Tag Archives: health care

Infirmity

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Infirmity, it can be said, is a word that is used for people who are really sick. Bedridden.

However, our friends over at Dictionary.com have a definition for infirmity I particularly like:

“a physical weakness or ailment: the infirmities of age”

That’s something I’m becoming more and more familiar with – the infirmities of age.

Today, I visit two separate specialists. One is my dermatologist that I’ve been seeing for years for psoriasis. The drug he has me on needs monitoring from time to time and, to be honest, I think he just likes to get the visit in. The other is a rheumatologist to see about this inability to turn my head from left to right (or vice versa) without pain.

4 doctors in face masks and surgical clothingI’ve been to a chiropractor to no avail. I’ve been to an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in neck and spine ailments who suggested it might be a type of arthritis. Yet my dermatologist (see above) discounts the fact it may be arthritis since the drug he has me on for psoriasis is also supposed to help with arthritis.

Are you following along?

Enter my GP who is really a gerontologist. A general practitioner who specializes in the infirmities of age.  That’s right. A doctor for people who are getting old!  How convenient is that?

His deal for me, other than my weight issue, is blood pressure.  It doesn’t seem to want to respond to medication so he keeps playing around with different drugs and dosages in the hope of getting the right mix.  Of course, high blood pressure or hypertension is related to me being fat. Ditto the sleep apnea which can contribute to high blood pressure.

Oh. Then there’s the dentist. Yep. It seems that the drug the GP gave me for hypertension has a side effect for my gums which now require a gingivectomy. The bad part about the dentist, of course, if that normal health insurance, even good health insurance, barely covers the cost of dentistry.

Of course, to make matters worse, I developed a toothache which required a root canal.

Here’s the bottom line: It isn’t easy getting old and it isn’t easy getting these infirmities of age.

What’s the solution?  Well, diet and exercise would go a long way. Losing the 120 extra pounds I carry around. That would help.

Easier said than done.

 

Blind Faith – Medical Edition

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As a professional myself, I like to think that people will take my advice seriously and act on it in a positive way (i.e, the way I gave it).  After all, I have all this experience in the field.  Right?  Yet, when the shoe is on the other foot, I tend (sometimes) to question what someone the person who should obviously know what he or she is talking about.

Thus, it is with my wife and her dentist.

A few years ago the dentist she had been seeing for many decades decided to retire (I don’t blame him) and a new dentist came on board to take over the care of the teeth in my wife’s mouth.  Now, I’m sure this new dentist is competent and experienced. The fact of the matter is that I’ve never met her.  So, I’m prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Yet, on the first visit this new dentist started suggested all kinds of pricey things that my wife my want to pursue. One of which was a custom made mouth guard to prevent night grinding (of the tooth variety).  Sounds OK except that said custom made mouth guard is about $600 which, by the way, is not paid for by the insurance company (don’t get me started on dental insurance!).

Does this mean that the dentist is just looking for ways to pump up the bill total?  Or is it legitimate advice for good dental health?  Getting a second opinion on things like this costs money (remember the dental insurance thing!) and, besides, who wants to go to the dentist twice?

The Primary Care Physician

This brings me to my own primary care guy.

I have had bad luck with general practitioners.  Maybe it’s the health insurance system.  Maybe it’s the fact that doctors have such high overhead.  Who knows?  They rush you in and out and barely have time to talk about what really ails you.  OK.  So be it.

I recently found a guy I liked and the physician seemed to care.  He would take the time to talk and he would do a thorough examine.  He wouldn’t order a lot of ”tests” and he didn’t prescribe drugs willy nilly to provide a remedy for the various little ailments I complained about.

Things changed.

He decided to go in with a larger practice.  I guess he was interested in economies of scale.  More doctors means more and better and fancier equipment, better and more efficient billing, records keeping, what-have-you. OK. Fine.

Now, I go to visit this guy and he wants to run all kinds of tests and blood work and more.  All “in-house”, of course.  Convenient for me. A cash cow for “the practice”.   Luckily, my insurance will cover most of it.  But do I really need all these tests and do I really need them every time I go in for a visit and do I really need to go in for a visit so often. I mean, I have some ailments but I don’t think they’re life threatening or need monitoring that closely.

It’s hard to say.  We tend to want to be healthy and live a long life.  That means putting a lot of faith into what medical professionals tell us.  Blind faith.