I recently read an article in the local news regarding yet another strange disease with odd symptoms, Morgellons. From what I’ve read it has been around since at least 1647 and now has quite a few suffers, numbering in thousands. That would seem to be enough to verify there is something going on. However the CDC appears to disagree. They did a study which found there was no infection-according to currently available medical testing. They state this disease is all in the sufferer’s head.
I’ve had my own run-ins with this attitude within the medical field. I’ve had to diagnose myself after years of tests and different doctors and more symptoms and worsening symptoms. Got to the point where I couldn’t function day to day. Doing research over the internet I came across gluten allergy. Shocked to read all the symptoms it could cause that I had I decided to cut out all wheat for two weeks. Having no health insurance and no job meant I couldn’t take the test which isn’t always accurate anyway. After a last (few) favorite wheat heavy meals (pizza) I stopped eating wheat and discovered that more than half of what I ate was wheat based.
On the morning of the third wheat free day I woke up feeling very odd. Really wasn’t sure what I felt but it took until midday before I realized that I might be feeling normal. This was how I was supposed to feel but never had. I was well rested for once, didn’t even need a nap or two during the day, no diarrhea, no aches and pains, no heartburn, etc, etc. It took eight months for my intestines to heal and work “normally” during which time I noticed a multitude of problems quietly disappeared.
The low back pain surprised me the most. I would have never connected it to a food allergy. Unfortunately a doctor wouldn’t either. The two I saw about my back poked me there (OUCH!), scanned me, x-rayed me, shot electricity thru that area, told me to lose weight-didn’t help, told me to exercise-also didn’t help, tried to medicate me-oh hell no, and at least one inferred that since it appeared to be soft tissue pain that the state of my mind could affect and put stress on my muscles. Rrrrriiiiigggghhhhttttt, the good old “it’s all in my head” deal.
Every day new diseases are found. Every day new problems with what we eat, stuff we use and where we live are found. Twenty years ago I’m sure hundreds of people were told their AIDS, Lymes, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob was all in their heads. I guess the last one literally was. If the doctor couldn’t see it then it wasn’t real to their opinion. Medical science is so far behind in some ways that the next 50 years should be stunning in its discoveries. After all, 50 years ago we couldn’t solve crimes like we can today using forensics. Just imagine if we threw as much money into the medical sciences and preventative care as we’ve thrown into war. Where would we be in ten years? Healthier. If every child was tested for food allergies as a baby then maybe we could get a handle on the obesity epidemic. I was starving hungry all the time when I ate wheat. My body trying to tell me it couldn’t use what it was given. I responded by eating more, and more, and more. Weighed over 300 lbs by the time I stopped eating wheat and 45 lbs of that practically fell off in a few short months.
To all the doctors who actually pay attention and have an open mind, I salute you and hope you don’t get squished in the corporate processes that would rather treat symptoms with medication than find out what is truly wrong. It could be as simple as a food allergy.
