A health revolution brewing?

[Silver Wings]

What do you need to say to your doctor to get them to order this?

It really depends on the doctor. Some are unfamiliar with it and are hesitant to sign off on it. Which is counter intuitive being that it is an out of pocket procedure…$100-$250.
Those that are familiar will set it up just for the asking. I explained to my doctor that I just wanted another tool for assessing my CVD risk and he was good with that.
CAC CT is not a definitive, be all end all test for determining risk, but like I said, it’s another tool.

 

[CorbLand]

I'm curious on you guys' ages. I feel the same way. I'm 37.

I think some of the technology available in the early 2000s was great.... Seems like there was enough available to help prevent a lot of environmental and medical issues. But, the Internet wasn't what it is now and we weren't so globally connected all the time.

I love the Internet for learning, but I think we'd be better off as a species without it. Boy, that would be a fun idea for a fiction book. What would today be like without the Internet

32. Will be 33 in a couple months. I remember things pretty clearly from about 1996/1997 on with a few scattered memories before hand.

I remember back to no cell phones, first affordable home computers, beating Bowser on the NES before you could save. Definitely was a better time although I think some of that is just due to being young and you probably didn't see or understand the problems that were really going on.

If I could wave a magic wand and allow my future kids to grow up in an era, it would be being born in the mid 80s, so they could grow up in the 90s to early 2000s.

Unfortunately, there is little that we can do without technology these days, and in many ways your hindering your kids by keeping them from it. There are some things that they can do without, but teaching them how to leverage it is going to be crucial. The world is never going back to pre social media in anyway and its going to continue to be the driving force for many, especially as the younger generation comes of age. Learning how to use it to market yourself and businesses is going to be the way its done.

The internet was revolutionary when I was growing up. AI is going to our kids "internet."

 

[darcytribe]

I'm curious on you guys' ages. I feel the same way. I'm 37.

I think some of the technology available in the early 2000s was great.... Seems like there was enough available to help prevent a lot of environmental and medical issues. But, the Internet wasn't what it is now and we weren't so globally connected all the time.

I love the Internet for learning, but I think we'd be better off as a species without it. Boy, that would be a fun idea for a fiction book. What would today be like without the Internet

Add me to the list of people that has fantasized about a world with no internet. Initially our infrastructure would collapse but it sure would be interesting, and I believe societally positive in the long run, to see what would rise from that place.

I agree it would be a book or movie that would sell like hotcakes because I believe there are lots of people that are in some sense awaking to the negatives around where technology is taking us as a society. Maybe more accurately stated- the negatives around where technology is being used to take us as a society. I believe it’s probably the most powerful social engineering tool ever created in the history of the world.

 

[cornfedkiller]

What do you need to say to your doctor to get them to order this?

I can't answer about the CT scan portion, but call a local clinic/hospital and ask what they charge for a cash lipid panel (or PSA, A1C, CBC, etc). My local hospital charges $40, no appointment needed, just walk in and get drawn (after fasting), and they mail you the results. The results tell you if anything is out of normal range.

Same test when doctor orders it through your insurance is $316, plus the doctor visit to get it ordered.. and probably the follow-up visit to tell you the results.

 

[Shootinsurveyor]

I can't answer about the CT scan portion, but call a local clinic/hospital and ask what they charge for a cash lipid panel (or PSA, A1C, CBC, etc). My local hospital charges $40, no appointment needed, just walk in and get drawn (after fasting), and they mail you the results. The results tell you if anything is out of normal range.

Same test when doctor orders it through your insurance is $316, plus the doctor visit to get it ordered.. and probably the follow-up visit to tell you the results.

its stuff like this that makes me angrier than it should. Everyone in business has the right to make a healthy honest living, but I've seen the above enough times to know it is true when it is not necessary.

 

[timekiller13]

Doctors give them "whatever they want" because they either have a financial incentive to prescribed something or they received little actual training/instruction on dietetics.

This is true to a point.

I work in emergency medicine. The old school ER docs have no issue telling people like it is. They order fewer meds, order fewer tests and have no issues telling people they are fat.

The new ER docs were trained to make people happy. And they will tell you that. One ER doc told me recently “everyone who buys a ticket to the show (ER) gets a popcorn and a drink.”

It can be all traced back to effing lawyers.

 

[fwafwow]

This is true to a point.

I work in emergency medicine. The old school ER docs have no issue telling people like it is. They order fewer meds, order fewer tests and have no issues telling people they are fat.

