriously.

She told me, "No, you're not making a terrible mistake. Just keep eating right and exericising."

But! The last thing that she did say was that my blood test did not show that I was a Celiac. She said, you are not a Celiac.  My IGg was low. But I still carry the gene. This obviously really bothered me. It bothered me for a few reasons.
A.) All of these doctor's diss my doctor without even reading up on any of the research he uses. They have no idea what is going over in his office. All they see is the word Holistic and they immediately write him off. In fact he is a pretty famous doctor, has tons of patients, has had a lot of his patients on the news, people come from out of the country to see him, and he teaches a ton of lectures. He doesn't want to give a faucet education. They write him off without even reading anything or without even putting any rational thought into the situation. Where's the progress???!
B.) It is not just my doctor that knows that Celiac Disease is very hard to diagnose. This is actually common knowledge about Celiac Disease. It can be silent! And I carry the friggin genes. I know that just because I carry the genes that the gene's may not be activated. But come on! Look at my symptoms and then my insane, immediate, improvement on a gluten free diet! They were most definitely activated.
C.) Ok I know doctors are not stupid! Seriously to go through all of that schooling you have to be pretty smart! I am not even sure that I am intelligent enough to be a doctor. I would need some serious math tutoring. Why don't these doctors keep up on all of the different options in their field? Even if they don't practice it. I know they are really busy, but some of them just don't seem interested enough or perhaps they are burnt out on their field. Not all of them, but some.
D.) Is all of this controversy over money? I mean I don't want to conclude that. I mean I was reading in The Arthritis Breakthrough that the rheumatology field is one of the biggest money makers in the field of medicine. If we can cure these people with diet and exercise what will happen to this field? I mean I know if everyone knew about this treatment that they might not follow it because it requires a ridiculous amount of discipline. This is too bad because if we could just clean up our food industry it would not require as much intense discipline that it currently requires. But the Antibiotic Therapy, now that doesn't require a lot of discipline. It is a pill. A cheap pill. Maybe that's why it's not used? I don't understand.

I truly believe that diet and exercise are just so beneficial and that it is not stressed enough. Everybody knows this already. I would never assume that it is too hard for someone to do. I think it is important that we expect more out of people than that. It is ok to fail a bazillion times, I did when I first started to change my diet. But you just keep trying again and again until you get it right. We're dealing with quality of life here! We're dealing with potentially debilitating illnesses.

I really hope that this blog proves useful. My whole point here is to compile information to give to people so they know all of their options. I am not trying to tell anybody what to do, just to think about how what one puts into their body affects them.

I just want people to think, that's all. When/if they get sick I want them to be smart about their illness. :))