Is It Time to Break Up with Your Doc?
So, how’s it going with your healthcare these days? Let’s get really granular here: How are you really feeling about your doc? Maybe you haven’t really given it much thought. Or maybe you have, and you’re feeling maybe it might be time for you to break up?
Break up? Why?
Midlife, yeah. It can be a confusing time, health-wise. In a way, it’s almost like being a teenager all over again (minus the wonderfully taught skin and quick-as-lightening metabolism). Children aren’t the only ones who outgrow their pediatricians, after all. Maybe we outgrow our docs too when our issues change.
Sure, I’ve got issues. We all have issues, don’t we?
Call it the case of shifting and fluctuating. As in your hormones, your weight, your mental and emotional state. Your inner magnetic field is striving for equilibrium, or something close to it.
The sad truth is some docs… They just don’t know.
Some proof:
Doctors are not always helpful. Three out of four women who seek help for symptoms don’t receive it.
In most cases, if there’s elephant in the room, you’re going to have to bring it up yourself.
We can’t blame the docs for being uninformed. They don’t mean to be. It’s that they’re not taught much about menopause in the first place.
Breaking up is hard to do. Give me some help here.
Here are three steps to get you started:
1. If you no longer feel in sync and complete sympatico with your doctor, maybe it’s time to send this letter.
2. Remember how doing your homework and asking questions always got you answers? That’ll come in very handy right around now. And don’t underestimate the value of what your friends’ recommendations. You might like you who they like.
3. Find a certified menopause practitioner. Yes, they exist and most of us are totally unaware that they do. These are the experts who won’t look at you cross-eyed if you confide that sex hurts, that you’re super-emotional, can’t sleep or want to murder your partner (any or all of the above). They’re trained to concentrate more on midlife healthcare and the unique issues of midlife women. (We all like to think we’re unique and the truth is, we are!) Look for the initials NCMP next to their name and degree, or look here.
“Don’t take your love away from me. Don’t you leave your heart in misery. If you go, then I’ll be blue…” Sorry, doc. I had my reasons.
MORE REASONS FOR A PAUSE
Eat healthy. That’s something we should all be doing. Your doc would tell you that, and we will too. But we’re not all doing it. Taking small steps will help you get there. So will this helpful tip sheet.
Sleep well. If only your doctor could write a prescription for this, since it’s as important as any medicine you can take to boost your health and well-being. If you could read their scrawl, it say is “get between 7-9 hours each night.” What else? Use this as your prescription to do it right.
Pillow, pillow, on my bed. Which one is best to rest my head? The Sleep Doctor knows.
Know someone who could use a Pause? Share our newsletter and help us spread the word. We’re in this together!