January 2, 2007--Kvetching
I was shocked to learn that 40 percent of kids in a typical summer camp routinely take one or more prescription drugs. I know what kinds of medications my mother and mother-in-law take, and how many. Very many! But 10 year-old kids?
What kinds of epidemics are plaguing our children? When I was that age all we ever took was a hideous-tasting daily tablespoon of cod liver oil. It turns out that even with today’s medical knowledge that fish oil was a good idea. Thanks mom.
From a column in today’s NY Times science section (linked below), things may not be as dire as they seem. It may be more in the diagnosis than the disease. It could be, as the authors put it, that we are suffering from “an epidemic of diagnoses.”
They claim that we are over-medicalizing everyday life. In the old days when your legs twitched, if we noticed or said anything at all about them, it would be, “Funny, every once in a while my legs twitch.” Now we say we have Restless Leg Syndrome, and there is of course medication for it widely advertised on TV. In the old days, if our you-know-what didn’t work so well, we didn’t talk about it. Nowadays we have a diagnosis, Erectile Dysfunction, and Viagra or Cialis—also heavily advertised. In the past, if our child had difficulty reading we told him to work harder; now we say he has Dyslexia and attempt to treat it.
Of course some or much of this is good—if you can get your legs to stop jumping around or your equipment to work better, all the better. What I miss though, in all of this, is the opportunity to complain about undiagnosable things.
“Ach, I have such a pain in my shoulder.”
“Me too, if I sleep the wrong way.”
“But what really makes me crazy, is all this mucous. I always have such a mouthful.”
“Me too, especially if I drink too much milk or eat too much cheese.”
“But you know me, that makes me belch. I’m so full of gas. No matter what I eat.”
“Me too.”
“But you know, to tell you the truth, I’m so glad they can’t do anything about it--it’s so much more fun to kvetch!”
What kinds of epidemics are plaguing our children? When I was that age all we ever took was a hideous-tasting daily tablespoon of cod liver oil. It turns out that even with today’s medical knowledge that fish oil was a good idea. Thanks mom.
From a column in today’s NY Times science section (linked below), things may not be as dire as they seem. It may be more in the diagnosis than the disease. It could be, as the authors put it, that we are suffering from “an epidemic of diagnoses.”
They claim that we are over-medicalizing everyday life. In the old days when your legs twitched, if we noticed or said anything at all about them, it would be, “Funny, every once in a while my legs twitch.” Now we say we have Restless Leg Syndrome, and there is of course medication for it widely advertised on TV. In the old days, if our you-know-what didn’t work so well, we didn’t talk about it. Nowadays we have a diagnosis, Erectile Dysfunction, and Viagra or Cialis—also heavily advertised. In the past, if our child had difficulty reading we told him to work harder; now we say he has Dyslexia and attempt to treat it.
Of course some or much of this is good—if you can get your legs to stop jumping around or your equipment to work better, all the better. What I miss though, in all of this, is the opportunity to complain about undiagnosable things.
“Ach, I have such a pain in my shoulder.”
“Me too, if I sleep the wrong way.”
“But what really makes me crazy, is all this mucous. I always have such a mouthful.”
“Me too, especially if I drink too much milk or eat too much cheese.”
“But you know me, that makes me belch. I’m so full of gas. No matter what I eat.”
“Me too.”
“But you know, to tell you the truth, I’m so glad they can’t do anything about it--it’s so much more fun to kvetch!”
posted by Steven Zwerling at
10:40 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home