Be Patient with your doctor

by Nilma DOLE

Do you know if your doctor is knowledgeable in giving you sound advice? Are you really getting the service you deserve or aren't you happy with what your doctor tells you?

Dr. Eugene Corea, the vice president of the College of General Practioners, said that, a survey carried out more than a decade ago had indicated that nearly 40,000 deaths occurred annually in the USA as a result of medical errors. Conscious of the harm that errors in the medical system could cause, the College had set up a Committee on Patient Safety to work with patients and society in an effort to enhance patient safety.

A few steps in understanding your doctor will make you knowledgeable and help save your life and restore your health. "We made a few recommendations about which characteristics are good. Family doctors should have posters showing how qualified they actually are and signs at a general practitioner's clinic should be for the benefit of patients," said Dr.Corea.

"The first thing that you should know is whether your doctor is registered with the Sri Lanka Medical Council and is qualified to practise his profession", said the doctor. The next thing is to ensure that the doctor has a good attitude when it comes to the appointment. "When a doctor is angry or rude, patients tolerate him without being aware of the harm the poor communications could cause to patients and even to doctors, themselves" said Dr.Corea. He said, "Always talk to doctors, see if they are not stressed or fussed because they should at least be worth your money and effort." Your doctor should listen to you attentively and have a positive attitude when talking. "If they are overworked or temperamental, it may be safer to consult another doctor or go to the same doctor later," he said.

Your doctor should clear your doubts and answer your questions properly to the best of his knowledge. "Take all your records to your doctor to make him aware of your background history and help him diagnose your disease" said the doctor. Women should tell their doctor if they are lactating or pregnant and they can even consult a lady doctor if they prefer to discuss their problem with her.

"Your doctor should explain the steps of management and the follow-up action needed for your health together with the possible consequences." "When taking medicine, it is helpful for patients to be aware of what has been good and bad for them in the past," said Dr. Corea.

Side-effects and reactions to certain medicines vary from person to person so that it is important to be mindful. Your doctor should clearly explain the effects and side effects of the drugs prescribed and write the relevant instructions legibly. "Sometimes, patients call upon the pharmacists to issue them medicines without doctor's prescription or on old prescriptions or even someone else's prescription! This isn't advisable since the consequences could be disastrous," said Dr. Corea.

If you have developed side effects for certain medicines prescribed by the doctor, stop the medicine and consult your doctor again. "Doctors should provide a good service at an affordable cost," he said. When a doctor is unable to diagnose a patient's problem, he/she should refer the patient to another doctor, medical institution or hospital.

"The doctor should tell the patient immediately if and when an error occurred during treatment because it is the patient's right to know" said Dr.Corea. He observed that the Patients' Safety Committee recommendations had even queried, "Is your doctor accessible to you in an emergency and are there any arrangements to contact him/her if he/she isn't on call?" There should be arrangements in place for dealing with such situations.

Dr. Corea said that doctors are only human and drew attention to the somewhat mischievous quote attributed to the famous French philosopher Voltaire, "Doctors are men who prescribe medicines of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of whom they know nothing." Should we not take Voltaire a bit more seriously with only a pinch of salt? Dr. Corea asked.

Good health and diet

Dr. Shikha Sharma

What do you think good health means? Some people think it means not being ill. Some think it means looking healthy, even if their blood pressure is high. Others imagine that if they're fit, they're fine - even if they suffer from some psychological disorder, such as addiction. And for many of us in India, the word 'healthy' refers to an overweight person!

So what is good health? Simply, it is achieved by a sincere intention to be healthy. A series of flirtations will not produce long lasting results. If you're committed to it, there are five basic principles to mind.

1. Be consistent: If you aren't, even the best-designed package of diet and exercise will not have an effect on your system. Most of us tend to switch diet and exercise plans out of boredom. But there's a reason why people in the glamour world look the way they do. They stick to their programmes with dedication.

For instance, weight loss is a big issue with many people. Yet, they want to shed weight fast - which is unhealthy. Slow and steady is the best way. A target of a kilo a month means 12 kilos off in a year. To change your body, you need about 12-18 months - and that has to be followed by a schedule of healthy eating and exercise for the rest of your life.

So keep in mind that consistency should constitute 80 per cent of your programme.

2. Keep moving: Whether you jog, swim, dance, gym or play a sport, the important thing is to keep your muscles active. Otherwise, they will deteriorate, which means greater strain on the skeletal system. Your exercise plan should include routines for flexibility, strengthening of spine and muscles, and cardiovascular and lungs training. Exercise helps you lose weight, is relaxing, and if you do it outdoors, gives you a healthy dose of Vitamin D. Plus, it helps you sweat and that's great for removing toxins.

3. Find a balance: None of us is a machine. So it's natural that every now and then, we let go of our health plan, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. But binge eating or drinking, extreme diets and punishing exercise schedules are all signs of an internal imbalance.

Balance is about accepting both good days and bad, and continuing with the effort regardless. Many of us give up too soon. We have unhealthy habits and practices that can't be wished away overnight. Remember that it takes years to replace bad habits.

