Can Doctors Make You Healthy

 They will just treat the disease. Doctors are not in the business of making you healthy.

A disclosure first. I am a full-time doctor who is a specialized orthopedic surgeon. The views herein are of my own and not the system I follow.

Doctors’ job is not to make you healthy. Doctors’ job is to treat your diseases. They deal with you after disease or injury has occurred. Based on their experience and education, they could guide you on how to prevent some conditions but that is not their primary job.

I find it sometimes very funny but doctors [ myself included] are more focused on the condition in hand than the patient himself.

Why?

Because they are taught to find the fault and treat that. They start working on you, the moment you enter into their chamber. They notice your age, your body habitus, your gait, your mannerism, the way you talk and express yourself, gauge your personality type from the conversations even before you set to describe your problem.

From your symptoms, they create a story in their mind by asking and elaborating further, tick the appropriate checkboxes and go on to examination.

Often they reach at possibilities about your conditions and investigate you further for confirmation of the disease.

Often they are successful in a few attempts and then you are put on treatment which they think is most suitable for your condition. Depending on your body habitus, your co-morbidities, and other situations, treatment protocols may differ.

If they are not successful in a few attempts, they may order more investigation, ask for opinions from other doctors so as to find the fault.

Their common goal is to find the fault. To fit the patient symptoms in diagnosis so that treatment could be worked out.

Sometimes, wrong diagnoses are made [ To err is human] and story may begin from beginning again.

In spite of the right diagnoses, there are a plethora of diagnoses where you cannot cure the disease.

Take the example of hypertension or diabetes. The drugs can just control blood pressure or sugar levels. Though therapy helps you to lead a productive life and protect you from the adverse effects of uncontrolled levels, the conditions are not curable.

But the point I want to emphasize is that doctors do not work on making you healthy. The there best shot is curing or controlling the disease, whichever is applicable.

Who Would Make You Healthy?

You!

It is your duty to keep yourself healthy. We tend to lean on the doctors and drugs for health because of the inherently wrong concept of the definition of health in our mind. We tend to equate the absence of discomforting symptoms as being healthy.

It is not so.

To be healthy and well, you should feel good about your physical self, mental well being and be in harmony with your surroundings.

You need to work on the needs of your body, your mind, and your choices about your social interactions.

Everybody is born with a body and mind which are different in abilities and capabilities. It is our job to keep them in order and maximize their potential.

Small things, little habits, short incremental goal accomplishment go a long way.

I would say staying healthy is a constant effort.

Take care.

Your health should come first! Period.

Before writing this article, for a long time, I have mulled over this thought. Why should health not be a priority for anyone? Sadly, it is not for many and it was not for me.