My Migraine Battle: On The Forefront

The Untouchables

As migraneurs, we don't get the kind of treatment that we need. It's probably one of the biggest, unnecessary travesties that we have to deal with. The lack of education in the medical profession regarding this subject is also very frustrating.

It's a real problem when you have an "invisible" disease. However, I always try to keep in the back of my mind that if I had cancer pain, they would prescribe morphine and demoral and whatever they could to ease the pain, whether or not it was addictive. I just lost track of that this past week, because my discussion with my doctor shook me up so much.

It's only because our disease is invisible, that we are taken less seriously than patients with, say, M.S. Cancer, Parkinsons, A.L.S. or Diabetes. It's because we "can't die" from it. Well, to me, that's the horrible part of this disease. We don't go into remission, the treatment is negligible, and the great majority of us don't have the option, or the mercy, of dying from it. That's the tormenting part about it. It's like we live in a perpetual state of limbo, either receiving limited care and negligible relief or not receiving any care or compassion at all. We are the untouchables in our supposedly classless society.

This must change. Somehow, our society must become enlightened to the plight of chronic pain patients. How will this happen if not through the portals of higher education? The schools have to start teaching and training their medical students on how to treat chronic pain patients, emotionally and physically. They have to open their minds to the strong fact that there are diseases of unknown etimology and without the pathology that our current technology can detect. There are genetic disorders and diseases that are invisible, undetectable, yet can be treated if the doctor would just be open to learning about them. When that happens, then we will begin to see doctors come up with new ways of treating migraneur patients, new inventions, new drugs (and hopefully many that are not addictive). They could be an instrument of changing people's lives, instead of instruments of judgement, harrassment and the causes of more pain than the patient is already in. Therefore, humility is another of the keys to compassion.

posted by Jessica @ 12:09 PM