Health Update

It's hard for me to pinpoint the exact time I got sick; but if pushed, I would say: Labour Day Weekend. I was in the throws of writing a targeted number of words (25,000) for the 3-day novel contest when a semi-flu overwhelmed me, morphing from a long weekend of illness into a few weeks.

My energy never quite recovered. I had returned to work but was struggling. I was fatigued despite a full night's sleep, had headaches, was stressed, was irritable, nauseous, and a plethora of other inconvenient interruptions in my health and well-being.


I went to my family doctor who normally harped on exercise as the real nugget of common sense missing from my overall health plan.

Yes. Exercise is important. I get that. Now, what's wrong with me? How can you help?

Well, everyone's tired. Hang in there. Maybe you should see a psychiatrist. Come back again soon.

Sure. I am open to anything. I just need to get better.

In the meantime, I decide to see a Naturopathic Doctor who tells me I have low adrenal function; they are exhausted and I need treatment right away: IV treatments, and if you can take time off work, we can treat you twice a week, put you on various supplements and you'll be feeling better by Christmas.

Ok. I can work with a plan.

Work liked that I had a plan and gave me the time off. Fantastic.

This week I finally got in to see the psychiatrist my family doctor sent me to...
His first words were: "So you scored negative on all these tests I gave you, which means you don't have depression, you're not manic, you don't have social phobias nor do you have ADHD...why are you here?

I laughed out loud. I was already feeling miles and miles better than 6-8 weeks ago. This great.

I told him that when my family doctor doesn't know what to do with a patient who is getting adrenal cortex and vitamins intravenously for a syndrome that she doesn't understand, with symptoms she believes everyone has, she sends them to him. He was so confused. He graduated from UofT in 1963 and was no doubt an expert at what he does but he had no idea what to so with me. So he let me go.

Ahh, the Canadian Healthcare System is a strange thing. I can relate to the Americans. I pay for my healthcare. The stuff and the people that OHIP pays for doesn't help me or makes me sicker. We do have a 2-tier system already, it seems.

The good news is I'm getting better and better every day and can barely contain my excitement. It's been a long time since I've had this kind of progress with my health. It's the best Christmas gift I could ever have.