Health Care is Getting There...
RowdysLady
Posts: 1,370 Member
As many of you know I review medical records for a living and I'm an RN. It took a long time for me to embrace the idea of Keto/LCHF because of what's been ingrained in me for so many professional years. Well I took the plunge and am so happy I did!
Interestingly today I was reviewing a record and the provider states "For his morbid obesity he will be put on a 45 gram carbohydrate controlled diet with limited calories for optimal weight loss". This particular provider is in California.
To me this is very encouraging!
Interestingly today I was reviewing a record and the provider states "For his morbid obesity he will be put on a 45 gram carbohydrate controlled diet with limited calories for optimal weight loss". This particular provider is in California.
To me this is very encouraging!
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Replies
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I work for an endo and he's huge on carb counting. And not just for his diabetic patients either. He thinks everyone should follow a diabetic diet and reduce processed carbs and sugar.
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My previous doctor i Vancouver was a huge advocate of low carb (and, incidentally, high magnesium) diets.10
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My endo was also the one directing me toward low carb, as well as my PCP who had nagged me for years, but I didn't buy in because the endo ID'd the IR...one test and I might have been on board years back. LOL He even went so far as to give me a calorie and macro set of goals for MFP and glances at it sometimes when I'm in for checkups! LOL8
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I brought this change in lifestyle up with my endo and she couldn't have been more excited to tell me to go for it. I was honestly shocked, I kind of expected a fight about it lol10
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The VA now allows us to go to private specialists as rural vets often can't be seen with-in 30 days, or who live 40+ mile from the VA hospitals, and saves me a 14 hr RT shuttle bus.
I had such a horrible experiences with the VA nephrology docs, knocking every success I had on LC (actually making total fun of Dr Adkin's DEATH, which made me cry!) and sending me to a Renal RD who pushed 150 carbs a day on me, telling me, who was using a walker at that time, to "just increase your exercise to 5 MILES a day! (from 1) and so clueless that I refused to go there again..
I used this referral program to see a local private Neph. and she was delighted I am sticking to a Ketogenic diet-modified, plan.. I even have her WRITTEN approval on a fax I sent with questions, she just wrote on it and sent back. And my kidney function jumped from a scary Stage 4 back to a Stage 3 in short order.
But it is a fight to deal with most.15 -
@KETOGENICGURL That's some fabulous news right there!!!!1
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Ditto to what @KnitOrMiss said! wonderful!!1
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@KETOGENICGURL I quickly read 'rural vets' and thought you were heading to the animal doc WTHeck? Had to re-read a bit closer, lol. Great you found the right specialist!2
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"quickly read 'rural vets' and thought you were heading to the animal doc"
Yep! both the Vet animal Clinics (several here) and the Veterans clinic (one) get mixed calls..panciked animal owners demanding to talk to their doctor "Hugo is sick, I want an appointment today! (Hugo is a pitbull),
or the reverse, confused, older, non tech veterans raging with the animal staff on where their meds are, etc. happens daily!4 -
I got tickled today. I was at my endo. She remarked on how I have lost 18# since last visit. I told her I was following a low carb diet and she said great. She told me how important losing weight is for my health. However, when I check out, they give me a visit summary with info like medicine change, weight, blood pressure, etc, There was the same "how to lose weight" pamphlet that she's given me every year for 5 years. It's the usual low-fat, whole grain BS. I almost went back and gave it back to them. :-)2
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I got tickled today. I was at my endo. She remarked on how I have lost 18# since last visit. I told her I was following a low carb diet and she said great. She told me how important losing weight is for my health. However, when I check out, they give me a visit summary with info like medicine change, weight, blood pressure, etc, There was the same "how to lose weight" pamphlet that she's given me every year for 5 years. It's the usual low-fat, whole grain BS. I almost went back and gave it back to them. :-)
Do it!
No, better yet - mail it to your endo in a plain envelope with a sticky note that says something like,
"Someone gave me this whacko food religion flyer. Sure are a lot of nuts around!"7 -
^^^^^hahaha!1
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I got tickled today. I was at my endo. She remarked on how I have lost 18# since last visit. I told her I was following a low carb diet and she said great. She told me how important losing weight is for my health. However, when I check out, they give me a visit summary with info like medicine change, weight, blood pressure, etc, There was the same "how to lose weight" pamphlet that she's given me every year for 5 years. It's the usual low-fat, whole grain BS. I almost went back and gave it back to them. :-)
Do it!
No, better yet - mail it to your endo in a plain envelope with a sticky note that says something like,
"Someone gave me this whacko food religion flyer. Sure are a lot of nuts around!"
