I haven't posted in a while, the only reason I can give is... life. Through our journey one constant has persisted.....why??? Why us? Why J? Why M? Why did I question the doctor? What is our path? This journey has to have a reason? What is God teaching us? He is calling me to something. I am not sure what, but hopefully it will become clear to me soon.
The other night I was watching a documentary about psychotropic drugs. It ended at about 1:30 a.m. at which time I was enraged with frustration. It made me have such a combination of feelings. I felt so thankful and relieved that something made me question our dermatologist. But it also made me feel so angry that someone would prescribe one of these drugs to my little girl. I was also sad for all of the parents who don't understand that they have the right to informed consent, that may have given the drug and may be suffering without knowing why. I was compelled to write this letter. I needed to tell the doctor what she could have done!!! I needed to feel that I at least put it out there. I wanted to share it with you. I hope I can empower you to look at the package insert, read the side effects and research the prescription. But please do this AFTER you ask the doctor for all available options and talk to them about your family history! We are their consumers, they work for us. We are our own, our children's, our sister's, our brother's and our friends' advocates. Make sure they are treating you with what is best for YOU!!
Dear Dr. -------,
My daughter was a patient of yours over a year ago.
We came in to be treated for eczema with extremely high histamine
levels, obvious by sight. You were the witts end of our journey to treat
her condition, referred to us by a family member. In our first visit
you prescribed Atarax, stating that her "issue" is that she needs to be
out the minute she hits the pillow because nighttime was when she did
the most damage. You even stated the Atarax was a go to for you when you
travel with your own kids, I guess justifying to me the safety. What
you didn't do in this visit was inquire about the family history that we
may be a part of in terms of any health related issues. You also
prescribed derma-smoothe again assuring the safety of this very mild
steroid. I took both home, with a renewed spirit that maybe my daughter
will find peace and our whole family will get the rest we so desperately
needed. I used both products ASAP. The derma-smoothe created hives,
which you very rudely requested evidence of these hives, I showed you a
picture. I tried Atarax for a full month. During this time, my typical 3
year old became scared of the world, paranoid, defiant, restless. This
scared everyone that witnessed it. I had stopped the meds by the time
our second appointment came. When I gave you the reasoning for our
discontinued use you scoffed at me in front of your two medical
students, my mother as well as my child. I stated that she woke with a
hang over, was wired after 3 hours and completely not herself. You
couldn't imagine a hang over after 8 hrs. Well I am 32 and get a hang
over 8 hrs after 1 glass of wine. Not only did the appointment start 1
hour after it was schedule, during which time I saw you leave the office
for 30 of those minutes and return with a restaurant soda, but you
spent all of 10 minutes with us. You requested no family history,
questioned my judgement the entire time, made observations of my
daughter including "her histamine levels must be through the roof." Then
stated to your students "I'd hate to do this, but I think she needs
it." Following this up with prescribing a psychotropic drug that is not
suggested to be used in kids under18, not FDA approved for kids under 12
to a 3 year old who has a family history of clinical depression and a close relative who committed suicide. I left your office beside myself. I thank God
everyday that for some reason I questioned your judgement, because we
have a 4 year old today that sleeps through the night, with minimal
eczema who was later diagnosed with several food and environmental
allergies. On an allergen free diet, she requires an over the counter antihistamine only when she encounters dogs. We were left to our own
devices after many doctors failed us. Not only did you fail us, but I
shudder to think of where we would be today had we gone down your
prescribed route! Every bit of information I read on the drug states that
doctors will want to follow the patient weekly during the intro phase
and these are adults it was referring to. You prescribed a psychotropic
to a 3 year old over a year ago and we have not heard from you since. I
called 3 pharmacies in my area and not one of them had ever heard of
prescribing to such a young child. Maybe practicing medicine makes you
numb to the fact that everyone who walks through your door is someone.
Well this child is my world and I thank God that she wasn't lost in your
in and out, impersonal and un-proffesional treatment. That I realized
that my whole world, to you was just a clinical trial! What happened to
informed consent? What happened to first do no harm? What doctors don't
realize in their specialized body systems approach is that every aspect
of human life works in synergy of the body's other systems. What would I
have sacrificed in my child to treat her skin condition? You provided
not one other option to me and listed not a breath of what possible and
PROBABLE side effects of this treatment were. I am troubled almost daily
of the fact that I questioned your treatment, but who out there hasn't?
Who has suffered, and conveniently for you, doesn't know the source of
that suffering. I hope that my child was the exception and not the rule.
I hope that I get some sort of valid response to this email because I
will keep trying until I do!
Sincerely,
M
** The author is not a medical practitioner, does not advise to ignore medical attention and is not providing medical advice. Simply suggesting to ask questions and get informed as much as possible.***
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Genetic Modification/Engineering and Allergy:
One thing in this whole process for me that has been
INCREDIBLY frustrating is the lack of oversight and regulation that the FDA,
CDC and USDA have over our health. I really should call it selective oversight
and regulation, because it is there for the right price ;) There is very little
needed to prove a product safe for consumption (another post another day). It
has turned into our job, as the consumer, to either die or get sick in great
numbers to prove the product otherwise, once the product is on the market. Even
after this occurs, if the producer has enough money/power it may still be
consumed. Case in point would be GMO’s. The United States is one of a few
countries that allow GMO’s to be sold without labeling. Coca Cola and many
other big names produce a different product without GMO’s for places like
Europe that required labeling, because the product won’t sell if GMO’s are
used. Crazy right?!?!
The process of GM, in its simplest terms, is the extraction
of one organisms’ DNA for injection into another organism. This is done to
control certain aspects of the production of the desired final product. At
times this is done with pesticides, such as round up, to produce a seed that is
resistant to round up. This
process is a HUGE step with very limited research into its safety by the FDA.
There are many people who believe this is one reason for an increase in
allergies, not to mention the even more severe implications this process has on
our health. Here are just a few articles on the topic:
The problem here is that when research is done, the majority
of Americans want it to come from a big name to motivate them to move in a
passionate direction. This will not happen if the research being done is being
done by biased sources. Monsanto’s roots spread far and wide and their
interests affect the interests of many powerful people. When a third party does
come out with shocking revelations such as this study:
They are contradicted and discredited by people, who appear
to be the authority, read the bottom of the article for the “top scientists”
who disagree. But I urge you to follow up any anti GMO reading that has been
contradicted by “leading scientists” with a Google search for that “leading
scientist” with the name Monsanto following it. I am sure you will find at least
one link to tie them to the leading producer of GMOs. Here is an example of the
links between the “leading scientists” from the above article to their beloved
GMO roots.
It is not hard to do; you just have to want to see the
connection. GMOs should at the very least be labeled so that I can choose not
to purchase them. I believe that the allergy epidemic, to name one, is tied to
the mass consumption of foreign proteins and organisms!
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