
All true.  And all good points.



Well, making a career out of it is a bit strong.  I still believe
that doing your own research is very, very necessary.  I would
not have progressed as much as I have today, unless I had spent
the many hours in Stanford's Med Library as I have done.
And 5 years ago, it was clear that there was no medicine that 
would help me.  So should I have stopped searching.  Thank
goodness I didn't.  Now I found that there is indeed medicine
that helps me.  

I think that what you've said is kind of idealistic.  That you
would go to one doctor, get a diagnosis, maybe get a second
opinion, and then move on with your life.
Just as an example... having seen 6 of the top specialists in 
this field in the country, I have received 6 different diagnoses.
These are the top names, the ones that people come to from all over
the country.  I have HAD to sort all of this out myself.  Going
to a support group (and in fact, HEADING that support group) was 
helpful for a while, but after a point, I found it very
unproductive.  It was much more productive to do library research,
make phone calls and put together the pieces of the puzzle myself.

A recent movie, Lorenzo's Oil, offers a perfect example of what
I'm talking about.  If you haven't seen it, you should.  It's not
a put down of doctor's and neither is what I'm saying.  Doctors are
only human and can only do so much.  But there are those of us
out here who are intelligent and able to sometimes find a missing
piece of the puzzle that might have otherwise gone unnoticed.

I guess I'm biased because dizziness is one of those weird things
that is still so unknown.  If I had a broken arm, or a weak heart,
or failing kidneys, I might not have the same opinion.  That's because 
those things are much more tangible and have much more concise 
definitions and treatments.  With dizziness, you just have to
decide to live with it or decide to live with it while trying to
find your way out of it.


I have chosen the latter.


Linda
lindae@netcom.netcom.com
