If you have decided you want to be more a part of your healthcare decisions. You have figured out that your full participation in your health is the only way to achieve the best possible health for yourself. You may just have come to this realization or you may be years down the road in taking responsibility for your own health. You may even be a Mom who, as the main cook for the household is the holder of the keys to good health for you and your children. In any case, if you want to feel empowered to work with your Healthcare Provider (HCP) but just are not so sure about how to talk to them in an empowering way, I have a few suggestions for you.
My first suggestion is to pay attention to your own body. Trust your knowledge about how you feel. If this is a foreign thought to you then begin right now to pay close attention to how you feel when you wake up. Check in with yourself several times throughout the day. Make yourself think frequently about how your body is feeling. Eventually it will get to be second nature and when you go see your HCP you will have some really concise information to give them. You will be able to describe more clearly why you are coming to see them. Don't let them skip over all the details you have to give them. They need the whole picture of how you feel physically as well as emotionally. You can not separate the mind from the body. Give them your idea of why you think such and such is happening. They may dismiss it, but quite frankly I have found that when people tune into themselves,body and mind, they can make connections that a HCP would never think of making and not always, but many times the "Patient" guides them in the right direction. So trust yourself, and be prepared to share your thoughts on your health issue.
Actually, did you realize that a HCP gets their "diagnosis" from you, the patient? Yep, that's right, you tell them what is wrong with you and they just have a receipt that they follow. When you participate, you help them individualize that generic receipt. In this way they work in partnership with you.
Second, educate yourself about any and all medications you are taking. Know why you are taking them and know their most common side effects. If you are taking more than one medication, know if they may interact with each other. Yikes, you say! How do I do all that? Use the internet. drugs.com, mayoclinic.com, webmd.com to name a few. The more knowledgeable you are about your medications the better you can communicate with your Care Provider. This is the point at which you will have to watch that the HCP does not intimidate you into thinking your knowledge is less than theirs. You have one person to study in depth, they only have a general picture of many people. Be polite but persistent that you know what you know and that it is worthy of their consideration.
My third suggestion, if you are really serious about your health you will have the goal of being on as few medications as possible. Always ask if there is a lifestyle/herbal/vitamin alternative to taking any suggested drug. If you are an avid health nut like I am, you will have already researched these avenues,picked out something you want to try and will be ready to ask your Care Provider what they think about your research and what you would like to try. Here too, be persistent. If your HCP is negative, ask them to clarify their reasons for their attitude. Again be polite but don't take a simple unqualified reason such as "I just don't think that's a good idea." What that usually means is that they know little to nothing about what you are suggesting and they feel more comfortable prescribing a drug. It does help to go in armed with research about your chosen coarse of action. This is a good time to ask them to read your research and in the meantime, sans any qualified reason to the contrary, you are going to embark on your chosen therapy while they do their due diligence to read your research.
For those people that are afraid they will anger their care provider by letting them know just how much they know about their body, medication and even to suggest an herb,vitamin,lifestyle change, alternative care modality instead of a drug, I'd like to share some valuable insight. As a nurse for 20 years, I have heard the behind closed doors conversations of many a Doctor. Most complain that their patients are so passive. They make statements like "I wish people would care more about their own health", "I don't even suggest a lifestyle/diet remedy because I know they won't do any of that!" "I wish my patients knew just how important they were in their own health care!"
A good caring Care Provider will love the fact that you know you are responsible for your own health. The fact that you ask more questions and even make some suggestions shows them that you will take an active part in your health and healing. This should be good news for any HCP! If it isn't, get an new Care Provider! You must have someone who wants to work with you, not someone who just wants to dictate to you. A knowledgeable patient working in partnership with a caring knowledgeable Care Provider equals a winning team!
To your good health!
Till next time,
Health Nut
Showing posts with label empowerment with your health care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label empowerment with your health care. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Monday, June 20, 2011
Questions?
Many people are afraid to ask their HCP questions. I think that is pretty natural as we view our HCP as someone who is "in charge" and "superior" in knowledge to us. I would suggest to you that the only way to be a part of your own healthcare is to ask questions. Some HCP will get irritated, but who is paying them? That's right, you are!
I know, I know, the appointment is short and it's hard to remember all the questions you had when you came to the see them, let alone the questions that are generated by the conversation you are presently having. Here is were it is very handy to have a family member/friend/advocate go with you to the appointment. Someone who is not afraid to ask questions till you get the answers you need and deserve! Sure they may have a morning full of appointments and feel they don't have time to answer all your questions. However, this is your health and you have a right to have all your questions answered. In reality, any Caregiver will welcome your questions. If they do not, you may need to get someone else to help you with your health!
