What can I do about it?
Many times my friends and family ask my wife and I medical questions. The questions sometimes deal with direct concerns and worries, “My son/daughter has a fever and XYZ symptoms, should we go to the ER or can we take care of this at home?” or “I’ve been putting off a visit with my specialist, should I see them?”. We help give clarity when we can.
The uncommon questions we get though circle around the topic of a new “change”. This can be visible, felt, heard, a taste or now-a days lack of smell. What I would like to focus on are symptoms people feel that have them concerned but are not sure they should do anything about.
Your body has amazing capabilities regardless of your race, creed or religion. Whether you were born with defects or have had multiple surgeries dealing with the most difficult of problems. As an organism of the complexity that we are, the ability to sustain, nurture and grow as we do takes balance. Balance on such a small yet wide reaching scale that its success in accomplishing to simply allow us to wake, breathe and beat our hearts is magnificent. Now add to that what we expect of our bodies daily and the enormity of balance necessary to have our bodies function in the capacity we expect without problem can be best explained as beyond our comprehension.
Having said this, recognize for a symptom to rise to the surface of our consciousness, “We see/feel it”, it has now progressed beyond our body’s balancing act to now be felt. It has escaped the magnific control of the machine we live within.
The enormity of this should impress upon all of us is that when you experience a “change” and it has you concerned that you should act upon it.
Do not delay interaction for a year. Do not be brave and say to yourself that I must endure this for my family. Do not say to yourself this is what I deserve.
Some “changes”, are felt to be unalterable, but many of these are secondary to environmental exposures that we indulge that are modifiable. There are chemicals that our bodies produce that have effects upon our bodies for months after that chemical is long gone. The programming within our bodies can have an effect for a long time after we eliminate the cause. Expecting immediate change and not seeing it disheartens many but recognize on that non visible scale of balance in the background that the changes in behaviors can be having an enormous effect. The delay between change and effect can be delayed again because of the enormity of the lack of balance that we are looking to rectify.
Some changes are unalterable as the damage incurred is irrevocable, but even these “changes” that are unalterable we as healthcare providers can usually limit how quickly situations deteriorate. Simple habits and behaviors we perform daily and changes to them can have lifelong improvements in our quality of life.
Many of my vein ablation patients have improvement of their leg function after treatment that they go from being wheelchair bound to now able to walk with a walker or cane. Time to recovery of function can be quick, usually 1-2 months. Other patients require longer. Upon reevaluation and query of their symptoms again we see improvement of function corresponding with better quality of life. My routine statement to each of these patients with severely limited function is “I am repopulating the world with dancers one patient at a time.”
In summary, do not simply accept your current situation and say this is the way it must always be because it has always been. A change of “changes” can be effected for betterment of anyone given time and pressure/patience.