Irony in Health

There are many decisions being made lately that scream irony... and it often has to do with expectations and societal movements.

So, let's say you have chronic illness patients, who all have a list of medications.
These medications have been weaned down to as few as possible - only the meds that make a very obvious difference in both the patient's experience AND test results.
Progress = good.
Right...?

But now some people are saying that diet can cure everything. So even if a patient has actively and specifically been on said diets, with little to no improvement, the push is to force them to try it again and be removed off of medication -> undoing the previous progress in the individual's illness.
So even though something is working - let's just stop that and try this new idea (that is really just a recycled old idea) and assume it will work because so-and-so celebrity says it is proven to work in all cases.
Oh - and if the diet fails, it's because the patient clearly did something wrong. It cannot be because the diet does not work for that patient's illness.

Being in horrendous pain every single day can surely cause some unprecedented mental strain.
You wake up and every day - every moment of every day - you suffer from significant pain that prevents you from functioning normally. It hurts like hell to do normal daily things: like breathing, eating, walking, standing up straight, going to the washroom, showering, sitting, standing, reading, lying in bed.
Pain. Pain. Pain.
Nausea. Nausea.
Sharp pain.
Stabbing pain.
Throbbing pain.
Aching pain.
Cramping pain..
Dull pain.

Now take that person, follow them to the doctor who decides to take them off of medication that was helping.
Next, remove their insurance and/or medical coverage, or reduce it.
Then, start them on a restrictive diet that causes some awful effects.
So you have increased their stress levels, decreased relief and subsequently increased their pain, and put them on a restrictive diet, which costs more money, which they are struggling with because of decreased medical coverage.

How does any of this make sense?

Then, let's say this diet is strictly and determinedly followed for 6 months. No cheat days, no falters, perfect compliance. Then what if it doesn't work?  Then this person has been without the treatment that was working for over 6 months, is criticized on one side for not following the diet properly (which they did), and criticized on the other side for believing such an unsubstantiated claim and dropping all of their meds for a diet-based promise from some celebrity who doesn't even HAVE the same illness.... And then it takes years after returning to the medication protocol that worked because it was out of their system for so long. And that's if the doctor even gets the patient back on meds that were working - especially since there is so much pressure on doctors NOT to prescribe things (like antibiotics, opioids, vaccinations, any brand name drug from big drug companies for that matter). So doctors are now being criticized on both sides - on one side for doing their job, on the other side for not doing their job. Hmmm.
But hey - free needles for everyone who uses the same drugs illegally. (Okay let's not get into that).

Topic switch: Let's also talk about depression among chronic illness patients.
Why is it that, if we have new symptoms or worsening symptoms and go in frightened, in increased pain, emotional, and informing our doctors about new symptoms, that the first question is whether or not we have been depressed?

Why is it so surprising that if patients are in pain, they might be sad simply because they are in pain?!

I understand that Depression and Anxiety can create physical symptoms. That is not the issue here. The issue is that if a patient comes in and says:
"Hey - I have all this new increased pain, and it has made me lose my appetite because eating hurts. I feel stuck at home because I get so ill if I leave the house. I can't even leave my room. And my migraines make it hard to even have the lights on."
There is a clear schedule of events.
Pain leads to reduced appetite.
Pain leads to less activity.
Pain = sad.
So why is it so hard to believe that severe pain is at the source of feeling depressed now and then (if not on a consistent basis).

Do you know how terrifying it is for chronic illness patients to talk about feeling depressed?
The second we mention it, we are labeled as mentally unstable, and the assumption is that depression is what is causing the pain - and not the other way around.
And then if our symptoms get worse, that D-word is used as a copout. 'Well, you have been depressed recently so that's likely why you are feeling sicker...'.
But if we act like we are always doing just fine - then we get the: 'well, you're obviously not that ill if you're in a good mood so much of the time'.... or my all-time favourite comment:

'But you don't look sick'!!

Most of these topics were discussed by several people within a group of people all suffering from chronic illness; lives consumed by pain and medical appointments, reading the newest scientific discoveries AND researching the new diet ideas and natural remedies. People who are trying anything and everything to just feel better.
Chronic illness is a forced lifetime commitment. So we go through life trying everything we can to improve our quality-of-life.