| For one thing, patients who believe they have "arthritis" and other forms of "inflammation" are often deceived by terminology. Arthritis and other -itis conditions may in fact be -osis or something else degenerative, incurable and mostly untreatable. But they're called "-itis" because it falls into a category of "something we can treat" and so NSAIDs and analgesics are recommended/prescribed. "-itis" also implies "something that may eventually go away" so it doesn't entirely destroy the hope of a patient but keeps them as a good customer, at least in the drugstore. A physician who diagnoses things he can't treat could lose his practice, his license and his reputation. The practice of medicine is fundamentally where they match up a list of drugs in formulary with patients and symptoms. Unless the patient sees an ad and homes right in on what they want in the first place. Any genuinely effective pain medication will be abused. Surely we've seen those commercials that tout how few Aleves you can take, compared to gob-stopping handfuls of other pills. Incurable chronic pain is a cash cow for OTC drug makers, because anyone who's that hard-up will studiously ignore side- or long-term- effects, in favor of seeking short-term relief from whatever ails ye. It's basically illegal to sell anything effective in a store; needs must regulate and gatekeep and extract maximum insurance money from them. And if you really read the directions on the label, many OTC meds will shout "DISCONTINUE USE AFTER X DAYS AND SEE A PHYSICIAN!!!" because why stay on the weaksauce? Also, any substance/chemical that's available to consumers, and could be abused or used in suicide is deliberately adulterated/nerfed to make it really unpleasant/inconvenient/expensive. Look at cancer: often someone with an incurable cancer will undergo arduous, horrific treatments that are really more guaranteed to sicken/kill them than the actual tumors. I'm always curious to know stats on who dies from chemotherapy rather than cancer. I'm a Christian and I firmly believe in redemptive suffering, a topic on which my pastor wrote a dissertation, and he accompanied me in suffering, and there's no suffering that won't bring about a greater good. Nobody can relieve mine except Christ Jesus and his mother, and I will gladly meet them when the time is right. |
I would email you but since you have no contact information on your profile I will just say I strongly urge you to seek medical advice, and maybe seek out a pastor at a mainstream church to discuss your situation.
I knew someone who nearly died and who held very similar non-mainstream medical and non-mainstream religious beliefs.
When they were in so much pain they couldn’t even stand up they finally agreed to be taken to a hospital where they lay on the floor of the emergency department. It turns out they had a near fatal infection in the spine, which was easily cured by antibiotics (after months of agony) and the suffering reduced by painkillers.
It’s a matter of personal belief but I don’t think there is any higher purpose to real suffering (suffering caused by illness or by other people).
I also don’t believe that you stand to lose or compromise your faith in any way by accepting medical treatment.