Welcome to the Own Your Health Podcast.
I'm Cyndi Lynne, and I can't wait to
help you step into your health power.
And power is what we're talking about today.
So this is the third in
a series of white coat syndrome.
First we talked about blood pressure, and then last week
we talked about white coat syndrome and your memory.
And today we're talking about white
coat syndrome and your power.
So stepping into your power is one of
the main reasons that I do this podcast.
I want to help you feel confident and
powerful as you enter into making arrangements and
decisions about your health and your healthcare.
So I want to tell you about two times that I
see most commonly with my clients that this goes wrong, that
people kind of either give up or lose their power.
And the first is when people walk into
the clinic or walk into the hospital and
simply just give up their power.
They kind of jump on a
conveyor belt, and whatever happens, happens.
And this can be a mindset.
This can be something that's been taught, handed down
through generations, that this is just what you do.
You go sit in front of the doctor and he lets you
know what's going to happen with your health and your life.
But if you're watching this podcast
or you're listening to this podcast,
I'm guessing you want something different.
And that's why we're here, and that's
what I'm going to talk about today.
So if you walk in and give up all your
power, this is kind of what it sounds like.
This is what I hear from clients.
Oh, I'm not looking forward to that
appointment because I know they're going to
make me take blood pressure pills.
I'm not, I don't want to go to the appointment.
I don't want to talk to the doctor about it because
I know he's going to put me on the statin.
I don't want to go to the doctor because
I know I've missed two of these tests.
I know I don't want to go to the
doctor because they're going to make me go ahead,
fill in the blank, whatever that is.
And if you've ever felt that way, that is before you
even walk into the place giving up your power, right?
Because if you are an independent adult, nobody can
make you do any of those things, right?
You have the choice whether or not to take
the pill, whether or not to take the test,
whether or not to go to this appointment or
that appointment, or to follow any of the advice.
Now, a couple of things happen.
One is if you never follow the advice that
physician may no longer want to treat you.
Excuse me.
And that's fine, because if he gives advice
that isn't consistent with how you want to
manage your healthcare, you may want a different
provider or a different type of provider.
You may not be a match.
And that's okay, because guess what?
You as a patient can fire your doctor, and
your doctor can actually fire you as a patient.
And when you don't match
up, that's essentially what happens.
You find a different doctor.
If you consistently get information and advice that doesn't
align with what you know is best for yourself
or how you want to lead your life and
your health, then it's time for a new provider.
And that's okay.
That's part of taking your power.
Very often, there's subtleties, there's things that can
be done differently to make that relationship more
of a co worker, more of a collegial,
a partnership in your health.
And that involves you participating and
you stepping up to the plate.
And that means that when you walk in the
door, you can't just say, okay, here I am.
Do with me what you like, and then you not like it.
So we have responsibility in here.
We have accountability in here,
along with this ownership.
So the second thing I see, and this falls,
this is a little bit more subtle, but I
see people who question the doctor's decisions for them
rather than questioning themselves or their condition.
So asking questions about their own
body, their condition, their treatment options. Okay?
So it's certainly your right to
question a decision that your doctor makes,
but to recognize the subtlety of that power.
If you want a coworker, if you
want a collaborative relationship, then recognizing the
subtlety between those two is really important,
because face it, any professional does not
enjoy being questioned about their decisions.
And in a very patriarchal system like the
medical, the current healthcare system, doctors with many,
many years of training and many, many hours
of experience under their belt don't necessarily want
to be questioned about their decisions.
So let me give you an example of
this in real life, and that probably, I'll
give you an example from my own life. Okay.
So I had some suspicious looking complex
cysts and was referred for surgical intervention.
Met with the surgeon, she recommended surgery
and helpfully suggested that she could get
me in the following week.
And I could have questioned her, saying, do I,
do I really have to do it next week?
Do we, you know, can I do it some other time?
That's questioning what her decision was
on her part in my care.
So what I did is rather than questioning her
decision, I asked a better question myself, and that
was, I have a vacation coming up next week.
What are the risks or what are the implications if
I put surgery off until the week after that?
And you know what?
I was so glad that I asked, because as we've
discussed before, my surgeon was simply trying to be efficient
and get this taken care of as soon as possible.
When I told her I had vacation planned
and I was looking very much forward to
it, she said, absolutely, go enjoy your vacation.
We can do it when you get back.
There's absolutely no additional risk.
And the situation may not always be that clean.
But I can tell you from my experience as
a nurse that when patients feel more in control
of the situation, when they have an opportunity to
actually get things taken care of in their lives,
they're much more ready for surgically, for surgical procedures
or other interventions, and the outcomes are much better.
And I've seen this with parents who've
not wanted to miss important graduations or
important milestones for their kids.
And if they ask the question, can this wait?
What are the implications
if I wait? You can get information with which you can
make a decision, and that's the shift that we want.
That's the shift in power that we want.
If the information that you get when asking your question is
that I think there's a really high risk, and I think
we need to do this within the next 24 hours, then
you can make a decision with that information.
If something doesn't really matter for a week or two
or a few more days or whatever that time period
is, then it's very valuable to feel in control and
to be able to get some things in order in
life and then take care of your health.
And you never know that until you ask the question
and you can make the decision, because the decision
is always up to you, whether it's medication, whether
it's testing, whether it's procedures, whether it's timing of
procedures, whether it's time to see a different type
of practitioner or a new practitioner - that is yours.
And you can do all of this with
grace, and you can do it with confidence.
And frankly, you can do it really without irritating anyone,
you know, because when I talk about taking your power
back or having power in this relationship, it sounds very
confrontational, but it doesn't have to be.
You can coordinate, you can collaborate with
your healthcare providers to have better, stronger
outcomes and stay in your power.
And that's what we're all about here.
So until next week, go out and own it.
