Thank you for this great overview of the medicalization capture of a natural process. Remembering accompanying young pregnant friend to doctor appointment; she was advised of gestational diabetes, during which the nurse practitioner (NP) seamlessly moved into the pitch, the need for injections, scheduling another practitioner to ‘teach’ her to give herself injections. Friend looked at me and asked, “do I have to?” I replied. “Of course not; this is something that can be managed at home” to the horror of the NP. Some background: the actual doctor had remarked on her ideal weight and body mass, and said the urine was so clear you could drink it, and that the very healthy young woman was an anomaly in his practice. The gestational diabetes was easily managed at home through diet and exercise. Continues to avoid ‘medical practices’ when possible, taking responsibility for self, as does her entire family.
Last year I had my son in August. Of course everything you’ve written is true. My normal BP started going up (white coat syndrome I NEVER had pre pregnancy) when I’d visit the doctor but I had them check it manually after the visit and it would be normal. Post partum, the first week, it stayed elevated. I was SO sleep deprived, ended up with a C section, which my doc and I didn’t want but ended up having to do, and I was breast feeding. When I went in because of my blood pressure, my liver enzymes were sky high. So they put me in for magnesium drip and put me on labetalol or however you spell it. My actual OBGYN was not the one who did all this. It was the on call. When he came to see me for discharge he said he never would have done all of this. He would have put me on BP med and sent me home. He also only kept me on it for two weeks with monitoring because his goal was for me to get off of it as soon as possible because he felt it was just my body reacting to no sleep and the c section which is why he doesn’t like to do them unless it’s necessary. So I did what he said and he took me off the meds. It’s been a year and half and my liver enzymes are fine when I checked them myself a few weeks ago and my blood pressure has been fine since. God is good and so is my doc actually ☺️
Something so natural has been ruined and exploited by man .😢.
Thank you for this great overview of the medicalization capture of a natural process. Remembering accompanying young pregnant friend to doctor appointment; she was advised of gestational diabetes, during which the nurse practitioner (NP) seamlessly moved into the pitch, the need for injections, scheduling another practitioner to ‘teach’ her to give herself injections. Friend looked at me and asked, “do I have to?” I replied. “Of course not; this is something that can be managed at home” to the horror of the NP. Some background: the actual doctor had remarked on her ideal weight and body mass, and said the urine was so clear you could drink it, and that the very healthy young woman was an anomaly in his practice. The gestational diabetes was easily managed at home through diet and exercise. Continues to avoid ‘medical practices’ when possible, taking responsibility for self, as does her entire family.
this: "what the system frames as care."
Last year I had my son in August. Of course everything you’ve written is true. My normal BP started going up (white coat syndrome I NEVER had pre pregnancy) when I’d visit the doctor but I had them check it manually after the visit and it would be normal. Post partum, the first week, it stayed elevated. I was SO sleep deprived, ended up with a C section, which my doc and I didn’t want but ended up having to do, and I was breast feeding. When I went in because of my blood pressure, my liver enzymes were sky high. So they put me in for magnesium drip and put me on labetalol or however you spell it. My actual OBGYN was not the one who did all this. It was the on call. When he came to see me for discharge he said he never would have done all of this. He would have put me on BP med and sent me home. He also only kept me on it for two weeks with monitoring because his goal was for me to get off of it as soon as possible because he felt it was just my body reacting to no sleep and the c section which is why he doesn’t like to do them unless it’s necessary. So I did what he said and he took me off the meds. It’s been a year and half and my liver enzymes are fine when I checked them myself a few weeks ago and my blood pressure has been fine since. God is good and so is my doc actually ☺️