narsdoktorsausa

I have been lucky, blessed with a good set of teeth since childhood. I grew up poor so,  I was not able to eat tons of candies and sweet nothings when I was younger. I always  had  ample serving of  green mangoes fresh from a tree, hard guavas, sugarcane trunks stolen from the field in my barrio, fresh vegetables from our backyard garden.  In short, by eating non-sugary foods, I am able to preserve my teeth.

Very recently, however, my teeth are giving me some trouble. Two years ago, I cracked my tooth (molar) while on a Spain trip. I suffered for a while, but since, I am a Filipino, I am stoic and can handle pain better than others. My threshold for pain is something to be desired.

As soon, as I arrived in the USA, I went straight to the dentist. He was adamant to pull the cracked tooth and wants to refer me to a dental surgeon. I practically pulled his arm to remove my tooth at that time, my rationale, why refer when he can do it himself as he is also a dentist. That is double whammy to my insurance coverage! To make the long story short, he pulled it.

Two months ago, I visited the same dentist for a tooth problem with swollen gums. The hygienist said, still looks good but will need frequent  cleaning and flossing. The dentist thought otherwise, he wants to refer me to a gum specialist for tooth removal and replacement with porcelain worth $ 3,000.00 dollars. The price brought some shock waves to my spine. I composed myself and agreed to go to the specialist, nonetheless, at the back of my mind, I was rebelling!!

So I went to the specialist who took some special Xrays with special gadgets and the like. He placed the result in front of me. I did not tell him which specific tooth was to be removed. Guess what, he went to the xray result back and forth about three times because, he could not tell which is the diseased tooth! I have to literally point out to him which one..obviously the tooth is not that bad. I just kept quiet and went along for the ride.  He said, I need to have that tooth removed so that they can replace it with an implant. A porcelain would cost total of $ 3,000.00. I mentioned, I will think about it and will call him for further orders. He said, I should not wait long because, it will  give me a lot of issues..I should go back to him in 2 months.

That was two months ago, I still have the tooth. True, it gives me minute pain once in a while especially when I do not clean it thoroughly, but on the whole the tooth is still viable. It could still last me until I am 98 years old, as long as I go to the hygienist often.

In this story, only the hygienist was telling the truth. She is only salaried and has no ulterior motive to fleece my insurance coverage, while the two dentists are in connivance to fleece my insurance.

My hubby has very bad dentition. He goes to those dentists so often that he must have already paid for their new office furniture and equipments. As for my diseased tooth, I will just continue using my electric toothbrush with religious flossing so it will last me a lifetime. I do not want to pay $3000.00 dollars for a single porcelain tooth, much less, have a new atificial tooth.

Some dentists will not tell you preventative measures to preserve your teeth. If they do, they will have no more clients.

A virus (from the Latin virus meaning toxin or poison) is a microscopic infectious agent that can reproduce only inside a host cell. Viruses infect all types of organisms: from animals and plants, to bacteria and archaea.^[1] Since the initial discovery of tobacco mosaic virus by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898,^[2] more than 5,000 types of virus have been described in detail,^[3] although most types of virus remain undiscovered.^[4] Viruses are ubiquitous, as they are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth,^[5] and are the most abundant type of biological entity on the planet.     ( from Wikipedia) 

                                                                                                                       Virus abound and are here to stay. They mutate as often as you change your shirt. They are common just like the common cold. We even have viruses in our body, without us knowing it. They are all over. No escape from them.

What is your defense against these suckers? You!

Start physical assessment of yourself. Are you healthy enough to fight the virus? What food do you eat? Or what goes into your system? Picture yourself like a brand new car- When the specification says unleaded gas, do you put crude oil? Do you wash your car at least monthly? Do you overload your car so that all tires become flat?

Just the same, take charge of your body. Eat food only that is good for you. Eat plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits. Some vegetables are better when eaten raw to get he most of its nutrition. Stay away from processed foods like bacon, ham, or anything with preservative. You do not want to preserve your intestines, right?

Fluids are necessary, because at least 2/3 of our body is made of water. Drink at least 8 glasses of water. Water is more important than food. Do you know that you can live longer without food than water? Stay away from softdrinks or any sugared drinks. You need to stay away from anything with refined sugar. Honey, mascubado sugar, maple syrup are alternative to sugar. Better still, stay away from anything sweet!

