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5 Ways To Adapt After A Life-Changing Medical Diagnosis

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It’s no secret that life is an unpredictable journey. You’ll often experience unexpected turns that challenge your resilience, strength, and faith, and one such example is receiving news of a life-changing medical diagnosis.

Some people might get told they’ve developed a chronic illness; for others, it could be a debilitating condition like multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy.

If you’ve recently received news of such a life-changing medical condition, you will doubtless be experiencing an array of emotions and feelings. You may even feel like your life as you know it is “over” – however, that likely isn’t necessarily the case.

Take a look at the following five ways you can adapt your lifestyle to navigate this unknown terrain gracefully and with empowerment in mind:

1. Work With The Right Medical Professionals

It stands to reason that you must work with the right medical professionals who understand your condition and will provide you with the compassionate care you need.

Whether you need to seek out techniques for better management of Multiple Sclerosis or want to learn of the best medication to help you deal with pain, it makes sense to seek out the best people to help you achieve your goals.

2. Make Sure You’re Eating Healthily

Even if your doctors didn’t give you a medical diagnosis that could ultimately change how you lead your life, it’s still essential to prioritize healthy eating. There’s plenty of fact-backed science to prove that eating nutrient-rich foods provides numerous health benefits.

For example, some foods help with pain relief and a calm state of mind, while others can improve your immune system. Consider consulting a nutritionist to build a personalized meal plan tailored to your health needs.

3. Prioritize Your Mental Well-Being

Your mental well-being is just as important as your physical one. As time passes, you will likely face tough challenges that can negatively impact your mental health, so seeking support from loved ones and mental health professionals is paramount.

Develop a strategy that works best for you, such as engaging in mindfulness practices, meditation, and therapy sessions to cope with any additional anxiety and stress caused by your medical condition.

4. Look At How You Can Adapt Your Home

Your home is your sanctuary from the outside world, a safe place to relax, heal, and work on staying healthy and happy. It’s worth exploring ways to adapt your living space to accommodate your new lifestyle needs.

Focus on making your abode a safe, peaceful, and calming environment that aids your specific medical management requirements. Have any clutter removed that could cause safety problems.

5. Investigate Assistive Technology For Your Needs

Finally, it’s worth remembering that assistive technology is helpful and necessary for anyone with a life-changing medical diagnosis. As you can appreciate, each person has unique requirements, so it’s worth exploring options and solutions tailored specifically to yours. Examples include mobility aids, smart home adaptations, and communication devices that make it easy to contact relatives and healthcare workers – especially if an emergency occurs at home.

What to Do If You Think You’ve Received a Wrong Diagnosis

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Doctors may be highly educated, but that doesn’t mean they’re infallible. Just like anyone else, they’re capable of making mistakes. Although you should be able to trust doctors, they’re not perfect, and there are times when they get it wrong or you might doubt what they have to say. Ultimately, you’re the one who is in charge of your health and medical care. If you think that you have been given an incorrect diagnosis by a doctor or another medical professional, you don’t have to accept it. There are steps you can take to ensure you get the right diagnosis and the best recommended treatment.

Go Back to Your Doctor

You might want to start by returning to the doctor you saw originally. This is particularly important if you’re experiencing new symptoms or any existing symptoms have got worse. Providing your doctor with new information can help them to assess your health more accurately, which could mean they change their mind about your diagnosis. Good communication between doctor and patient is important. If you’re unsure of your diagnosis, communicating that to your doctor could be the first step to checking whether it’s accurate and determining if your doctor needs to reassess.

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Get a Second Opinion

A second opinion from another doctor or medical professional can also be really helpful if you think you might have been given an incorrect diagnosis. In fact, many doctors will refer you to someone else or encourage a second opinion if they’re unsure about a diagnosis themselves. Getting a second opinion could include seeking out a specialist, if you’ve previously only seen a general practitioner. Or if you’ve already seen a specialist, you might look for someone different or someone with a particular interest in and experience of the medical issues that you are having.

Pursue Legal Avenues

If you determine that a medical professional misdiagnosed you, you might be interested in seeking some kind of compensation for that. Maybe you simply want an acknowledgement of the incorrect diagnosis, or perhaps you’re seeking financial compensation. Speaking to a medical malpractice lawyer is a good first step if you think you might have a legal case. You can get advice on your case and find out about potential outcomes. It can sometimes be a complicated legal area, so it’s smart to get advice from a qualified attorney who has experience specifically in medical malpractice.

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Focus on Your Health

No matter what you decide to do, your health should be your priority. If it turns out you were misdiagnosed, getting the correct diagnosis and treatment should be the first thing that you think about doing. Even if you decide to pursue a legal case, be sure to allow yourself time to focus on your health and seek the right treatment. If there are any health consequences from the misdiagnosis, these are important to address too. Or if it turns out you had the correct diagnosis, you might want to access some resources to process it.

Getting an incorrect diagnosis is always a possibility. If you think it’s happened to you, there are several routes you can take to work out what happens next.

How to Stop Feeling Sluggish Everyday

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One thing that nearly everyone misses from their childhood is their energy. Those high energy levels made you instantly feel awake the second you got out of bed, all the way until bedtime. It’s honestly amazing how much energy children have, and the more physical activity they do, the more energized they get! When you’re a dad, you need to keep your energy levels consistent, and you’re going to have to be just about as energized as your kids. Can it be tough? Absolutely; generally speaking, for the average person, you become more sluggish as you age. 

Even for teenagers, it’s the case; they’re so sleepy all the time. But with that said, you’re still going to need to push yourself, and you’re still going to need to get those energy levels up. A lot of people, especially those in their thirties or older, tend to be sluggish on a daily basis. Whether you’re a parent or not, you can’t really get much done if you’re so sleepy all the time. So, with that said, here’s how you can stop feeling so sluggish every day. 

Are You Stressed? Manage That First!

Did you know that stress can make you sluggish? Sure, sometimes stress kicks into overdrive to the point where you can’t sleep. But that’s not all. Stress can release adrenaline, which is a healthy and natural hormone that gives you a burst of energy to handle a situation, but over time constant stress can cause fatigue. Taking steps to reduce your stress levels, like streamlining harried mornings at home or scheduling some relaxing activities, such as a walk in nature or a soothing yoga session, can help you combat feelings of exhaustion. If your feelings persist, check with a doctor to see if they may be related to a more serious health condition.

Talk to Your Doctor

Whether it’s Dr. Kelly Roan or your local doctor, it’s best to bring up the fact that you’re feeling sluggish. If it’s almost every single day, then this could actually raise some alarm bells for your doctor. You might have an iron deficiency or even lack in B12, two things that people tend to be severely missing without even realizing it. So talk to your doctor, and try to push for some blood work, as this might indicate what the issue is.

Take a Look At Your Diet

You are what you eat, and if you eat badly, you’re hands-down going to feel bad too. The food we eat plays a major role in our energy levels. Eating foods that are high in saturated fats can slow digestion and take oxygen- and energy-delivering blood away from your muscles, leaving you feeling tired. Similarly, eating too many carbohydrates can cause your blood sugar to spike and crash, making you feel exhausted and sluggish.

Try to eat smaller meals and snacks throughout the day rather than three large meals to keep your blood sugar stable. Also, be sure to eat iron-rich foods like beef and iron-fortified cereals as well as leafy vegetables and beans, and pair them with vitamin C to enhance absorption.