Doctors Can’t Fix This
Let me share some information from a few recent studies:
- Cancers fueled by obesity are on the rise among young adults in the United States and appearing at increasingly younger ages, according to an analysis released Monday by the American Cancer Society.
- The circadian clock is a complex cellular mechanism that, through the control of diverse metabolic and gene expression path-ways, governs a large array of cyclic physiological processes. Epidemiological and clinical data reveal a connection between the disruption of circadian rhythms and cancer that is supported by recent preclinical data. In addition, results from animal models and molecular studies underscore emerging links between cancer metabolism and the circadian clock. This has implications for therapeutic approaches, and we discuss the possible design of chronopharmacological strategies. (LINK)
- Nearly half of U.S. adults deal with some form of cardiovascular disease, said a new study, driven largely by changes in guidelines for classifying high blood pressure. (LINK)
What this all means is that the lifestyle of our population is out eating, under exercising, out smoking, under medicating, and under sleeping anything doctors do to help. No society can afford the treatment of all the things people are doing to themselves. Doctors cannot fix this.
That is precisely why I tell students to stay the heck away from primary care medicine. Until people are held accountable for their lousy health behaviors, not a “blankety-blank” thing is going to change in this country. Just hold the Doctors accountable. I get lists from companies saying “so and so” hasn’t had this, that and the other thing. I look in the records and see that the patients turn me down. When I went to med school I was told people can turn down my recommendations and I can’t make them do a danged thing! My career is so long now that I’ve seen preventable suffering if only folks had listened to me. So glad I just have a couple of years to Medicare age and the financial advisor says I’m in a good position to retire then.
The democrats want to socialize everything and in the process they will bankrupt the country.
Giving healthcare to everyone and not expecting a modicum of “good health” behavior to maximize good outcomes isn’t going to do a thing to change the status quo except no MD is going to be practicing primary care. Yeah, yeah, yeah. DPC is supposed to save the world but setup in a bad area with nobody who can pay and you’ll go bankrupt. Plain and simple. Pick the right place and it will be nice work. If you don’t accept Medicare, you won’t be able to fill out those forms so that population will go elsewhere. If you stop hospital work, that revenue stream will be gone although I’m tired of taking call the older I get. Get enough patients in a DPC situation and one would be in good shape. On the other hand, bust one’s buns in a fellowship and get 5 lucrative job offers before you’re done. Yeah it’s 5 years of h*ll but sure a lot better than the abuse FP/IM docs take these days/
Doctors can’t fix it, but we sure can be punished financially for it.
Even more depressing, bariatric surgery only seems to help for a couple of years and the body adjusts to bring the weight back up, again. It is overwhelming.
Ummm, Bariatrics work for those who follow the rules. Their current criteria try to screen for those folks. The duodenal switch is highly effective but the patients feel like “sh!t” for a year.
Harder to beat out. Bottom line is follow the rules post bariatric procedure and one will do OK.
Break the rules and sure, anything can be beaten and you’ll be fat again.