Playing Doctor

With all of the constantly changing information out there, it is a wonder that more of us have not gone crazy.

Each day our sense of balance, understanding and all that we know to be true is knocked down and kicked in the teeth. On Monday our nutrition, safety and life choices are fine, and Tuesday, those same things become placebo, or poison.

Since it is impossible for any mere mortal to stay on top of all of the personal, experimental, and scientific research, we are forced to rely on our “experts” even though at every turn, our media continues to strangle every politician, teacher, civil servant, and mother before our eyes to leave us with no hope, heroes or specialists to trust.

So what are we to do when we are out there trying to make a living, a difference, and enjoy a long healthy, productive life?

What am I to do as a mother when I am faced with difficult choices about immunizations, nutrition, child development, allergies, lead in toys, guilt for working full time, and keeping up to date on what is good and what is bad today?

If I receive another comment from a doctor saying “Well, the JURY IS STILL OUT, but we do not BELIEVE that there is a correlation”, or “I have seen NO DIRECT scientific evidence that there is a connection, we just DON’T KNOW yet so I THINK you are SAFE or ok to…”. Is that supposed to be comforting? Does that mean that there is definitely no link or just that if there is a link, we need thousands of more tests to be sure? Or that years from now, we will find out that it is dangerous, but why worry about it now when we really do not know yet?

I am not a granola-eating advocate for breastfeeding until age 5, a complete conspiracy theorist, or someone who always questions authority, but much of what is going on with our children today, does cause me to pause.

There is enough for me to worry about in my daily life trying to raise a son to be a responsible citizen, knowing at some point he will resent me and possible need therapy to forgive me for that resentment.

Do I need to add to that guilt and worry whether my giving him soy milk will impede his growth and cause thyroid problems? How can I not be concerned that the immunizations that the CDC is forcing down our throats have increased dramatically. (The number of recommended immunizations in 1983 was 11 for a child ages 0-16 years of age. In 2008, the recommendations are 34 from ages 0 to 6 years.)

I don’t mean to be a playa or doctor hater, Doctors cannot always know the answers, but they certainly can learn to be more compassionate to our struggles and rather than having their egos crushed with our suggestions, learn that we are all in this together and our goals are the same.

I often daydream about re-enacting a scene from 9 to 5, chaining my doctor to a room in my home and using HIM as the guinea pig-- feeding him foods from the ‘generally safe’ list and catching him up on his immunizations --as it is doubtful that he had anywhere near the amount he advocates for my son.

The funny thing is that I like the guy, but we all have our hot buttons.