In my opinion, there is no dumb question. When given a prescription for any medication, I would ask "Is there a dietary, exercise, more holistic way we can address this health issue?" "What are the side effects of this drug?" "How long will I have to take it?" "If I were your family member, what would you recommend?"
Many times Healthcare Providers do not recommend anything other than a pill because they think you won't do anything other than that. In fact, some HCPs are so relieved you ask that question, now they can tell you what they really wanted to tell you in the first place. I know, I'm a nurse and have been behind the scenes!
When surgery is suggested, again ask " Just how necessary is this?" "Is there another approach we can take?" If you don't ask, a lot of times, you will not be given all of your options. Generally a surgeon will recommend surgery. That is what they do. So keep that in mind too.
Did you know you are free to say "Well, I hear what you are suggesting, but I would like to have a little more time to think about this/research and see if there are other options/I need more time to ask more questions that I just can't think of right now." Remember, you are in charge!
Until next time!
Healthbug
I know, I know, the appointment is short and it's hard to remember all the questions you had when you came to the see them, let alone the questions that are generated by the conversation you are presently having. Here is were it is very handy to have a family member/friend/advocate go with you to the appointment. Someone who is not afraid to ask questions till you get the answers you need and deserve! Sure they may have a morning full of appointments and feel they don't have time to answer all your questions. However, this is your health and you have a right to have all your questions answered. In reality, any Caregiver will welcome your questions. If they do not, you may need to get someone else to help you with your health!
In my opinion, there is no dumb question. When given a prescription for any medication, I would ask "Is there a dietary, exercise, more holistic way we can address this health issue?" "What are the side effects of this drug?" "How long will I have to take it?" "If I were your family member, what would you recommend?"
Many times Healthcare Providers do not recommend anything other than a pill because they think you won't do anything other than that. In fact, some HCPs are so relieved you ask that question, now they can tell you what they really wanted to tell you in the first place. I know, I'm a nurse and have been behind the scenes!
When surgery is suggested, again ask " Just how necessary is this?" "Is there another approach we can take?" If you don't ask, a lot of times, you will not be given all of your options. Generally a surgeon will recommend surgery. That is what they do. So keep that in mind too.
Did you know you are free to say "Well, I hear what you are suggesting, but I would like to have a little more time to think about this/research and see if there are other options/I need more time to ask more questions that I just can't think of right now." Remember, you are in charge!
Until next time!
Healthbug
Saturday, June 18, 2011
We know more than we think!
One of the stoppers of consciously taking charge of our health, is feeling like we just don't have enough knowledge to fill that role. In truth we really do know more than we think we do.
For instance, I know I get a rash every time you eat watermelon. I know that I have heartburn if I eat too late at night. My left leg hurts if I walk more than a mile a day. Certain vitamins make me nauseated if I take them on an empty stomach. "Of course I know that stuff!" you exclaim with a grunt of disgust. I guess I should have said "What we know is more important than we think!". These seemingly "little" things are the stuff that the HCP uses to try to figure out what is going wrong with our health. Notice how the first thing they do is ask a lot of questions?
Thats right, you have it. They use the answers to these questions to come up with what they think might be the problem. What I am positing here is that, maybe we just need to ask ourselves more questions to come up with the answers ourselves. At the very least, if we ask ourself more questions, the more in-depth answers will be of great help to you HCP.
A big stumbling block when in search of "Just what is going on with my health?", is my own prejudices. Case in point: At one point I had been drink lots of diet pop. My treat to myself as I was on the Atkins Diet and was rewarding myself for "sticking to the diet". Gradually, my legs began to really ache and then hurt. The pain would fluctuate between a 3 and a 6 (you know, the ole pain scale that rates the worst pain you ever had at a 10?) As the days went on, I began thinking I had arthritis and that the fluctuation was the weather. I just couldn't figure it out. In fact I had begun to accept that I was going to be crippled and unable to walk without a walker by the time I was 60 or even younger as at the time I was in my mid 40's.
One of my co-workers did a lot of research (as I did) and suggested my problem just might be the aspartame in the diet pop I was drinking. My prejudice (I just loved that pop. In fact was addicted to it. How could I do without it?) So I kept on drinking the diet pop.
About the time I was beginning to think I already needed a walker to get around with, my co-worker given an information sheet about the side effects of aspartame. Begrudgingly,I decided,since aspartame is a neurotoxin, I should probably stop drinking the stuff anyway. But, hey, I am human and I wanted my fix. in order to prove that it wasn't the aspartame in the diet pop, I would have to stop drinking it for at least a week. After one week off diet pop, I was feeling much better so I thought as all rational people would think, "Oh, the weather has been better, it must have been the weather why I was feeling better!"
