Individualizing Health and Taking Responsibility

Individualizing Health

When it comes to your health, it’s important to remember the you part of it! When you select a doctor or go on a treatment plan, make sure you are getting care specific to what you need and respond well to. This is also important in your daily wellness practices. While there are some overarching principles regarding good health, there’s no one-size-fits-all. Taking Responsibility For Your Health

Diet

There are some basic diet rules out there: get enough vitamins, keep a balance of macronutrients, eat your veggies, stay away from refined sugars, etc. But not all bodies react the same way to the same foods. You may find that you don’t digest some foods well. You may find that a Mediterranean diet helps reduce inflammation, or that red meat makes you sluggish. Heck, if peanut butter makes you gassy, you need to know that so that you don’t gobble it down right before a hot date! Some studies even show that your genetic makeup might determine the best diet for you.

Specific medical conditions may also require specific dietary protocol. For instance, if you are a diabetic, you know all too well the importance of monitoring your glucose levels and carb intake. So if you deal with the “dawn phenomenon,” for instance, you may need to make dietary adjustments, such as fewer carbs early and late in the day, or eating an earlier dinner. If you’re at a high risk for osteoporosis, make sure you consistently take in enough calcium. People on blood thinners may need to avoid green vegetables, because of the high vitamin K.

Small ailments

We by no means suggest taking our advice instead of seeing a doctor! There are some small ailments, though, that you may find you’re able to relieve in ways particular to you. Someone with chronic shoulder tension may find acupuncture useful; someone else may find that medicinal CBD Fix provides relief; someone else altogether may require muscle relaxers from the doctor.

Pay attention to your body: you may notice that certain activities, foods, or interactions cause negative reactions. Too much sugar may give you a sore throat, or you may simply burn easily in the sun. These little things are important to notice and take care of. Your best friend may never get a sunburn, but if you turn into a lobster in 10 minutes, slather on that sunscreen silly!

Individualized medicine

There is actually a branch/style of research in medicine known as “individualized medicine.” This practice stems from the idea that “people vary in their circumstances, preferences, and in their optimal path to full health.” In individualized health, a patient is compared to other patients with similar characteristics. By comparing someone with people who are more or less like the patient, any aberrations stand out in stark contrast. At the same time, these subsets are becoming clearer and clearer, making it easier for doctors to notice any trends that might be specific to people with a patient’s particular characteristics. Major research clinics like Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic employ individualized medicine as part of their research and treatment.

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What to Do When You Can’t Get a Diagnosis

What to Do When You Can’t Get a Diagnosis

The human body works beautifully–most of the time. While we all wish we could be in perfect health 100% of the time, sometimes unexplainable symptoms come along and disrupt our daily living. Many health issues can be diagnosed by a healthcare professional. What happens, however, when your doctor says, “I don’t know”? What To Do When You Get a Diagnosis
Modern medicine is truly a miracle, and what we’re able to understand and cure in hospitals and clinics is a wonder. Human medicine, however, is still human, and your doctor is no exception. You may come to a doctor with a string of symptoms, and he or she may be unable to give you a satisfactory diagnosis. As the patient, you can be left feeling lost and unsure of what to do. You still have to live with the symptoms. But if you don’t know the root cause of your problem, how can you get treatment? If you or someone you love has had trouble obtaining a diagnosis, consider these next steps for getting to the root of the health problem.

Get a Second Opinion
The first doctor may have said, “I don’t know,” but the next doctor may not. Since every doctor will have a different approach, a second, third, or fourth opinion could be all you need to get to the root of your problem.

Keep a Patient Log
If the disease or health issue that you’re struggling with is just starting out, then you may not be exhibiting mature symptoms yet, making it harder to diagnose your problem. Keep a detailed diary of all your symptoms–when you feel them, and how you feel them. You can feel nausea and fatigue in different ways, so be specific about the ways those symptoms are affecting your body.

