Chocolate Cure

'A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down' well that is according to Mary Poppins, whom I loved as a child and still find her a fascinating character after all these years, so if sugar eases the consumption of medicine then chocolate must have an even bigger impact.

It was the 'cure' offered by my GP, a senior doctor of the practice, with fair amount of experience  and qualifications, whom up to that day, I had always fully liked, trusted and respected. To give brief background of the situation I had severe abdomen pain and headache, so asked for both matters to be investigated as they have been constant for more than two weeks, his direct response was 'No, we know it is your disease' meaning my my medical condition of muscular dystrophy, and it is just matter of living with it!!! I looked at him with disbelieve more than anger, there are times when people shock you so much that your emotion becomes frozen for a brief period of time as it takes few minutes for you to grasp what has just been said. I was naturally speechless, not just at how an educated medical profession calls a physical condition a disease, but at the fact he was not even attempting to show any slight interest in finding out the cause of the pain, he did not even offer to take my blood pressure to see if the headache is a caused by high BP.
After a minute or so, I said so what is the solution I cope with this pain and not know the real cause or even if it is related to my condition then surely there MUST BE A WAY to deal with it. His response changed from an arrogant defensive tone to a more patronising one, as he pointed out that I was one of his most tolerant and enduring patients, who bears a lot of pain and copes without painkillers and wishes that he could help me more and seeing me makes him feel useless as he can not do much for me!!!!! I just smiled, I lost all the words that had been building up in my head, but actually it was not so much losing as knowing should I speak my mind I could risk being seen as depressive or labelled as a 'difficult patient' so carried on smiling and reassuring him that he is not a useless doctor. After his long speech of me being a complex patient that can not be helped, came his peak performance as he turned around and said ' can I offer you a chocolate that will help' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I opened my eyes and ears just to confirm to myself if this was true, yes... yes it was real my GP refused to refer me to specialist or have my pain investigated as he 'knew' it was caused by my condition and his only solution was ....yes simple chocolate. My response was a nervous laugh and said 'no thank you, its fine. It was  a strange feeling, as I said before, not just anger but mixture of  things, I felt slightly pathetic as though I was a child that is about to be injected with the biggest needle and is told this chocolate will make the pain better, I felt weak, betrayed by someone I had entrusted with my health, and at a loss. How will the chocolate help? I keep wondering to this day what would have happened if I had taken his offer and then rang few days later and said, 'I still have the same pain and the chocolate did not help'! 

An idea has came into my head as I am writing this blog, actually it is more of an explanation of the 'chocolate offer'. I guess his intention was to make me happy and forget my pain and problems by eating chocolate, something that quite common among people, I have heard few friends and others saying that through bad moods or monthly cycle they feel the need to eat chocolate, simply because it brings their sugar level higher and ultimately increase their energy and self esteem by enjoying a desired craving, all of which contribute to making them feel better physically and mentally. So was he right? did I over react? am being too judgemental? from my perspective no, he should have at least attempted to run basic tests to determine the cause of my pain, he could have talked to me as an adult, and if you were going to offer chocolate then at least offer decent good brand. I leave you this week with my usual thought, if doctors can use chocolate as a method of treating patients, then imagine all the NHS money that could be saved, we would have a happy high spirited nation who will probably suffer from diabetes, overweight and teeth decay, But will have cut cost and increased Dentists profits.