Matthew Hahn - Staying Alive : the Signs That You Have to See a Doctor Right Now, and the Ways to Avoid Having to See One Again

Copyright 2017 by Matthew Hahn

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Rain Saukas
Cover photo: iStockphoto

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-1395-6
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-1396-3

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

T his may be the most important medical book you will ever read. I hope it might also be one of the most interesting.

My ultimate hope for this book is that it will save livesthat it will help people to beat the odds. The current odds when it comes to your health are that you will die from the effects of one of the following common but often preventable conditionsheart disease, stroke, diabetes, or cancer. The odds also predict that one in every three children born in America will develop diabetes during their lifetime, that two-thirds of American adults will be overweight, and that one-half of those people will be overweight to the point of being obese.

The practice of medicine, as I have come to understand it, is an attempt to increase the odds that a patient will live a long, healthy life. Thats what this book is about.

It is no secret, though, that health care in America is in disarray. My concern is that something very important gets lost in the uproar of arguing the causes and possible solutions to this very great mess.

What can get lost is that modern health care offers many true miraclesif you can take advantage of them. And despite the difficulties in accessing health care faced by so many in America today, the most important of these miracles are readily available and affordable for just about everyone.

Modern health care is also criticized for being too focused on treating illness, and not enough on promoting health and wellness. The point is well taken.

The best approach balances the twosuccessfully evaluating and treating illnesses when they arise, while at the same time making every effort to keep patients well. In other words, to beat the odds, we must treat the treatable and prevent the preventable!

Staying Alive: The Signs That You Have to See a Doctor Right Now (and the Ways to Avoid Having to See One Again) is your guide to beating the odds when it comes to your health. If you really want to do so, you must do all three of the following:

1. Most importantby a very long shotwe optimize our chances of being healthy and staying well by eating right, by exercising regularly, by not smoking, and by avoiding excessive alcohol use.

2. We must take advantage of the miracles available today through modern preventive medical care.

Despite our best efforts, and despite even the best of preventive care, the reality is that illness and injuries still occur. Therefore, we must also:

3. Get medical care when it is necessary, in the hope that treatable conditions are identified early enough that they can still be treated.

The problem is:

1. Too many people delay until it is too late when signs of serious (but treatable) illness first appear.

2. Many people fail to receiveor worse, they refusemany of the most important preventive treatments available because they do not understand the revolutionary developments that have taken place in preventive medical care.

3. The great majority of people dont eat well or exercise regularly.

Staying Alive: The Signs That You Have to See a Doctor Right Now (and the Ways to Avoid Having to See One Again) is the ultimate modern health-care survival guide because it uniquely addresses each of these issues. It is a three-part guide to optimal health and wellness and to surviving illness for the modern patient.

1. Sixty-Two Medical Complaints That Should Never Be Ignored. As part of their medical education, doctors are taught that there are certain classic symptoms that, until proven otherwise, are the first signs of a serious medical condition that requires urgent or even emergency treatment. What I see all too often is that when such symptoms develop, patients delay care, usually because they do not understand the significance of their circumstances, and preventable tragedy ensues.

The intent of this section is to teach you those important signs and symptoms so that you know when you absolutely need to see a doctor and how quickly you need to get there .

2. The Miracles of Twenty-First-Century Medicine: Taking Advantage of Modern Preventive Medical Care. A revolution has taken place in the medical sciences. We can now prevent and/or successfully treat many of the most serious common medical conditions that just a short time ago would make us ill and even kill us. The problem is that many people harbor negative attitudes regarding modern medical care, and therefore do not receive safe, truly lifesaving, and readily available treatments. In this important section, you will learn about the true miracle that is modern preventive medical care.

3. The Be Healthy! Workbook : Optimizing Eating and Exercise to Promote Wellness and Prevent Disease. The true secret to health and wellness is healthy eating and regular exercise. And yet, so few of us do this. There is no pill, no herb, no supplement, nor any magic bullet that has been shown to reliably lower our risks of significant illness in any comparable way. The Be Healthy! Workbook provides a simple, systematic method to develop and maintain healthy eating and exercise habits. Developed through years of working directly with patients, the key to the approach described in the Be Healthy! Workbook is simplicity. The potential payoff for your health is immense.

Combining all threegetting care when necessary; taking advantage of the full benefits of modern preventive care; and, most importantly, eating well and exercising, every person can maximize the odds that they will live a long, healthy, and happy life. Staying Alive was written specifically to help you do just that.

This true story says it all:

The patient was an early middle-aged man, married with children. He hadnt been to the doctor in years. He had been feeling well until he experienced the sudden onset of severe, crushing pain in his chest. His wife transported him to our office.

The patient was so uncomfortable that he could not get out of his truck. So my nurse, Tonya, and I made a truck call!

He was sitting in the passenger seat, holding himself rigidly to combat the intense pain. He was pale and sweating. The pain in his chest radiated up to his jaw and made breathing uncomfortable.

Practicing in a small town, miles from the nearest large hospital, my staff and I are used to seeing patients when they develop chest pain. This was the most ill-appearing patient with chest pain we had ever seen. He had the classic appearance of a man having a heart attack. He looked like he might be dying.