Weight Loss Update

Having trouble figuring out what to eat for your best health? There are some on-line resources that are pretty great, and only take a few minutes to do the interactive work of assessing where you are. The hard part is following through with the plan. The USDA has their original "My Pyramid" plan and WebMD has a version that gives you a personal scorecard for how you're doing.

As you may know if you've been reading my blog for a few months, I've been remaking my diet in an effort to lose some weight. This started out as part of a weight loss challenge at the hospital where I work.

The competition was fierce, and the best team took home the prize! But we were all losers; in my case I had accomplished the loss of 7 of the 10 pounds that I had wanted to lose. The teams decided that they wanted to keep going through the summer, and this time my team got a little personal bet going.

We each chipped in $10.00 to start, then at each weigh-in we chipped in another buck for each pound gained. Unfortunately for me I had gained a couple of pounds back as of the July weigh-in, having just finished a two-week smorgasbord of a vacation, LOL. So the last of the summer weigh-ins is next week.

I am back down my vacation weight, plus at least one pound. I've been exercising every day, hoping to be the "biggest loser" of my team.

Weight loss is hard, I'm sure I don't have to tell most of you. It takes dedication and an absolute commitment to exercise, especially as we age and our metabolism slows.

I have found that for me fresh foods cooked simply, and eaten slowly in small portions, plus a little exercise every day works, if I stick to it. So don't get discouraged! Go to these web sites and play with the tools a bit.

It will help you understand where you're doing well, and where you can do better. Buddy up with a friend and take a walk every day. You can lose the weight you want to, I'm living proof.

Laurie

Strong reasons make strong actions.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Related Topics: WebMD Weight Loss Clinic (A WebMD Subscription Service), Ladies: Assess Your Heart Disease Risk

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Blogging's Discouraging

I've been struggling to understand the role of blogging, so I sometimes don't post for several weeks. It appears as though I have so little impact here, because I get so few comments and many of the responses bear no relationship to my post. I find myself going back to spend more time at my message board, because there it feels as though I actually help the occasional person.

I am aware that a number of my readers are nurses. I get that! I read a lot of nursing blogs. I also read a few by other individuals in medicine, including docs, med students, and dietitians. There are some amazing bloggers out there, many of whom I feel humbled by. During a recent dry spell, I developed this post to share a few of my favorites bloggers with you.

My current favorite is by newFNP called "what school doesn't teach you about being a nurse practitioner." Careful with this one if you don't like racy language; at first even I was a little taken aback. She does the most fabulous job of describing exactly what it's like to be a community health clinic NP though, so you soon get caught up in the hilarity that is the everyday life of someone in our profession, and the occasional colorful word falls to the background. Especially if you are a medical person you will laugh out loud at this one!

The Examining Room of Dr. Charles has recently moved to a new location. Dr. Charles is the most remarkable writer of medical stories that I have ever read; he captures the feeling of a moment in medical interaction in a way that I envy. In fact, he has a published book of his work as proof of that!

Sunlight Follows Me is the blog of an MD finishing up school and most recently, finding her first employment as an MD. She is originally from Singapore and is living in England; her "dear husband" is also in medicine. Her posts are a nice mix of personal and medical experiences and she has a quirky way of writing that draws me in to her view of the world.

Disappearing John is an ED RN who used to weigh 480 pounds. The "disappearing" part is because he survived gastric bypass and has lost 200 pounds (can you imagine?). He just went to work in the ED and loves it, and does a great job of capturing the chaos there while also sharing his personal successes at weight loss. It's always great to see a nurse who loves what he or she does every day; John is one of them.

Finally there's Michelle of the underwear drawer First of all she posts pictures of her most beautiful son, Cal. I feel like a surrogate parent and go every few days to see the new pictures and check the posts to see if Michelle has some new fun development of Cal's to share with her faithful readers. Oh and by the way, she's an anesthesia resident and her husband is in residency as well.

I keep studying these folks writing, trying to figure out what makes them so popular. They all have a great number of responses to their posts, and the comments actually relate to what they posted.

ARGGHH!

Laurie

Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time... The wait is simply too long.

Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990)

Moving on...

I really enjoy the blog by emergency department (ED) nurse Disappearing John. I'll soon be getting a taste of his kind of medicine as I become a full-time ED nurse practitioner. Any advice John?

I've spent the first 3 years of my NP career working at a rural health family practice clinic. It's been a wonderful experience getting to know individuals as well as whole families, and being let in to their very personal health and family concerns. I thank all of them for teaching me something every day and for helping me to feel so blessed.

Now to the future, and looking forward to acquiring new skills...

Laurie

It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.

Robert H. Goddard (1882 - 1945)
US physicist & pioneer rocket engineer

Rx errors

WebMD's All Ears Blogger Rod Moser has an interesting entry about medication errors. He points out that ideally there is a system of checks and balances that prevents medication errors, such as pharmacists and educated patients. I'd like to add another to his list; patients who know at least the names and doses of all their current medications, or who carry a current list.

At least once a day a patient and I will be talking about medications. For example, I'll ask a new patient, "What are you taking for medications every day?" I need this information to prescribe the individual a new medication, and I want to be sure that what I add to their routine doesn't interact with their current medications. I also need to be certain that I don't duplicate something that has already been prescribed for the person, especially if he or she sees other providers.

Another patient will say to me, "I need a refill on my medication," and I'll ask, "which one?" He or she will say, "you know, the little blue one. It's oval and about this big," holding up fingers to show me the size.

Well, you know what? Your medication comes in a generic form and your pharmacy bought it from supplier "A" three months ago when you got the last refill. Unfortunately for you, when we figure out which pill you need and I call it in, you find that this month they got it from supplier "B" because they had a better price. It's now a yellow round pill instead of an oval blue one.

Do you assume it's the right pill? Do you ask the pharmacist if it's the correct medication? If you knew by name what you are supposed to be getting you could be reasonably assured that your prescription is correct.

Suppose it's an antibiotic you've taken before and it looks different. Do you think there has been an error, and not take the pills? This choice might lead to your infection getting worse. Always ask your pharmacist if you have a question or concern about the medication that you've been given and make every effort to use the same pharmacy at all times, so that the pharmacists are familiar with you and your medication profile and allergies.

So don't count on the color, size, or shape of medications when asking your health care provider for refills, or when discussing your medications with someone who is going to be writing you new prescriptions. The BEST solution is to carry a CURRENT list of all medications with you at all times. That way you can take it out and allow no mistakes to be made when it comes to medication refils, or adding new medications to your health care plan.

Take care, Laurie

Half of the modern drugs could well be thrown out of the window, except that the birds might eat them.
Dr. Martin Henry Fischer

Related Topics: Drug Errors Injure 1.5 Million, Government Moves to Expand E-Records


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