Modern Medicine

It is question that my patients ask me often, "Do I really need these medicines to help me?" They say, "I don't want these medicines to change me!"

Of course, I am a prudent psychiatrist, I don't tell everyone who shows up that they need medicines. Sometimes, I just tell them what they don't want to hear, "Look, meds are not going to help. You need to do x, y, z."

However, I do tell people who would benefit from medicines, "Of course these medicines are going to change you. You don't want to be depressed/anxious/psychotic anymore, do you?"

I am a firm believer in modern medicine, in fact, if it weren't for modern medicine, I would be dead, probably.

I probably would have died about 3 months after marrying Hubby, from sepsis.

For a person who never had an ear infection, rarely with headaches, hardly ever vomit, I am a victim of gram negative germs. My urinary tract met gram negative germs on my honeymoon for the first time. (The experts are not kidding when they call it 'honeymoon cystitis.') Dysuria, frequency, it was awful. Not awful enough for me to seek medical treatment, and the symptoms went away after a few days with a LOT of fluids.

Three months later, we went to church, met up with a close friend, had lunch, then went shopping together. Dysuria came along, and Oh. My. Maker. It was incredibly awful. We cut the trip short and went home. I started loading on fluids, especially cranberry juice. But it was too late. Within a few hours, it was no longer just cystitis, but hemorrhagic cystitis. I thought I was going to die from pain. Hubby and I ended up rushing to the ER, and the attending on call saw my urine in the container and didn't even wait for the results and just handed me a prescription for some antibiotics. Within hours, I felt SO much better.

Without it, I would have gone on to fever, chills, with an ascending infection, then it would become pylonephritis, and probably, a collection of pus, then sepsis, then death. Or, if I miraculously recovered, then it would probably have harmed my renal functions, and then I would then die young.

Modern medicine is a very good thing.