That's almost as good as using the postage paid envelopes from credit card companies to send them random coupons back.6 -
Gallowmere1984 wrote: »I got tickled today. I was at my endo. She remarked on how I have lost 18# since last visit. I told her I was following a low carb diet and she said great. She told me how important losing weight is for my health. However, when I check out, they give me a visit summary with info like medicine change, weight, blood pressure, etc, There was the same "how to lose weight" pamphlet that she's given me every year for 5 years. It's the usual low-fat, whole grain BS. I almost went back and gave it back to them. :-)
Do it!
No, better yet - mail it to your endo in a plain envelope with a sticky note that says something like,
"Someone gave me this whacko food religion flyer. Sure are a lot of nuts around!"
That's almost as good as using the postage paid envelopes from credit card companies to send them random coupons back.
Ha! Love it. Like $.50 off Red Hot Anal Wart Removal Gel?2 -
Gallowmere1984 wrote: »I got tickled today. I was at my endo. She remarked on how I have lost 18# since last visit. I told her I was following a low carb diet and she said great. She told me how important losing weight is for my health. However, when I check out, they give me a visit summary with info like medicine change, weight, blood pressure, etc, There was the same "how to lose weight" pamphlet that she's given me every year for 5 years. It's the usual low-fat, whole grain BS. I almost went back and gave it back to them. :-)
Do it!
No, better yet - mail it to your endo in a plain envelope with a sticky note that says something like,
"Someone gave me this whacko food religion flyer. Sure are a lot of nuts around!"
That's almost as good as using the postage paid envelopes from credit card companies to send them random coupons back.
Ha! Love it. Like $.50 off Red Hot Anal Wart Removal Gel?
Haha, anything really. Because the envelopes have to be used for "business reply mail" in order to not get you in *kitten*, you're just sending them a counteroffer instead of their application back.
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Hmm. That's an interesting way to look at it.
It's not like you're the one who's bought cut-rate postage for a noble social cause (like mailing a "charity" appeal for your "non-profit" to bring in money to help you "educate" the world about the dangers of ingesting excess Olestra). Rather, it seems like the banks are saying, 'whatever befalls this envelope, we'll bear whatever commercial rate the USPS levies.'
In short, I think it might be fair game to change the addressee on the bank's envelope and send Hostess gruesome pictures of sick cub scouts hurling Twinkies.1 -
If any of you have found M.D.'s who are even remotely interested in nutrition, much less in low carb nutrition, congratulations. My own experience is that unless a prescription pad or a scalpel is involved, they're not all that interested. I told my own gastroenterologist that going low carb had made a huge difference in my Crohn's Disease symptoms; his reaction: "Oh, well, if it's working for you ....." I might as well have told me that the magic wand I found at the flea market had worked wonders. This in spite of at least one study showing that some 50% of all Crohn's patients are gluten sensitive.
This is, by the way, the third gastroenterologist I've dealt with over the last 15 years and I can't remember a single one of them ever asking me what I eat. Apparently what goes into the top of your digestive system has NOOOOOO possible impact on what happens on the other end.6 -
I think many MDs/specialists have gut feelings or knowledge about certain things but are bound by the medical group they are employed. A neurologist, for example, may be aware of the positive impact a ketogenic may potentially provide a patient with a neurological disorder but sadly their "job" is not just to make people well but also provide a profit. The medical group does not make as much money prescribing a ketogenic diet as they make prescribing a medical procedure that is repeated every 90 days. Also many or most physicians adhere to "accepted standard practice" cuz..potential malpractice.
I believe in my gut that if I had said to the neurologists I have seen over the years that I wanted to try a ketogenic diet 1st, 3 of 5 would have made a note in their records and suggested referral to an in-house dietician.3 -
Yep, it is hard work, as a consumer of health care services, finding people who will sell you the services you want despite the handsome $ involved.
There is one trick I've got up my sleeve, if there's a next time.. ...
- Seek out well-educated nutritionists at universities, or ones who work with serious athletes;
- Try to find out which ones do LC; and then
- Find out which docs they like (or at least the ones they work with or who refer patients to them).
Of course, finding a sympathetic nutritionist is no mean feat, either.....
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Yep, it is hard work, as a consumer of health care services, finding people who will sell you the services you want despite the handsome $ involved.
There is one trick I've got up my sleeve, if there's a next time.. ...
- Seek out well-educated nutritionists at universities, or ones who work with serious athletes;
- Try to find out which ones do LC; and then
- Find out which docs they like (or at least the ones they work with or who refer patients to them).
Of course, finding a sympathetic nutritionist is no mean feat, either.....
Quick tip along these lines -- the Columbus Crew soccer team does keto. Finding out their support team would go a long way to finding keto-friendly doctors.1 -
Dragonwolf wrote: »Yep, it is hard work, as a consumer of health care services, finding people who will sell you the services you want despite the handsome $ involved.
