STICK-UP FOR YOURSELVES WHERE YOUR HEALTH IS CONCERNED

This is one of the most important life lessons that you will ever learn—you have to stick-up for your own health! No one else will do it for you.

If you really feel that something is amiss, (because we each know our own body better than anyone,) insist that your medical professionals investigate further, or keep looking until you find one who will.

Look-out for yourselves on even what you, (and possibly the friends you’ve “consulted,”) think are small health issues, so therefore, you don’t bother to have them checked-out.

Especially mysterious ones. For example, my brother, Edward, and I both had separate instances of our hair falling-out at different points in our life. His came first, and he chose to keep searching to find the right doctor to help him solve it. By sticking-up for his own health, he was lucky enough to come upon perhaps the only doctor who could have figured it out. And it was the easiest of solutions.

This is what happened: He was young-ish and living on a high-up floor of a walk-up in Manhattan. He had tons of hair, which all of a sudden started falling-out. After everyone else’s attitude was, “Oh well,” he found probably the only doctor in the world who could come up with the solution. The doc asked my brother if he lived near horses, if he had plants, and if his apartment windows were ever open. My brother answered yes to all three. It turned-out, the spores from the horses in Central Park were floating up to Edward’s apartment, flew in the open window, and landed on his plants. And he was allergic to those spores! And that’s what made his hair fall out. The doctor told him to throw the plants out and keep his window shut. And his hair all grew back pretty quickly!

One of the many NYC equines that could possibly be responsible for hair loss.

Edward’s story inspired me to figure-out my own follicles problem some years later, when even my most brilliant doctor was stumped. But I got it right, only because I would not let it go. (And my now butt-length tresses are the testament to that stick-to-itiveness!)

Here’s that story, so you can perhaps benefit from it one day: When I noticed that a lot of strand were leaving my head, and doctors were pooh-poohing my stressful situation, (they told me that I “have enough hair,”) I thought long and hard to figure it out. Then one day in the shower, after losing yet another giant chunk of hair as big as a mouse, it came to me. I called my pharmacy and asked them if there had been any change in either of the medications I was taking. I asked them to check for any kind of change at all. And it turns out that they were getting one of my drugs from a different lab than usual. And that one little change was the culprit; the new formulation had a “filler” ingredient that was making my hair fall out! I told them they had to go back to the old lab, which they did, and the rest is history–my locks are so long and luxurious now that I’m actually sitting on them! [Sidebar: One week ago, I asked Mr. X to trim an inch or two because I was going to a week-end wedding and wanted the ends of my hair to look neater, and instead he cut off…seven inches!!! And it was still the longest hair there!]

Karen Salkin’s tresses at one of her favorite events a few years ago, after she had stuck-up for herself with her pharmacy. Photo by Noelle Hannibal.

Here’s another example of needing to stick-up for oneself in medical situations: After a bit of oral surgery a couple of years ago, I didn’t receive any notes for my after-care; the surgeon left me to guess! So rather than doing that, I bombarded her with phone messages and long emails until she told me exactly how to proceed. I didn’t just let it go, or let her off the hook. She knew I wouldn’t stop until she did her job.

In cases of serious or very confusing symptoms, always get a second opinion. And don’t let anyone talk you into anything, like I did once for two totally unnecessary root canals!!! I’ve been miserable for a decade now because a new dentist and her periodontist crony were money-hungry. Always follow your gut and speak to as many medical personnel as necessary.

An example of a surgery after-care sheet, without which you should never leave any kind of surgery!

I have to share one last cautionary tale, to remind you how to seek-out the right medical peeps: Mr. X had developed some kind of lung situation during the pandemic. Two of our usual doctors sent him to one of their associates, who turned-out to be not great. (Most doctors have a system where they either trade recommendations, or get paid outright to send patients their way! So please watch-out for those shady practices.)

This lung doctor told Mr. X that he had to use a specific inhaler, and only that brand would do. But, even with insurance, it cost five hundred dollars a pop!!! I asked if there’s any other brand we could use, and he said absolutely not. So I called back a couple of days later, and got his nurse. I told her that I guess we’d have to do it because we were desperate for Mr. X to get better. And she said there were other brands of inhalers that he could use that were just as effective, (although she didn’t know the names.) I’m sure she wasn’t supposed to do that, but she was honest. And she wasn’t the one getting the kickback from the drug company.

Needless to say, we’re on our third lung doctor now. And this one gave us choices of brands of the same medicine, and said choose whichever one our insurance will pay for. So it took us several doctors to get to the truth. And Mr. X is doing much better now, knock on wood.

All that being said, I’m still definitely not saying that every doctor is corrupt, or doesn’t have the brain to come up with a real diagnosis and solution. I’m just saying that since all of that is a possibility, you have to do all the legwork for yourself, unfortunately, unless you’re one of the fortunate ones who has brilliant and caring doctors to begin with. But actually, if you do, and live in Southern California, please let me know about them because I’m just not finding many of those out here.

A doctor should give you this level of attention, at the least.

One last thing—I’m sure that asking strangers on social media platforms occasionally turns-out well, just be aware that those recommendations can also be tainted ones. So be aware of that, as well.

And remember to always stick-up for yourself, people! One’s own self is all anyone really has.