Medical technology – moving into homes

What is illness?

A warning sign that draws attention to the fact that something is wrong with you. Health, however, is not only the absence of physical disease, but a state of mental, spiritual, social and material well-being.

A doctor can at most influence your physical symptoms! They cannot solve for you the relationship, family, work, social or financial problems that make you ill and wear you down. They cannot exercise for you, eat healthily for you, or give up harmful addictions, alcohol, smoking or drugs in your place. They cannot take your medications for you or do the prescribed physiotherapy and treatments for you.

The doctor cannot protect you from yourself — only you can do that. And only you can heal.

What if you become ill?

If an unknown complaint "shows up," consult a doctor and ask for an investigation of the problem. Tell every detail, because if you withhold something you make the doctor's job harder and you are working against yourself.

Do not begin self-treatment, because without expertise you may easily choose a method that does not help but worsens your condition.

First, the root of your complaints must be found. Successful treatment is expected only if we know what we are treating. Without that every treatment is only symptomatic and not causal!

I will try to illuminate this with a simple example. You go into a hardware store and ask them to recommend a tool. With that little information they could suggest a thousand things, for example a hammer. But was that what you needed?

If you don't know what you want, how can they give you the right tool? A good salesperson therefore begins to "diagnose" (like a doctor), trying to find out your need. They ask questions: what do you want to do? "Sawing," you answer. Wood or metal? "Wood," you say. Softwood, hardwood, plank, log or just a branch from the walnut tree? This is how they arrive at recommending the tool appropriate for the task.

The same must be done for your health complaints. You cannot "just" be advised a device, since every medical technology device works differently, has different effects, and is meant for different purposes. Only after the cause is investigated can you choose. If the problem (task) is known, you can select the "right" method or device from the available options.

Establishing the diagnosis is the doctor's task, as is giving therapeutic recommendations. However, you can decide which of the available treatment methods (e.g., medication, surgery, physiotherapy, manual therapy, naturopathy) you choose. The doctor should inform you about the alternatives, the expected results and consequences, because the methods differ in their effects and side effects.

For most chronic illnesses the doctor only recommends the treatment, but you must perform it yourself.

Think again of the hardware store: they help you choose the right saw… but who has to use it? You must grab the saw to cut the branch; the shopkeeper certainly won't go and do it because "it's not included in the price of the saw."

If this is obvious, then you can understand that the doctor's role is not to be healed for you, but to give you the most suitable tool for the treatment. Then you must use it yourself!

What is the solution?

Listen to the doctor's recommendations and follow them!

Healing does not happen with a snap of the fingers! Believing that a 30 kg excess weight, the high blood pressure it causes, knee and hip pain, back pain, diabetes will disappear in a day or two because of medication prescribed by a doctor is similar to believing that children are brought by a stork.

Pills will not bring recovery. In fact… if you only take pills, in the case above you will never truly recover.

More is needed. You must pay attention to what the doctor recommends and carry it out. You must change your diet, reduce unnecessary calories, and move more. As you work off the 30 kg excess weight, a large part of your complaints will disappear. I say "a large part" because if you don't start in time you may not be able to avoid all consequences. For example, long-standing significant overweight can "eat up" your knee joint… late weight loss may not restore it.

It would be time to appreciate the doctor more and not ignore what they say. If you do everything you can, they will pay much more attention to you too, because what they say will not feel like talking to a wall.

How does medical technology get into homes?

A significant proportion of diseases and conditions cannot be changed in 1–2 days. Full recovery is usually a longer process, sometimes lasting several months! Moreover, healing is not caused by the medicine, nor by ultrasound, magnet, etc.! These procedures only start your body's healing processes.

If you don't understand, think about what happens to you in the case of a bone fracture. After the fracture you are given an external plaster cast and, without receiving anything else, you are sent home. Your body then repairs this severe injury within about three months. The body handles many other issues in the same way, if you do not work against it but help it.

Most diseases are not such that you stay in hospital during the whole healing process. When you are discharged after surgery, a stroke or anything else, it doesn't mean you are cured; it means you are past the hardest part and must finish the rest at home. A surgical scar settles over 90–100 days. Eliminating paralysis after a stroke and re-learning movement can take years. The few physiotherapy, electrotherapy, etc. sessions received in hospital are worth nothing(!) if you do not continue them at home for a long time.

But let's take a simpler case. During spring garden work you overstrain your elbow. The diagnosis is tennis elbow, a stubborn inflammation. You are sent for physiotherapy. You receive ultrasound, electrotherapy, softlaser. Then the 10 sessions "run out" when you already feel a bit of improvement. You clearly feel it's going in the right direction, but you are not yet healed.

So what now?

"Nothing special" — that's about what the Hungarian public health insurance covers. If you want to be completely healed, you need to continue the treatments at home. Unfortunately, this is not often explained to you. Thus you may have no idea which device to use and how to continue the treatment. And that is exactly what could help restore your health.

In my blog I try to fill this gap. I explain and show how you can support your own recovery. My articles are general, so they may not apply to you exactly! Instead of self-diagnosis, get investigated! Choose a "tool" only after it is known what treatment needs to be done. My posts help you select the appropriate device and how to use it safely.