Some advice for when you “decide” to take care of your HEALTH

Some advice for when you decide to take care of your HEALTH

So you decide to take care of your HEALTH... Good! Thank God more and more people are taking this initiative. You find out about your health, choose the professionals (doctors, nutritionists, etc.) you think are right for you, consult them, get prescriptions and/or suggestions for supplements, buy them and start using them... Are you sure of good results? Answer: NO. “Where did I go wrong?”, you might ask yourself. Well, the aim of this post is to help you with that.

Allow me, therefore, to make a few suggestions to not only facilitate your search for health, but also to help you increase your chances of success in treatments:

Health information

📍 The internet has a wealth of health information, but studies show that less than 10% of this information is truly useful, as it is technical, accurate and well explained. In addition, less than 5% of this information is properly updated.

📍 Newspapers and magazines may have current content, but sometimes they discuss health-related issues in a superficial or overly targeted way.

📍 Advice obtained from these sources (internet, newspapers and magazines) is generally aimed at the majority of people. However, it's important to note that these guidelines may not be suitable for you specifically. In other words, these recommendations are not always 100% safe, as “each person is unique”.

📍 Your friends and neighbors may not have access to the best and most reliable sources of health information. What's more, the drugs and supplements that “worked” for them may have very different results in your case. This further underscores the need for individualized and personalized monitoring and treatment, tailored to the specific details of your medical history.

TIP: Choose the sources you consult very carefully, especially when it comes to health-related information. Carefully evaluate which sources you trust enough to apply the advice you get in your daily life. In this context, the reliability of the source of information plays a key role.

Choice of HEALTH professionals

📍 Unfortunately, there are good and bad professionals in all areas, including HEALTH:

• Some promise results, when honesty should be a commitment to providing the best care and treatment, because the results depend mainly on each organism treated.
• Others claim to work in areas in which they don't have sufficient training or knowledge. This often happens in the orthomolecular area, where professionals claim to use it inappropriately or fraudulently. These unethical professionals use the label to attract patients or legitimize procedures that can often be harmful.
• Many fail to update themselves frequently enough, even though they know that health knowledge changes rapidly, or resist accepting new scientific knowledge. For example, this may be due to the effort required to change concepts and daily practices.
• Some don't pay enough attention to the patient during consultations, which hinders a proper understanding of the patient's clinical condition. This may be due to a lack of empathy in the treatment, inaccessibility shown or difficulty in understanding that the patient must be considered as a whole, where the health or illness of one part of the body affects other areas.

📍 Acquaintances, colleagues, friends and family members who have already been treated by the professionals you want to evaluate are always a good source of referrals, provided they have been to at least a few consultations and followed the treatments as instructed. After all, how can someone who hasn't done their part blame the professional treating them for failure?

TIP: Whenever possible, avoid professionals who promise results (because if someone promises something they're not sure about, they could be hiding other lies). Be sure of the professional's qualifications (including specializations, postgraduate degrees, courses, participation in congresses and publications). In addition, look for a professional who not only has knowledge in their field, but who also treats you in a genuinely human way, is approachable and offers the attention you deserve. After all, only in this way can they understand your needs and determine the most effective treatment.

In the consultation

TIP: Don't leave out any information (if possible, take your complaints with you so you don't forget anything). Everything that you think is not right about you, or that is outside what you consider normal, is important so that the right professional can assess your case comprehensively, even if they focus on a few specific areas at times. Often, what you don't think is important can be a decisive factor in the professional's diagnosis and treatment process. Also, bring the latest tests carried out and information about the medications/supplements you are using.

POST-CONSULTATION

📍 Improve your lifestyle habits, such as drinking water and healthy food at the right intervals, exercising regularly and getting enough sleep, even if it's a gradual process. Without good habits, the best supplements, medicines, professionals or treatments will do little good, because the body itself won't be able to react and respond effectively.

📍 Follow your professional's instructions exactly as indicated and only make changes in agreement with them, otherwise the results may not be what you expect.

📍 Consult any other professionals who may be recommended. For example, doctors often recommend good nutritionists (and vice versa) or physical trainers for treatments to achieve positive results. I, for example, often refer my patients to excellent functional nutritionists with excellent results. Remember that your health depends on the interaction between various structures in your body. Therefore, collaboration between different professionals from related areas in the health field is highly beneficial for providing more comprehensive and precise care to the patient, as each one has expertise in their specific area.

📍 Be careful when choosing the sources of prescribed supplements/medicines:

• There are better and worse brands of these products, which affects both price and access and, above all, results. Generally, the companies with the longest tradition and the most open and interested communication with the customer are the best.
• There are compounding pharmacies that are able to offer good prices and are reliable. However, there are others who, unfortunately, use dishonest means to win your prescription, such as exchanging prescribed substances for similar cheaper ones, omitting substances from formulas without informing the patient, supplying quantities below those prescribed, using low-quality raw materials and even bribing unethical professionals. It is therefore important to be wary of very low quotes that are significantly out of line with ethical competitors. Remember that a “cheaper” formula could end up costing you a lot more in the future if your treatment doesn't produce satisfactory results or causes damage due to the inferior quality of the products supplied.

📍 Follow up at the intervals set by your healthcare professional: return visits are important in order to adjust the treatment to your needs, listen to you as a patient and above all: meet your expectations as much as possible. Make a note of “complications” so that you can report them to your healthcare professional, i.e. communicate and negotiate any difficulties.

📍 BELIEVE in your treatment! If you've come this far and chosen your health professionals carefully, once you've done your part properly, you're bound to have good results, right? So, positive thinking and on your way to good health and quality of life!

In short, choose carefully and responsibly who you give your health to: after all, it is one of the most precious possessions you can have, and without it, no one can enjoy life.

Best regards, Dr. Ícaro Alves Alcântara