Keeping Doctors on Track

Ken Anderson said:
Someone said in another thread got me thinking about my doctor's visits, and how I try to orchestrate things so that the doctor actually focuses on the problem that I'm having, rather than something else.

For example, I regularly check my blood pressure, pulse, oxygen saturation, and so on, and the Apple Watch monitors some of these and some other things, as well, so I know that I don't generally have high blood pressure, and I know that a pulse rate of 40 is not something that I need to do worry about. The founder of the Heart Hospital in McAllen, Texas, was our medical director when I had an ambulance company, and I spoke to him about my low pulse rates.

However, I might go to a doctor because my left ankle hurts. That's what hurts first when I am on the elliptical machine: it's my left ankle that keeps me from running, and I think it might be behind a few falls I have had. However, when I see my doctor about my ankle, if my blood pressure is on the high side of normal when they check it before the doctor comes in, the whole session is likely to be about whether I should take blood pressure medication. I think it's easier for them to focus on that kind of stuff than on real problems.

Whenever I get a new doctor - and the clinic I do go to changes doctors often - my first couple of appointments will focus on my low pulse rate, as if it's something I should fix, when I view being able to regain my normal low pulse rate as a positive sign, since it came about only after I began exercising regularly.

Likewise, I don't buy into the idea that a cholesterol level on the high side of what they consider normal is something I need to worry about, and, to the extent it is, it is something to be controlled by diet, not statin drugs.

So, for the week prior to an annual doctor's appointment, I "study" for my test by being very careful about what I eat, I get plenty of sleep the night before, and I try to go into meditation mode while they're taking my blood pressure so that the whole thing isn't derailed over things that I don't consider to be important. It isn't that I think I know more about this stuff than the doctors do, but that I recognize that they're not spending more than fifteen minutes with me, generally, and one blood pressure reading, often with the cuff misplaced, is not representative of my blood pressure, and I don't want to suffer the ill effects of a statin drug just because I ate some of the wrong stuff in the days before the blood test.

Do you find you need to orchestrate things to keep your doctor on track?
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I agree with all you just posted.
 
Don Alaska said:
My point was that you can receive palliative care at home. You don't need to be in a facility. The same is true with hospice care. The care is similar but the ends are not the same. Supposedly you have a 6-month life expectancy in hospice, although that is not enforced. No such requirement exists for palliative care, and the insurance requirements are different. Many, although not all, of the techniques are similar.
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And my point was that I am very familiar with palliative care and hospice; I just don't need it at this time. I was simply making a comment about my friends dying and how it makes me feel. I didn't ask for any advice.
 
Yvonne Smith said:
That is exactly what i try to do as well, and it does seem like doctors only want to focus on blood pressure and cholesterol. Not only that, they have several times over the years lowered what they consider to be an okay reading for both of these measurements.
In 1950, a BP of 160 was fine for an older adult, and 300 was considered normal for cholesterol. Since our body actually makes most of the cholesterol we need for our brain, our level is going to be affected by what we make as much as what we eat that has cholesterol in it.

When I was doing the Apple Watch study, and had to take BP twice a day, they had me sit quietly for 5 minutes, feet flat on the floor and sitting up straight in the chair, , then wait a minute and take a second reading.
At the doctor’s office, we might have been walking a ways from the parking lot, climbing stairs, or whatever, and they just put the cuff on (usually WAY too tight so you tense up anyway), and then take your reading; so it is definitely not going to be as accurate as the method I was using in the study.
Even then, my readings varied almost every time i took the measurements.

Pretty much, I just depend on the doctor visits to see what my lab results are, and when I did have some other thing that I wanted checked out, they didn’t really do much anyway.
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My calcium levels were great as was blood test just 2 weeks from other doctor., they all 4 doc's lied like dogs, said no stents just going in to look around.
Jake and I believed them but did not read the paper I sighed giving the liars permission.
I'm the same way, and very involved in my care. in 2019 my BP was real high, I go to emergency room in county hospital, he tells me wait for a bed, brining it down too fast can actually kill you, his exact words.
We sit in waiting room for hour's among lots of coughing sick people. We go to UF emergency, students tell us to go to drug store fill BP med, take it at the store immediately
Why did we forget the first warning, don't know. Local drug store maybe 5 minutes from home, soon as we get home I start weeding garden like 15 minutes later, and have a stoke Jake catching right before I fall and takes me to ER.
Short story, they caused me to have a stoke that partially blinded me all perithial vision gone, vision now blurry!

