Who's the bigger fool? The old fool, or the fool who follows him?
I often feel like I'm always being jerked around in my constant battle against psoriasis. I have my good days and bad days, but it seems like every prescription tube of ointment is really full of snake oil. Thank G-d, my case of psoriasis is relatively mild - it's confined to my right shin, my elbows, and my ears. It just seems counter-intuitive the way doctors prescribe medication.
By and large, every tube of bulls**t that I've tried has been 99% aloe and 1% of the active ingredient that the FDA took ten years approving. To add insult to injury, usually it's ridiculously expensive. Then, there's the doctor's instructions. Take a tiny, tiny dab of the stuff and rub it on the effective area once or twice daily as needed.
What the hell? I'm supposed to take a tiny little dab of cream from a tube that contains 1% of the effective ingredient once or twice a day? In what bizzaro universe is any of the medication actually getting to my skin?
I've stopped short of the next big step in psoriasis treatment because it sounds idiotic. They're prescribing immuno-supressant drugs. Based on the hypothesis that my hyper-active immune system is causing my skin to reproduce too fast, they prescribe these drugs to weaken my immune system and thereby ease up on the skin production. How dumb is that? I'm going to risk numerous infections (and in one patient's case, DEATH) because my skin is flaky and itchy? Why are doctors so stupid?
I need to take that last sentence back. You see, I read an article in last weekend's newspaper about psoriasis. The article explained that banana peels are effective in treating patches of psoriasis. It suggested rubbing the peel on it daily, or for really bad areas, to put the peel on, tape it in place, leave it there and watch it magically disappear.
So, here I sit, unable to be judgemental because I have a banana peel strapped to my right shin. I think I might be an idiot.
By and large, every tube of bulls**t that I've tried has been 99% aloe and 1% of the active ingredient that the FDA took ten years approving. To add insult to injury, usually it's ridiculously expensive. Then, there's the doctor's instructions. Take a tiny, tiny dab of the stuff and rub it on the effective area once or twice daily as needed.
What the hell? I'm supposed to take a tiny little dab of cream from a tube that contains 1% of the effective ingredient once or twice a day? In what bizzaro universe is any of the medication actually getting to my skin?
I've stopped short of the next big step in psoriasis treatment because it sounds idiotic. They're prescribing immuno-supressant drugs. Based on the hypothesis that my hyper-active immune system is causing my skin to reproduce too fast, they prescribe these drugs to weaken my immune system and thereby ease up on the skin production. How dumb is that? I'm going to risk numerous infections (and in one patient's case, DEATH) because my skin is flaky and itchy? Why are doctors so stupid?
I need to take that last sentence back. You see, I read an article in last weekend's newspaper about psoriasis. The article explained that banana peels are effective in treating patches of psoriasis. It suggested rubbing the peel on it daily, or for really bad areas, to put the peel on, tape it in place, leave it there and watch it magically disappear.
So, here I sit, unable to be judgemental because I have a banana peel strapped to my right shin. I think I might be an idiot.