The new ER docs were trained to make people happy. And they will tell you that. One ER doc told me recently “everyone who buys a ticket to the show (ER) gets a popcorn and a drink.”

It can be all traced back to effing lawyers.

I'm sure that lawyers, and patients who hire them in the hopes of a payday, impact some of the problems.

But lawyers didn't create the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, or perpetuate their inaccuracies. Those can be traced (at least in part) to McGovern, combined with food and pharma companies. And insurance companies aren't helpful at all, even though one would think their goal (pay out less) would match up with prevention.

If doctors are still beholden to the treatment guidelines/standard of care, some of which seem to take forever to change, then they will continue to push statins for cholesterol, Ozempic for fat people, or whatever, even though they probably haven't spent any time researching the effectiveness, or side effects. And absolutely patients reinforce all of that - as it is certainly easier to take a pill than to make any changes.

 

[MNGrouser]

I had a secretary in my office a few years ago. She left to travel abroad for her husband's job with their family. She still brings her boys back every summer to see their friends and so she can catch up with the office. Her kids get stomach issues their first few days back eating "American food". She always talks about how frequently they grocery shop because food in other places is not treated with all the additives and preservatives and chemicals we have here.

We, in America, are killing ourselves for convenience.

 

[fwafwow]

I can see here that we have hiked the same trail

Then you too, sir, probably may also have a spouse who shakes her head when a new book arrives.

Probably the biggest hurdle we face as a country in regard to healthcare is that throughout the system the $$$ incentives are all stacked against the patients. If this were not the case the epidemic of chronic disease would vanish overnight, but clearly there is way too much money being harvested from this perpetually sick and getting sicker population.

Maybe I'm too idealistic (surprising at my age of over 50), but I absolutely agree with you. We are spending money on some stuff that is pretty far out there (literally, when it comes to space, and time wise, when it comes to creating a plan for moving to Mars, or to make meat in a test tube for the time when there isn't enough farmland for real cows). But we aren't spending money or time on some things that I really believe could change the world, and quickly: (1) an overhaul to the health system (including food and pharma); (2) overhauling government with transparency (bring back real investigative journalism) and Congressional term limits; and (3) maintaining our free speech. (Perhaps I should call that the Trio Pipedream?)

You wanted a CGM to aide yourself in keeping track of your metabolic health and being able to see in real time how your diet affects it. To me that seems reasonable that someone would take an interest in preserving their most precious asset…their health.

He didn't deny it, he just persuaded me that I was going overboard. Which, at the time, I probably was. And maybe getting one is my subconscious way of trying to come up with an easier way to do a good low-carb diet - like finding out that beer, or cereal, didn't raise my blood sugar as much as expected.

I think I'm going to research the cost and bring it back up again.

I made a less costly request to my PCP several years ago…add HbA1c to my annual blood test, one of the cheapest tests available. Not only did my PCP deny it, he then proceeded to give me a lecture on how I would be causing healthcare costs to go up. He actually says this to one of his few patients who is working to stay healthy and is on no medication. I walked out that day and never went back.
My next PCP sees my lipid panel and about has a stroke…couldn’t get his prescription pad out fast enough. I told him thanks but no thanks. To his credit when I came back a year later with a nearly identical lipid panel he said it looked good…apparently he was as capable of reading as I was

That sucks. My guy barely even talks about my blood test results, even though my cholesterol levels are "high". We both know it doesn't matter - so after my last physical, all he harped on me about was (a) doing some strength training, and (b) losing my belly fat.

I’m cautiously optimistic that the health/diet topic has entered the political realm. If people can just get a little taste of what it feels like to feel good again perhaps we can start turning this massive freighter around. I know for me that feeling great on a daily basis has been a huge motivating factor in staying the course.

I hope you are right. And I will post something soon about the movement I mentioned.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

No one gets out of here alive. Focus on your own health. You can't change anything else.

I went to a water park recently and I was overwhelmed with how extremely overweight most people are. It is a shame.

Correct...You can't change anyone's else actions. You just get to pay for them with higher health insurance premiums every year.
Eat well and exercise hard..Human slop buckets and the health insurance companies are counting on you.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

But lawyers didn't create the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, or perpetuate their inaccuracies. Those can be traced (at least in part) to McGovern, combined with food and pharma companies. And insurance companies aren't helpful at all, even though one would think their goal (pay out less) would match up with prevention.

