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http://mastcelldisorders.wallack.us/yabb/YaBB.pl General Mast Cell Disorders Discussion >> General Mast Cell Disorder Discussion >> TV show HOUSE http://mastcelldisorders.wallack.us/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1308162514 Message started by kimtg68 on 06/15/11 at 07:28:34

Title: TV show HOUSE
Post by kimtg68 on 06/15/11 at 07:28:34

Have any of you watched that show on television called HOUSE? Did you find yourself, BEFORE DIANOSIS, sitting there hearing them talk about tests your been through and diseases you've had ruled out? I HAVE! It's almost comical to look back at the shows I've been totally engrossed in, knowing it's a fictional show, but still wondering in the back of mind, "hmmm could it be?" LOL I think we should write the show and ask them to start including Mast Cell disorders as dianosis for their show! ROFL!!!!!

Title: Re: TV show HOUSE
Post by Joan on 06/15/11 at 08:58:22

I've often wanted House and his team to get in here and diagnose some people on the forum! I did hear them mention systemic mastocytosis as a possibility during one episode, but it was ruled out. I wish I could remember why they ruled it out. I loved that show for a while, but then it started being a downer seeing all those people who were as sick as I've been.

At least most of them get better!

Title: Re: TV show HOUSE
Post by kimtg68 on 06/15/11 at 09:07:52

Yeah, we used to joke about hiring House to check me out. I must have missed the episode where SM was mentioned. I happened to be watching HOUSE and had to post this thread. I just wondered if anyone else watched it before they had a dianosis and had a moment where they wondered about something House was investigating. Crazy to say knowing it's a fictional show.

Hope you are having a good day Joan.

Title: Re: TV show HOUSE
Post by Lisa on 06/15/11 at 13:28:35

I'd have a LOT of money saved up if I'd gotten a $10 for every time a doctor told me I needed a HOUSE!

Oh, but boy am I grateful for my caring wonderful doctors for I've been in the hands of HOUSE during these past 4 years and oh is it HORRIBLE!!

If you'll notice, they NEVER tell the story from the side of what it's like to be the PATIENT in HOUSE'S HANDS!! If they did, the show would be so incredibly INFURIATING and SAD that I think they'd have to stop the show due to how upset the public would get!! They way they unmercifully poke, prod, and rip that patient to shreds without having any real clue of what is wrong nor what they are doing is attrocious!! YET THIS DOES AT TIMES HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE! And that's what's so awful about it!!

Yet, what is worse is when the doctors will slap at you the same kind of "diagnoses" without any real basis except a hunch that they may have, this is what we patients go through! I CAN'T STAND WATCHING HOUSE!! PERIOD!!

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, STILL GO THROUGH IT AT TIMES AND..... I KNOW THAT THERE ARE STILL PLENTY OF HOUSES OUT THERE BEFORE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yet, to balance those negative thoughts, oh, for every House I've encountered, I've got about 10 lower level doctors who REALLY CARE, WANT TO HELP ME, ARE KIND AND UNDERSTANDING, WORK HARD TO HELP ME, and are just plain WONDERUL!!! I'll take my lower level doctors for a HOUSE any day!!! With my lower level doctors, we've found what those few HOUSES could not and with a great deal less stress and grief in the process!!!

So, I'm a House Boycotter!! >:(

Title: Re: TV show HOUSE
Post by Mike on 06/15/11 at 16:48:02

Some day, I'd like to be HOUSE..... Ok, w/o all the anger and addiction issues.....

Title: Re: TV show HOUSE
Post by kimtg68 on 06/16/11 at 02:21:50

Oh boy Lisa, I'm glad you got that out! I appologize if I caused those bad feelings to surface. I just happened to be watching House when I posted that and in the middle of the show I found myself laughing! Not because it was funny but because they mentioned four different possible diagnosis that 'I' actually went through. I'm not sure why laughter ended up being my choice of emotion. I just as easily could have cried or got mad and turned the channel but instead.....I laughed and then I thought of all of you as well. I suppose I was laughing at the absurdidy of the entire situation but knowing that I'm still holding it together even if I haven't found my answer YET! So that's why I posted that. Again...I realize it's just a fictional show but it did hit close to home. That's when I thought of you all and realized that I know I'm not the only one who has had to go through this crazy dilema of searching for answers. And if watching that show made ME think of you all and what others have had to endure, surly those that have watched the show have had some sort of emotional feeling or mental thought when watching it as well. I was just curious.