There is one trick I've got up my sleeve, if there's a next time.. ...
- Seek out well-educated nutritionists at universities, or ones who work with serious athletes;
- Try to find out which ones do LC; and then
- Find out which docs they like (or at least the ones they work with or who refer patients to them).
Of course, finding a sympathetic nutritionist is no mean feat, either.....
Quick tip along these lines -- the Columbus Crew soccer team does keto. Finding out their support team would go a long way to finding keto-friendly doctors.
Good tip!
I'm convinced there's a secret society of Druid-like health professionals out there who can't be IDed without code words and gestures.....1 -
I didn't expect to lose weight any faster by eating low carb (but I did actually start losing 5 times faster at the same calorie level). My whole reason was to have more stable BG as a type 1 diabetic. So I brought the idea up to my Harvard Medical School Endocrinologist. His response was "It is worth a try... I don't think anything bad will happen." Really?!3
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mandycat223 wrote: »If any of you have found M.D.'s who are even remotely interested in nutrition, much less in low carb nutrition, congratulations. My own experience is that unless a prescription pad or a scalpel is involved, they're not all that interested. I told my own gastroenterologist that going low carb had made a huge difference in my Crohn's Disease symptoms; his reaction: "Oh, well, if it's working for you ....." I might as well have told me that the magic wand I found at the flea market had worked wonders. This in spite of at least one study showing that some 50% of all Crohn's patients are gluten sensitive.
This is, by the way, the third gastroenterologist I've dealt with over the last 15 years and I can't remember a single one of them ever asking me what I eat. Apparently what goes into the top of your digestive system has NOOOOOO possible impact on what happens on the other end.
My GP is a marathon runner who is fat-adapted to improve his endurance. At my last prescription refill appointment (back in March) he gave me a LCHF handout and suggested I give it a try...8 -
midwesterner85 wrote: »I didn't expect to lose weight any faster by eating low carb (but I did actually start losing 5 times faster at the same calorie level). My whole reason was to have more stable BG as a type 1 diabetic. So I brought the idea up to my Harvard Medical School Endocrinologist. His response was "It is worth a try... I don't think anything bad will happen." Really?! How old is this bozo? 0
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A local neurologist is recommending keto for his Alzheimer's patients along with 3 to 4 TBL of coconut oil a day. And my internist is now on a grain free diet (thanks to his wife) and has lost about 30 pounds. He's the same guy who shamed me off of a modified Atkins woe about 15 years ago (I lost 80 pounds) and then I regained the weight. So I guess old doc's can learn new tricks.5
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Oh, and can't wait to see my internist in Dec. for my yearly physical. I am hoping to be at least up to 50 pounds off by then.
Can't wait for the "how did you do it" Q so I can tell him keto, buddy, keto. 7 -
@sarahthes You are so lucky!!!2
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Dragonwolf wrote: »Yep, it is hard work, as a consumer of health care services, finding people who will sell you the services you want despite the handsome $ involved.
There is one trick I've got up my sleeve, if there's a next time.. ...
- Seek out well-educated nutritionists at universities, or ones who work with serious athletes;
- Try to find out which ones do LC; and then
- Find out which docs they like (or at least the ones they work with or who refer patients to them).
Of course, finding a sympathetic nutritionist is no mean feat, either.....
Quick tip along these lines -- the Columbus Crew soccer team does keto. Finding out their support team would go a long way to finding keto-friendly doctors.
Good tip!
I'm convinced there's a secret society of Druid-like health professionals out there who can't be IDed without code words and gestures.....
Naturopaths. Many are MDs and more enlightened as a general rule than MDs. And I find from professional experience and personal that physicians with D.O. behind their name are more overall body/health/mind/spirit conscious and may be more willing to talk LC...1 -
RowdysLady wrote: »Naturopaths. Many are MDs and more enlightened as a general rule than MDs. And I find from professional experience and personal that physicians with D.O. behind their name are more overall body/health/mind/spirit conscious and may be more willing to talk LC...
You're far more likely to get better health care from a licensed N.D. here in British Columbia than you are from a G.P. They tend to be more aware of recent research, and they treat the whole body instead of the isolated part. No N.D. would listen to a list of physical symptoms and respond by treating you for an alleged anxiety disorder, like so many doctors would.3 -
After my melanoma surgery last month I had a follow-up visit with an oncologist. Since the lymph nodes they biopsied were all negative, the only continuing care she recommended was regular visits to my dermatologist. Okay, got it.
Then I asked her what role diet played in this ongoing plan, and she replied, "None, really." Then she told me again all I had to do was see the dermatologist every 3 or 4 months.
Seriously? Even my own research has informed me that cancer thrives on glucose, so limiting carbs should be common sense! Sheesh.4
