Some of you know that my health story was an exercise in frustration for many years.
I was never critically ill. It was more of a slow slide from feeling amazing to poorly functioning. I could usually get through the day but it required more and more trade-offs. One by one I gave up my hobbies that required physical effort and the foods and drinks that I loved.
Those changes worked for a while. I was holding steady but I wasn’t getting “healthy”.
I wasn’t trying to go it alone. I had been diligent about going to the doctor. Frustratingly, I had received no diagnosis. All tests pointed health within the normal range. It wasn’t the normal I aspire too, though.
Often, I was told some form of, “you will be the healthiest person who comes to see me today.” Still, hearing that didn’t help me get back to running marathons or having beers and nachos with friends.
The things that affected me were beyond the scope of what my allopathic/Western doctors were equipped to deal with.
These days, I feel like I am getting back to being the healthy person I know I should be. It’s been a long journey that has resulted in taking much more responsibility for my health care.
One of the many turning points in finding satisfaction and relief was learning how to get the most from what allopathic doctors offer. For too long I showed up to appointments with the idea that the doctor was a magician who could fix me. Turned out that wasn’t true.
Luckily, I never gave up on conventional Western medicine and it ended up being part of the solution for me. At this point, it has been a mix of Western and alternative practitioners who have me on the comeback trail.
Understanding and Working with Allopathic/Western Medicine
This post is intended to be a quick start guide working with your allopathic physician.
And, I have an extra treat for you. The insights of a professional. Many of my posts are based solely on my personal experiences. This one started out the same way…and then Dr. Molly stepped into give expert perspective.
Dr. Molly, is the kind of doctor I would love to have leading my health care team. Unfortunately, she lives on the opposite side of the country from my current home in New York City. Happily, I was able to get her input for this post.
I asked her to tell me what she thought of my ideas for tuning up the way we work with allopathic/Western/conventional physicians to get the care that we desire. She gave me an honest and thought provoking lesson on the medical system that could only come from one who works in the trenches day in and day out.
Dr. Molly’s quotes are highlighted, feel free to skip right to them. What she has to say will help you understand and work with your physician much much better.
What is Job #1 for Your Physician/Hospital?
Let’s start with a question. What do you think is job number one for your physician or hospital? Health? Sadly, health is not the main focus of medicine. The focus of current allopathic medicine is on extreme situations. Dr. Molly refers to allopathic medicine as “disaster management and cancer screening.”
Don’t take this description as a damning indictment of medicine, though.
“Allopathic medicine,” she continues, “is really good at trauma and surgery, critical illness and treating severe bacterial infections.”
Those things are the disasters that are the specialty of allopathic care. When there is a disaster, we want disaster care!
Embrace Disaster Care (When Disaster Strikes)
Once we accept that our primary care system is not set up to focus on preventative health and health maintenance, what do we do?
For many of us, our insurance will only cover allopathic care. The choice may be between that and no care at all. Make use of it!
First, embrace and use the system for what it’s good at. When there is a disaster, get help from allopathic medicine ASAP.
And, don’t expect recovering from disasters to be easy.
Dr. M says, going to the hospital isn’t about health. She says, “I think you go to the hospital to stay alive and it’s going to be hard work and hurt like hell and you won’t sleep and it’s noisy and random people see you naked…but it’s to save your life and prevent you from getting worse.”
Again, remember that Allopathic care is to designed save your life and fix us when we are really broken.
The health part is completely unnecessary if you don’t survive. That’s why allopathic care is so important. Many of us will turn to allopathic medicine in search of health despite the fact that it is not the ideal system for it.
It’s not ideal but it can still be a positive force for health if we work at it.
The responsibility to make the system effective for you is your own:
Get a yearly check up when you are feeling good
If you visit your doctor when life is good, you have a better chance to build a relationship based on a healthy you.
Meeting with your doctor when life is good gives the opportunity to establish a meaningful baseline level of health. “It’s impossible to understand a person in a 15 minute visit. But it’s enough time for the physician to see that you are healthy and spunky and so when you walk in sick, the doc, will notice the difference,” explains Dr. Molly.
Set the appointment up as a “meet and greet” or a “well check.” Make sure the doctor knows that you are coming in to establish a baseline and not because of an existing problem. Being clear about the purpose of your visit is important, “As a physician, when a patient comes to see us we feel like we need to do something and that they want something from us.”
Let the doctor know what it is that you want. It’s an important part of leading your health care.
Communication
Success with your physician comes down to communication.
