Sunday, July 14, 2013

Chiropractic

Here's a link which I agree with which is about Chiropractic.  Right now, pretty much on the fence with this profession.  It's a total mess with everyone fighting with each other.  I think I would like to be a MD instead.  If I switch, it's going to be a long and hard road because I will still have to take a whole bunch of classes and jump through a whole bunch of loops.  However, I think that I'd be happier because I'd be following my heart.  I just don't want to spend 16,000 dollars per trimester in something that I am really becoming unhappy with.  It totally sucks because I am already under 100,000 dollars in debt with school.  I hate money.  I have realized it's pretty much something that grants access to things people need and want.  I hope that I am making the right decision.  MD make a whole bunch more money than Chiropractors.  However, it's really hard to get accepted in those type of programs.  


I am getting really frustrated because my body has been really fighting hard against me this trimester.  I am really trying to work with it; however, I think I need more education to know what's going on with me.  I would love to able to diagnose diseases and treat them.  However, I'd be only limited with certain conditions.  This program has not even taught me how to prevent injuries yet.  That was one of my goals from the beginning.  People in chiropractic think they know about Autism.  However, they really don't because they do not understand it.  They don't recognize that I am really Autistic.  The further I go through this program, the more I realize how Autistic I am.  I love obsessing and reading about a whole bunch of diseases. 

I was really blindsided last week.  The ER doctor said I probably have gastritis or an ulcer because I had epigastric pain.  I really, really did not want to go to the ER because it's a whole bunch of money.  The visit cost about 12,000 dollars.  However, this time I have insurance which will help out.  After I got out of the ER, I just cried and cried in my car because I was so frustrated about the whole thing.  If I am going to be a primary care doctor, I need to be able know all the different differential diagnoses.  We have not been taught pretty much anything about those two things in Chiropractic school.  I was thinking Acute Appendicitis because it was in the right area.  I was fighting nausea last Tuesday night and all of Wednesday .  I got really close to throwing up quite a few times, but I knew how to prevent that by not moving around.  

Ya, I really want more education because I feel that I cannot treat patients yet.  The only thing that I really know how to do is find subluxations and "adjust".  However, I hate that the things that we are taught won't be paid through insurance.  Insurance and chiropractic philosophy are really at odds with each other.  What really pissed me off the abdominal CT scan picked up a bilateral spondylolysis at L5.  I know that we have to be careful with them.  Cody who is in my class has one.  He says he's always in pain because of it.  However, I have read the amount of slippage doesn't correlate with the amount of pain.  A year and a half ago, I had a kidney stone which sent me to the ER.  I got an abdominal CT scan without contrast.  It picked up the kidney stone.  I know it picked up the spondylolysis too after looking at it with the new knowledge.  I can tell that the spinous process of L5 has moved further away from the body in a year and a half.  It sucks because I would have thought that the radiology department would have picked that up when I got an abdominal X-Ray over in the clinic.  

I am wondering why my neck and left shoulder likes to bother me.  It gets flared up when people adjust me.  At least, Mike who is my intern doesn't like to adjust it that much.  My right wrist likes to bother me too.  Last Monday, I had my wrist X-rayed because I was thinking ligament instability.  It didn't know anything abnormal.  However, we still should do dynamic stress images to make sure.  Of course, Mike doesn't know much about instability because we were not taught about it.  I still think that both I have tibial torsion in both of my legs because both my feet don't point where my knees point.  Of course, no one has taught and how to diagnose that condition.  

I am questioning the safety of me getting adjusted because of my Autism.  I am really hypermobile in some of my joints.  My hips and my scapulas have abnormal ranges of motion.  My entire spine is pretty much hypermobile too.  If people know how to lock out my joints in my neck, they will go pretty easily.  My thoracics adjust really easily, so people have to go pretty light on them.  My lumbars and hips are so hypermobile that many people have trouble adjusting me in side posture.  Most people torque me where it's really uncomfortable.  I tell them to stop, but most of them don't know how to stop torquing me.  It's probably because they want to take my joints to tension.  However, you cannot do that to me in side posture.  I loved Jarret's side posture because he got really good at it.  A whole bunch of things popped where it felt really good.  Only Dr. Pearce has done that to me recently.  

This is why I am questioning everything right now.  Since I am really hypermobile, did I get a Spondy because of people adjusting me??  What is the purpose for adjusting then if I am hypermobile??  Does Spinal Manipulation (Adjusting) hurt people??  Has it hurt my neck and lumbars??  How come I cavitate all the time when moving around when Dr. Marty Hall says that cavitations only happen past that passive range of motion barrier.  Some of my joints, cavitate in the active range of motion.  Dr. Marty Hall says that adjustments cause ligament laxity.  Am I getting adjusted way too much??  I have been getting adjusted twice a week for a year with Jarrett.  Before that, I was getting adjusted by classmates at least once a week.  This really flies in the face of chiropractic philosophy if getting adjusted actually hurts people.  Why do our professors except from Dr. Tom don't allow students to adjust them??  I was taught that getting adjusted will not hurt people what so ever.  Now I am really questioning that because what I am experiencing.  Why do I want to get in a profession if everyone disagrees and fights with one another??  No one can agree on the correct definition of what a subluxation is.  There are chiropractors that say that they can adjust people's emotions too.  Ya, everything is a mess.  This is why I am questioning everything and really confused.  I think I finally found a way.  I just wish that I didn't get screwed over in the process.  Oh well, that is what happened when I found martial arts.  I really got screwed by two people; my first teacher in Karate and my second teacher in BJJ.  I am probably acting the same way that I acted in my first Dojo.  I am trying to find the truth because I love what I do.  

