Re: WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW CAN HURT YOU........

From: Helen Dynda (olddad66@runestone.net)
Thu Jun 10 21:08:58 1999


The author of this article did not say that you HAD to go to a university medical library or even to a hospital library! She simply suggested these two places as an example - places which were helpful to her when she began her search for information about her health concerns/..

As you mentioned, Chris, she had the intelligence and mental ability to be able to read and understand articles from medical journals, etc. This is an option for anyone who has similar abilities - those who want the challenge of educating themselves in this way.

As long as each one of us has access to the Internet, we have a medical library right in our own homes. Medical information can easily be found on a wide variety of health concerns. It is time for each of us to take charge of our health situation and become an active (rather than passive) partner with our physician(s) in our health care.

I would like to quote from a letter I received this week from a gentleman: "I am amazed at the amount of information you have sent me. Only a few days ago I felt that my future and any hope of even having a future was desperately bleak. Two dramatic changes have now happened, one being hope and the other knowledge. With the information that you have sent, I now have both. When your every wakening minute is in pain and controls all that you do and all that you are, and you don't know or understand why, then how is that being alive? I am now feeling alive. I will devour all the supporting information over the following days or weeks. I know that I won't find a physical cure possible yet, but you have helped me find a mental cure and that's the powerful healer. My deepest thanks for your care and consideration. Your help has put the lights on, in a very dark tunnel." This person now at least has HOPE and he knows that he is not the only person suffering from chronic pain!

For now HOPE is all that any of us can expect. If we are going to maintain our saniety while living with daily chronic pain, it is time for each one of us to take charge - reach out for knowledge - reach out to others. Those of you who are participating in this forum are already taking charge. Your care and concern for someone else who is struggling with constant pain is the beautiful part of a forum such as this.

Thank you, Thank you, Dr. Wiseman, for having the wisdom and foresight to make this adhesions forum possible for us and for the many people around the world who also suffer from adhesions. As members of the International Adhesions Society, we too have HOPE!

- - - - - - - - - At Thu, 10 Jun 1999, Christine M. Smith wrote: >
>At Thu, 10 Jun 1999, Helen Dynda wrote:
>>
>>Here is the web site for this *must read* article:
>>
>>" What You Don't Know Can Hurt You: Knowledge Is Power in a
>>Doctor/Patient Relationship "
>>
>>http://www.obgyn.net/women/articles/comfort/comfort006.htm
>
>Hi Helen:
>
>As interesting and "empowering" as this article is, how many women do
>you think can do what she is suggesting? I don't know what this lady
>does for a living but I am betting she has advanced degrees. It is
>very, very difficult for the average person to research medical journal
>articles. Maybe a little, but definitely not at the level this woman is
>suggesting. I have a college degree in biology as well as a year of
>medical laboratory technology and I find it difficult to research
>scientific journals to come to the conclusions she is suggesting. If
>you can do it, great. But to suggest everyone do that, this is unfair.
>
>Chris S.


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