Sleep at least 7 to 8 hours a day. Give yourself enough rest and sleep. This is how your body repairs itself. While you are sleeping, your body cells rejuvenate itself. Why do you think graveyard shift is called as such? Nocturnal shifts weaken your defense mechanism. In fact, I know of some friends and acquaintances who got sick ( with cancer) because of working at night.

The sun is also important. Vit D that is free for all. There is a study that Vit D helps prevent cancers, however, do not overdo it as the sun will also accelerate aging process and can cause skin cancers. Just the same, take care of yourself. Would you want your car to get burned? No!

Exercise, exercise, exercise. Start by walking, then progress to running or something that can make you perspire. If running up and down the building suits you then do it without ado.

As much as possible stay away from antibiotics. They do not kill viruses. In fact, you are just training your immune system to be weak when you rely a lot on antibiotics. Doctors are not frank and honest enough to tell you that they are not good for you, but rather would prescribe it to keep you coming back or just to keep you quiet.

To summarize, your best defense against viruses is your immune system. You can choose what you want to become.

Get immunized! I get my flu shot every year. It is free of charge from my company and work place. It is a hearsay, that people get sick from the shot.  It has no evidence at all that the flu shots can cause influenza. Do not listen to what other people say about the shots. Do not listen to ordinary people about medical care.  You are better off listening to medical providers. Nurse practitioners are trained especially in disease prevention, so it is best to listen to them!

Take care of yourself just like how you take care of your car so it can serve you well. Do you want a nice car every three years?

My youngest sister who lives in New Jersey suffers from idiopathic anaphylaxis. Her last attack was 2 months ago in May when I had my jury duty. It happened in her jobsite after a meal most probably loaded with the stuff that she is allergic to. The manager at her work place called 911. They do not have epipen, or had it but did not give it correctly so that my niece was called to deliver epipen from home.  Many minutes were wasted at that time alone. Anyway, the epipen came and the EMT injected it in my sister’s thigh. She would not wake up, became very lethargic and eventually stopped breathing, so the EMT decided to intubate her but unsuccessfully because, she was fighting and resisting intubation. When they came to the hospital finally, my sis was being bagged and they tried intubation again. Instead of checking her oxygen saturation level, the ERMD decided to intubate her, of course, she was fighting again and resisting, a clue that she was still awake. The staff gave her diprivan ( MJ’s drug) over and over again until she slept, successfully intubated my poor sister who cannot fight and resist anymore as she was totally knocked out  as if she was in a coma.

She was on the ventilator / respirator for the entire night. According to my sis she was asleep from 4pm to 7am, but could not remember much except when she was fighting with the staff when she was being intubated. The following morning, she felt that both her legs were very heavy, a symptom of rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown due to diprivan). The staff summoned the neurologist at her bedside, even he commented, ” they should have checked your O2 sat before intubating you.”  I called that Bingo! They were too aggressive, they should have waited for the epipen to work. She did not need that  intubation!

I was confident enough to say that she did not need the intubation because, she had an episode of respiratory arrest due to anaphylaxis  in my home few years back and I gave the epipen myself, just waited and she was back breathing and conscious without any problem after a few minutes. We called 911 though, just the same, as a fall back position. She was only in the hospital for a few good hours.

Another very recent experience of my sister was in the doctor’s clinic. She was summoned by the doctor, an allergist, for some skin tests, since her blood work was normal. She was given three types of  allergens. Her arms became very red, she became ill, vomited and felt warm all over, eventually complained of shortness of breathing. The MD specialist called 911, informing my sis and her family that they do not have the equipments for emergency and resuscitation. In the meantime, he said that the skin test was negative and my sister was just upset because my niece is leaving for college the next day. The Md suggested that my sis leave thru the back door of his clinic to go with the 911 staff. Of course, that would be embarrassing for his patients to see that he was not able to successfully treat my sister and has to call 911 for emergency services. While my sis was in the ER, the allergist was calling frantically asking about how she was doing. He still insisted that the skin test was negative despite my sister’s symptomatology including laryngeal edema. The ERMD mentioned, it must be “false negative”. She was given solu-medrol (anti-inflammatory) and another epipen in the the ER.

She was home after a few hours, and called me. I advised her to take benadryl  (antihistamine) 50mg as soon as possible, and repeat it in the morning if she still does not feel right.

I am too afraid now to go to the hospital. It is either because of their aggressiveness to charge my insurance or their experience is not very good or plain incompetence. I hate emergency rooms, I know better because, I was a certified ER nurse for 6 years before I became an ANP.