- You see WNL or your health care provider says results are “Within Normal Limits”
- What demographic was used to establish the normal limits? Are you in that demographic? If no, then more information is needed.
- If yes, what is the bell curve and where are you on it?
For example: I was WNL for thyroid hormone, and my IVF doctor put me one thyroid hormone replacement therapy because they had found an effect on fertility at “sub-clinical” (WNL but the low end of the bell curve) levels. It cleared up the fatigue I had developed in the prior year even though my thyroid had been checked when the fatigue flared up, so that “couldn’t” be the cause. Except it was.
- “The test result is slightly abnormal, and it could be several things.”
- Reply: Ok, so best case it’s nothing, what’s the worst case and the most common case – if those are two separate things? And what’s the next step to rule out (find the differential diagnosis) the worst case scenario?
- You need an ESR test.
- The ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate) test measures inflammation. Just refuse it and probably go find a new doctor. As far as I can tell ALL illness is caused by inflammation and there is no such thing as “all in your head” meaning not in your body. Your brain has incredible control over your body, so it might be causing the problems, but the ESR test won’t really help direct you.
- You need a full body CAT scan.
- I would refuse it, it’s just radiation and the doctor having no clue where to focus. Find someone with a clue. Unless you’re doing it for a research study, in which case, awesome, thank you and how do I sign up? 😀
- When picking a surgeon, ask:
- how many of that specific surgery they have done total and annually for the past 3-5 years.
- what their worst outcomes have been. If they don’t have any, I wouldn’t trust them. Either they are hiding inexperience, or they haven’t done enough to come across a hard case.
- what the worst possible outcome might be, say with a less experienced surgeon – (look up the answer either before or write it down to look up after so you can verify if they actually know and are willing to tell you the risks)
For example, I asked Dr. Zaghi of the Breathe Institute and his worst cases were some excessive bleeding and having to go back and redo the surgery. He also acknowledged that permanent nerve damage and pain was a possibility even though he’d never had that outcome before.
- “medically unexplained but not dangerous”
- This means that they don’t know the explanation, not that one doesn’t exist
- how do they know it’s not dangerous if it’s unexplained?
This is a great one:
Assume every medical worker is Neurodivergent – bring a list of questions in order of highest to lowest urgency. Urgency should be based on how much/often it impacts your ability to perform activities of daily living.
References:
What Your Doctor Really Means When He Says . . . (menshealth.com)
How do doctors determine that symptoms are medically unexplained? (healthtap.com)