February 21, 2009

What Does Your Doctor Really Mean When He Says "There’s Nothing Wrong"?

What thoughts go through your mind when you hear this - ?There?s nothing wrong.?
Most likely you hear that the crappy way you?re feeling is all in your head - or so the doctor thinks.

Believe it or not, this is a phrase that?s mean to reassure people. Fat chance of that happening. Once more this shows the major gap between the person uttering those sounds and those receiving them.

What the doctor is trying to tell you is that he cannot find anything serious either on examination or on the testing that he?s done. And you really do not want something to show up on any of those. He is NOT saying that it?s all in your head. There are many things that can be wrong with you but not have major abnormalities that can be easily found.

Part of the problem is that you probably won’t listen to anything else the doctor says after that. Do not fall into that trap. What comes next may actually explain the whole thing. You know how fast doctors talk. They don?t pause between sentences to see how you absorbed or reacted to that statement.

So, what do you do? First, let?s discuss what NOT to do?.Do not get upset. Do not shut down. Do not feel abused or ashamed. Do not feel like you?ve been wasting everyone?s time. Do not be angry. Do not discount everything else the doctor?s going to say. Do not get flustered. That?s the most important of all.

Stay alert and open-minded. If you have to regroup, put your hand up to signal the doctor to slow down or even pause. Listen, listen, listen. See what the doctor has to say afterwards. If it doesn?t seem that you?re understanding what he?s saying even though you?ve been trying, stop him and ask for clarification. Say ?excuse me? or hold your hand up again. If he?s not looking or listening, try standing up and see if that will give him a clue.

At that point you can simply say ?I don?t understand what you?re saying.? Or you can ask specifically ?what do you mean there?s nothing wrong? Are you saying that this is all in my head?? One reason we give up so much of our power is that we remain silent. You have to ask for clarification and refuse to be intimidated. You know that there?s something bothering you. No, it may not be earth-shattering or something that will be a first recorded case ? BUT, it?s something making you feel bad enough to come to this humiliating appointment with a doctor who isn?t doing a very good job explaining things to you. Don?t allow that to happen. Don?t give away your power.

Same goes if the doctor says ?I can?t find anything wrong?. I know from my 30 years in medicine that just because I can?t find something wrong does NOT mean that there isn?t anything ?wrong? with the patient. Doctors do try to find out if there is anything obvious first. And sometimes they will stop looking if there?s nothing found on the basic studies. But most often they will try to find something that will provide relief for you while your body heals ? even without anyone ever knowing what it was. They will tell you that you need to come back if you?re not getting any better. This is not just ?blowing you off?. It?s because right then they are not concerned that there is something major wrong to warrant other studies. But, they are acknowledging that you don?t feel well and want you to rest, take the symptomatic medicine you?re given and return if you?re not feeling better.

It?s important that you do not give up your power by giving in. Do not leave the office if you?re uncertain what?s going on or what the plan of action is. I know this is difficult but you really can do it. You may have to speak up and say ?Excuse me, I don?t understand. Can you explain this to me so I can understand, doctor? Are you saying that there is nothing wrong with me or that you just cannot find something on your tests?? Do not feel as if you?re going to make the doctor mad or he won?t like you or something stupid like that. The doctor will NOT know that you don?t understand unless you tell him. If you don?t say anything, he will only assume that you?re fine with everything he?s said.

For help with communicating with your doctor, contact the author at Terrie@askyourdoctorsaidwhat.com

Dr. Wurzbacher is a retired Navy Emergency Medicine Physician who recognized early in her career that she was probably missing much of what her patients were trying to tell her. The Emergency Department is one place that being good at communication is essential - you have no records to work with and not much time. Teaching young doctors and ancillary staff the personal aspects of medicine has become a passion of hers. Her book, ?Your Doctor Said What? is intended to help patients not only understand why many doctors seem like aliens but also how to empower themselves to deal with them.

Check her out at http://www.yourdoctorsaidwhat.com and http://www.yourdoctorsaidwhatblog.com.

Sitting Fit for Everyone

Public enemy #1 for our bodies….the simple chair. Or is it how we use chairs that’s the problem?

When I was a kid, my Dad asked me if I could design a chair for people whose knees bent backwards. I’m still working on that one. But since I began doing yoga, I’ve been working on designing a practice for those of us whose knees bend forward many hours a day. What do we do with bodies that ache because we sit, and sit, and sit? We’re a society of “chair people.” We sit for meals, sit for classes, sit in the car, sit at a desk, sit in meetings and movies. We sit to talk on the telephone and watch TV, sit at computers, on planes, on trains, in waiting rooms. Some of us sit due to accident or illness, weakness, or job requirements. Some of us sit because we just have a lazy life style. Do you ever feel that your life has become a series of transitions from one seated location to another?

I don’t think our bodies were meant to live that way! Most chairs aren’t designed to support our bodies with healthy posture. They cause us to slump, curve our spines, push our heads forward or lean us back onto our tailbones. The worst back problem I ever had came after sitting in a seminar room for three days of lectures.

Inactivity can cause stiffness, backache, weakness, constipation, poor circulation, mental dullness, nervousness, cramps, and degeneration. Depressing thoughts. Whatever the reason and wherever you sit, its possible to begin to become fit, even while sitting in your chair.

Yoga, the 5000 year old gift of body/mind balance, can be adapted to a seated stretching program that can counteract the inevitable results of too much sitting. Body awareness, better posture, relief from aches and pains, as well as increased flexibility and strengthening, and a deep sense of relaxation can be achieved right where you are….are you sitting down?