I FF to calcium part, although I think whole video is interesting too
 
Faye Fox said:
I don't do anything special before visiting the doctor, besides taking a shower, but only if I fail the self arm pit smell exam or a sniff test reveals anything that smells fishy. :sneaky: No doc has ever forced me to take any prescription or do anything I don't like. If I don't like what they say, I argue with them or just ignore it. :cautious:

When my old doc retired that had talked with my Neuro-otologist and read the medical text on inner ear and viral pathology, that I loaned her, I went through two new docs before I found one that would stay on the same program as my old doc. My current PCP doc goes by what former specialist have on my records and sends me to specialist, if it is above her pay grade. She didn't care to borrow my text or listen to my lecture, but had no problem keeping my meds the same that had been working for years. 😇

I still can't believe one doc wanted to cut my anti viral med to once a day. She couldn't comprehend that each capsule has a 12 hour half life meaning it is half strength in 12 hours. Her theory was I shouldn't take another one until 24 hours when it had no life. She couldn't comprehend that once this drug passes a half life, it may allow virus to replicate. It works like a firewall. Even one pharmacist wanted to argue with me. Stupid little 💩!

I remember one doc I argued with saying, "So you're a doctor now." 🥼 I replied, "Well, someone had to step up and take my health seriously." 💡😎 A good friend suggested I start wearing scrubs and one of those little surgeon caps when I go to doctor appointments. I have shopping to do, it seems. Anyone have a good scrubs ensemble and stethoscope recommendation? :ROFLMAO:
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You are my clone!:love:
 
This chart shows the H1b imported doctors in red, and the real American trained and certified doctors in grey on the chart. You can see that we have a lot more of the doctors here from India and other foreign countries, way more than we have American doctors.
After reading abut how many of the H1b people come here with fake degrees or diplomas, it is scary to think about having one for healthcare.

IMG_1957.jpeg
 
There are many websites where you can look up a doctor and see their education, patient reviews, etc. Foreign-educated doctors are required to have some kind of certification and residency requirements before they can legally practice medicine in the USA.

Google Says: "Foreign-trained doctors (known as International Medical Graduates or IMGs) are generally required to obtain certification from the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG Certification) to practice clinical medicine or enter residency programs in the United States.

U.S. Residency Training: Most states require completing 1 to 3 years of an accredited residency program in the U.S. or Canada, though some states offer alternative supervised pathways."

My oncologist at MD Anderson was Japanese, and many of the doctors at MD Anderson are of varying nationalities.

This reminds me of the old joke... What do you call the person at the bottom of the class in medical school? "Doctor."
 
The copy paste is too hard to read.
There are processes in place for non US educated physicians to get what is missing to US requirements. Not an easy route but for many a considerably more lucrative and professional option than at their country of origin.
AMA and Bridge go into current details.
There are plenty of rotten apples of US origin. One in SO’s family.
 
Marie Miller said:
The copy paste is too hard to read.
There are processes in place for non US educated physicians to get what is missing to US requirements. Not an easy route but for many a considerably more lucrative and professional option than at their country of origin.
AMA and Bridge go into current details.
There are plenty of rotten apples of US origin. One in SO’s family.
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I didn’t expect anyone to try and read the hospital names. @Marie Miller , but you can easily see what amount of doctors are from America and which ones came here on the H1b plan, since those are in red, and the American ones are the grey ones.

I do not think that there is any problem with doctors from Japan, @Beth Gallagher , just mainly the H1b doctors who came here on a visa from India, and had some sort of certification when they came here.

Hospitals and other places are laying their American workers off and hiring the H1b workers in a lot of different areas of work, especially in management positions.
Many large companies today have Indian CEO’s, and Kroger just announced that they will be laying off a lot of employees and bringing in H1b workers with a visa instead.

This is not good for our country, in any way at all !
The more these people come over (with their extended families), the more housing is used, just like with the illegals, making everything we buy cost more because of the accelerated demands.
And now, American workers are losing their jobs and being replaced with foreign workers, and this should not be allowed to happen.

Even worse, is these people having positions they are not qualified for. We have all seen/read about the truck drivers who do not even speak or read English, and don’t know which side of the road to drive on.
There was just an Amazon plane crash becasue the pilot couldn’t read landing information properly.
Now, we have people here , working as doctors, who might not even be a real doctor, and that is scary for all of us seniors, who depend a lot on a doctor knowing what they are doing.
 
