Good Health Blog

Driving along carefully in a well serviced safe new car is a good way to reach a destination but it has none of the excitement of going off road in a beat up beast of a vehicle with a high chance of breakdown. Life is a balance and even the adrenalin junkie has a limit that allows for calculated risk. As humans we are fallible and emotional and I can understand why we are not all that enthusiastic about a spin around the block in the family sedan when a sports car on the drag strip might be on offer. But life is a balance and to achieve some things you need to be prepared, emotionally and physically. So sometimes we have to put in time doing the boring bits to be able tobe out there having the adventures. There are very few emphysematous smokers having ‘the time of their lives’. The big adventure if you have morbid obesity is probably finding the TV remote. These are, in most cases, choices. Make the choice and find the time, even one hour, once a year, to consider your preventative health regime and options. If you choose the ones leading down a destructive route then at least it has been an informed choice.

Have you had a fall recently? If so it is important to discuss it with your Doctor if the reason was not apparent or you have some risk factors which could mean a fall having ongoing consequences.

Falls can be very serious if you are elderly or are at risk of low-trauma fractures (osteoporosis, Vitamin D or calcium deficient). They may not be due to just being clumsy – sometimes falls can be due to medical conditions such as inappropriate blood pressure drop, balance disorders, vision issues, muscle weakness or delayed reflexes.

To help prevent falls, older people need to be encouraged to undertake regular exercise (especially balance training), have regular vision assessments, consider having an in home occupational therapist do a home safety assessment and ensure their Doctor is aware of the problem.

A fall a day will not keep the Doctor away. Hasten for a check up.

this project started in 2008 with a concept to bring quality health advice direct to the public. After a year of reviewing preventative health recommendations and trying to design a format that is patient friendly and undertandable, eDoc.net is now ready to go onto the web. Many of the preventative health and screening protocols are designed in ‘doctor-speak’ and thus make little sense to patients. I am writing the explanations and getting my 16 year old daughter and local tradesman friends to read them before I post them. If they cannot understand what is needed then I re-work the explanation until it is useful.