Dr. Molly advises, “In addition to being the leader of your team and being responsible, learn how to talk to your doctor.” This is paramount. Your physician has limited time with you. Spend that time wisely and on the purpose at hand.
Our focus, here, on a healthy visit to the doctor but the advice below is pertinent any time you engage the medical system.
Dr. M also advises to:
-Arrive with questions
-Ask the most important questions first
-Be concise
-Understand that when you are asked what you do for work, the physician doesn’t really care what you do. They are interested in do you do physical labor, sit at desk all day, work with chemicals, perform repetitive motions, etc.
-“Make sure time spent with the physician is you talking about your symptoms and then listening to the doctor.”
-Bring a pen and paper and take notes
Share your preferences
Don’t be shy about your care preferences. Discuss things such as: do you want to take antibiotics every time you have an infection? Would you be open to lifestyle modifications instead of medication for your rising blood pressure? Is speed of recovery paramount or would you be okay with a slower recovery if there were other treatment options?
Include in the discussion the things you are doing to reach your desired outcomes. Those things could include exercise, nutrition, spiritual life, social circles and education. Seek guidance in how to do those things better.
Be aware that they may not be able to advise you in those areas. It’s okay, you can find that type of guidance elsewhere if need be. However, it pays to find out what IS and ISN’T in your physicians realm of expertise.
Finally, don’t be a pushy butt head about your preferences. Listen to what they have to say. Doctors are well trained professionals who know a lot and may have a lot to teach you.
If you have to be a jerk to be understood, find a new physician who you can work civilly with (or can work civilly with you). It will be better for everyone.
Expand your health team
Don’t be afraid to have a group of people who take care of you. Many of us find that adding a nutritionist, chiropractor, acupuncturist, masseuse, reiki practitioner, personal trainer, and so on to our health care team is beneficial. Often, your insurance can help offset the costs.
Many “vague” problems are helped by alternative medicine. Dr. Molly says that “We (allopathic medical doctors) are NOT good at subtly sick. We have only a small tool bag—some labs and some pills. We can check thyroid and lipids and look for infection and some other things like trying to guess which diseases you might get based family history. But, we feel helpless when someone is in our office saying they are sick and they look fine by our lab tests.”
A word of caution, some doctors don’t like it when you branch out and add alternative complimentary methods to conventional medicine. Inquire with your primary care physician regarding how they feel about this.
Expanding your health team is an approach is worth considering. It can be done and in my experience it can be worth the hassle and the extra expense.
Don’t Opt Out. Opt for More.
Don’t abandon the allopathic system. You will need it someday.
Choosing to forgo allopathic medicine completely in favor of alternative medicine is rarely, if ever, a wise choice. Dr. Molly cautions, “I do NOT believe that alternative medicine can cure disasters.”
She adds, “If your doctor doesn’t support your decision to use other means, get a new doctor. But, don’t expect your poor doctor to know about the other things or be able to comment on them.”
Expanding your health team can include unpaid positions as well. The workout buddy, the friend who brightens your day over a cup of tea, and anyone else who lends support and joy to your life is an indispensable member of your health team.
Never stop doing your own research and keeping up with the new stuff
We are in a golden age of new discoveries and new methods. Keep an eye out for things that might benefit you. Be careful because there is a lot of unsubstantiated crap on the internet that claims to be a magic bullet. Careful research in the right places can be like finding gold.
Here are a couple of places to start. I like the magazine What Doctors Don’t Tell You for quick easy reading. Dr. Mercola (not Dr. Molly) has a daily mailing list and website that is well researched. On top of that, there are podcasts and for the seriously studious, there is PubMed, where you can dig directly into the scientific research.
The research you do is for your education. You may be able to use it on your own and you may even want ask your doctor about it. But, Dr M cautions, “just never tell the doctor that you googled something.” It’s a guaranteed conversation stopper.
And, don’t expect them to know about it. Very few doctors are on the cutting edge. In fact, many doctors aren’t interested in the cutting edge until it has been proved very safe, very effective and has been authorized by higher ups.
Your health is not something that we can completely outsource. Each of us needs to stay actively involved. For many of us, our health care system isn’t fully equipped to focus on the level of health we desire. Still, it is an essential part of living a long and healthy life. Make use of the system’s prowess in disaster care and, at the same time, have a plan. Be the leader, learn to communicate, build the network and the mindset that you need to maintain and improve your health.
Did I miss something or get something wrong? Let me know. At TunedUpLife.com we always want to provide the most accurate and useful information that we can. Please email me with questions or comments or topics you would like us to address.