What really pissed me off is when my one of my professors went against science with one of his test questions.  The question asked what is a good way to diagnose the thinning of cervical articular cartilage in a patient.  I said X-Ray because we can see the thinning of disks and decreased joint space.  However, he said none including CT Scan and MRI.  I found two studies that said that they can measure the thinning of cartilage in the facet joints.  Dr. Michael Hall did the same thing with eye movements.  However, I didn't mind it because I knew his position.  I ran into the same problem with Dr. Baggett and Dr. Watts test questions last trimester.  Dr. Watts said episiotomies don't work because they are more likely to tear again and normal tears heal better.  Dr. Baggett said that a cut that done in a straight line heals much better than a jagged cut.  I feel that this Triflex stuff which I am learning in Physical Therapy 2 isn't current at all.  It was published by Foot Levelers in the early 1990's.  Foot Levelers is a chiropractic company.  This is why I am questioning everyone because all of my professors are being really inconsistent.  I am was freaking out because I didn't know what to do when I hit clinic.  I wanted to work with MD's saying that I can help patients with back and neck pain.  However, now since Chiropractic is so unregulated, I can see why MD's don't trust us.  Especially when everyone says that vaccines will hurt children and will not prevent disease.  Even the American Chiropractic Association says that they want to encourage public choice, which means that they are taking a neutral stance.  That is really unacceptable.  We say that we have enough education to diagnose conditions and be primary health doctors.  However, I really disagree with that statement right now.  

Monday, June 17, 2013

Boards Part 1 Request for Accomodations

My disability affects my daily life the following ways:
It takes me longer to do things.  I don't organize things really well.  I tend to be really slow when I have to pack my bag to go home or when I have to clean and organize my apartment.  I love to obsess about things especially anything science related.  It takes me longer to communicate with people.  I decompress by not being around people.  I am more shy around people because I don't know how to act around them especially in groups.  Thus, why I love to observe when I am in labs in school instead of really actively participating.  My communication disorder is noticeable when I try to talk to people with heavy accents or from a different part of the country.  I don't remember what they said because I am trying to figure out what they are taking about.  Thus, I only get about half of what they are saying.  It is especially noticeable when I try to listen to my college professors who were born from a different country and where English is not their first language.  I love my Natural Reader software which reads everything I highlight on my computer including text in PDF format.  This is really useful because I can read much quicker.  Natural Reader keeps my attention when I read along with it.  

My disability affects my education and ability to take standardized WRITTEN examinations in the following ways:
My communication disorder takes me longer to read and comprehend written tests.  I learn by association, so I like to go back and recheck my answers to see if anything else has popped in my memory.  I love being in a quiet room because I am not distracted with people getting up and leaving. 

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

A Birthday and an Easter Card

Hello Everyone,


I just wanted to write down what I wrote in two cards today.  I know I should be going to bed and sleeping because I have two finals at 7:00 and 11:00 A.M. today.  However, I wanted to write down what I wrote before I sent these cards off in the mail.  

The first one is a birthday card to Frank Ritenour.  He is a veteran who turned 100 years old on the third.  One of my friends in Utah invited me to a Facebook page saying that he wanted birthday cards from all 50 states.  So, I decided to buy him a birthday card.   The actual birthday card reads, "Statistics show that 98 percent of all Americans are guaranteed to 'Get a Little' every birthday!!!"  On the inside it reads, "... a little older, a little grayer, a little slower, a little heavier, a little more tired...  Anyway, Happy Birthday."  I wrote, "Dear Frank, Happy Belated Birthday!!!  You are the first person that I actually bought and sent a birthday card to in my life.  I am 26 years old.  You must be doing something right to be 100 years old!!!  Well, you got a card from Texas.  However, I am a native from Washington and Montana.  Sorry that the card isn't Texan!!  Thanks for serving our country!!  I hope that you will keep this card for years to come.  May you live well and prosper!!! Love, Lizzie."  

The other card is an Easter card to my parents.  I bought this card a day before Easter.  I had practicals all last week, so I didn't get to send it out until today.  The front of the card reads, "OK, you may hear a crack..."  It's a chiropractor palpating an egg who is prone on a table.  The egg looks really worried.  The inside reads, "Hope your Easter is everything it's cracked up to be!!"  I wrote "Dear Mom and Dad, I know that I will see you this Saturday.  I know that this Easter has passed.  However, I still wanted to send this to you because I never send anything.  Plus, It's a chiropractic Easter card!!!  Happy Easter!!  I am writing this on the eve of finals week!  Wish me luck!!  I am totally excited to see my family again.  Thanks for being such a huge support for me while going through school.  My neuroscience professor would be really happy that I wrote and sent you a card!!!  Love, Lizzie (Wiffer J. Biffer)."  

My Clinical Neuroscience professor said it's better for us to write out cards and sent it to people instead of just emailing them.  They can see that we've actually put thoughts behind our words.  I think it's both just like what the brethren say in General Conference.  Sometimes, we use technology too much  where we stop communicating to each other.  For me, technology is a must for me to understand other people.  My computer reads to me all the time.  I love it because I can understand and read much faster otherwise.  Goodnight!!