All my life I had a family doctor that was our family doctor. He knew the entire family and our history. He retired about 10 years ago and then I got a true taste of what it’s like to have a doctor that really had no interest in me as a person.
I came to the ugly realization that my “new doctor” was in the “business” of being a physician.
Over the years it has astounded me the lack of caring I have experienced by this “doctor” and his staff.
I didn’t think very much about it until I had a minor medical emergency and my doctor accomplished two things in my visit with him.
1. To scare me to death needlessly with something he couldn’t be sure of.
2. To make me feel even more like a number than I was before and inefficiency with the staff that made me not totally trust what they were telling me.
This led me to a different doctor that I was referred to that was fantastic and it made me realize that I didn’t have to put up with my new doctor and it started me on a search to find a new physician.
My point here is that we need to take charge of our own health.
If you are not comfortable with your doctor or you feel that they are not operating in your best interest then we need to take the option to find one that better suites us.
Here are three questions you need to ask yourself when evaluating your personal physician.
1. Do you wait for more than 10 minutes in the waiting room EVERY time?
2. Does your doctor talk to you about preventative measures with issues or do they give a prescription and get you all patched up with little wellness advice?
3. Does your doctor give you more than 10 minutes or does the doctor seem “rushed”?
These points are very important so let me explain to you why.
The more time you spend in the waiting room the more exposure you have to illness and germs that come into the office. Let’s face it, people like to see the doctor when they are sick, more healthy people get sick in waiting rooms than anywhere else.
Don’t you want to know how to PREVENT what your ailment is? Discussing preventative measures will keep you out of the doctor’s office with re-occurrence of what you are experiencing right now.
Many times doctors offices over book the doctor’s schedule.
It becomes painfully obvious if you are left in the waiting room for long periods being exposed to every germ coming through the door on every single visit. I understand the occasional schedule glitches but they don’t happen EVERY time. Then you get placed in a small room many times with no windows and are left to wait there for more than 10 minutes. Then the doctor comes in, hopefully washes and examines you but do they take their time or just rush you out? Many times we don’t feel like we received what we paid for.
That is where it really comes in handy to know your body better than anyone else and know what is good and what doesn’t work for you.
We all need to take responsibility for our own health and you can take a step in that direction today by
really paying attention to how foods make you feel.
How does it feel when you don’t get enough rest?
Are you okay with skipping a meal or does it leave you feeling bad?
Does your environment get you down?
Do you drink enough fluids a day? (at least 2 litres)
These are just a few of the things we can do to familiarize ourselves with what works for our bodies and what doesn’t.
One of the main reasons that I am starting on a new and fascinating path is for this very reason.
Being accepted into Kerala Ayurveda Academy has been a dream of mine because Ayurveda treats us all as individuals. I am thrilled to be starting my classes the first weekend of October for all of the knowledge I will gain in living a long and healthy life.
That reason alone is really big enough but my biggest goal is to raise awareness about our own responsibility in preventing diseases in our own bodies. To understand what a big thing our diet is and that it is really a lifestyle not a diet. To assist people to experience what it feels like to be in Great health.
To achieve superb health we need to be aware of our environment, our thoughts, the nutrition we ingest, what we see, hear, feel and taste and how we move our bodies.
That might all seem like a lot to juggle but really if we make it a habit of taking care of our self it isn’t that much work at all and when we reap the reward of feeling the best we can feel, being physically strong and having positive thoughts it is worth the effort.
