5 Ways to Advocate for Your Medical Needs and Get the Care You Deserve

Guest article by Justin Bennett from Healthyfit.info

If you’ve ever experienced medical gaslighting or have been told that medications and costly procedures were your only treatment options after you’ve received a diagnosis, you’re probably all too familiar with healthcare issues. Medications are overprescribed, holistic treatments are not typically covered, and physicians are more overworked and burned out than ever before.

In addition to these major healthcare issues, misdiagnosis may be responsible for up to 250,000 deaths per year. Medical misdiagnoses are not only costly but could also be fatal in some situations. As such, you have to learn to be your own biggest health advocate to ensure you’re getting the medical care you deserve and so that you can be there for your loved ones. Your life, health, and well-being all depend on it.

Check out these ideas from Trauma-Resilient Educational Communities (TREC) to learn how to effectively advocate for your health while navigating a broken healthcare system.

Make Smarter Lifestyle Choices to Improve Your Health

While preventative services are covered, most healthcare practitioners are paid to treat illnesses and diseases with medications, surgeries, and other therapies rather than teaching patients to develop healthy habits that could help to prevent many chronic diseases. And though it’s important to take advantage of these preventative services when they’re offered, other things like eating healthy foods, exercising regularly, and keeping stress levels in check are also crucial.

To adopt a healthier lifestyle and reduce your chances of developing chronic diseases as you age, start by making a few small changes to how you eat, move your body, and handle stress. A few starting points could include:

• Drinking filtered water or tea instead of sugary beverages.
• Avoiding excessive caffeine to prevent dehydration as a result of diuretic effects.
• Seeking counseling services to reduce stress in your life.
• Keeping healthy snacks handy, like kale chips and mixed nuts.

Clean eating is another way you can change your habits and see substantial improvement. Science is continuing to find more ways that our gut health affects our overall health and clean eating practices can help you develop a healthy, balanced gut biome. Research is even showing that your gut biome can affect your fertility, so it’s definitely something to pay attention to in your diet.

Move More

Regular exercise plays a crucial role in enhancing overall well-being, managing weight, and reducing the risk of chronic diseases. While certain physical limitations might restrict some types of exercise, walking stands out as an accessible and effective way to boost your activity levels. It's a low-impact exercise that can be adapted to suit individual fitness levels and health conditions.

To add variety to your walking routine and to ensure safety, consider using a Walk Score map to find the most pedestrian-friendly areas nearby. These maps can help you discover new and suitable places to walk, ensuring a pleasant and secure environment. Whether it's a quiet neighborhood street, a bustling city park, or scenic walking trails, choosing the right location can make your walking experience more enjoyable and beneficial for your health.

Consider Holistic Medicine

Conventional medical practitioners often neglect to look at each patient’s body as a whole, instead focusing on treating a patient’s symptoms with medication, surgery, and/or psychotherapy. And though conventional medicine certainly has its place in the world, holistic treatments can help patients to heal from the inside out — often with fewer side effects and added benefits like increased immunity, reduced stress, and relief from chronic pain. Some examples of holistic medicine include acupuncture, emotional counseling, nutrition therapy, massage, herbal medicine, and chiropractic care.

Meditation can also be helpful at lowering your blood pressure and reducing feelings of depression and anxiety. It takes a little while to get the hang of it, but with some practice you will be amazed at the level of calm you can provide your body and mind.

When looking for a holistic medical practitioner to help your body heal as a whole, start by looking for a doctor that might be covered under your insurance policy. This could include a doctor of osteopathic medicine, an integrative physician, or, depending on the state where you live, a naturopathic doctor.

Review Your Insurance

Ensuring that your insurance plan aligns with your current medical requirements and is cost-effective is a crucial step in managing your healthcare effectively. One proactive approach is to shop on the ACA healthcare exchange, where you can find a variety of plan options that might better suit your needs or offer more affordable rates.

Additionally, if you are married, it's a wise strategy for you and your spouse to compare the health plans offered by each of your employers. This comparison can reveal which plan offers more comprehensive coverage or better benefits for specific medical needs, ensuring that you both maximize the value of your health insurance. Regularly assessing these options helps in making informed decisions that align with your healthcare needs and financial situation.

Share Your Medical Records With Your Providers

Another big part of advocating for your medical needs is having access to your health records and being able to share your full medical history with any new healthcare providers. Prompt submission of these forms can expedite the process of scheduling appointments, obtaining copies of your medical records, and ensuring that these records are forwarded to any specialists you might be working with.

Keep Searching for Answers

If you’re experiencing ongoing symptoms that no practitioner can seem to figure out, don’t settle for less than you deserve. Keep advocating for your health and searching for answers, and don’t be afraid to seek a second, third, or fourth opinion. The right practitioner will help you to get to the root cause of your symptoms, make any necessary lifestyle changes, and search for answers until you have the right diagnosis.

TREC is a non-profit organization whose mission is to deliver educational resources and programs dedicated to equitable practices and healing-centered relationships that increase resilience and overall wellness in individuals and organizations. Visit our website to learn more!