Although a consistent yoga program of standing, balancing, lying poses, and inversions is a more complete practice, yoga need not be relegated to the yoga studio or health club. The time commitment of hours per week can sometimes be difficult to fit in to a busy schedule. Doing a pose or two hourly throughout the day can give you some of the benefits of a yoga practice and help relieve the results of sitting too much. In fact, small efforts while sitting in various daily situations, can contribute greatly to our strength, flexibility, relaxation, increased circulation, stronger respiration, and clarity of mind. Yoga poses adapted to small bites may not have the same intensity as a full yoga class, but the benefits of yoga are readily available to those who nibble on yoga throughout the day.

Those who are physically challenged due to age, illness, or who just can’t do poses on the floor, need not miss out on the many benefits of yoga. Invalids, those confined to wheelchairs or recovering from injury, with their physician’s approval, can benefit from their own adaptation of the breathing and gentle seated poses. Seated yoga can build the strength and flexibility, needed to progress to more and more challenging poses. Breathing, stretching and strengthening can be introduced at a slow pace, gently bringing bodies to new levels of fitness, increasing circulation and bringing in healing “life force” energy.

“Sitting Fit” benefits all of us, regardless of our physical condition. Sitting needs to be balanced with moving, breathing and stretching, so try some of these simple poses for a “mini yoga break.” You’ll feel the difference and return your attention to your work refreshed, more relaxed and with a clearer mind.

Sitting Fit Can Be Done in a Chair … Anytime, Anywhere

Breathing Sit up straight on the edge of your chair, feet flat on the floor directly below your knees. Let your hands rest on your thighs. Take a long, deep breath, and exhale completely. Inhale deeply again, reaching for the ceiling with the crown of your head, lengthening your spine. Continue breathing with full deep inhalations and complete exhalations for 10 to 20 breaths.

As you exhale, slide your shoulder blades down your back, dropping your shoulders away from your ears as you reach through your finger tips. Keep breathing deeply for 3 to 5 breaths. Exhale as you lower your arms.

Shoulder shrugs Inhaling, bring your shoulders up tightly toward your ears. Roll your shoulders back, pressing your shoulder blades tightly together. Exhale as you press your shoulders down toward the floor. Inhaling again, bring your shoulders up again, roll them back and press your shoulder blades together, and release down. Repeat several times and don’t forget to breathe!

Forward Fold Still sitting on the edge of your chair with your feet hip width apart, inhale as you bring your arms out to your sides. Reach forward with your chin as you rotate from your hips, exhaling as you bring your chest toward your thighs. Keep your back flat. With your next exhalation, allow your self to relax, chest on your thighs, arms and head dangling, relaxed. Take 3 to 5 deep, full, relaxing breaths. Inhale as you sit up slowly with a flat back.

Knee Raises Sitting up straight, inhaling as you raise your right knee up in front of you. Grasp your leg in front of your knee with both hands. Keep your back flat as you exhale and draw your knee in toward your chest. Hold it there for 3 to 5 breaths. Release as you exhale. Repeat with your left leg.

Susan Winter Ward, internationally recognized yoga instructor, author, and video producer, is the creator of Yoga for the Young at Heart?, a multimedia publisher which publishes an informative and inspiring collection of CDRoms, videos, audio tapes, books and television programs, as well as exciting vacation retreats. Her product line is available at: Yoga for the Young at Heart

Go Inside

Winter, the long sleep. A time of “going within” and connecting with deep rhythms. Nature is our teacher if we’re willing to watch and listen. Nature demonstrates a season of silence, blanketed with snow, suspended animation; the life force pulled inward and focused at the point of connection with life source. Life becomes quiet.

We too, can learn to become quiet. “Going inside” and focusing our energy on our point of life source within ourselves is where we find our personal connection and quietude. Yoga is a pathway to that inner connection. The breath is the “guidance system,” keeping us aware of the path. The body and the breath move together, inhaling creating movement and expansion; exhaling allowing extension and relaxation into the poses. The rhythm of the breath, the expansion and relaxation cycling with each other reflects a microcosm of the cycle of summer and winter in nature. We are part of that cycle, our rhythms are the same.

Sitting quietly, our attention on our breathing rhythm, we can follow our breath to access our own internal rhythms and focus on that place of quietude within ourselves. We can create an awareness of that place of “winter” inside where our own energy is gathered and we experience a sense of connection to our life source. There, in the silence, we can relax, heal and gather life force. Its through our awareness of our connection to life force within us that we may consciously create our lives. The creative source of all nature lies within us, too. It flows through us constantly. We can choose to direct it consciously as we focus our awareness through our inner quiet. In that place, we gather the energy to carry us along into the coming “summer” cycle of expansion as it comes around again. Withdrawing and expanding, rest and action, inhaling and exhaling: yoga is about balance.

A person whose life is balanced is relaxed. A person who is relaxed is open. A person who is open is more loving. A person who is more loving is more peaceful, and a person who is more peaceful brings peace to the world.

Susan Winter Ward, internationally recognized yoga instructor, author, and video producer, is the creator of Yoga for the Young at Heart?, a multimedia publisher which publishes an informative and inspiring collection of CDRoms, videos, audio tapes, books and television programs, as well as exciting vacation retreats. Her product line is available at: Yoga for the Young at Heart
 
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