I was never critically ill. It was more of a slow slide from feeling amazing to poorly functioning. I could usually get through the day but it required more and more trade-offs. One by one I gave up my hobbies that required physical effort and the foods and drinks that I loved.
Those changes worked for a while. I was holding steady but I wasn’t getting “healthy”.
I wasn’t trying to go it alone. I had been diligent about going to the doctor. Frustratingly, I had received no diagnosis. All tests pointed health within the normal range. It wasn’t the normal I aspire too, though.
Often, I was told some form of, “you will be the healthiest person who comes to see me today.” Still, hearing that didn’t help me get back to running marathons or having beers and nachos with friends.
The things that affected me were beyond the scope of what my allopathic/Western doctors were equipped to deal with.
These days, I feel like I am getting back to being the healthy person I know I should be. It’s been a long journey that has resulted in taking much more responsibility for my health care.
One of the many turning points in finding satisfaction and relief was learning how to get the most from what allopathic doctors offer. For too long I showed up to appointments with the idea that the doctor was a magician who could fix me. Turned out that wasn’t true.
Luckily, I never gave up on conventional Western medicine and it ended up being part of the solution for me. At this point, it has been a mix of Western and alternative practitioners who have me on the comeback trail.
Understanding and Working with Allopathic/Western Medicine
This post is intended to be a quick start guide working with your allopathic physician.
And, I have an extra treat for you. The insights of a professional. Many of my posts are based solely on my personal experiences. This one started out the same way…and then Dr. Molly stepped into give expert perspective.
Dr. Molly, is the kind of doctor I would love to have leading my health care team. Unfortunately, she lives on the opposite side of the country from my current home in New York City. Happily, I was able to get her input for this post.
I asked her to tell me what she thought of my ideas for tuning up the way we work with allopathic/Western/conventional physicians to get the care that we desire. She gave me an honest and thought provoking lesson on the medical system that could only come from one who works in the trenches day in and day out.
Dr. Molly’s quotes are highlighted, feel free to skip right to them. What she has to say will help you understand and work with your physician much much better.
What is Job #1 for Your Physician/Hospital?
Let’s start with a question. What do you think is job number one for your physician or hospital? Health? Sadly, health is not the main focus of medicine. The focus of current allopathic medicine is on extreme situations. Dr. Molly refers to allopathic medicine as “disaster management and cancer screening.”
Don’t take this description as a damning indictment of medicine, though.
“Allopathic medicine,” she continues, “is really good at trauma and surgery, critical illness and treating severe bacterial infections.”
Those things are the disasters that are the specialty of allopathic care. When there is a disaster, we want disaster care!
Embrace Disaster Care (When Disaster Strikes)
Once we accept that our primary care system is not set up to focus on preventative health and health maintenance, what do we do?
For many of us, our insurance will only cover allopathic care. The choice may be between that and no care at all. Make use of it!
First, embrace and use the system for what it’s good at. When there is a disaster, get help from allopathic medicine ASAP.
And, don’t expect recovering from disasters to be easy.
Dr. M says, going to the hospital isn’t about health. She says, “I think you go to the hospital to stay alive and it’s going to be hard work and hurt like hell and you won’t sleep and it’s noisy and random people see you naked…but it’s to save your life and prevent you from getting worse.”
Again, remember that Allopathic care is to designed save your life and fix us when we are really broken.
The health part is completely unnecessary if you don’t survive. That’s why allopathic care is so important. Many of us will turn to allopathic medicine in search of health despite the fact that it is not the ideal system for it.
It’s not ideal but it can still be a positive force for health if we work at it.
The responsibility to make the system effective for you is your own:
Get a yearly check up when you are feeling good
If you visit your doctor when life is good, you have a better chance to build a relationship based on a healthy you.
Meeting with your doctor when life is good gives the opportunity to establish a meaningful baseline level of health. “It’s impossible to understand a person in a 15 minute visit. But it’s enough time for the physician to see that you are healthy and spunky and so when you walk in sick, the doc, will notice the difference,” explains Dr. Molly.
Set the appointment up as a “meet and greet” or a “well check.” Make sure the doctor knows that you are coming in to establish a baseline and not because of an existing problem. Being clear about the purpose of your visit is important, “As a physician, when a patient comes to see us we feel like we need to do something and that they want something from us.”
Let the doctor know what it is that you want. It’s an important part of leading your health care.
Communication
Success with your physician comes down to communication.