You guessed it, I had myself a big glass of diet pop. Oh how I had missed it. The convincer came that night. I was in agony. My legs hurt so bad, I shed tears. Since then, I have found that even gun with tiny amounts of hidden aspartame in it causes my legs to hurt. Yep, I am now convinced, I'd best not touch the stuff.
Until later,
Healthbug
For instance, I know I get a rash every time you eat watermelon. I know that I have heartburn if I eat too late at night. My left leg hurts if I walk more than a mile a day. Certain vitamins make me nauseated if I take them on an empty stomach. "Of course I know that stuff!" you exclaim with a grunt of disgust. I guess I should have said "What we know is more important than we think!". These seemingly "little" things are the stuff that the HCP uses to try to figure out what is going wrong with our health. Notice how the first thing they do is ask a lot of questions?
Thats right, you have it. They use the answers to these questions to come up with what they think might be the problem. What I am positing here is that, maybe we just need to ask ourselves more questions to come up with the answers ourselves. At the very least, if we ask ourself more questions, the more in-depth answers will be of great help to you HCP.
A big stumbling block when in search of "Just what is going on with my health?", is my own prejudices. Case in point: At one point I had been drink lots of diet pop. My treat to myself as I was on the Atkins Diet and was rewarding myself for "sticking to the diet". Gradually, my legs began to really ache and then hurt. The pain would fluctuate between a 3 and a 6 (you know, the ole pain scale that rates the worst pain you ever had at a 10?) As the days went on, I began thinking I had arthritis and that the fluctuation was the weather. I just couldn't figure it out. In fact I had begun to accept that I was going to be crippled and unable to walk without a walker by the time I was 60 or even younger as at the time I was in my mid 40's.
One of my co-workers did a lot of research (as I did) and suggested my problem just might be the aspartame in the diet pop I was drinking. My prejudice (I just loved that pop. In fact was addicted to it. How could I do without it?) So I kept on drinking the diet pop.
About the time I was beginning to think I already needed a walker to get around with, my co-worker given an information sheet about the side effects of aspartame. Begrudgingly,I decided,since aspartame is a neurotoxin, I should probably stop drinking the stuff anyway. But, hey, I am human and I wanted my fix. in order to prove that it wasn't the aspartame in the diet pop, I would have to stop drinking it for at least a week. After one week off diet pop, I was feeling much better so I thought as all rational people would think, "Oh, the weather has been better, it must have been the weather why I was feeling better!"
You guessed it, I had myself a big glass of diet pop. Oh how I had missed it. The convincer came that night. I was in agony. My legs hurt so bad, I shed tears. Since then, I have found that even gun with tiny amounts of hidden aspartame in it causes my legs to hurt. Yep, I am now convinced, I'd best not touch the stuff.
Until later,
Healthbug
Thursday, June 16, 2011
What's this all about?
Hi,
This is the first post to my first blog! I imagine you may have reached this blog through a search about health or by accident. However you arrived here, you may still have the question "OK, so just what do you mean by 'You in charge of your health'?".
I have been passionate about health for as long as I remember. I began reading almost everything I could get my hands on about how to be healthy and have healthy kids way back in 1971 (Oops! there I go dating myself ;-) ). I continued reading, thinking, analyzing what I read and heard about health. Skip many years later, 20 years in the healthcare profession as an RN and I have arrived at some very strongly held opinions.
Please note! I said opinions! If you read this blog you are agreeing that you, ultimately are responsible for what healthcare decisions you make. I do not diagnose nor prescribe! Sorry, had to get that out of the way for legal purposes.
As I see it, I am in charge of my own health and you are in charge of your own health. After all, who knows more about me than me? I have lived with me for 60 years. You have lived with yourself for however many years old you are. No Healthcare Professional has that many years of experience with you.
"Hold it!" you say, "But I don't have the professional education that my HCP has. How can I even think that I am in charge?" Good question. One we all have to answer for ourselves.
Let me illustrate with the plumber. Your drain gets stopped up (you know that the tree out in the yard has roots that have grown into your sewer) When the plumber arrives you tell him your drain is stopped up and you think it needs to be roto rootered as you are almost positive the roots from that ole tree out back has grown into the sewer line. Note here: you don't say you know because you are afraid of offending the all knowing plumber, after all he has so much more education and experience with these things, but you really are sure the roots of the tree are the problem.
