>>7473396I have a chronic physical condition. No cure.
It causes a bunch of problems, increases my risk of cancer, and, if it gets really bad, requires multiple major surgeries.
The good news is, even though it's incurable, it's extremely manageable.
My doctor has had decades of practice and said it's simple: those who follow the treatment do very well, and those who don't do very poorly. There are no surprises. That's all.
The issue is that a lot of patients stop taking the medicine soon after their symptoms subside. After all, they're better now, right? Why continue taking medicine if you feel good?
But soon after they stop, their symptoms return, sometimes even worse than ever before, and eventually the old medicine is no longer useful.
At that point, they have to move to stronger, more dangerous treatments. And if those treatments stop working, then you need surgery, and the statistics show that if you need the surgery once, you'll likely need it multiple times.
Basically I was one of the assholes who stopped taking the medicine. I got worse, and the doctor was talking to me about starting the strongest treatment ASAP. He mentioned the potential of the surgeries and I got really scared, but I met with him today and he said my current medicine still works and I don't need the strongest treatment or even any new treatment at all. He said I was luky and I don't doubt it. I won't stop the medicine again. I know better now.
It feels like such a relief. I was really anxious for the past few weeks about this, but in the end I'm still okay.
tldr: I fucked up with my health, it could've cost me A LOT but it didn't cost me this time, I'll be more diligent in the future.
and DON'T BE A DUMBASS REGARDING IMPORTANT SHIT