Dr. Molly advises, “In addition to being the leader of your team and being responsible, learn how to talk to your doctor.” This is paramount. Your physician has limited time with you. Spend that time wisely and on the purpose at hand.
Our focus, here, on a healthy visit to the doctor but the advice below is pertinent any time you engage the medical system.
Dr. M also advises to:
-Arrive with questions
-Ask the most important questions first
-Be concise
-Understand that when you are asked what you do for work, the physician doesn’t really care what you do. They are interested in do you do physical labor, sit at desk all day, work with chemicals, perform repetitive motions, etc.
-“Make sure time spent with the physician is you talking about your symptoms and then listening to the doctor.”
-Bring a pen and paper and take notes
Share your preferences
Don’t be shy about your care preferences. Discuss things such as: do you want to take antibiotics every time you have an infection? Would you be open to lifestyle modifications instead of medication for your rising blood pressure? Is speed of recovery paramount or would you be okay with a slower recovery if there were other treatment options?
Include in the discussion the things you are doing to reach your desired outcomes. Those things could include exercise, nutrition, spiritual life, social circles and education. Seek guidance in how to do those things better.
Be aware that they may not be able to advise you in those areas. It’s okay, you can find that type of guidance elsewhere if need be. However, it pays to find out what IS and ISN’T in your physicians realm of expertise.
Finally, don’t be a pushy butt head about your preferences. Listen to what they have to say. Doctors are well trained professionals who know a lot and may have a lot to teach you.
If you have to be a jerk to be understood, find a new physician who you can work civilly with (or can work civilly with you). It will be better for everyone.
Expand your health team
Don’t be afraid to have a group of people who take care of you. Many of us find that adding a nutritionist, chiropractor, acupuncturist, masseuse, reiki practitioner, personal trainer, and so on to our health care team is beneficial. Often, your insurance can help offset the costs.
Many “vague” problems are helped by alternative medicine. Dr. Molly says that “We (allopathic medical doctors) are NOT good at subtly sick. We have only a small tool bag—some labs and some pills. We can check thyroid and lipids and look for infection and some other things like trying to guess which diseases you might get based family history. But, we feel helpless when someone is in our office saying they are sick and they look fine by our lab tests.”
A word of caution, some doctors don’t like it when you branch out and add alternative complimentary methods to conventional medicine. Inquire with your primary care physician regarding how they feel about this.
Expanding your health team is an approach is worth considering. It can be done and in my experience it can be worth the hassle and the extra expense.
Don’t Opt Out. Opt for More.
Don’t abandon the allopathic system. You will need it someday.
Choosing to forgo allopathic medicine completely in favor of alternative medicine is rarely, if ever, a wise choice. Dr. Molly cautions, “I do NOT believe that alternative medicine can cure disasters.”
She adds, “If your doctor doesn’t support your decision to use other means, get a new doctor. But, don’t expect your poor doctor to know about the other things or be able to comment on them.”
Expanding your health team can include unpaid positions as well. The workout buddy, the friend who brightens your day over a cup of tea, and anyone else who lends support and joy to your life is an indispensable member of your health team.
Never stop doing your own research and keeping up with the new stuff
We are in a golden age of new discoveries and new methods. Keep an eye out for things that might benefit you. Be careful because there is a lot of unsubstantiated crap on the internet that claims to be a magic bullet. Careful research in the right places can be like finding gold.
Here are a couple of places to start. I like the magazine What Doctors Don’t Tell You for quick easy reading. Dr. Mercola (not Dr. Molly) has a daily mailing list and website that is well researched. On top of that, there are podcasts and for the seriously studious, there is PubMed, where you can dig directly into the scientific research.
The research you do is for your education. You may be able to use it on your own and you may even want ask your doctor about it. But, Dr M cautions, “just never tell the doctor that you googled something.” It’s a guaranteed conversation stopper.
And, don’t expect them to know about it. Very few doctors are on the cutting edge. In fact, many doctors aren’t interested in the cutting edge until it has been proved very safe, very effective and has been authorized by higher ups.
Your health is not something that we can completely outsource. Each of us needs to stay actively involved. For many of us, our health care system isn’t fully equipped to focus on the level of health we desire. Still, it is an essential part of living a long and healthy life. Make use of the system’s prowess in disaster care and, at the same time, have a plan. Be the leader, learn to communicate, build the network and the mindset that you need to maintain and improve your health.
Did I miss something or get something wrong? Let me know. At TunedUpLife.com we always want to provide the most accurate and useful information that we can. Please email me with questions or comments or topics you would like us to address.
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