Thread by @Delafina777

Western medicine is full of miracles, and also complete crap at dealing with pain.

I started getting migraines when I was 3. The doctors told my mom that they weren't migraines because I was too young to have migraines. And prescribed tylenol with codeine. (Yup, putting a child on narcotics is WAY better than exploring actual migraine treatments.)

Then, IIRC, when I was about 9, I was old enough to have migraines, so voila, they were magically migraines. They told me they would stop when I got my period.

They did not stop when I got my period. So then doctors told me they'd go away naturally when I hit adulthood. They did not. So then they told me that if I had a baby the migraines would stop. That was when I stopped going to male doctors.

I have prescription migraine meds. If I take them *right* when I get the migraine, they stop it. They also make my blood pressure drop so much that I'm still nonfunctional. Great solution.

When I have complained to doctors that my migraine meds don't do what I need them to do, which is allow me to function normally, the answers I have gotten have included:
--then take aspirin
--then take excedrin
--sorry, you just need to accept losing 3-5 days a month

As far as "take aspirin" or "take excedrin," I have a blood disorder that's largely asymptomatic (slightly increased bruising and bleeding time, but still within the normal range--just at the extreme high end of that range).

If I take aspirin, however, it basically gives me temporary hemophilia.

Aspirin, btw? Basically willow bark. The Sumerians were using that. Our society's method of treating headaches hasn't really evolved much in 4000 fucking years.

Like, doctors save lives and we should listen to them on things like vaccinations and reproductive health.

They're shit at treating pain (and usually SUPER dismissive about it). My massage therapist is 100x more useful and willing to try different things to help.