I once went to an Al-Anon meeting - which is a meeting for people living with alcoholics. I got the wrong address and the wrong room and ended up in an AA meeting instead - which is a meeting for alcoholics. Early in the meeting I realized I was in the wrong meeting and tried to leave. One of the people I’d been talking to asked me why I was leaving and I said, “Well, I’m not an alcoholic.” I didn’t get a chance to explain anything before several people piped up and told me I was “just in denial” and to sit down and listen and I’d soon realize essentially, “The error of my thinking.” The more I protested that I wasn’t an alcoholic and was just in the wrong meeting, the more pissed off people got. So I sat down and waited and left after the meeting and never went back - which of course I’m sure resulted in a blanket belief that I was an alcoholic in denial. The same sort of catch-22 is happening now. For those too young to remember the book/movie by the same name - a “Catch-22″ is circular logic. In the book, Orr, the pilot explains:

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that: a concern for one’s safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Pilots who flew - putting themselves in the face of real and immediate dangers, were therefore crazy. Orr, who was flying, was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did - thereby demonstrating he was sane because his concern for his safety in the presence of real and immediate dangers had been demonstrated, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he were sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to.

One of the “gifts” of having Rh-Negative blood and several autoimmune diseases (fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue) is that anytime I get sick (although rarely), these hives are also triggered by my overactive immune system and tend to last 3 to 5 months as my body fights EVERYTHING I come in contact with - food, clothing, soap, some unseen viral remains in my blood from the flu, chemtrails, drinking water - whatever. Aside from the itching, swelling, loss of sleep and lack of focus the hives and the treatment for them brings, I find myself with a shorter temper, more irritation, more pain and much more depression - all symptoms of Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia, which are of course - according to the doctors, all in my head.

Discouragingly enough in addition to the hopeful news that researchers have linked Fibro and CFS to low thyroid, physical trauma and other things, the other medical “experts” continue to say that they still believe it’s really “all in the head,” and that people who can’t set goals and function in society use the disease as an excuse to fail. They say people with Fibromyalgia also are “excessive users of medical services,” and have personality disorders that make them difficult to treat. That’s what doctors who have no idea HOW to treat someone respond - by blaming the victim. That’s the equivalent of telling a person with a 500 pound rock on their leg to “ignore the pain and get on with your life because I have no way to remove the rock.” It’s the number one reason I keep working as much as I can and don’t rely on assistance. If you have medical problems, like cancer, CFS and Fibro, you’re going to use medical services more than someone who doesn’t. That’s the hallmark of the diseases!

Doctors, according to the American Medical Association (AMA) are the third leading cause of death in the United States. They misdiagnose, mistreat and mis-prescribe medicine at an alarming rate - yet we continue to listen to them?

According to several research studies in the last decade, a total of 225,000 Americans per year have died as a result of their medical treatments:

• 12,000 deaths per year due to unnecessary surgery

• 7000 deaths per year due to medication errors in hospitals

• 20,000 deaths per year due to other errors in hospitals

• 80,000 deaths per year due to infections in hospitals

• 106,000 deaths per year due to negative effects of drugs

I don’t want this post to be a rant against doctors (that would take multiple books), but it is a rant against the fact that doctors think they have all the answers and they consistently put their patients into Catch-22 situations. They explain that if you were healthy you would have a disease they could cure and if they can’t cure you, you must not have a disease.

This year I’m going to eliminate the doctors skepticism and find answers and solutions. When we get caught up in who is to blame, who is right, who is wrong, we lose precious time and resources looking for solutions and feeling bad about ourselves and our situation. The FACT IS, I have several autoimmune diseases. I have hives. I have health problems that prevent me from operating at my full capacity. But I’m not going to wallow in that. I’m going to find answers and do all I can with what I have.

You may have similar issues or health problems, or worse ones. You may have no health issues. But promise yourself that this year you are going to stop blaming and start acting. It’s the only way we’ll all find solutions.