Do you have an appointment with your Dr. coming up? Well, whether it’s for a new condition or for a follow-up to a previously treated condition, you want to make sure your doctor listens to what your saying. You also want to make sure you’re expressing yourself properly. Being a paramedic for over 10 years, and having just finished my RN degree, I’ve seen first hand how important communication is in treating patients.

Doctors can be very busy, and in some cases not very understanding. Patients, on the other hand, can be understandably nervous, emotional and unprepared in communicating whats truly going on. Consumer Reports gives a few tips to ensure your doctor listens and understands you.

Get to the point:
Tell the doctor about your chief complaint (main problem) first, and don’t confuse the issue with unnecessary information.

Focus on one issue at a time:
Doctors schedule appointments long enough to deal with one issue at a time. If you have more than one problem to discuss you should ask your doctor if he has time to discuss it. If he doesn’t schedule another appointment.

Use clear, descriptive language:
Be prepared to describe to your doctor how long you’ve had the problem, how often it occurs, how long it lasts, and how severe it is. Be very specific.

Don’t embellish:
Don’t be the “boy who cried wolf”. Doctors can spot somebody over-acting and superlatives from a mile away.

Speak up:
Nothing gets doctors’ attention more quickly than a direct statement such as, “I feel like I’m not getting my point across to you, doc.” Most of them would rather hear what you’re thinking than have you leave the office angry or frustrated.

A fever is a natural beneficial function of your body to fight off invading organisms when the primary lines of defense, you immune system, fail? So many people misunderstand fever and believe it to be dangerous, which is primarily due to our “take a pill for everything society” created by physicians and big pharma. Your body raises its temperature because most infectious organisms cannot survive this environment; the ideal temperature for fighting infections is between 102 and 103 degrees F. The problem is, just as our bodies our doing what’s needed to eradicate the infection, we self medicate with, or worse yet give our children, anti-pyretic drugs like acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and aspirin by themselves or in combination.

It’s very important to think of a fever as a healing process. And contrary to popular belief, the best action is almost always little or no action. Rather than trying to lower a fever through medication, try to work through it and allow it to run its course. To support a fever Colleen Huber and other naturopathic physicians recommend consuming liquids such as broths and water until the fever breaks. The body slows down the movement of food in the gut (peristalsis), so avoid solid food. Another and perhaps most important recommendation to support a fever is rest. Activity uses the body’s essential energy needed to fight invading organisms, and hinders the immune function.

The benefits of a fever:
• Directly kills invading organisms through heat.
• Stimulates antibody production more specific to the infection than any antibiotic.
• More interferon is produced to block the spread of viruses to healthy cells.
• Stimulates production white blood cells which mobilize and attack invaders.

When to seek medical attention for a fever:
• Anyone with a temperature above 104.5 degrees F.
• Infants <1-month old, with a temperature >100.4 degrees F. Seek care right away.
• Infants from 1-month to 3 months old, with a temperature >100.4 degrees F, if they appear ill.
• Children between 3-months and 36-months, with a temperature above 102.2 degrees F, if they appear ill

For anyone not in the above categories, rest and fluids to support the fever and allow it to do it’s job.

Naturopathyworks.com
Mercola.com