"Expert" Advice

Sometimes I wonder if I am some kind of a freak.

You see, I go to actual doctors to deal with my health issues, rather than Google or television talk shows. And I do what my doctors say to do.

I'm starting to think that makes me a freak, because, there are so many experts around now, who know everything about my condition. They know that if I ate a healthier diet, had a positive attitude, or ate the latest superfood featured on some tv talk show, I wouldn't be sick.  I don't need those dangerous drugs I take.

Really, the drugs I take are dangerous.  That's one of the reasons I regularly see doctors so they can make sure the drugs are doing more good than harm.

That's me. I'm a freak.  If I trusted the internet, I could be like all the experts who give me advice.

People don't even need to know what's wrong with me to be an expert on my condition. For example, the latest random person to see my profile on a social media site and fall in love with me (yeah, that happens) asked me what I do for work. I explained I don't work as such any more. I'm on a disability pension, but I blog and write indie books as something to do with my time. He told me he was sorry about what had happened to me but I needed to get over it and move on.  That was great advice, from someone who didn't know what had happened to me or whether or not it was still happening. Then he asked me what I was looking for in a relationship. I explained in no uncertain terms that I'm actually happy with my life and not looking for a relationship. (And if I were, it certainly wouldn't be with someone who would tell me how to live my life without knowing anything about it.)

I've also been told that people with autoimmune diseases cause them ourselves. If I stopped making myself sick, I wouldn't need all my drugs.

Then there's the diet thing.  Every week there's a new "superfood" which is another name for an ordinary food with a lot of marketing money behind it. If it's not a single superfood, it's a whole diet, or an exercise program.

There's also the "big pharma doesn't make cures, it makes patients" thing.  Usually the people who promote this one, then go on to promote "natural" therapies - made by the big "natural" pharma companies. Like big pharmaceutical companies, the big "natural" pharmaceutical companies are actually in it for the money - the only difference is they don't have the strict regulations about things like proving their products do something.

After all of the advice I get so often, I have to admit, I am recalcitrant.  I choose to continue to be a freak.  I keep going to actual doctors, and I keep following their advice. So I keep taking dangerous medications.