I Really Looooove My Doctor!
It's imperative that my primary care physician (PCP) has my best interest for multiple reasons: the type of care I receive, bedside manner/office-visit engagement, communication, and interaction, as well as making me aware of the care plan she prescribes and why she recommends a treatment plan. These are all extremely important, and can determine the outcome of how I respond, which ultimately impacts my total wellbeing.
I want to share a brief summary of the appointment I had with my doctor today. Although she requested to see me, based on my lab results, I went with a bit of apprehension, and came away with a sense of satisfaction, while feeling that my doctor really cares.
A few weeks ago, my doctor placed a lab order for me to get bloodwork done to see what my "numbers" read, regarding my health.
Upon getting my lab results, I received a message from my doctor to make an appointment to see her.
My labs yielded a great deal of information about how my body is functioning. However, some of my results were in the red, which really concerned me.
For three weeks, which is how far out I had to wait for my appointment, I anticipated the worst.
Once I arrived at my appointment, my doctor began to review each lab result that was out of range.
She explained to me the name of each lab and the body function it controlled, what the number meant, how far out of range the results were, the effect on my body, and what I needed to do to get my numbers back in a healthy range.
She comforted me in saying that although some my numbers were slightly out of range, they were not that far off. She just wanted to monitor them to be sure there wasn't an underlying condition.
One of the key things my doctor said, was that she wanted to give me an opportunity to get my numbers back within range naturally, by allowing me the opportunity to make changes if any, to my diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, water consumption BEFORE resorting to prescribing medication.
It is the hope that just a little tweaking to my health habits are all that's necessary to get me back on track.
One of the things I've discovered is how quickly some doctors want to throw medications at me, without giving me the opportunity to make natural adjustments.
Since 2020, I've had three doctors who recommended medication, instead of trying to find out what's really going on, or giving me the opportunity to naturally get my body in balance.
In each case, I didn't give up. I decided to take charge of my health and find a doctor who would allow me to naturally "fix" what's wrong.
Now, if in six months, which is when the doctor wants to see me again, that things have gotten back to normal, that will be the perfect outcome, and there will not be any further recommendations, except to continue to exercise those habits that restored my numbers.
With my doctor allowing me to take charge of my health, while working in tandem with me, I feel that I'm being heard, that she's listening, and that she really cares.