Thursday, September 10, 2009

Differences

I have spasticity in my left calf that sometimes throws off the proper movement of my knee.

I was searching around online for ideas on how to mitigate this MS symptom. I was struck by this cultural difference.

When I took this to my neurologist I was prescribed a trip to the physiotherapist and was suggested a consult with a yoga instructor. I went to the physiotherapist and was given 8 simple exercises to complete on my own with a follow-up appointment in November.

Every American and Brit I encountered online were prescribed a medication. From the sounds of it, quite a costly one for the Americans with some pretty inconvenient side effects.

Does anyone else find this strange? At first I thought it was a symptom of the profit motive in US health care, but when I found the Brits were getting the drugs just as often, I started to think that maybe its a regional thing. Maybe British Columbians are just less lazy? BC is a very activity focused place, Vancouver even more so. I wonder what the treatment of MS is like in Ontario, because that's the next likely place I'm going to live in Canada. Do the clinics there have all the stuff I have access to in Vancouver?

Just wondering.

1 comment:

  1. Interesting! I think in the US the difference is that either you are someone who goes to a holistic practitioner for your MS and would get the yoga recommendation or you are someone who goes to a neuro who would give you drugs and never the two shall meet ;-)

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