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Health Tips

Dr Andrew Weil MD

At Home with Dr. Andrew Weil

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If you’ve ever wanted to spend part of your afternoon with Dr. Weil, now you have the chance. On March 21, 2022, Dr. Weil opened his home to viewers around the world, who joined him — remotely — for a live self-care event. The opportunity was part of IMmersive, an ongoing series of free 30-minute healing sessions led by experts in integrative medicine and made available by the University of Arizona’s Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine.

The session began with Dr. Weil welcoming viewers into his home and introducing his two Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Juno and Kengo. After explaining the importance of proper breathing for good health, he led everyone through one of his most recommended breathing exercises, The Relaxing Breath, also known as the 4-7-8 Breath. To experience the full benefits of The Relaxing Breath, he suggests practicing it at least twice a day.

Next up: a visit to Dr. Weil’s kitchen, where he prepared one of his favorite dishes, sauteed kale. Made with lacinto (black) kale, this quick, simple and healthy side can easily transform into a hearty main dish when mixed with pasta or grains. If viewers were wondering where Dr. Weil gets many of the vegetables he cooks, they soon received an answer, as he brought them along for a tour of his garden. Some of the plants on display included chard, baby Bok choy, radishes, carrots, beets, a Japanese variety of spinach, various herbs — and the lacinato kale he had just prepared.

The relaxed event concluded with Dr. Weil answering questions from viewers. His companion animals also made another appearance in the garden, where Juno enjoyed a few bites of kale.

Stress

8 Simple Ways To Reduce Stress

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Where does stress come from? Look in the mirror. Experts say stress is entirely self-imposed—you are the one letting stress get in the way of getting more done. The good news is that if you are creating the stress, you can also control it. You can let stress drive your actions and throw your day off. Or once stress appears, you can address it. You can spend the day getting things done—instead of stressing over how much there is to do.

Here’s how to get stress under control.

Wrap up yesterday. Avoid worrying today over something you left uncompleted yesterday. Get it done now and move on to today’s tasks.

Prioritize. Avoid spiraling over everything on your to-do list—prioritize. Items that most impact personal relationships and finances take priority. Attend to these things before you spend time on less urgent ones. This is also a good time to identify matters beyond your control and remove them from the list

Set realistic deadlines. Avoid tight deadlines. If someone else is setting the deadline, negotiate one that gives you the time you need. The stress of an unrealistic deadline makes it hard to deliver a quality result.

Take breaks. If you find yourself getting worked up about getting something done, stop doing it. Take a five- or ten-minute break to calm down, rest, get fresh air, meditate, pray, or just close your eyes and think of something that makes you happy. You will return to the task with less stress, and the mindset to function more efficiently.

Reduce your daily decisions. Plan out your week, deciding what must be done and when. Schedule regular activities as recurring items in your calendar. Get organized, keeping things you need for certain activities, like workouts, in one place so you skip the task of gathering them each time. The fewer decisions you have to make, the less stressful your life will become.

Get help if you need it. If you have any doubts about your ability to complete a task alone, make the call to ask for help as soon as possible, before you start having difficulties. Another person boosts your productivity and trims your stress (“a worry shared is cut in half”).

Turn off the voices in your head. When things get busy, you might start asking yourself, “What’s happening here? Can I handle it? What if I can’t?” This immediately creates stress. To get out of this predicament, focus on someone else. Consider what they need, what they may be fearing, and how you can help. This quiets your internal voice.

Keep an eye on the big picture. It’s common to stress over things that are less critical than we think. Do what you need to, but before stressing out over it, consider its significance in the big picture. Unless a situation puts you in physical danger, it’s probably not worth getting upset about.

 

Antibody vs Vaccine

Monoclonal Antibody Therapy vs Covid Vaccine

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Monoclonal antibody therapeutics and vaccines are two of the most effective ways to combat SARS-CoV-2 and subsequent COVID-19 disease. Although there are some similarities between these two methods, there are stark differences we should know.

What is an antibody and how does monoclonal antibody therapy work?

Similar to antibodies which are proteins that the body naturally produces to defend itself against disease, Monoclonal Antibodies are artificially created in the lab, tailor-made to fight the disease they treat. Casirivimab and Imdevimab are monoclonal antibodies that are specifically directed against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, designed to block the virus’ attachment and entry into human cells. Two distinct antibodies bind non-competitively to the COVID-19 virus cell surface and prevent the virus from infecting healthy cells.  Using two antibodies protects against the emergence of resistance. Monoclonal antibody therapy is used to treat infections that have already occurred.

