Aaron Boster

So we have to fight against, you know, medical gaslighting and we have to fight against therapeutic inertia.

And I need people to be selfish and say, I'm not going to minimize my symptoms and hide them because I want to, I don't want to appear like a bad, like you got to come in there and be like, look, man, I can't get an erection.

It's not okay.

You know, like I took your Viagra.

It doesn't work.

What else you got?

I mean, that's an example.

You want to be a self-advocate.

And I really think that's very, very important.

Another thing that I think can't be appreciated enough, and this is a ubiquitous comment for anyone with an autoimmune condition, is the critical importance of a healthy lifestyle.

And so adhering to a healthy diet, exercising as part of your lifestyle, not smoking stuff, participating in daily mindfulness, these are things that would help anyone.

And they particularly are helpful, I think, in the setting of autoimmunity.

And unfortunately, there's a cadre of patients that they just want a pill for the ill, and that's all they want to do.

And it's really a fool of a doctor who thinks that they can make a chronic problem like an autoimmune condition better just with the medicine.

And so I think if we're going to try to live our very best lives, despite any autoimmune condition, we have to approach it from a holistic standpoint.

I want people to be very demanding.

These are the symptoms that bother me.

And doctor, if you can't help me, send me to someone who can.

And if you're drinking to excess and smoking a half pack of cigarettes, and you're complaining that your neuropathic pain isn't responding, I think that we have to look at all options, including some of your behaviors.

So those would be the two things that I really think are important.