Yvonne Smith said:
I didn’t expect anyone to try and read the hospital names. @Marie Miller , but you can easily see what amount of doctors are from America and which ones came here on the H1b plan, since those are in red, and the American ones are the grey ones.

I do not think that there is any problem with doctors from Japan, @Beth Gallagher , just mainly the H1b doctors who came here on a visa from India, and had some sort of certification when they came here.

Hospitals and other places are laying their American workers off and hiring the H1b workers in a lot of different areas of work, especially in management positions.
Many large companies today have Indian CEO’s, and Kroger just announced that they will be laying off a lot of employees and bringing in H1b workers with a visa instead.

This is not good for our country, in any way at all !
The more these people come over (with their extended families), the more housing is used, just like with the illegals, making everything we buy cost more because of the accelerated demands.
And now, American workers are losing their jobs and being replaced with foreign workers, and this should not be allowed to happen.

Even worse, is these people having positions they are not qualified for. We have all seen/read about the truck drivers who do not even speak or read English, and don’t know which side of the road to drive on.
There was just an Amazon plane crash becasue the pilot couldn’t read landing information properly.
Now, we have people here , working as doctors, who might not even be a real doctor, and that is scary for all of us seniors, who depend a lot on a doctor knowing what they are doing.
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Yvonne, one at a time please.
My life would have been considerably easier had I followed everyone’s advise and stayed in Europe.
H1B requirements changed under Trump. Please read up a bit on uscis.gov. Please read up on what it takes to bring extended family aside from minor child and spouse. It can take years from application and generally requires accepting financial responsibility. H1B never led to citizenship but always required US taxation, Social Security and unemployment. The fun part - you loose your job you are out. No unemployment.
Can you post a link about Kroger using H1B?
The US skilled talent pool is lacking numbers. Education and motivation.
As far as Illegals go - discuss this with your representatives. Elected leaders sometimes follow their own agenda not necessarily what is best for their constituents.
No final findings have been released about the Miami plane crash.
 
I don’t have the link where I read it before, but this is from “Supermarket News”:

Kroger may be planning a massive layoff by 2028, according to an industry consultant who preferred not to be named via social media claiming information from contacts inside the retailer.

The Cincinnati-based grocer could be setting up a way to outsource entire departments to a Global Capability Center in India. More than 5,700 jobs could be eliminated.

A source close to the situation said there will be terminations, but the math used to come up with over 5,700 job cuts is overblown.

The social media source says the grocer has not finalized the number, which could go up or down in the coming months, and set up the Global Capability Center to streamline decision-making, improve productivity and increase the speed of execution.
 
Since the thread is about doctors, I recall reading that there is a shortage of physicians in the USA. As long as the foreign-educated doctors are qualified and certified to practice medicine in the US, I assume that they are a valued addition to the country. I wouldn't think that they are taking jobs away from Americans due to the existing shortage of physicians, but honestly I have no idea.

Patients should do their due diligence when selecting a doctor. When I am choosing a doctor I always go online to the various "physician review" websites and look for any history of complaints or reprimands by the state medical board, as well as the doctor's education and any board certifications.
 
It would be nice if a certain doctor really became someone friend and was honest with them,especially about big pharma!

Having more doctors tell the truth and NOT LIE in this 2020 sham would be beautiful!!
 
Yvonne Smith said:
I don’t have the link where I read it before, but this is from “Supermarket News”:

Kroger may be planning a massive layoff by 2028, according to an industry consultant who preferred not to be named via social media claiming information from contacts inside the retailer.

The Cincinnati-based grocer could be setting up a way to outsource entire departments to a Global Capability Center in India. More than 5,700 jobs could be eliminated.

A source close to the situation said there will be terminations, but the math used to come up with over 5,700 job cuts is overblown.

The social media source says the grocer has not finalized the number, which could go up or down in the coming months, and set up the Global Capability Center to streamline decision-making, improve productivity and increase the speed of execution.
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Yvonne, what does outsourcing have to do with H1B?
 
April Vee said:
It would be nice if a certain doctor really became someone friend and was honest with them,especially about big pharma!

Having more doctors tell the truth and NOT LIE in this 2020 sham would be beautiful!!
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We basically have that. I know our PCP’s life story, her ups and downs. When she refers us to a specialist we get the story from family to former business relations. Basically the non published bio:)
 
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