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The past month I have been privy to lots and lots of conversations about health.
In this blog I am going to share with you some of these conversations and some queries prefaced by the question, “What if?” My purpose is to suggest to you, dear reader, that you just consider the ideas. Please take what you like and leave the rest. You may be appalled or maybe you will applaud, or maybe you will want to ponder more. Because these conversations bring a personal element to healthcare topics, I am going to interweave them throughout this blog, while respecting the anonymity of the people I talked with. At the end of this blog, I will list resources that I hope you find useful.
I am going to try and keep my personal thoughts out of this piece. If you are interested in what I think, please email me and I will share what I can with you. I do think I should list three disclaimers: 1. I hold a masters degree in marketing and have decades of experience working in healthcare for these organizations: American Cancer Society, Novartis Pharmaceuticals and the University of Colorado Hospital; 2. I receive no compensation whatsoever for this blog or any of my blogs. 3. This blog is not supported by advertising 4. None of what I write is medical advice.
—What if you went to a doctor and she said before she would prescribe pills or surgery that you were to lose weight, change your diet, exercise every day, practice meditation daily, possibly seek psychotherapy, and engage in a spiritual practice of your choice? (She would offer you medical research on the benefits of each of these activities, along with resources, classes and a coach for these new behaviors.) A doctor in one of my yoga classes is considering doing just this —
—What if you had an exercise regiment as a priority each day– such as walking, yoga, lifting free weights, and tai chi? A frequent comment of my yoga teacher – “You got to do the work.”
—What if you questioned the diagnosis of your medical doctor who said the tingling in your hands was old age? In order to feel confident in voicing your concerns to a busy M.D., wonder if you brought a trusted person with you to the exam so you would not be overwhelmed by the certificates on the wall or maybe the 10-minute limit per patient exam? One day I was walking my dog, Bonnie Buttercup, and stopped to visit a neighbor who was working in her yard. She told me she recently had a benign brain tumor removed. It had grown considerably since the time she first contacted the doctor and when she went back and said – “Look there is a problem here, which I don’t think is old age.”
—What if you quit worrying about all those ideal health numbers such as cholesterol, body mass index, or blood pressure? A couple I play pickleball with told me they could not believe it when the wife’s cholesterol number was two points higher than the ideal. Do you believe it? My wife is a vegetarian, skinny and has always been in good health and they got all worried and wanted to start her on medication.
—What if you finally get an older female doctor and she wants to prescribe medications, tests or does not listen to you? An amazing discussion a knitting group had. Other doctors were suggested. Female doctors – like female divorce lawyers – are not always the answer.
—What if you considered some old methods for dealing with pain, instead of over-the-counter-medications? Do you suppose an aspirin might still work, a heating pad, a good night of sleep, a glass of wine or a hot toddy?
—What if you know your friend has a serious health condition seems to be getting worse and you want to rush her to her specialist? Wonder if you told her of your concerns before insisting she get to that doc? Wonder if your friend told you she knew what her problems were and just wanted Mother Nature to take her course?
—What if you live alone and have had a health scare and your doc, friends and family want you to immediately get an alert gadget to wear? What if you told them, “No thanks, I am getting an Apple Watch – even at my age – because I can learn new things and don’t want to pay a monthly fee for this alert thing.” The woman who actually did this is in her 80s. Of course, the watch does so much more than call a service – it even tells time!
—What if you considered how you wanted to die – where would you be, what procedures would you want, what would you want to tell your kids? K was so upset when his mom died from lung cancer. He wanted her to “fight” cancer. She chose to smoke to the end and died peacefully at home.
—What if you are in very serious pain and the medical people won’t give you more medication? An advocate is a real help here – I heard this over and over again when I was a nurse. You know, if you’re dying, I don’t think you have to worry about addiction.
—What if you quit talking about your health or focusing on it? What we focus on, we get more an article written by a doc said – “I guarantee you, if you worry about it, you’ll start getting the symptoms.”
—What if you quit worrying about your health and focused on your diet, exercise, mental and spiritual health? What if you did not have all those medical appointments on your calendar? I feel so much better now. I’ve had to figure out fun things to do with my time. I get very annoyed when people start talking, talking, talking about their health. There is so much more to life.
Resources:
Doctor reviews – experience, malpractice, disciplinary and board actions, patient reviews https://www.healthgrades.com
Barbara Ehrenreich “Natural Causes” Less Focus on Medicine and Doctors and More Focus on Living Fully
http://barbaraehrenreich.com/natural-causes/
How do you want to die?
“Being Mortal – Medicine and What Matters in the End” by Atul Gawande M.D.
The Conversation Project
https://theconversationproject.org/
Consider pros and cons of medication
https://www.healthline.com/health/heart-disease/blood-thinners
Health numbers
https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2019/7-heart-health-numbers.html#quest1
Perfect Health – The Complete Mind Body Guide by Deepak Chopra, M.D.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/836511.Perfect_Health
Heal Your Body – The Mental Causes for Physical Illness and the Metaphysical Way to Overcome Them by Louise L. Hay
Ladies-of-a-Certain-Age Blogs
Health, Docs and Pills!
https://ladiesofacertainage.com/?p=112
A Remedy for Aches and Pains and Soul Sickness, too
https://ladiesofacertainage.com/?p=278
Move it – Do It
https://ladiesofacertainage.com/?p=326
Sleep
https://ladiesofacertainage.com/?p=382
Copyright – Elizabeth J. Wheeler, April 16, 2019
2 Comments
June 8, 2019 at 7:37 pm
Loved catching up via your blog. You are still inspirational! Missing you.
June 10, 2019 at 2:05 pm
Oh, Carolyn – So good to hear from you. I so miss you! I often don’t know where the words I write come from. Sure you understand.