This Article Brought To You By: Dr. John Bueler, Jr.
An important health related topic that I like to discuss regularly with patients is what I like to call “Darts at a Board.” What do I mean by throwing darts at a board? Let’s say my car is not running well at all; It’s very sluggish, it’s under-powered and backfiring. So using current ways of doing things, I go on the Internet and I Google the symptoms; Car is under-powered, runs lousy or whatever, and the responses I get range from replacing my air filter, cleaning my fuel injectors, replacing my catalytic converter or looking to see if there is a potato in my tailpipe.
So I go on Facebook and ask my friends, (or even more exciting, the general public) what they think is wrong and what do you think happens? Someone will say the air filter, others the fuel injector and of course someone is going to mention the possibility of a potato in my tailpipe. Then you go on late night TV and you see a commercial that says “car running sluggish?” “Get this fuel additive for only $19.95 and watch your car’s performance immediately improve or your money back!” Or you might go to an unethical mechanic who will tell you that you have one or more very expensive (yet unnecessary) things that need to be fixed.
All of these exaggerated examples aside, what is the wisest course of action?
First, it would start with finding an honest and trusted mechanic who charges reasonable fees. This person is going to take his experience and knowledge and accurately find and fix the problem in an efficient and thorough manner.
This same scenario happens in healthcare all the time, but the stakes are so much higher, because throwing a dart at a board and hoping that you (or your friends, or late night TV) are right, may not solve your problem. In fact, it may delay an important treatment, it may aggravate the issue, or worse yet, create additional problems. There are so many medicines and supplements, and herbs and diets and fads and books and opinions! All of us can agree that trying to discover the right answer at the right time with the least amount of expense and time is beyond daunting.And, in the world of professional healthcare, it is not uncommon to see doctors that don’t have the time to thoroughly evaluate your situation also throw darts at a board by having you try some prescription drug to see if it works. Does “Try these and come back in 2 weeks if it’s not better”, ring a bell?” Their darts may land a little closer but still not hit the mark. Or, they may shirk their “hands on” responsibilities altogether and order every possible test (mostly negative, and at great expense). Unfortunately, that is not good doctoring and it is not the way doctors were trained. They were trained to evaluate you, touch you, use diagnostic tools, but there is precious little time for that these days. When you add the fact that insurance companies have contributed by becoming increasingly miserly when it comes to paying doctors properly for their time, you have a clearer picture of why people are becoming sicker and more confused about why they are sick.
There are certainly times when, even after a thorough assessment of your condition, there is some uncertainty as to exactly what is going on, but the competent doctor will have an “educated guess” and be able to nail down the problem to two or three things and two or three treatment options.
So, what are some of the ways we throw darts at a board?
First, we throw darts at the problem – if you ask 10 people on the internet what the cause of your symptoms are, you will probably get 12 answers. Guessing wrong at the problem guarantees that the treatment will be wrong as well. Completely missing the board here can actually be catastrophic, but let’s assume that you hit the board; not a bullseye, but fairly close. This is where we start the “dabbling” process.
Then we throw darts at the solution – For any given problem, there can be a multitude of treatment options including prescription drugs, physical therapy, minor surgery, a medical device, chiropractic, acupuncture, dietary change, a supplement regimen and the list goes on. And, by the way, well meaning friends and family members are going to be all over the map in terms of what they think you should do. This is not the time to turn to Facebook, Dr. Google, or late night TV.
So now you have an uncertain diagnosis, magnified by an uncertain treatment plan and that is going to yield uncertain results. And if the problem continues, is it because you mis-diagnosed the problem? Chose the wrong treatment, or both? So this ends up leading to the 3rd dart, which is throwing darts at the results – should I change treatments? Should I give the treatment more time? Should I add something to the treatment? Should I start over?
The body is remarkably complex and having a healthcare practitioner that can assist you with your decisions can be not only helpful, but possibly life changing.
In short, don’t throw darts at a board when it comes to your health and be careful working with healthcare professionals who do as well.