The personal cost of GDD
I have spent a lot of effort addressing my opinions of the scientific aspects of GDD, and some on insurance coverage shortcomings. I have not really addresses the personal costs of GDD, yet these are extremely common and extremely painful. In many respects all issues tie together.
Big problems of GDD sufferers include: most doctors dismiss that individuals with normal renal function can be sick from Gd (and some are quite abusive about this) and most patients visually appear relatively normal, despite feeling very sick. The net result, if family members hear that doctors think that the subject cannot be sick from Gd and that the subjects themselves look fairly well - it is also not surprisingly that they should think somehow the patient is faking it or is somehow psychiatrically ill. Add to this that often the subject can no longer work, and has also spent a lot of money trying to get a diagnosis, often fruitless, so financially destitute..
It is heart-wrenching to hear the stories of divorce, psychological abuse, physical abuse, abandonment that a number of individuals experience. I have heard these stories.The reality is that many of the patients I see and treat, are able to travel the distance here to be treated, and undergo the expense of treatment because of some combination of still having some financial resources, and having a partner or family member who believes them that they are sick and are supportive.
I hope this blog, by way of bringing some understanding, helps: individuals can be very sick from Gd, and in the right hands, many of them are treatable to near cure. Things can return back to near normal.
Richard Semelka MD Consulting Stay tuned on the latest advancements: