A few years ago I had a patient who lamented over the beautiful handwriting he once had. He was an elderly man and at one time in his life well traveled. His hands shook regularly. When he wrote you could barely read it. Yet, he missed his fine calligraphy … you could see it in his eyes when he looked at his writing.

He was on an incredible amount of medications for several medical problems he had, diabetes, heart problems, and a few other things.   I know from professional experience  there are interactions between medications. And for all the years this man had been seeing  his care givers, none of them checked into it.

Let me show case some statistics from the US Government:

• psychiatric disorders 26% in adults and 20% in kids
• depression 20 million, anxiety 40 million
• 1 in 10 Americans take an anti-depressant
• psychiatric disorders are expensive (in ‘06 $200 Billion)
• 8 million US  kids take ADD medication (1 in 10)
• asthma affects 16 million adults, 7 million children
• asthma causes 3600 deaths a year
• 6000 children between the ages of 5 to 14  die each year. #1 cause – accidents. #2-cancers.

So okay, let’s add up the craziness:

• increase in our kids, college kids, and adults being medicated
• way out of reach medical costs for care
• thousands of families and adults in the US have no health insurance
• the “healthy” food we eat is very questionable
• the quality of the water we drink is very questionable
• high unemployment – so many heart breaking stories
• increased lay-offs
• no job security
• 90% of chemical exposures happen in our home
• obesity, diabetes is on the rise
• illnesses on the rise are not due to an actual dis-ease, rather from lifestyle choices
• most illnesses can be prevented
• medications and product recalls becoming more common
• people are seeking more natural remedies and alternative health and wellness solutions

Now what does this add up to?

Three words:

Proactive Self Care

Now more than ever we need to believe we, you and I can care for ourselves the best. We can be proactive and concentrate on doing those activities that bring wellness, peace of mind into our lives.

“You know, Bob” I said to my patient. ” One of these drugs you’re taking has a side effect. Tremors. I suggest you go back to your doctor and have him review the medications you’re on and have them adjusted or if you don’t need some anymore, take you off them.”

“I didn’t know..” said Bob.

My thoughts were of course he didn’t know because one, no one told him and two,  we have become complacent about asking questions about our heath – we blindly put it in the hands of others.

It’s becoming apparent these days that everything in our lives is really in our hands. We can no longer live counting on others to make our lives right or the way we want it to be. Social changes and pressures are making us more self-reliant and that’s a good thing.

Several weeks later I got a call from Bob. He was excited to tell me he had been writing letters for weeks to people he had not communicated with for quite a while. He loved to write letters. He had spoken to his care provider and they reviewed his medications and eliminated quite a few.  His tremors went away.

Some interesting concepts in this video – more to think about …

If you like this post, please leave a comment and thank you in advance!

Share

Save

• Previous Entry: The Environmental Working Group
• Next Entry: Into the Future