For many women, chronic symptoms send us spiraling into a state of overwhelm. We frantically search for answers for something that is going to make it better or make sense to us. This is the time when we should rather go through a list of health advocacy examples for self-accountability.
Health advocate meaning
Before appointing a health advocate, it is important to understand how you can be one for yourself. When we are stressed and anxious about symptoms that are changing how our body feels we tend to become hysteric and desperate. We often feel powerless and that’s when we need to advocate for our health.
Overwhelm doesn’t just live in our minds and it’s not just an emotional reaction. Our minds are terrible at discerning actual stress and what is perceived. Our anxiety and worry can cause stress to cascade deep into our bodies.
By its very nature and a sense of overwhelm can add to our illness and mental stress. So, it’s extremely important to keep our reactions to new symptoms or new diagnoses in check.
When new symptoms start showing up, we are the ones feeling these changes. It is our job to best explain to the doctor what is going on. It is our job to make sure that our voice is heard, and that we are taken seriously.
Here are some health advocacy examples to make yourself accountable in a seamless process and reduce the looming overwhelm. Advocating for ourselves is how we get our voices heard and answers to our symptoms.
But how does one go about advocating for themselves in a sea of so many answers? Let us find out!
1. Turn Off Dr. Google
When symptoms start showing up, our first instinct is to search for answers to help silence the mind. Google give us great resources for finding answers to some of our questions, but not so much at calming the storm that grows in our minds.
These sites can create a tsunami of information that sends us tumbling further down the hole of anxiety. Remember we come to Google Search for action, but we don’t leave with it.
This information overload can affect our productivity. It can steal away our process of gratitude and blind us from seeing the good things in life.
With all of our internet searches, our focus is robbed. In the beginning, we only had one symptom to worry about. But after hours of searching, we now have 50 more things that added to the list!
These new concerns can either make us quit taking action or fill us up with anxiety. Both of these would only worsen our condition. It is important for us to acknowledge that the internet is not taking into consideration our unique physiology. Every story is different and requires distinctive treatment.
2. Master Tracker
Rather than turning to the internet for answers to our symptoms, it is better to write them down. Tracking and noting down changes in our bodies will make it easier to create clearer pictures for the doctor.
Again, when we push through and ignore our symptoms, we are missing the chance to track important information. Our personal experiences are our first sources of data to prioritize above everything else.
What happens when we cover up our symptoms? We cover up the signs of what our body is trying to tell us. Without tracking we are more likely to be dismissed in the doctor’s office. Not being able to convey how we feel can do more damage than improve what we’re going through.
Unless we can say “this is what I’ve been experiencing and this is what I feel like my triggers are”, or “these are the times that I experienced these issues”, we are less likely to be taken seriously.
This goes beyond the day-to-day basis of “I ate this and felt like this.” Instead, track patterns over time for a good six to eight weeks. Become diligent about figuring out what are the things that are bringing about your symptoms.
Missing the cause and effect can be robbing you of the answers that you need. Discovering these two is crucial to become the best health advocate for yourself. We know our bodies even when the winds change. So, documenting a clear record of your experience is going to bring huge clarification to you and your practitioner.
3. Test Don’t Guess
If your story is gold, then data is our best friend. When we go to our primary care physicians and share our symptoms, they run the average blood work at regular run-of-the-mill labs.
Sometimes these tests come back normal. Even though these results come back normal, everything might not be perfect. Often our symptoms show up long before labs confirm what’s going on. So, don’t ignore what your body is trying to tell you.
When looking at the numbers from the labs, what are we looking for? We’re looking for functional data. Functional data means choosing labs in a very different way. We are looking for ranges to be functional. This means the results should be optimal for health, not just the run-of-the-mill average that a lab posts as their range for a given blood test.
Regular lab ranges are based on the average results of people who come in when they’re not feeling well. Traditional lab tests compare our numbers against people who don’t feel well and then we’re being told that everything’s normal.
These same tests can be taken, and rather than looking at the normal ranges, functional ranges can be used keeping in mind each person’s biochemistry. When getting testing done at the doctor’s, we want to ask ourselves, “are the tests going to give the answers we are looking for?”
Doing our homework regarding different tests can change the conversation drastically between us and our doctors. So, we cannot stress enough the importance of testing instead of guessing.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Breakup
One of the best health advocacy examples that we miss out is breaking up with what doesn’t serve us anymore.
We have all had bad relationships in the past. We can even have a bad relationship with our doctor. Not every doctor is right for every patient. Personalities and ideals are important when finding a doctor, and we often skip these aspects.
We go to doctors to confide in them. If they aren’t serving us then give yourself permission to let go and find someone better. It is okay to walk away and find a new doctor that will listen to you and understand your unique condition.
Finding a doctor who can create an environment that allows you to comfortably ask those embarrassing questions is key. When looking for a doctor it is good to take an interview approach with them. You should be comfortable to discuss aspects like:
· menopause and sweating
· vaginal itching after menopause
· hormones and mental health changes
· sexual problems and ways to resolve them
Doctors have always referred to the people in their offices as patients, but we really are customers. Finding a doctor who we feel comfortable talking with is a real game changer. If we are receiving bad service or are uncomfortable, then we can take our business elsewhere.
We don’t have to accept the way a doctor treats us. Finding someone who can empower you and support your journey can enhance your wellbeing instead of making you more disease-prone.
Conclusion
Sometimes it can be exhausting to take a stand for ourselves and lead by the health advocacy examples. Such times our pain and discomfort become excruciating and we need someone else to advocate for us instead.
Tracking our symptoms will help calm the mind and take us forward on the journey of good health. If you have questions or want to learn about monitoring it better, we at HerHeartCo are here to answer your questions. Please join our waitlist for our premier women’s health platform.