Yep, McGovern bought into the flawed theories of Ancel Keys and formally kicked off the US government's ill-advised "war on fat."

 

[sodaksooner]

I recommend everyone get a full set of bloodwork done and then get a Heart Calcium CT scan to figure out how much artery blockage you may have. Then adjust diet to weedout junk and get on a consistent exercise program. That should give you a good baseline on what you really may need to work on. in my uneducated opinion, that can fix a lot of things people are dealing with.

Just had one last week. Some minor calcification and nothing to worry about. Did a stress test at the same visit and passed with flying colors for 57 years old. I guess all that biking helps....lol. Held that HR at 171 for quite a while.

 

[sodaksooner]

I had a secretary in my office a few years ago. She left to travel abroad for her husband's job with their family. She still brings her boys back every summer to see their friends and so she can catch up with the office. Her kids get stomach issues their first few days back eating "American food". She always talks about how frequently they grocery shop because food in other places is not treated with all the additives and preservatives and chemicals we have here.

We, in America, are killing ourselves for convenience.

Our bread literally doesn't even start to grow mold for over a month. Tell me what is wrong with that.....

 

[Silver Wings]

Then you too, sir, probably may also have a spouse who shakes her head when a new book arrives.

Ummm… it’s come to the point where I sneak them into the house much as I do a new gun.
Often times if I’m stressing or obsessing over things like planning a hunt or waiting on draw results she will poke at me with something like…What does your “brain book” have to say about this behavior?
She has a mean streak in her that I’m still trying to diagnose

I look forward to your upcoming thread.

 

[ramsdude47]

Correct...You can't change anyone's else actions. You just get to pay for them with higher health insurance premiums every year.
Eat well and exercise hard..Human slop buckets and the health insurance companies are counting on you.

Yep, when everyone bitches and moans about how we can’t afford “socialized healthcare”.

We already have socialized healthcare, except the only beneficiaries are the fat cats.

 

[Silver Wings]

Yep, McGovern bought into the flawed theories of Ancel Keys and formally kicked off the US government's ill-advised "war on fat."

Keys and his 7 (22) countries study got the ball rolling on this calamitous decline in the overall health of the western world…and the rest of the world is catching up fast.

 

[Wyo_hntr]

This is true to a point.

I work in emergency medicine. The old school ER docs have no issue telling people like it is. They order fewer meds, order fewer tests and have no issues telling people they are fat.

The new ER docs were trained to make people happy. And they will tell you that. One ER doc told me recently “everyone who buys a ticket to the show (ER) gets a popcorn and a drink.”

It can be all traced back to effing lawyers.

Doctors? I think you mean "provider".....


I'm joking, but isn't that the strangest thing about modern medicine...."I'll be your provider". Living in 1984 lol

 

[5MilesBack]

most people underestimate the impact their genetic profiles have on their health.

I don't. I'm the poster boy for bad eating........high fat, lots of carbs, snacks and processed foods galore, desserts upon desserts, bacon with a couple sides of bacon several times a week, BBQ, prime rib, ribeyes.......etc. I don't know the meaning of moderation. I told my doctor that I ate an entire banana cream pie for dessert and she said "Try to only eat half of what you really want". And I said "I did". I've also beaten my body to a pulp playing sports most of my life, and am generally hard on my body regardless. I'll be 60 next year, and besides a bunch of spine disc issues I'm in great health. I don't take any regular meds. Pharma can suck it. My sister keeps saying I'll still live to 100, I'll just feel every minute of it. She might be right, but I sure hope not.

I saw my grandparents and my dad spend time in nursing homes, and I swore up and down that I never want to be put in one of those places. We have longevity in our family. Most living to over 90, and a few others just under 90. So I've been doing everything I can since then to try to shorten my life, diet has been a part of that. But I've always only eaten what I want to eat, and have avoided most vegetables all of my life. Lord willing I'll be elk hunting most of September, just like I do every year. I know for a fact that my genetics are what's keeping me alive and healthy and able to keep going at a high level.

 

[Danny Hoey]

Here’s another thing to think about…….you think you’re doing the right thing and eating fruits and veggies, just think about what they are treated with to keep them “fresh”. Year old apple and pears kept fresh somehow. You ever pick your own raspberries? They would never make it a day in the grocery store before they went bad.

How your own food as much as possible people.

 

[wind gypsy]

I know people now making house payment with a card, pure crazy.

huh. If a guy can do that without additional processing fees it seems like a good idea.