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine, on the other hand, is what we refer to as "active immunity." A vaccine may be a fragment of a virus, an inactivated virus, or a live virus that is no longer infectious. When we inject this into an individual, the immune system responds as if the person were infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, the person will not become ill, and the assault will provide the inoculated person with what is known as "immune memory." Since the body has already learnt how to adapt to the virus, immune memory protects it from infection in the future, helping the body to clear SARS-CoV-2 before it can do any damage. This protective immunity may last for months, years or even a lifetime in certain cases. Vaccines are completely safe and will help people who are otherwise healthy avoid contracting COVID-19 in the future. Vaccines, however, use this to treat a patient who is already ill.

So, what's the difference between the two? Why do we need both?

  • Monoclonal antibody therapies give the body antibodies to protect itself, resulting in passive immunity. Vaccines give active immunity by assisting the body in producing its own antibodies.
  • Monoclonal antibody therapy treats those who are already infected with the COVID-19 virus. The vaccine trains the immune system to fight against the COVID-19 virus.
  • Monoclonal antibody therapy starts working as soon as it is administered. The vaccine offers protection 1-2 weeks after the second dose is given

FDA approved Emergency Use Authorization or EUA for the REGENERON monoclonal antibody treatment. With the FDA's expanded authorization, Regeneron’s antibody cocktail can be given as an injection. The first dose needs to be administered within 96 hours of exposure.

Doctor Google

Paging Doctor Google

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You may think Doctor Google is great.  You maybe in a pinch. No one is available to answer your medical question.  You just can’t wait until Monday at 9am to call the office. If you could wait, you know you’ll be put on hold and won’t get a call back for hours - if you’re lucky.  You know if you do get a call back, it will likely not be from YOUR doctor. So, why not just Google it?
You may think Dr Google is great when you’re in a pinch and need a quick answer.  But, despite what many people think, Dr Google isn't as good as a real doctor.  You’re twice as likely to get the real diagnosis when you talk to your doctor versus when you Google.  That means, many times Google searches will bring up all kinda crazy answers that are definitely wrong. These things might be scary (creating more anxiety instead of calming your fears), inaccurate (causing you to start a treatment that is incorrect and may have side effects that you don’t need), or miss the real cause (leading you to falsely believe you are fine, when you have something more serious happening). 

All that being said, we get why patients don’t see the doctor.  In this world of quick technology and easy answers, it’s tempting to go the Google route.  But, what if you COULD have a doctor who is available to answer your question. What if she WAS available before Monday at 9am?  What if he COULD call you back instead of one of his colleagues? What if it DIDN’T TAKE HOURS to hear back? Would you still Google?

While the answer for some of you may still be a vote for Dr. Google, we’re certain many others would prefer the expertise of a Board Certified Physician!  To each, his/her own - BUT if you’d rather have the opinion of YOUR doctor right at the tip of your fingers, give Balanced Physician Care a try and find out why patients love the 24/7/365 access and connection to their Primary Care Doctor!

Balanced Physician Care is a Direct Primary Care practice located in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida and serving all of Jacksonville's First Coast. Our physician-owner is Sharyl Truty MD. Visit BalancedPhysicianCare.com/membership for more information on how to become a member.

MD Detox 2021

MD Detox Event

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Watch the recording of the 2/1/2021 MD Detox Event

New Year, New You MD Detox

Smart Strategies to Avoid Spreading Germs

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Whether you’re trying to avoid the common cold, the flu, or the new coronavirus, there are some simple things you can do to help prevent yourself and those around you from getting sick.

  1. Wash your hands! And make sure you’re washing them the correct way. Use soap and water, and scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds.
  2. If soap and water aren’t available, use some hand sanitizer.
  3. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
  4. Stay away from sick people. (This seems obvious, but is still worth mentioning.) This also means that when you are sick, you should stay away from others as much as you can.
  5. Clean your home, workspace, and electronics regularly. There are a lot of germs that can live on surfaces, so disinfect those phones and computers!
  6. When you’re healthy, you are less likely to get sick. Make sure you are getting enough sleep, eating lots of fruits and veggies, and exercising regularly.

If your symptoms don't improve or you experience an unusually high fever or have trouble breathing, give us a call to book an appointment or see a doctor near you.

