Patient + Doctor = PARTNERSHIP (or at least it should)

I began this publication (Mission Possible: Healthy Me — Healthy Us) almost a month ago. Wow! Only one article. Good grief. (You can read that article HERE.)

https://readmedium.com/healthy-you-can-be-start-now-c0c35bf3ea6a

Dealing with health and doctors has become a complicated endeavor. I expect to partner with our doctors in my and my husband’s health plans. I do not just accept that prescription medications are the best route to take, but that there are natural and homeopathic treatments that can be just as effective, if not more effective, than prescription medications.

But let’s back up for a minute.

First off, let me tell you I hate the word “diet.” It conjures up images in my mind of counting every gram of food I eat, eliminating foods I love only to gorge on them once I have fallen off the “diet train,” or ingesting diet foods or pills that never seem to work.

In 2015, my doctor in Illinois cited concern over my potentially high cholesterol level. The number only bordered on the high side of normal so she agreed with me to just watch. In addition, I was to work on losing weight, eating my health in mind, cut the fat and sugar, and exercise regularly.

Ri…i…i…i..ght. We were in the process of buying a new-to-us home in Tennessee, selling our current home in Illinois, packing all of our belongings and moving ten plus hours away from what I had always called home.

Can we say STRESS?

When we got to Tennessee, I put off finding a doctor for me in order to find the doctor my husband needed: a general practice physician who was diabetes savvy.

BUT, we got to Tennessee in mid-September and by the beginning of October, my husband had developed ulcers and anemia. Then, in the first half of November, he had a heart attack.

Most care-givers (non-medical) will tell you that you need to focus on yourself because you are no good to your spouse if your health is also failing.

I didn’t heed that philosophy, but thankfully, I didn’t fall ill or develop other problems.

A year ago, I went to a immediate care facility for a rash I developed. Never did figure out what had caused it, but I realized that I needed to get back on track with general check-ups.

February 2018, I began seeing a new doctor. She didn’t like my cholesterol numbers and suggested I come back in six months. At the six month mark (August), she still didn’t like the numbers and decided I needed to take the cholesterol medicine, Pravastatin, but it wasn’t the doctor or the doctor’s nurse who called to inform me about the prescription or have a discussion about what would be the best move to lower my numbers. It was the pharmacy; I received a robo-call that my prescription was ready.

I called the pharmacy.

“I think you are calling the wrong person about a prescription. I’m not on any medications,” I said to the pharmacist.

“Let me check.” Silence. “Yes, your doctor has prescribed Pravastatin.”

“She didn’t let me know,” I told the pharmacist.

The next morning I called the doctor’s office.

“I got a call from the pharmacy that my prescription was ready. Since when am I on meds?”

“In addition to making changes to your diet and life-style, the doctor wants you to take the meds prescribed,” the nurse said.

“And if I refuse?”

Silence on the other end of the line.

“Let her know that I will be looking at natural ways to get my cholesterol numbers down and that I won’t be taking the meds. Call me back and let me know if she wants to see me again in a month, or two months, or to just let the sixth month appointment stand.”

The poor nurse didn’t know what to say. (NOTE: I refuse to get the flu shot, the pneumonia shot, and the shingles shot as well. Not to mention, neither the doctor nor her nurse ever called back.)

My next move was to call my chiropractor and fill her in. Her suggestion was to eliminate grains as they tend to cause inflammation, eliminate processed sugars and sugary foods, and only consume minimal amounts of dairy.

I also started researching what each cholesterol number meant, especially since a total cholesterol number is not achieved by adding your triglyceride number and your HDL number and your LDL number. I’m still searching. I’ve also been asking how the test works. Is it just what is present in your blood that day? Is there a range of days it evaluates like the A1C blood test? No one can tell me.

HOWEVER

With what life handed me between August and my next appointment (March 1, 2019), I did not consistently focus my efforts. I thought about what I ate, but with the drear of winter, I gravitated to comfort foods.

That is until the two to three weeks before the appointment.