Title: Re: TV show HOUSE
Post by Lisa on 06/16/11 at 04:09:55

Oh Kim, you didn't cause me ANY GRIEF!! Trust me! My kids really enjoy this program and they watch it, but they don't understand how hard it is to be in OUR SHOES! They don't know how discouraging it is to go from doctor to doctor with the same hope that Maybe this time....! and then to walk out of there totaly disappointed and even upset with yourself that you should have known better! The problem isn't so much with the lesser level doctors, you expect them not to know, but he problem is when we go to higher leveled doctors, some with big fancy pedegrees and because they've been so big universities or they've got several letters behind their MD title your hopes get even higher expecting that Now this time I've found someone who can help me!

What so many of us don't know and understand is that it isn't so much where the doctor went to school or how studied he really is, but what exactly has he specialized himself in! This is part of the debate of why or why not to go to Mayo, right? It has a big name and reputation for getting down to the matter, but in the end, if they don't know masto, they're no better help than if you'd gone to the hospital around the corner from your house! The end result will be the same if not worse.

The diagnosis I got of "hysteria" along with the accusation of Munchausens came from a House like doctor! We had to travel 5 hours to Sao Paulo to see him, he was the highest authority in Carcinoid Syndrome. Had done his fellowship at Sloan Kettering for 3 years and supposedly really knew his stuff! Well he did, but he knew ONLY that and hadn't the slightest idea as to the carcinoids differencial diagnossis, that of mastocytosis! He didn't ask for one single blood test and since I had so totally normal tests in everything else I'd been tested for (it as all focused upon Cancer and no other area of medicine at that point) he figured that I had been given a huge "scare" due to the hysterectomy, that this brought forth psychosomatic symptoms and then upon the "suggestion" of one of my doctors of disease I then read the information on the carcinoid syndrome and thus "DEVELOPED" ALL of the remaining symptoms from that point on! We spent a GREAT DEAL of money for that "Diagnosis"! This guy felt he was God's gift to oncology and still does! He considers himself a House!

Kim, you didn't do wrong in bringing up this subject and yes, I got your point as to Don't you feel like you're living these episodes yoursel? Yes, I've laughed at it with my kids and say, Yes, they thought that one and that other one, etc. But I'm the one who took it a step further for I know that most of us have stories very similar to mine of that of going around in ENDLESS CIRCLES until FINALLY someone is able to recognize that we aren't making anything up and that YES something is indeed seriously wrong here and that we need HELP!!

It's wrong that it takes on average 9-11 YEARS for a masto patient to get a diagnosis! THAT'S WRONG! But this is because we all know afterwards that the doctors we went to just didn't have a clue and that even though they tried their best, they just couldn't put the pieces together because it's just TOO RARE and THEY DIDN'T KNOW!

So, please don't be upset that you brought up these feelings. I've gotten over these a long time ago, but for these reasons I don't have any patience for House! These kinds of doctors are arrogant and they consider themselves God's gift to patients and when they make a "diagnosis" it's set and they won't reconsider that they have perhaps made a mistake! They stick to their guns for to admit that perhaps they have made a mistake undermines their self-confidence and self-image and this is something they won't do for it means that they aren't perfect. They prefer to keep their self-opinions than admit their mistake and who suffers for this is not really them, but the patient! And this is the worst of it!!

Title: Re: TV show HOUSE
Post by Starflower on 06/16/11 at 06:10:32

Over the last five years I've seen quite a slew of doctors...

- Four Ob/GYNs
- One ENT
- Four GPs
- Four allergists
- One rheumatologist
- One infectious disease specialist
- One dermatologist
- Three opthamologists
- Three hematologists
- Two gastroenterologists
- One orthopedist
(maybe more, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head)

... and that's not even including the midwife, the pathologists, and the huge number of nurses who ran tests, drew blood, and took biopsies.

In my experience, the best doctors are nothing like House. They're brilliant, but they understand that the path to a diagnosis... especially when you're dealing with a rare disorder... is a partnership. Even if they manage to figure out what you have, can they help you really learn to LIVE with it on a daily basis? Probably not. I just got back from seeing Dr. Castells and Dr. Greenberger in Boston... there was nothing arrogant about their behavior. We treated each other with mutual respect.

House (the show) appeals to me on a "medical geek" level, but it's not a good representation of what it's really like to have a rare disorder!! I also stopped watching because they were spending too much time focusing on the characters instead of the medicine ;)

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