4. Sleep well: If you sleep badly, your mind and your body suffer.

Lack of sleep makes you vulnerable to stress and when you are stressed, the internal environment of the body becomes acidic, which makes your system hyper reactive. So, aim for mental relaxation via music, chanting, meditation and pranayam. If you're mentally relaxed, you will find physical relaxation easier. Plus, you will be able to stay focused on your diet and exercise plans.

5. Eat according to your body type: If you manage to pull this off even 30 per cent of the time, it will go a long way to keeping you fit.

First, make sure you drink enough water. The balance of the body's acid base is maintained by drinking enough water to allow toxins to be cleansed via sweat, breath and urination. Water needs vary according to weather and body type, so it could range from eight glasses a day to three litres a day. The best way to check your natural need for water is to avoid tea, coffee and cold drinks for a day and see how many times you want a beverage. That's how many times you actually want water.

Next, make sure there's enough fibre in your diet - and that it comes from natural sources such as unpolished rice, broken wheat or dalia, dals with chhilka, fruits and vegetables. Lack of fibre causes diseases like obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol. Fibre is naturally present in plant foods, but we remove it by processing. By switching to whole grains, we increase the amount of fibre in our diets, and eat less calorie dense foods.

Make sure you get healthy oils in your diet by eating nuts and oil seeds. Finally, include super foods like aloe vera, wheat grass juice, barley grass juice, spirulina proteins and tulsi in your routine.

- Hindustan Times

Do not over-indulge!

Veenu Singh

Remember how often you've been told that an excess of anything is bad for you? It's true. It's not just excesses of bad things like fast foods, sugar or oily foods that fall in this category. Even foods or habits that are generally considered healthy can make you ill if you over-indulge. Here's how.

Juice diets a juice diet is said to be a good way to detoxify your body. "But extend it for longer than a day or two and it can lead to fainting, dizziness, low blood pressure, vomiting, diarrhoea and kidney problems besides constant headaches, fatigue and hypoglycaemia," says Brunch columnist Dr. Shikha Sharma.

Pregnant or nursing women, children, people with diabetes, low blood sugar, eating disorders, kidney disease, anaemia and low blood pressure, and people who are underweight should avoid the juice diet.Moreover, fruit juices can lead to acidity. Instead, try vegetable juices and coconut water.

One-food diets many fad diets advocate eating only one type of food. This can be harmful. Says Preeti Vijay, head of department, dietetics, Max Healthcare, "Even if you lose weight on a no-carb diet, the no-carb rule will lead to low blood pressure and low calcium and sodium levels. Similarly, a high protein diet can increase your level of saturated fats, leading to high cholesterol. And though fibre is excellent, too much can lead to bloating and acidity." Vijay recommends not more than 20 gms of fibre a day. For protein, have one gm per kilo of your body weight. Interestingly, even though papaya is considered healthy, too much of it can lead to diarrhoea and acidity.

And cutting down an essential like sugar can lead to a low level of glycogen in the body.

Vitamins and supplements a healthy adult eating a balanced diet doesn't need extra vitamins, provided there are no extra physiological demands on the body.

- Hindustan Times

Loneliness is harmful for health

People who have friends but don't really bond with them or are in relationships without any emotional connect can end up feeling really lonely. And this loneliness can lead to poor health, according to new research. The two newly published University of Arizona studies say superficial relationships give birth to feelings of detachment.

"There is an association between social networks and health but the precise mechanism is not understood," said Stacey Passalacqua, who recently earned her UA doctorate in interpersonal and health communication with a minor in psychology.

Passalacqua and Chris Segrin, the UA communication department head and lead author on the papers, decided to study individual perceptions of stress and social support to understand ways loneliness may be linked to health.

In their study of 265 adults ages 19 to 85, Segrin and Passalacqua found that stress serves a crucial function for those who reported being lonely.

They found that lonely people were prone to have fewer close connections, were less apt to manage daily stressors well and tended not to keep up on their health. Also, lonely people did not get adequate sleep.

Segrin noted that age did not predict whether a person would be lonely and living away from close friends and family did not have a negative effect.

Also, having relationships mediated by digital modes is not necessarily problematic, though relationships well-established prior to the distance were likely the strongest.

Being partnered did not shield a person from feelings of loneliness, Segrin added. Instead, having close friends and family members appeared to be more important.

Segrin said: "The mere presence of a relationship is not always something that is going to lead to you feeling satisfied and supported." Another curious conclusion: The team found that, above all, loneliness is a matter of perception.

Segrin said: "Loneliness is the discrepancy between your achieved and desired level of social contact, and that has important implications.

The portrait of a lonely person is very difficult to paint because what is really important is what is in your head." So people can experience the same stressors - maybe the car breaks down, or a checking account overdraws, or maybe a relationship is not going well and someone just needs to vent - and have entirely different responses.It is no wonder, then, that certain people with large social networks also express feelings of loneliness. When it comes to relationships, quality, not quantity, is the decisive factor, Passalacqua said. She explained: "There are so many people we have in our day-to-day interactions. But the absence of close family members and close friends is something that should be taken seriously. Sometimes we don't realize how important these close relationships are to our health." The findings were published in a co-authored article, "Functions of Loneliness, Social Support, Health Behaviours, and Stress in Association With Poor Health," in a June issue of Health Communication.

-ANI