When Medical Treatment Should Come Before Religious Beliefs

Many women have been told by no less than their doctors that they should look to the Bible or other religious material over drugs to grant them relieve from the most severe effects of premenstrual and menses pain and the often gripping, ripping pain of childbirth.

Yet, as much as most of us of faith appreciate medical professionals who understand our faith plays a role in our lives, it can become a bitter pill to have a professional’s religious beliefs interfere with effective treatment and compassionate care.

I heard this as a young woman from a board-certified OBGYN when I was suffering from symptoms of a condition that other doctors later determined was quite dangerous. Without going into the most gruesome of details, let me say that I would cramp so badly that I would be nauseated and purging for up to 40 hours straight. Also, I did not hear this bad advice back in the relative medical dark ages of the 30s or 40s but as a very young woman in the mid 1980s.

This doctor, whom even today I still cannot label a bad man, insisted that if I went to church more frequently, I would feel better. Also, even though medical recommendations at the time suggested low doses of contraceptive drugs can sometimes reduce the symptoms of the worst effects of difficult menses, this doctor was reluctant to prescribe them. He reminded me that contraceptive drugs were against Catholic Church policy. I perhaps would have appreciated this more had I gone to see my priest, but I had contracted the services of a medical professional whom I expected to treat me with compassion and care.

Then this doctor went on to describe his serious inhibitions about prescribing pain medication. On that point, we were of like minds.

Mine, as with most uncontrolled purging, was a situation that can go from simply uncomfortable to potentially life endangering very quickly. The jeopardy comes from excessive vomiting which can dehydrate you rapidly and your body’s electrolyte balance can go haywire into the range where cardiac instability becomes likely. While rare, excessive vomiting can lead to brain damage as well as coma.

I was not looking for pain control but overall symptom control. While pain is also a symptom, discomfort can sometimes be alleviated by other medications – both herbal as well as pharmaceutical – that correct a condition that results in pain. For example, if your knee is badly swollen, you may not need Vicoden or Demerol, both narcotics, but a drug that will reduce the swelling and with it, much of your discomfort.

In my case, it turned out that, for the most part, no traditional narcotic pain reliever was usually needed to relieve my suffering. Instead, I required larger than over-the-counter doses of ibuprofen, the main ingredient in Advil and Motrin, combined with an anti-spasmodic, a drug that can slow if not stop the body’s ability to purge itself incessantly. Together, they reduced the cramps and made it far less likely severe nausea would go out of control.

Already a believer in God myself, it was good medical treatment I needed more than religious instruction from my physician. Thankfully, I was able to find other doctors who understood the situation better and were able to treat me effectively.