That sounds very scary, doesn’t it? It does. Especially if that face belongs to you! This is the punishment for my materialism for buying the PROACTIV facial treatment package after seeing a TV commercial. My right arm developed some skin irritation last month, and now it left a huge dark mark on it. When the irritation began, it showed symptoms of what my face is today. Extremely fearful that my face would turn into that dark spot on my right arm, and especially after reading all the symptoms after doing a brief online research of allergy to PROACTIV and feeling that I want to tear off my skin, I called the school health care center.
Today is my lucky day. I called the student care center at 4:00pm, and got a last minute appointment at 4:25pm as somebody cancelled. (Normally it takes a week to get an appointment! Not to mention that you don’t get to see a real DOCTOR…you only get to see a nurse practitioner). Furthermore, I got to see a REAL DOCTOR! (on the car it reads that he is an assistant professor in medicine!).
I seized the chance to ask my doctor 2 other symptoms that is unrelated to my beehive face. One is this black bump that developed between my eyes, and the second one is a long lasting skin irritation on my right arm.
Today is my lucky day, because according to the doctor:
1. “You don’t have cancer!” He said to me with regard to the dark bump in between my eyes. (yes…I had wondered if I had cancer….seriously…after 2 years of extreme stress. And I didn’t even mention cancer to the doctor, he mention the word by himself ) According to him, it is a “cyst”, which will go away in “about a year or more.” When I heard the latter phrase, I nearly dropped to the floor.
2. “You need to make an appointment to see the student counsellor.” This because I told him about my sleeping problems and I wondered whether it has to do with the series of problems I had lately.
The doctor became my primary care doctor (I never had one, now I have a good one, I think!).
You know, I always believe that good things happened out of bad situations. In bad times, you realize how bad things are and you snap out of it and correct the wrongs. It’s kind of like the economy — it is in bad times that all the stuff that made the subsequent good times fall into place as the bad get erased. The worse it gets, the brighter tomorrow will be.
Of course it is easier to say this. One would never wish to be in that bad situation in any case.
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i know my situation is nothing like this but for some reason it felt like i was reading something i wrote…and perhaps i need to see a shrink too
Comment by carissa December 4, 2008 @ 7:19 pmWhat sleeping problems do you have? Or more specifically, what kind of sleeping habits is considered causing problems? (Cuz I wonder if I have sleeping problems too…)
Comment by Jessica December 6, 2008 @ 2:20 pmI could not sleep if I want to. My biological clock is reversed, and is very easily reversed (i.e. cannot not sleep at night but sleep during the day). It’s a bad vicious cycle. Furthermore, even if it’s not the biological clock, since my 1st year in grad school I have trouble sleeping (which is the cause of the bad cycle in the first place). The result is constant oversleeping (to make up for the lost hours).
Also, I was taught since a kid not to rely on medicine to fix problems, especially these subtle mental problems, and to rely on self to fix things. But now I realize that a lot of things can be fixed and should be fixed by medicine. But the first step is to find out that it IS a problem that requires a doctor’s help.
Comment by Wendy December 6, 2008 @ 2:34 pm“Also, I was taught since a kid not to rely on medicine to fix problems, especially these subtle mental problems, and to rely on self to fix things.”
Same theory that I grew up with… influence from parents with similar background?
Comment by me December 6, 2008 @ 6:35 pmI especially felt that the Chinese cult tend to deny the existence of mental problems…..and this negative attitude toward the need for shrinks (whereas the need of shrinks in the West is too prolific???)…..or even in general, the tendency to not tell others they have problems?
Comment by Wendy December 6, 2008 @ 7:09 pmOh mental… yeah true, and I was referring to physical problems… like try not to take medicine unless it is absolutely needed. For small things like cold, fever, stomach pain, etc. there is no need to visit a doctor.
As for mental, I agree… I am not sure if there is any distinction between Eastern and Western. I read that people in general deny it when they are depressed, and in fact quite a large percentage of people suffer from depression, mild or serious. I think maybe it is the mentality that if something gradually for unknown reason, it will leave ultimately too. The “time heals all wounds” type of beliefs.
Comment by me December 7, 2008 @ 1:18 amSo yeah, in some cases, when people actually want to see a counselor/psychiatrist or admit that they need help, it may already be quite serious.
The problem is, it is a lot more socially acceptable to be physically ill than to be mentally ill. But then when you think about it, for the more minor physical problems, such as cold, fever, etc. our bodies are designed to heal by itself even if we don’t take any medication. However, are our bodies designed to resolve mental problems on our own? I wonder.
Comment by me December 7, 2008 @ 1:24 am