The only thing I did at that time was search my text messages for the drink recipe that my aunt and cousin had sent me. They drank a quarter cup of their concoction every morning, a recipe that contained apple cider vinegar (ACV), and swore that it kept their cholesterol numbers in check.

Three weeks before that March 1 appointment, I found the recipe again and mixed up a batch. I downed a quarter cup of a mixture of apple juice, grape juice, and ACV for about two weeks before my appointment.

Enter my most recent check up and blood work the first week of March. When I saw my doctor, she asked how my cholesterol med was working. I think she was a little taken aback that I said I wasn’t taking it.

I know what statin drugs do and what side-effects they could have and how my mother and husband have reacted to them. In addition, meds seem to have a reverse effect on me (especially pain killers). I wasn’t having it. I also made sure she was aware, AGAIN AT THIS APPOINTMENT, that a homeopathic and natural direction was ALWAYS more acceptable. We really didn’t have any discussion on what was going on in my life recently. My stress over the past four months has been over the top. Not good for overall health.

Imagine my surprise on Monday when I received a robo-call from the pharmacy that my prescription was ready. Instead of calling the doctor’s office, however, I decided to wait until they called. I gave them mentally until Friday.

The doctor’s nurse called me on Tuesday. Doc wants me to take Pravastatin in addition to changing my lifestyle (You know, eating habits and exercise) and losing weight. I had a red flag go up on that last piece. Lose weight? I weighed in on their scale at 198.8 — less than I weighed in August. (Yes, I know I need to lose more weight, but there was no recognition that I had dropped at all.)

I asked my numbers (total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, and LDL) in addition to what the doctor wants to see them at. Then I asked the question that put my irritation with the nurse and the doctor over the top. “What were my numbers last August when I was in? Are they any better?”

Her answer was unacceptable to me. “I have no idea. Those numbers are in our old system. We don’t have any access to them.”

WHAT?

You can’t tell me if I am moving in the right direction with what I have been doing? Nor did the doctor discuss my options for natural or homeopathic treatments. She just made a sweeping pharmaceutical judgement.

I wasn’t so sweet in my response. “Well,” I said, “I’ll go back to my August notes and find out what my August AND February numbers were.” I wish the doctor would have looked at them. Two of the four numbers had moved into the acceptable range.

DISCLAIMER

I am not condoning people not following their physician’s advice, but I am suggesting you have a conversation with the doctor about what your options are and about what is his/her suggestion for the best direction to take. Then, I’m suggesting you also do your own research into your diagnosis. This is the way I have played the health care game for the past 35 plus years.

MY PLAN OF ATTACK

This week, in addition to continuing the ACV concoction, I decided that I needed to record everything I ate for a few days. Did I have a handle on the foods I consumed, or was I just being cognizant of the portions?

At the end of Monday, I was a little high in total fats consumption and a little low in fiber consumption. Tuesday? Breakfast put me over most limits. Follow with a lunch of veggies, and a dinner of a “healthy” pizza.

As the week progresses and March moves into April? Continue my ACV elixir and make healthier food choices. Then? Add some exercise (get to the point where I am walking for 30 minutes a day) and meditation.

HOW’S IT GOING?

I won’t lie. Changing my lifestyle for good is DIFFICULT. It’s a daily thought process as I contemplate each health decision.

Rebecca (Becky) spent 34 years in a teaching career, but when she retired in 2014, she picked up her pen and pursued her passion to write. As a high school English teacher, Becky held the philosophy that she wouldn’t give any writing assignment that she personally wouldn’t or couldn’t do. That philosophy strengthened and broadened her own writing.

In addition to publishing her writing on various platforms, Becky also blogs at Life is for Living, a blog to encourage, motivate, and help others live the best life possible. As an extension of Life is for Living, she also publishes a weekly newsletter, Let’s Chat. (Check it out HERE.) Life is for Living also has a social media presence with the group Coffee on my Porch. (Check it out HERE.)

After teaching writing for 34 years, Becky began Ink & Keyboard, a blog for writers at all levels. She supplements what she writes on the blog with a subscription newsletter, The Writer’s Notebook (Check it out HERE.) and the social media group Ink & Keyboard (Check it out HERE.)