Falling Outside The Norm

Have you ever felt like walking into a support group of people living with chronic conditions and wanting to start an auction or trade session? I'll trade you 2 herniated disc so you can qualify for pain medication if you will give me 1 increased ANA or Sed Rate count so I can get my diagnosis of RA or Lupus. Or, I'll trade you my high Rheumatoid Factor for just 2 of your MS lesions/sclerosis.

Diseases are as individualized as those of us with them, yet I do understand the need to have information in which the majority of people have when confirming a diagnosis. Example: 90% of those with RA or Lupus have a increased value for ANA, Sed Rate, and Rheumatoid Factor. That's great but what happens to the 10% without this that meets all the other criteria? When diagnosing MS, they want to see 5 or more specific sized lesions because that is what at least 80% have. Again what about that 20%? Then we have lists of % of what are seen in Women vs Men, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, vs Whites. Even chronic pain has it's own list released by the CDC as to who falls in this box. According to them, this is seen mostly low social economic groups, more minorities, in a long relationship vs not one at all, even down to how one identifies sexually.

Now why I can laugh at some of this, I also understand the need to see qualifying events for a diagnosis. I always come back to the same topic which is all of us sitting in the % that doesn't seem to be recognized; this is the gray area I have spoken out about on other posts. How did people years ago get diagnosed or treated without all these special requirements? Many did fantastic responding to treatments but then again most medications are almost the same thing just with a different name. We, those of us living without a diagnosis or told we have Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease are usually those people in the minor %. The only thing preventing a name to what we have is a noncompliant test that just doesn't seem to want to turn positive. Meanwhile we live 24/7 365 days a year not knowing, not receiving a proper treatment, or even simply being validated. A great example to compare is COVID, a respiratory virus that our Government and Medical Community acted like they had no idea what to do for it or treat. This insane virus, which mimicked a prior virus almost exactly in 2003/04 which FDA, CDC, & medial community recognized as the 1st SARS coronavirus. They all initiated an early treatment and not a soul questioned this. There wasn't the lockdown even though a majority of our Country did have it, testing wasn't pushed, we didn't even discuss a mask, 6 ft distancing, or a 14 day stay at home if you were near someone who tested positive. The medication was known to treat effectively when started very early after diagnosis. Later studies provided other lists of medications which also help to treat that virus. We found that one size didn't fit all in treating a virus, just like it doesn't for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or many other conditions even Depression which is why we have a host of different medications for every problem.

If treatment is needing to be individualized shouldn't criteria for diagnosis also be? Sounds like a common sense solution during a time where this as a rare commodity. Why do we need human doctors to see us if things are going to be so specialized that a computer can diagnosis? We've little by little eliminated the human affect; hearing, listening, using knowledge and skill to problem solve. AI today is taking over writing stories, making videos, answering questions, replacing the need for a live body. Look at all our virtual assistance on customer support programs. They can scheduled appts, answer questions, send links for find additional answers. Medicine could easily fall into this especially since even operating rooms have robot machines which can even perform surgical procedures. While all this might reduce human error, it also eliminates the need we still have to use common sense when problem solving.

Patients are getting sicker we know this. We have been told Cancer will soon be the top leading diagnosis with Dementia following a close second. This is absolutely the time we all need to be closely tuning in identifying abnormals, knowing our body well enough to catch things quickly to prevent spread so we can eliminate quickly. Instead we have a growing shortage of doctors/practitioners, becoming too specialized with growing wait times just to be seen, followed by hurried exams, even unnecessary testing in hopes this might cover their rear for not paying close attention to what we are saying? There is little thought or concern about the expense this brings, the wait time which could be reduced if they listened a little better, or the need to jump from speciality to speciality. This is a treadmill of never ending BS for what, money? Today, an experienced nurse is better at diagnosing than a doctor in a speciality, why? Because nurses are trained to listen, have experience with identifying and treating symptoms, have been responsible for providing treatments and seeing the outcomes, but more often than not because they are the people who spend the most time with us in a medical setting. This is exactly why I am all in favor of bringing back the old GP who has seen and treated pretty much everything. They aren't use to boxes needing checked.

I saw an article released yesterday where legislation if being passed so AI can be classified as a "practitioner licensed by law" to administer FDA approved drugs. the link to this is

mobihealthnews.com Proposed legislation paves the way for AI to prescribe drugs. So yes we are moving in that direction. I just pray that with increased inventions that we still have the ability to find licensed medical professionals with the ability to apply common sense approaches. We need less of us falling between the cracks and more finding answers and treatments.