Intution can save your life by Selena Haskins

Your Intuition Can Save Your Life

By Selena Haskins

The medical field has improved tremendously over the years. Science has saved many lives due to recent medications and life-saving procedures that leave patients with fewer side effects in times past. The advancement of treatments, thanks to education and monetary resources to perform research, can save many lives today. However, did you know that you are your best doctor for pretreatment?

Let’s face it, whenever we make an appointment with our doctors, he or she with see us only for a few minutes, but we live with ourselves every day. We know what is normal for us and what is not normal for us. The doctor does not live with you 24-hours a day. They can only treat you based on the information they gather from YOU or by examining you. This is why it’s so important to take care of ourselves and to learn and understand our bodies.

Self-care is one of the best ways to live a healthy life. If you are a person in tune with not only your physical health but mental health, then when something changes, your radars will go off. Granted, we don’t have to be hypochondriacs when it comes to our health, but we should never ignore signs that can be alarming.

Recently, a friend of mine had a mammogram, and it came back normal, but just three months later, she felt what she thought was a lump in her breast. She contacted her doctor her had given her a referral when she had her mammogram done and explained that she needed another one and perhaps a sonogram too. The doctor refused to write a script for her to be seen again, ‘you are fine.

You just had a mammogram,’ the doctor said to her. Despite her family history of breast cancer, the doctor did not write a script. She did not give up, she went to her GYN doctor, and explained the situation, and the GYN wrote her RX Script to be reevaluated. Thankfully for my friend, it turned out to be a cyst that was benign.

Another friend of mine complained of rapid heartbeat even without strenuous exercise. She saw three cardiologists who all ran tests and told her she pretty much had anxiety or was stressed and needed to relax. She did not give up. She went back to her last cardio doctor and demanded a complete blood test, no matter the cost.

The results, unfortunately, didn’t turn out in her favor, but she had a diagnosis of hyperthyroidism. Although she was unaware of this and completely shocked, she was happy to at least had a diagnosis so that she could receive proper treatment. She is now doing well. A third friend of mine chose to ignore her symptoms, and sadly, she’s no longer with us.

I learned valuable lessons vicariously through my friends, don’t ignore warning signs regarding your health, and don’t give up in finding the right doctor to help you. Although medicine has advanced, and doctors have become more knowledgeable, they are still human and make mistakes. Don’t allow a doctor to downplay your symptoms because it’s not written in a textbook, insist on tests, and sometimes you have to insist on retest or additional medical tests. YOU are your first doctor. Your intuition can save your life.