When the doctor gives you instructions or advice, do you always follow it to the T? I've had a few occasions lately where I've been to a health-care practitioner, and she's told me to do something, and then I realized later that I wasn't really adhering to her guidelines as strictly as perhaps she'd have liked.
I am not talking about anything really, really serious (or at least I don't think so), but for example, now that I am just five weeks post C-section, my midwife gave me the go ahead to do some "light jogging" and/or some "powerwalking", if I want to. (She knows how important exercising is to me.) Well, I went out for a light jog, and three miles of huffing and puffing later, I came home. I have a FEELING that she didn't mean quite that much jogging, but I did watch myself for any warning signs of trouble and since I felt none, I kept going.
I've played fast-and-loose, similarly, with medication a few times—not with things like an antibiotic, however, since I know that that is one medication where you should always finish the entire course. I am talking about not taking a pain medication once I felt I could handle the discomfort, or not taking a pill with meals, or not drinking the entire recommended amount of water that my midwife exhorted me to drink throughout my pregnancy.
And apparently, I am not alone but the people messing around with the rules are often those who can least afford to do so. According to this one study, some of the sickest, most seriously ill patients are actually the ones who are playing doctor. They found that people suffering from anxiety and depression often are the ones most at risk of having difficulty keeping on track.
So I am wondering if anyone else ever sort of fudges things when it comes to what the doctor says, or if I am the only one flouting my doctor's orders? For a look at some health-care shortcuts that range from minor to more major, check out this useful article.
I remember learning about antibiotics in my college biology course. It was so groundbreaking to me because I didn’t know why it was so important to take them all, especially after I started feeling better early on.
It’s a lesson in evolution. Imagine a population of bacteria, in which there are clusters that differ slightly from one another. The first round of antibiotics will wipe out only the “weakest”. So, the strong ones are left over to divide and re-populate. Second and third doses wipe out more of the weakest in that group, and by then only the really really strong bacteria are left to divide and grow. If you stop taking it then, you may be breeding a semi-resistant strain in your body. Take the rest, until they’re all gone. It’s kinda creepy, but that’s part of how we got the MRSA (the super-resistant strain of Staph infection).
Other than that, I’m with you at least when it comes to taking pain killers. I figure that if I can take the discomfort, why put more chemicals in my body that its used to?
-Hypatia
How ironic – I just stopped taking my anxiety meds cold turkey because I didn’t trust what the doctors’ office said. I had a reaction to my first med type, and I got a call back from a receptionist who talked to a nurse who talked to a doctor in the practice (mine wasn’t there). They told me to start taking a new medicine, but when I asked if I should stop my first one, they just said “yeah, I guess so.” My mom (a nurse) made me start on the new ones because I was going through some nasty withdrawls. I knew it wasn’t smart to stop, it just made sense in my weird brain.