Who remembers the old story about the generational family roast? Great Grandma was known for making the perfect family roast. Her recipe was handed down through multiple family members over a few generations. So now Mom, is trying to teach her young daughter how to achieve this same success by bringing her into the kitchen and demonstrating step by step how to do this. The first thing the daughter noticed was Mom cutting off a small section of the end of the roast and laying it to the side. She remained silent and kept observing as her Mom continued the process of preparing the meat and adding seasonings before placing it into a roasting dish. Finally the daughter asked her Mom why she cut off the end of the roast and what is she planning on using it for. She replied this is how we always did it, not exactly sure but don't question perfection. The daughter who wasn't thrilled with that answered decided not to drop it, started reaching out to other family searching for the answer. She kept receiving the same response.
The questions started listing in her head. Did somehow cutting the end of change the way it cooked? Was there a way that assisted with getting all the seasoning to cook better inside? She started going to older family members asking questions but the end result was "that is just how it was always done". Great Grandma had long passed by then so she couldn't go to the source. Her last option was searching through family photos. Seems they enjoyed photographing themselves in the kitchen. She just happened to run across the one picture that provided the answer she needed. Great Grandma standing behind her roasting pan while putting her meat in. What the daughter noticed was that it was a usually small pan. Come to find out, Grandma had been cutting off a section of meat so it would fit in her pan. All these years a system was followed without asking why.
I tell this story because we fall into the same bad habits by not asking questions or following through to find the answer. Really good individuals become content with accepting a norm because it's always been that way. Questioning something doesn't mean disrespect or even not trusting. All of us get complacent mainly because it's worked out or we just trust that there aren't any other ways. Here is a fact about medicine that many don't pay a lot of attention to. It is always changing, new meds, new ways to diagnose, new therapies, etc. Daily researchers publish studies, meetings are being held around the World trying to help educate the Medical Community. Even though pretty much all Licensed Professionals are required to obtain a certain number of Continuing Educational Units (CEU) to keep an active license it's difficult to find easy to access in specialized fields. Then we have subfields which makes it a little more difficult. Example of this is Multiple Sclerosis. It falls under Neurology but so does Dementia, Parkinson's Disease, Myasthenia Gravis, Seizures etc. NOBODY can be 100% updated on every Neurological Disease. If a Neurologist specializes in Multiple Sclerosis this increases the chances of him/her being more updated on the latest.
I went to a MS Specialist for 20 years where I learned a lot by both the Dr. and staff educating me along with the reading the literature left in waiting rooms. Then of course I was always searching online for more. He also went once a year to the largest meeting held World Wide for this diagnosis. I was one of the first 200 ppl in the US to actually use Campath as a treatment. This has been used in the UK at that time for a few years with a 75% success rate in slowing progression. I doubt seriously I would have had this opportunity under a regular Neurologist. Doesn't mean they are stupid or even behind it just means they haven't been introduced to this. Campath went on to becoming what we now call Lemtrada which is one of the top IV medications used in treatment for MS.
The last thing I want to mention is how important it is to have a Dr willing to discuss your questions with you, be open to suggestions, or appreciate your interest in wanting to improve. Recently, I had a horrible experience with a Neurologist that really didn't like being questioned and would talk down to me like I didn't understand he was the Dr. Don't even get me started on how he acted with a simple suggestion. That relationship ended after visit 3 when I got up and walked out. Medicine/treatment/recovery is a team approach so don't get intimidated, be scared, or allow anyone on your team make you feel stupid for asking a question. We can be the one in the position to teach them something.
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