Avoid Unneeded Doctor Visits

Doctor's visits can be categorized as either necessary or unnecessary, but the problem is that it's difficult for people outside of the healthcare industry to determine the difference. Unneeded visits are a burden on healthcare insurance and services, which can cause rates and costs to increase over time. People usually make appointments because they are experiencing uncomfortable symptoms and don't know the cause or remedy. Living a healthy lifestyle and monitoring your vitals at home can help you avoid unneeded doctor visits.

Steps

Living a Healthy Lifestyle

1. Exercise more. An important factor in reducing your risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes is getting regular exercise. People who are overweight, diabetic, and/or have heart disease see doctors much more often than those who who do not suffer from these issues — most visits are obviously required, but some are unnecessary or unneeded. Only 30 minutes of mild-to-moderate cardiovascular exercise on a daily basis is associated with better health and longevity, which translates to fewer doctor visits and less burden on the healthcare system.
   • Start by walking around your neighborhood (if weather and personal safety permit it), then transition to more difficult terrain, tread mills, and/or cycling.
   • Avoid vigorous exercise to start with, such as long-distance running or swimming, particularly if you have heart disease.
   • Eventually add in some weight training because bigger muscle fibers lead to stronger bones, which reduces your risk of osteoporosis and fractures — common reasons for doctor visits in the elderly.
2. Eat well and maintain a healthy weight. The typical American diet tends to be high in calories, harmful trans fat, refined carbohydrates and sodium. As such, it should be no surprise that obesity rates in the U.S. are at their peak. In fact, about 35% of American adults are currently obese. Obesity dramatically increases your risk of numerous diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, various cancers, arthritis, auto-immune conditions and frequent musculoskeletal complaints. All these problems are expensive because they require lots of doctors visits, treatments and medications. To give you a better idea, the medical costs for Americans who are obese (which includes doctor visits) are about $1,500 higher per year than those of normal weight.
   • Eat more healthy plant-based monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (found in seeds, nuts, plant oils), while reducing saturated (animal-based) fat and eliminating trans (artificial) fat.
   • Cut down on sodas and energy drinks (loaded with high fructose corn syrup), and consume more purified water and fresh juices.
   • Calculate and monitor your body mass index (BMI). BMI is a useful measure to understand if you're overweight or obese. To calculate your BMI, divide your weight (converted to kilograms) by your height (converted to meters). BMI measurements considered healthy range from 18.5 to 24.9; a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight, whereas 30 and above is classified as obese.
3. Don't smoke or drink heavily. Bad lifestyle habits such as cigarette smoking and heavy alcohol consumption are notorious for causing various diseases and symptoms that lead to people making some unneeded doctors appointments. Smoking causes widespread damage throughout the body, particularly the throat and lungs. Aside from lung cancer, smoking can trigger asthma and emphysema, which are common reasons for doctor visits. Alcohol is similarly destructive to the body, especially the stomach, liver and pancreas. Alcoholism is also associated with nutritional deficiencies, cognitive problems (dementia) and depression.
   • Consider using nicotine patches or gum to help stop smoking. Stopping "cold turkey" often creates too many side effects (cravings, depression, headaches, weight gain), which might lead to more unneeded doctor visits.
   • Either stop drinking alcoholic beverages or limit yourself to no more than one drink per day.
   • A high percentage of people who heavily smoke also drink alcohol on a regular basis — these bad habits seem to promote the other.

Reducing Unnecessary Doctor Visits

1. Check your vitals at home. With today's widespread and affordable technology, it's simple and convenient to measure your vital signs at home and not make unnecessary appointments with your doctor. Blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate and even blood sugar (glucose) levels can readily be measured at home with electronic devices made for personal use. If your vitals are not within normal ranges, then a doctor visit may be warranted, but if your numbers are good then medical attention is likely unnecessary. Ask your doctor what the most appropriate ranges are for your vital signs — be aware they can change with age.
   • Home medical devices can be widely found at pharmacies, medical supply stores and rehabilitation facilities.
   • Measuring your cholesterol levels at home is also possible. A number of years ago, the cholesterol kits weren't very accurate, but now they are very close in accuracy to standard lab tests (about 95% accurate).
   • Blood and urine can be analyzed with special dip sticks that are designed to turn different colors in reaction to certain compounds or parameters.
2. Only take medications if absolutely necessary. Although medications are obviously helpful to reduce symptoms such as pain and inflammation — and some are truly life saving — all of them create side effects. Drugs that are known to create numerous side effects in a high proportion of users are statins (prescribed for high cholesterol) and antihypertensives (for high blood pressure). Over-medicating and even closely following directions for these drugs commonly lead to other symptoms and additional doctor visits. Ask your doctor about the risk of side effects for all prescriptions she recommends. Consider also researching alternative remedies (plant-based) for certain conditions, which can cause fewer and less serious side effects (though these remedies are often lacking scientific study or verification that they actually work).
   • Statins commonly cause muscle pain, liver problems, digestive issues, skin rashes, flushing, memory loss and confusion.
   • Herbal remedies that may help lower cholesterol levels include artichoke extract, fish oil, blond psyllium, flaxseed, green tea extract, niacin (vitamin B3) and oat bran.
   • Antihypertensives commonly cause coughing, dizziness, light-headedness, nausea, nervousness, tiredness, lethargy, headaches, impotence and chronic coughing.
   • Herbal remedies that can help lower blood pressure include niacin (vitamin B3), grapeseed extract, omega-3 fatty acids, coenzyme Q-10 and olive oil.
3. Schedule a yearly physical. One way to reduce your doctor visits long-term is to schedule a yearly check-up for screenings, immunizations, and to identify any potential health issues and catch them before they become too serious. Your health insurance may cover this visit — ask your insurance agent about what is covered under preventative care.
   • A preventative care visit is done when you feel healthy and not to address a specific illness or physical issue.
4. Use your local walk-in clinics for minor issues. A more practical way of cutting down on unneeded doctors visits is using your local walk-in clinics more often for immunizations, renewing prescriptions, getting vital signs measured and getting basic physical exams. More and more pharmacy chains are offering these types of medical services and taking advantage of them reduces the burden on your doctor's office and the healthcare system in general. These small clinics typically don't employ medical doctors, but they staff qualified nurses, nurse practitioners and/or medical assistants.
   • Common vaccinations offered for children and adults at pharmacies include the flu and hepatitis B vaccines.
   • Small walk-in clinics don't require appointments, although if you have to wait it's often easy and convenient to do some grocery shopping (if the pharmacy is inside of a grocery store) to pass the time.

Tips

• Mild-to-moderate musculoskeletal pain (from strains and sprains) often get resolved within three to seven days without treatment.
• Most upper respiratory infections run their course within a week and don't require antibiotics, particularly if they are caused by viruses.
• Reducing stress levels can make significant impact on health and keep you from needing to your doctor regularly.
• PAP smears are no longer required yearly. The newest guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommend PAP screening for women once every three years, beginning at age 21 and ending at age 65.

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