Well the plumber really doesn't like it that you of all people, a lay person, is even suggesting to him what the problem MIGHT be so he sets out to "discover" the problem without taking you seriously. 6 hours later he comes to you confidently, with professional voice and breezily states "Well, I finally found your problem. The roots to that old tree out back have grown into your sewer line. I'm going to need to roto rooter the line. No time today so I will be back tomorrow and I think I can get the line cleared in 4 hours." Or an even worse case seneario is that he comes to you and says, "the problem is your kitchen sink, the drain trap needs replaced......etc, etc, etc". See the problems one can get into by 'just listening' to the "Professional".
What? You got it, If this professional had listened to you, he would have gotten your line cleared right away. OK, so maybe that is a cheesy example but it's all I could think of at the moment.
What I am trying to say is, whether or not you are consulting with a MD, ND, DO, DC, NP, PA, Massage therapist, Reiki Master, CST therapist, or any other kind of healthcare provider. We each, in fact, are the Head of our own Healthcare Team because it is us who has the greatest knowledge about ourselves.
Any way we go from here, we are the ones who decide what to do with the information we are given by the HCP. We can decide to kick back, and do just exactly what "they" tell us to do or we can say "thank you very much for your advice, I want to think about this, a second opinion, to research more, see what cousin Elmo says etc. ".
This "taking charge of your own health" concept is what this blog is all about. If you have questions, please post them and I will attempt to answer them. Otherwise, I imagine I will be blithering on about just how a person can best be their own Healthcare Team Leader. :-}
Until next time.
The Healthbug
This is the first post to my first blog! I imagine you may have reached this blog through a search about health or by accident. However you arrived here, you may still have the question "OK, so just what do you mean by 'You in charge of your health'?".
I have been passionate about health for as long as I remember. I began reading almost everything I could get my hands on about how to be healthy and have healthy kids way back in 1971 (Oops! there I go dating myself ;-) ). I continued reading, thinking, analyzing what I read and heard about health. Skip many years later, 20 years in the healthcare profession as an RN and I have arrived at some very strongly held opinions.
Please note! I said opinions! If you read this blog you are agreeing that you, ultimately are responsible for what healthcare decisions you make. I do not diagnose nor prescribe! Sorry, had to get that out of the way for legal purposes.
As I see it, I am in charge of my own health and you are in charge of your own health. After all, who knows more about me than me? I have lived with me for 60 years. You have lived with yourself for however many years old you are. No Healthcare Professional has that many years of experience with you.
"Hold it!" you say, "But I don't have the professional education that my HCP has. How can I even think that I am in charge?" Good question. One we all have to answer for ourselves.
Let me illustrate with the plumber. Your drain gets stopped up (you know that the tree out in the yard has roots that have grown into your sewer) When the plumber arrives you tell him your drain is stopped up and you think it needs to be roto rootered as you are almost positive the roots from that ole tree out back has grown into the sewer line. Note here: you don't say you know because you are afraid of offending the all knowing plumber, after all he has so much more education and experience with these things, but you really are sure the roots of the tree are the problem.
Well the plumber really doesn't like it that you of all people, a lay person, is even suggesting to him what the problem MIGHT be so he sets out to "discover" the problem without taking you seriously. 6 hours later he comes to you confidently, with professional voice and breezily states "Well, I finally found your problem. The roots to that old tree out back have grown into your sewer line. I'm going to need to roto rooter the line. No time today so I will be back tomorrow and I think I can get the line cleared in 4 hours." Or an even worse case seneario is that he comes to you and says, "the problem is your kitchen sink, the drain trap needs replaced......etc, etc, etc". See the problems one can get into by 'just listening' to the "Professional".
What? You got it, If this professional had listened to you, he would have gotten your line cleared right away. OK, so maybe that is a cheesy example but it's all I could think of at the moment.
What I am trying to say is, whether or not you are consulting with a MD, ND, DO, DC, NP, PA, Massage therapist, Reiki Master, CST therapist, or any other kind of healthcare provider. We each, in fact, are the Head of our own Healthcare Team because it is us who has the greatest knowledge about ourselves.
Any way we go from here, we are the ones who decide what to do with the information we are given by the HCP. We can decide to kick back, and do just exactly what "they" tell us to do or we can say "thank you very much for your advice, I want to think about this, a second opinion, to research more, see what cousin Elmo says etc. ".
This "taking charge of your own health" concept is what this blog is all about. If you have questions, please post them and I will attempt to answer them. Otherwise, I imagine I will be blithering on about just how a person can best be their own Healthcare Team Leader. :-}
Until next time.
The Healthbug
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