 

Optimize your health, simplify your life,

Sharyl Truty MD

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Dr. Sharyl Truty MD is a Direct Primary Care & Integrative Medicine physician. Her practice, Balanced Physician Care is located in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.  Her innovative approach puts you in charge of your health, free from onerous insurance and health systems’ mandates and protocols. Her practice provides more time per appointment, a doctor who listens and respects your time, knowledge and instincts; and a doctor that puts prevention and lifestyle changes before pills. For more information about Dr. Truty and her unique approach to healthcare call 904-930-4774 or visit www.BalancedPhysicianCare.com

Health Benefits of Tai Chi

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Open Enrollment

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Open enrollment season is right around the corner and you may be making some important decisions for you, your family, or even your business. Here are some tips to think about when purchasing health insurance.

Whether you purchase your insurance through the state, government, employer or directly from vendors, this can be a daunting process. There are often many choices, with slight differences that are difficult to decipher. Beyond that, because price transparency is such an issue in healthcare, it is often hard to plan or budget for future costs when there is no way to find out how much these services actually cost! Below, I’ve tried to outline a couple tips while going through this process.  

Nothing is free!!:   Many patients get a large portion of their health insurance paid for by a third party (employer, government, etc). This creates the notion that health care is cheap or free in certain situations. Please remember that although you may not pay much in monthly premiums or out of pocket costs for your insurance, your employer is likely paying an exorbitant amount for health care services you may not even use. This cost has gone up considerably in the last few years

Know your family:  Unfortunately, because this can be so complicated, many patients simply select the most inclusive insurance options, which are also the most expensive. Sit down and review what medical services you and your family have used over the past few years. What medications do you require monthly, if any? Do you see specialists, and why? Do you know of any bigger health expenses that may come up next year (like planning for a child or an elective surgery)?  Or do you just really need a good primary care physician who has time to address all of your medical needs? (Hint: the answer for almost everyone is yes!)
 
Understand premiums and deductibles:   Just to review, a premium is the amount that you (or a third party) pay monthly for the privilege of being insured. The deductible is the total amount of out of pocket costs you and your family can incur during the year on top of the monthly premium you already pay. The lower your monthly premiums, the higher your out of pocket costs may be… though you still might save money this way! For instance, for a young family of 4 buying insurance from BCBS, the monthly premium for a $2,800 deductible plan is about $500 more a month than the $12,000 deductible plan… that’s $6,000 extra in monthly premiums over the course of the year!!! Why would anyone pay that much extra when good primary care can cover 85-90% of issues that will ever come up?  Even the $2,800 deductible plan listed above leaves a family paying out of pocket for much of their costs in a year. Those costs are often inflated because of insurance and the amount is completely unknown to the patient prior to utilizing the service (try to think of another purchase you make where you do not know the cost prior to buying?!?).
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Consider Medical Cost Sharing or Healthshare:  Healthcare Sharing, or Groups, are non-profit organizations of like-minded individuals that pool their money together every month to help each other with serious medical costs. They are NOT considered insurance. They work great with Direct Primary Care.The majority are Christian based ministries except for Sedera Health (sedera.com). The Christian based Ministry groups usually require members to adhere to moral and ethical principles that result in lower healthcare costs; such as not smoking, avoiding excessive alcohol, no extra marital sex, and no illicit drugs. Since these plans are not insurance, they can restrict or refuse Approval, i.e. exclude for pre-existing conditions. Sedera Health is different. It does not require you to adhere to moral or ethical principals and is not a Christian based. These health sharing plans can provide catastrophic healthcare protection (like health insurance should be doing) for significantly lower monthly costs.
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So, if you have a relatively healthy family, ask yourself why you (or your employer) pay so much more in premiums for, what should be, cheap and comprehensive primary care services. And wouldn’t you want an affordable, budgetable, transparent monthly fee that will cover most everything that will come up during a given year including keeping you out of an expensive urgent care and or even worse, the emergency room.

 

  •  If you do have some chronic medical concerns, think about the specialists you are seeing and the different medications you're on.  Is YOUR Primary Care Doctor putting all the pieces together?

 

  • Is you current doctors taking your finances into consideration when prescribing and ordering expensive medications/tests without thinking about it?

 

  • Is you current doctor part of a hospital system and only recommending specialists "in the system"?

 

  • Does your doctor expedite changes in your treatment plan and save you trips to the office?
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If the answer is a No to the questions above or you're just unsure, it’s probably worth making a 15-20 minute, Meet & Greet appointment here at Balanced Physician Care so we can discuss how our practice will work with your medical and insurance needs. The best part is, the consultation is free!  (Schedule your visit here or give us a call at 904-930-4774
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115 Professional Drive Suite 104

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082

904-930-4774

www.BalancedPhysicianCare.com

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