Have you ever told a physician that you would prefer to make a life style change instead of taking a medication he/she wanted you to take. If so, did it improve the medical condition without taking that medication
I don’t think I have. But you can certainly do that; at least give it a try.
The main reason docs don’t push lifestyle changes first is that most people don’t follow through. In some cases though, it’s certainly worth giving it a shot. Unless the condition is urgent and the doc thinks the meds are immediately necessary.
Kind of. 20 years ago I had a doctor diagnose social anxiety disorder and he put me on Paxil, which did help. Over the years I was on it with no problems but a new doctor I got said he hated Paxil and changed me to Prozac, then after a month, when I checked back in, he asked me if I would like to come off them. Over the years I started going to a “fake church” that taught mindfulness and meditation, so I said yes. I’ve been off Paxil for about 6 years now. Meditation and mindfulness helped a lot to where I don’t need it. However, I am still wrestling with one of the side effects of Paxil - a 60 pound weight gain. I’m slowly making progress on that - down from 270 to 235. SSRI’s can cause weight gain between 50 and 70 pounds,.
The doctor that took me off it is a concierge practice now so I had to change doctors, but he didn’t like paxil for a number of reasons. One of them was that withdrawal can be nasty because it has a half life of Paxil is 21 hours. The half life of Prozac is about a week…and it masked the withdrawal from Paxil. I could quit prozac cold turkey without any real withdrawal symptoms.
Two years ago my doctor wanted to put me on statins when my cholesterol level was borderline but not high. When I asked if I could try making lifestyle changes instead he said ok but was not optimistic that it would work. I cut out ice cream, ate more fish and less meat, ate more berries and green vegetable, and increased my level of exercise. My doctor was surprised to see my cholesterol level go down as much as it did from these life style changes and felt that it was okay for me to not take statins
I was talking to a colleague a few years ago and he said his doc gave him a choice: radically change your diet or go on statins. He didn’t want to change his diet, so he chose the meds.
Good to know yourself.
The lifestyle changes you made are probably better than the statins. Even if you need them later, you’ll have delayed for a while.
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I am on statins, and I tried the Atkins diet several years ago…all the foods we AREN’T supposed to eat. And my cholesterol levels were the best they ever were.
My Dr is very “ lowest level of treatment” first.
So if she suggests meds, it’s because it is necessary.
Unfortunately she just retired.
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