I’ve had two doctors mention to me this past week the importance of maintaining good brain health to avoid dementia and Parkinsons-yet neither one mentions avoiding Covid. One was surprised I’ve avoided it this long and didn’t understand how I could maintain that since it’s everywhere.
What am I missing? Why isn’t Covid in their discussions for brain health (and Parkinsons)?
Ignore the compartmentalized capitalist bootlickers that also carry a couple of letters after their name if they make no sense.
They'll chirp about Omeprazole & Diphenhydramine and an association with dementia, a much weaker association, that is more correlation (chronic inflammatory state of GERD or insomnia or allergies = poor sleep maintenance activity = dementiagenesis), but not mention COVID?
This is the same reaction that I suggest ADHD'ers give to doctors pandering to 1971 legislation about "oh Vyvanse is addictive and habit forming" when we can barely remember to take our dose, and the lead investigator -- Molina -- who hypothesized such has shown no association of stimulants in adolescence with later substance use disorder development.
Advocate for yourself, do above and beyond the bare basic research and dont expect doctors to be anything more than human, a carbon copy reflection of conventional wisdom WHEN they graduated, & very, very mainstream in biases, thinking, & attention.
Force them to do better.
Be blunt, be clear, be consistent.
Doctors do themselves a disservice feigning expertise if they aren't willing to be up to date on the literature yet will confidently dismiss advocacy as "people doing their own research" when it's often a matter of lived experience and how the medical systems have shaped their lives.
I actually engage in this myself. It's not "nice," I don't like doing it, but I have no choice when so many have normalized microglial dysfunction, neurotropic viral spread, and leaky blood-brain barrier related illness as they won't #WearAMask.
I had a patient show up either high on ketamine or manic, engaging in ideational flight, neologisms, rhyming, not making much sense, decreased need for sleep 6 days. No evidence of being obtunded or alterations in mental status.
I explained I wasn't prescribing them shit until they took an antipsychotic. Particularly when their drugs of abuse screen showed positive methamphetamine result on top of it (they didn't test for ketamine), not just amphetamine consistent with Vyvanse.
Patient engaged in splitting, and went to the PCP, pcp said he looked great (this was 2 weeks later by the way), probably had food poisoning, and delirium. 29yo with delirium from bad food, yeah that's common. "He should be put back on a controlled substance" and he says he ended the appointment with a hug from the patient.
As in, put on the medication again, by me.
Eyeroll.
So I laid it out to the PCP: surely since you are confident this was delirium, you are acquiescing to being the prescriber for his mental health needs correct? And by the way PCP, I did a confussion & assessment method evaluation, he showed no acute fluctuations in attention or alterations in mental status. I will not be prescribing the controlled substance.
The doctor to his credit realized the mistake he had made playing buddy buddy and maintaining poor boundaries, and found out that the patient had lied about someone else telling him to stop the antipsychotic. And that he would not be prescribing the controlled substance in question, or suggesting otherwise.
That's the kind of reality I am dealing with in an era of obvious #COVID19 compromise of the brains of individuals around me. This PCP is not a masker. I've no idea if this is a deviation from his baseline compared to 5 years ago, but I will absolutely treat him with skepticism because he is ignoring COVID & showing poor judgment.
In an era of gross COVID mismanagement and public health annihilation -- total defeat and capture by Koch and the funders of McKinsey, Brownstone, etc., we all must be our own best advocates, and doctors need to get used to that or be questioned on their poor airborne hygiene.
@hannu_ikonen Thanks. I appreciate all of this. I was disappointed (not surprised) that he ignored COVID all the while trying to sell me on his desire to keep me avoiding dementia and Parkinson’s -both of which happen in my family.
@GeorgiaOnMyMind Medical practitioners, contrary to popular opinion, are not scientists. They don't do science, they don't read science, they don't believe in science if it isn't endorsed by the CDC.
Doctors are priests and gatekeepers, taught to think of themselves as demi-gods.
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