Find Out Family History

While you might know what health issues your parents faced, you may not know what your aunts, uncles, and grandparents dealt with. Finding out your family medical history can help with uncovering your own issues. Many health problems are hereditary, so if you can find a cousin or aunt with your same symptoms, ask about his or her experiences.

Try Alternative Medicine
If you didn’t have luck with a traditional doctor, alternative medicine may be the answer. Alternative medicine helps individuals deal with problems that the larger medical community sometimes ignores, such as a gluten intolerance, heavy metal poisoning, or even an unhealthy diet. Get in contact with your local alternative medicine clinic. Medina, OH, to San Francisco, CA, an alternative medicine clinic may have answers for you.

While a doctor’s failure to diagnose can be discouraging, don’t give up! Persistence and patience can eventually win out over your health issues. While you wait to see a new doctor for a second opinion, keep careful track of your symptoms, and do research online to help narrow down possibilities, so you can ask your doctor about specific issues. Your health issue doesn’t have to go undiagnosed forever. With perseverance, you can get to the bottom of your issue once and for all.
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What Does (and Doesn’t) Determine Cancer Outcomes 

The out come of cancer survival for most people is the cost

Never believe people who tell you they have a magical cure for cancer. They’re trying to sell you something, and considering how scary and dangerous hearing the word “cancer” is for most people, the price is probably going to be pretty steep. There’s no tea that’s going to magically shrink a tumor, and there’s no ointment that’s going to make getting chemotherapy unnecessary. If there were a cure for cancer by now, then way more people would know about it then your Great Aunt Shirley’s best friend Carol. So what does work against cancer? That depends on a lot of different things.Fighting-cancer-sometimes-is-the-cost-now-there-the-Right-To-Try-drugs-for-treatment

Acting quickly matters

Cancer generally comes in four stages. Stage I is a much better diagnosis than Stage 4. Typically, the odds of survival get worse with each stage. According to the American Cancer Society, someone with Stage I breast cancer has an expected five-year survival rate of almost 100 percent. For Stage IV, though, the five-year survival rate is 22 percent. However, it’s also important to remember that some cancers are harder to fight than others. While breast cancer survival rates have improved quite a bit in the last few decades, the same can’t be said of brain cancers like glioblastoma, which received a lot of attention in summer of 2017 after Senator John McCain announced he had been diagnosed with it. The most common type of glioblastoma offers a median survival rate of slightly less than 15 months, according to the American Brain Cancer Society.

While it’s easy to recite numbers and statistics, every case is different. Two people with the same stage cancer can have different outlooks based on factors like age and overall health. The best thing a cancer patient can do for him or herself is to find an incredibly trustworthy medical team. If you see a cancer specialist who recommends starting chemotherapy and radiation within a couple of weeks, that’s because he or she doesn’t want to give the cancer the chance to spread any further before the team starts fighting it. It’s easy to feel like things start happening very quickly once a patient receives a diagnosis of cancer. That’s because things probably are happening very quickly. Time is of the essence. That being said, patients should still be able to ask questions about their treatment. This is a big deal, so they should be able to ask a lot of questions and get honest answers, even if the honest answer is, “We don’t know yet.”

The mental aspect

Some patients feel like they should “stay positive” to give themselves a better chance of beating cancer. Other patients will cope by making a lot of very morbid jokes. Neither approach is wrong, and neither approach offers a better chance of survival. The American Cancer Society says there’s no hard evidence that having a certain personality type makes you more or less likely to survive cancer.

Some patients will be able to take a few weeks off work to focus solely on the first round of cancer treatments, but many people won’t have that luxury. There may be other options, though. That’s also true of students taking college classes. Most professors are going to be sympathetic to people with health emergencies, and something like cancer definitely qualifies. Going to work or school even part-time can also provide a welcome distraction from constantly hearing about and thinking about cancer. It’s a way to feel a little bit normal in a very abnormal situation.

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