Good Afternoon World!
First a thought – Which comes first? - “the doctor empowered patient” or the “patient empowered patient”. Why do we think we need doctors to empower us? We already have the power to manage our own health care.
The following is an example of something I feel empowered about and I did it myself. I got tired of the “scare tactics” of some health care professionals regarding getting the “best available”, when good is good enough for me.
I got tired of paying for paying such a high price for eyeglasses, so I just went to an optometrist and just got a prescription, including my pupil to pupil distance. With that information I could go anywhere and get the prescription filled. In my case, I chose Zenni Optical - Complete prescription eyeglasses from $8.00. I am well pleased with the results, feel empowered, and saved hundreds of dollars.
Some other eyeglass suppliers are at http://www.eyeglassretailerreviews.com/
Good Luck! Feel your own power, my friends.
Next on my list is to get ready to see my own doctor for my annual physical, with the results of my own “do it yourself doctoring”. I'll let you know how it works out.
Legal Stuff - This writing, and any other communication, from TG Ideas LLC are strictly for informational purposes and is definitely not medical advice. See full disclaimer on TG Ideas LLC publications and website - http://www.athenet.net/~ideas/ The above is a collection of publicly available information that anyone could have found and pieced together.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Why I want to Doctor Myself
Good Morning World!
I retired recently and looking back I can see that I had many of the symptoms of depression or “burn-out” for probably several years. It wasn’t my employer’s fault, or even my fault. I was using good “stress management” techniques, but it wasn’t enough. I intuitively knew I was getting in trouble health-wise, hence I retired.
Many years ago, I was diagnosed with depression and I have been taking a low dose of Prozac to manage.
Now that I’ve been retired a month or so, I can see that I wasn’t being a good doctor to myself. I wasn’t watching my own symptoms, much less reporting them to my doctor.
My example above pushes me even further to “Do It Yourself Doctoring”. It’s up to me to doctor myself and go to a professional as needed. I’ve learned that doctors don’t contact me – I need to contact them. I’ve also learned that many things I can do myself and don’t need a doctor.
Going forward in my healthcare experiment, I have decided to pick and use one central resource for my first-line of health care/maintenance information. Personally, I’m using the book “Healthwise for Life” published by Healthwise. I was getting mixed up with the plethora of health information out there.
I still plan to do my own diagnostic tests to supplement my general health decision making process, but that’s later. In the case of depression, as far as I know there is no “diagnostic test” for this illness, so I’ll be watching my symptoms.
I’ve learned from this experience also that I want my doctor be more of a “life coach” too, helping me make difficult decisions, particularly those decisions involving my health.
Stay tuned for continuing updates. Feel free to comment if you want.
Thanks for reading this. Feel free to pass to others who might be interested. We're all in this healthcare thing together - me, you, and millions of others.
Legal Stuff - This writing, and any other communication, from TG Ideas LLC are strictly for informational purposes and is definitely not medical advice. See full disclaimer on TG Ideas LLC publications and website - http://www.athenet.net/~ideas/ The above is a collection of publicly available information that anyone could have found and pieced together.
I retired recently and looking back I can see that I had many of the symptoms of depression or “burn-out” for probably several years. It wasn’t my employer’s fault, or even my fault. I was using good “stress management” techniques, but it wasn’t enough. I intuitively knew I was getting in trouble health-wise, hence I retired.
Many years ago, I was diagnosed with depression and I have been taking a low dose of Prozac to manage.
Now that I’ve been retired a month or so, I can see that I wasn’t being a good doctor to myself. I wasn’t watching my own symptoms, much less reporting them to my doctor.
My example above pushes me even further to “Do It Yourself Doctoring”. It’s up to me to doctor myself and go to a professional as needed. I’ve learned that doctors don’t contact me – I need to contact them. I’ve also learned that many things I can do myself and don’t need a doctor.
Going forward in my healthcare experiment, I have decided to pick and use one central resource for my first-line of health care/maintenance information. Personally, I’m using the book “Healthwise for Life” published by Healthwise. I was getting mixed up with the plethora of health information out there.
I still plan to do my own diagnostic tests to supplement my general health decision making process, but that’s later. In the case of depression, as far as I know there is no “diagnostic test” for this illness, so I’ll be watching my symptoms.
I’ve learned from this experience also that I want my doctor be more of a “life coach” too, helping me make difficult decisions, particularly those decisions involving my health.
Stay tuned for continuing updates. Feel free to comment if you want.
Thanks for reading this. Feel free to pass to others who might be interested. We're all in this healthcare thing together - me, you, and millions of others.
Legal Stuff - This writing, and any other communication, from TG Ideas LLC are strictly for informational purposes and is definitely not medical advice. See full disclaimer on TG Ideas LLC publications and website - http://www.athenet.net/~ideas/ The above is a collection of publicly available information that anyone could have found and pieced together.
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