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Is phone-health letting you down...?
23rd November 2007
Let me tell you a little tale about a friend of mine
and a visit to the doctor's...
We'll call this friend Caroline...
Wait a minute... that IS her name!
Anyway, Caroline woke up one morning with
little to no feeling in her right arm and leg,
together with a sharp pain in her lower back.
Over the next couple of days the numbness wore
off and returned intermittently.
A little spooky maybe, but the condition didn't
worsen.
It didn't go away either, but being a stuffand
nonsense person, she refused to go and see anyone
about it, until her husband had to practically trick
her into going by leaving a trail of chocolate
pieces into the doctor's surgery.
But there were no appointments for over a week.
Only phone appointments...
So two days later, a doctor rang her, asked her a
couple of cursory questions, then packed her off
to see a physiotherapist.
'Probably a trapped nerve', he said, and in his
rush to get through a heavy workload that was
that.
But that wasn't that...The problem with remote doctoring...The numbness didn't go away, and now
Caroline's waiting on the results of an Xray to
see what's really up with her.
It'll probably will be sciatica, and more than
likely everything's going to be just fine...
But the thing that worries me is, how could the
first doctor be sure of what he was saying without
having a little prod around first?
Now don't get me wrong... our doctors do a
marvellous job. And they seem to be under
enormous pressure to get through things these
days.
But diagnosing over the phone...?
That seems as awkward as trying to play football
over the phone (even though that would suit my
skills better AND I'd look better in shorts on the
phone).
And I don't know about you, but I'm pretty bad at
talking on the phone. Face to face is fine, but on
the phone all I think about is trying to find a way
to wind it up and that's hardly the best way to
conduct a checkup.
And I think Caroline suffers from the same
'phone fear' as me, which probably didn't help at
all.
So, whether, you have to makedo with a phone
appointment, or have to go into the surgery, here
are a few things to remember to make sure you
get the most out of your consultation...
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Don't do their jobs for them- The most important thing to remember is
you're not the doctor. So don't try and second
guess what's wrong with you. The easiest
thing in the world is starting with something
like 'I'm being stupid... I think I've just
pulled a muscle in my chest...'. But doing this
could send your doctor down the wrong route.
So, when explaining the problem, just stick to
the symptoms, and let your doctor figure out
what's wrong with you. It's better to say 'I
sweat at night, I feel cold, and my muscles
ache' rather than say 'I think I've got the flu.'
- Do some research, but hold fire. It's fine to do
a little digging and see what could be the
problem, but wait till your doctor's checked
you over and made a decision. If you think it
could be something else - say so, and let your
doctor explain why that's not the case. It's
always good to be told that you HAVEN'T
got a certain illness, and worrying about
something can cause a fair bit of damage in its
own right. So if there's something on your
mind, spit it out and let your doctor explain.
- Introduce alternative remedies... depending
on your doctor, they'll either be fully aware
and open to alternative remedies, or they
won't be up to speed on the latest ideas and
treatments. So once you know what's up, talk
about the alternatives before you commit to a
prescription drug. Of course, I'm not saying
you shouldn't take a drug your doctor
prescribes - but sometimes they can reach for
the pad out of habit.
- Ask about prevention... rather than just trying
to snuff out the symptoms, see if there's
something you can do to prevent the cause.
Run through your lifestyle with your doctor,
including diet, exercise, your job, how much
sleep you get, how much you smoke and drink
etc, and see if there's anything you could be
including naturally that could help iron out the
problem.
To give you a head start, here are 3 natural
remedies that could help ease common causes for
numbness...
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The magic toothache tree- Like I said before, it's more than likely that
Caroline's numbness is caused by sciatica, in
which case this longwinded plant could
help...
It's called Zanthoxylum clava herculis, but it's
also been nicknamed the Toothache Tree after
locals found that it could ease the pain of
toothache, by easing the cycle of spasms that
cause the pain.
- Devil's Claw is a herb found in the Kalahari
Desert, and is used to fight osteo-arthritis,
rheumatism, lower backache... in fact
anything connected with joint discomfort!
This herb is packed with all sorts of useful
ingredients (glycoside and beta-sitosterol to
name but two).
- A little-known cause of numbness... anaemia
can cause numbness and tingling in the feet
and legs, so the first thing to do is go and get a
blood test (no - not over the phone - in
person!). If you suffer from anaemia, one of
the best reported remedies is Barley Grass,
which is said to give a tremendous boost to
energy. This sounds like pretty powerful stuff,
so talk this through with your doctor before
taking it, but if you get the all clear, then give
it a go!
Okay, that's all for today. I think I have the
perfect thing for Caroline's numbness, so I better
leave now with a torch and a set of flares to see if
I can find it in the depths of my office.
I'll be back on Sunday with more notes and ideas
on the best natural ways to help you have a
healthy life.
Until then,
Yours as ever,
Ray Collins
The Good Life Letter
PS If you hate going to the Doctor's as much as
my friend Caroline, you should have a quick look
at this (click here). It really could cut out a lot of
unnecessary trips, and help keep you away from
the surgery for a long time to come...
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