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Health Experts – Conversation Lesson

AJ: I just sent you that article about the woman who wrote the book about thyroid problems. It’s a really interesting article and what struck me about the article was how much this poor woman went through over years and years, I mean over a decade I’d say, struggling with a thyroid issue that, y’know, the medical industry just, well, in many ways made worse. Y’know, she just went from doctor to doctor to doctor and clinic to clinic and tried all of these things and many times just got worse and worse and worse and nobody seemed terribly interested in figuring out what her problem was. It was just a nightmare until she really took charge and she basically became an expert in that area, like an expert far more than even medical specialists. That’s what she had to do in order to figure out the cure for herself and get her health back.

Kristin: Yeah, I’m looking forward to reading that since I’m having thyroid issues and this has been going on for, I don’t know, a couple of years and it just…nothing, nothing, y’know, I’ve gone to a naturopath and now I’m going to an acupuncturist and quite honestly I’m not…the symptoms that I have, they’re not changing, they’re not getting better. So I’m, y’know, looking into this myself, doing my own research is probably what I’m going to have to end up doing.

AJ: I think so. I think you just have to…you have to take charge. Y’know, health…it can be fairly complex, especially when you start getting into issues like this, thyroid issues, diabetes, a lot of the things that are long-lasting, ongoing. Y’know, the truth is I think the medical industry is just interested in quick fixes, right? So here…here’s a drug. And if that doesn’t work, most medical professionals or whatever they are just won’t go farther. They just don’t, they don’t care to take the time to research, y’know, they’re under too much pressure to see more and more and more and more patients and, y’know, under all these regulations from the government and insurance companies or whatever. And so, y’know, like your example, this woman’s example, I think it just points to that in anything in your life that’s important, you can’t surrender your responsibility to experts.

Kristin: Yeah. Yeah, it’s, well, y’know, it kind of makes me think about my thyroid…my thyroid…my fibroids. They rhyme, thyroid, fibroid. Y’know, I had all these symptoms and didn’t know what was going on and kept kind of getting shuffled through the system. I didn’t have health insurance at that time, I was going to health centers. And it was my mom who happened to start doing some research on the internet and said, “You know what, you might have fibroids.” And just about that time, they finally decided at the health center I was going to have me go to the hospital to have a test…a sonogram.

AJ: Yeah, to test for that.

Kristin: To test for that, and sure enough, I had fibroids. So…

AJ: So your mom basically diagnosed you.

Kristin: Right. It’s funny, she’s done that actually with something that was going on with my dad as well.

AJ: Yeah.

Kristin: He was…yeah, I told you about this. He was having problems breathing or…

AJ: Yeah.

Kristin: …a pain in his chest, I can’t remember, one or both. And it was something she’d experienced years ago and, y’know, he went to the emergency room and they didn’t know what was going on with him and were giving him medications and she said, “Well, could it be this,” whatever it was that had happened to her…

AJ: Yeah.

Kristin: …or whatever had been going on with her several years ago and that’s what it ended up being.

AJ: Yeah, I know. It’s amazing. And what’s sad, I think, is that so many people are kind of brainwashed to just trust the experts, whether it’s a doctor or a teacher, whatever. And they don’t realize that, y’know, even if the person is really an expert, they still have limited knowledge, right? And that your case might be different and they’re busy and they just don’t care about it as much as you do. I mean, nobody cares as much about your own life, your own body, your own children, whatever…

Kristin: Yeah.

AJ: …as you do, right? So no one else is going to spend the same amount of time trying to solve your problem or figure out what’s going on or make your life better. And I’m just astounded by how many people want to be kind of passive and just, y’know, they just want some expert to tell them what to do, y’know. I see it in education a lot.

Kristin: Yeah.

AJ: Where so many students or so many parents, they just trust some government employee, because that’s what most teachers are, they’re just government employees, bureaucrats, trust them to educate their kids. And if they’re not getting a good education, the parents sort of just feel helpless. It’s like, well, you’ve got to step in. You’ve got to be in charge. You are the one who will educate your children, not some other person.

Kristin: Right. And I imagine if it is a healthcare professional like my naturopath, I can imagine something complex, like my thyroid, that is probably overwhelming for her. She doesn’t have the time. I know just from doing any little bit of research I’ve done for myself. It’s very time consuming, y’know, you have to keep trying various things. It’s so easy to just say, “Here, take this pill or this supplement and let’s see if this helps.”

AJ: Well, yeah, it’s because, y’know, I think it’s…yeah, it’s not that the individual people are evil or bad or anything like that.

Kristin: Right.

AJ: The same in teaching, as much as I criticize the education system. Y’know, it’s just the truth is, it’s the system itself and I think it has to do with just the large numbers of people. So there’s limited time. They have too many patients, not enough time. And so they just can’t spend tons of time on every unique case that doesn’t fit the formula. And so they’re just not going to do it. They don’t have the time. They really can’t do it. They’ve got to see the next person and the next person and the next person. So if you have something that is important to you, you’re the one who has to take the time.

Kristin: Yes, exactly.

AJ: Because they…they, whoever they are, it doesn’t matter if it’s a doctor or a nurse. It doesn’t matter if it’s a teacher, psychology, in your relationships…y’know, I know you and I have had this experience where maybe in the past you’re dating someone and you think, oh, I’ll go to a counselor, like a relationship counselor and they’ll figure out and solve the problem.

Kristin: Right.

AJ: And they don’t. Because you’ve got to be the one to figure it out. Some psychologist or psychiatrist, they’re not going to do it.

Kristin: No.

AJ: And, I guess, y’know, I get it because we’re all a little bit lazy and to take 100% responsibility for every single thing in your own life seems like a lot but really that’s the only thing you can do because otherwise, y’know, unless you’re lucky and you have something simple, otherwise your problems usually don’t get solved until you take charge.

Kristin: Yeah, yeah, that’s true. Y’know, even thinking about this article you sent me, I want to read it. And I’d like to read her book. But quite honestly, y’know, whatever’s going on with me could be completely different from her. It’s so…our bodies are so complex and we’re so unique and individual that…

AJ: Well, that’s why you have to become an expert.

Kristin: …it might take a lot more…well, yeah, it might take more than even just reading her book.

AJ: Yeah, well, even she…y’know, she did the same thing. She did all this tons of research but then she had to, y’know, do specific tests for herself and figure out things and try different things for herself until she finally figured out, y’know, what worked for her case. And it’s sort of…that’s what we all have to do really, I think, is whether it’s health or something else is you…you research, you find out about other people, what they’ve done.

Kristin: Yeah.

AJ: But then you’ve got to start experimenting with yourself, as safely as you can, until you find what works for you. You become the expert of your own body, the expert of your own mind.

Kristin: Yeah.