Why I don't go to the doctor.

Ok so everything started on Wednesday night or Thursday morning. I still went to work. Thursday night I went to jujitsu but it was too painful to work out. I taught newbies. My fever would come and go, meaning more than just fever, I am having trouble maintaining one of my favorite high school biology terms: homeostasis. On Saturday at work, I could barely turn my head or stand up, but I was working with the owner's wife, a mom, who did a quick review and said, "You're leaving early, and you should go to the doctor." Steve gave me a back and neck massage which loosened things up a little, but I was still miserable enough to take a half-dose of aspirin (so like me, I hate meds haha). Here's the conversation I had with mom:

Mom: How are you feeling?
Me: A little better now that I took an aspirin.
Mom: Wow, thats not like you.
Me: Yeah, I was wondering if you could make a doctor's appointment for me on Monday.
Mom: Who are you and where's my daughter?

In addition to all this, I had pain in my right side that has since left so its not appendicitis. Probably just anxiety from everything else going on. There was also The Rash. The Rash was located along my underwear line, and due to its proximity to certain body parts, it was sort of D-shaped, but if it was on plain, uninterrupted skin, it would probably be a nice round circle.

So, when I went to the doctor today, I mentioned all this. First to the nurse, then to the med student trailing the doctor, then to the doctor herself. I have to say, I am not cutting the doctor down. I really liked her, and for some reason I feel better about having Indian doctors. My pediatricians were Indian too, and mom always said I loved them. My doctor herself was great. Its western medicine I don't like, coupled with a fear of getting sued that causes doctors not to actually diagnose you with anything.

She did a completely pointless test of my strength in which she applied no pressure to my arms and legs and told me to resist. Then she wanted to see how much my joints hurt but because I had taken an aspirin just to get myself out of bed, I was slightly more mobile, although I did tell her it was late at night when the pain reaches a ten on the scale.

After that she looked at The Rash and then in my ears and throat. She concluded that the one thing I didn't mention to her as a symptom (pain due to slight swelling behind my eardrum) was what was causing my fever and joint pain. (Sorry honey, I've had ear infections at least 3 times a year for the first 15 years of my life, no fever causes this much pain in your joints, especially not a "slight" infection.) And The Rash? I've been jogging at night, so perhaps being sweaty caused a fungal rash, since its right on my underwear line. (I've had a fungal rash as well; it itches and burns and feels nothing like This Rash, which happens to feel like nothing.)

So, when she found out I live in Hicksville, spend time in a garden a lot, jog at night on a street with no sidewalks and frequent exposure to bushes, and sleep with a cat who can't sleep alone ever since he was stuck in a tree for 72 hours, she didn't think "gee I wonder if this girl had a tick bite somewhere near that rash" she thought, "There must be an infection AND a fungus that both occurred in a timeframe that would cause symptoms to appear on the same night."

As an afterthought, she ordered a blood test to check for Lyme and "other stuff" not telling me what "other stuff" but since I am mostly worried its Lyme disease I don't really care what the "other stuff" is since the very very basic insurance company my family uses covers blood tests and doctor's visits.

Anyway, I'm now on antibiotics for my ear infection which I don't have, but since Lyme is also treated with antibiotics, I decided to actually get that prescription filled. She also prescribed a glorified aspirin so that instead of taking an aspirin every 4-6 hours, I only have to take this twice a day, although like the aspirin, it doesn't completely numb the pain. Oh yeah, and cream for my "fungal rash" hahaha...

Seriously, I thought about putting tea tree oil on my "rash," getting willow bark extract for the pain, and boosting my immune system with ginger, garlic, sage, and echinacea. But I have to go back to her in a week, so I can't just say "I didn't do what you said" because then if AM still sick, she'd say, "That's why you're still sick." So I'll give her a chance.

Hopefully by the time I'm ready to have kids the insurance companies will start accepting alternative medicine practitioners. I can't deal with western doctors all the time and I would not be able to handle the looks from other parents when I don't take them to the doctor for every sniffle.