Dr Shashikiran Umakanth wrote this article in Kannada. ಈ ಲೇಖನವನ್ನು ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಓದಿ
We want everything instant now. Hungry? Fast food. A question? Google. For almost everything in life, we look for the easy road… or the shortcut. Isn’t that so?
The real tragedy is that we have carried the same hurry into our health. We want some magic that makes the disease disappear. At once.
The truth is that our bodies, our health and our diseases are nowhere near as simple as we imagine.
The Body Is Not a Machine We Built
As a doctor, one thing pains me more than most. The human body is being treated like a machine: something people designed, assembled on a line, and shipped with a manual.
It is not. Every patient is different. A medicine that works beautifully for one person may do nothing at all for the next.
What Your Health Depends On
- The genes you inherited
- The surroundings you grew up in
- The way you live
This is not arithmetic. This is life.
What I See Far Too Often
Someone watches an attractive video on WhatsApp or Facebook. Soon after, the blood pressure or sugar tablets a specialist had prescribed are stopped. Just like that.
The Belief the Video Plants
“Home remedies, done the way they showed, are enough. The medicines the doctor gave are poison.”
And then?
Where It Ends
Many of them come rushing to the hospital only after a stroke, or when the kidneys have begun to fail.
I have stood at those bedsides. The helplessness of the patient, and of the family around the bed, is something we doctors carry home with us.
A simple remedy was in their hands all along. Did a life have to be put at risk for want of correct information?
We all know this. So why do we keep making the same mistake, again and again? Think about it.
Likes or Life?
For the influencers on social media, the likes on a video matter more than your health. They tell the story as dramatically as they can, because drama is what holds your attention.
Medicine works the other way.
Medical science does not need drama. It needs accuracy.
There is no room there for half-truths. Health misinformation, however well produced, is still misinformation.
One Last Word
Remember
- Advice from the internet can never replace the examination and counsel of an experienced doctor.
- If your doctor says, “This is a little complicated,” do not be alarmed. Understanding that complexity, that subtlety, is the first step of treatment.
Please do not run after quick fixes and put your life in danger. Help your doctor understand the story of your body. It is a long story, and it is yours.
Noodles can be ready in two minutes.
Health never is.
When it comes to health, there are no shortcuts. None at all. Isn’t that so?
