Thank you, Dan and good afternoon everyone and welcome doctor say nerd. I guess I'd like to begin by asking you why it is that you think that we all could be our own doctor sometimes well, and there is a very practical First reason and that is we really are our doctor's most of the time the air is recent study has shown that the average American spends 9 Minutes a year with a position so that we're we're really on our own most of the time whether we realize it or not. And also we've come to expect too much of our healers and too little of ourselves. So I'm interested in and helping people make that sometimes a giant step for mankind and which we want people to take a closer. Look on how they handle that wonderful machine. We call the body when you started off in patient actualization or self activation activation. That was some time ago. It was in suburb of Washington DC wasn't as Reston, Virginia. Some people tell that story because that might give people a bit of an idea. I think you have to go back one step further way back in my medical school days when my favorite Professor was Benjamin Spock and Aquarius is Benjamin Spock inspired us all and said they gave us good advice and he said to me kid, I don't care what kind of doctor you're going to be what kind of practice you're going to develop whether you're in a city or rural, but the one advises B. Teacher because if you are a good teacher your patience will consider you a good doctor and they all like you and they'll come back and it'll be a nice relationship and so back in medical school. I had been told to be a be a teacher. Well, then I'd always use it on a one-to-one basis In My Own Private Practice in in Nebraska where I was a country doctor for a number of years and so on and then again when I was in Virginia, but all at one time in 1970 a group of women about 30 or 40 of came to us and said we want to know more about how to take care of things at home are husbands have been reduced in for us the rift after the Aerospace Pica in 1969 and 7/8 and they want to know how could they be better users of health care? No more about medicines. Insurance about emergency rooms and and so on so forth. So we kind of evolved we called the course for activated patients and that The beginning of this whole medical self-help medical self-care movement that is now very popular, especially in Minneapolis and Saint Paul and Minnesota when we moved here last spring I was I'm really impressed with the type of interest that minnesotans have in taking care of themselves staying fit and handling these common problems. What are some of the things that you tell people when they either come to you for a course or simply ask you for some advice on how they can look out for themselves and care for themselves better in the home. Well, I take it in in in a general way. Of course we deal with the common illnesses in the common injuries in the common emergencies, if you know anything about what I call the the old chain of common things occur commonly, sometimes people forget the fact that that with a little bit of of proper advice. It's a little bit of skill. They can handle almost all the self-limiting a common illnesses in in common injuries. The fact that they have been kind of denied. This is due to the fact that in recent years. We've had a more doctors more hospitals better roads Hospital insurance and all sorts of things which make it us consider only the option of going to the doctor. However, 40 and fifty years ago people couldn't afford to go to the doctor. They weren't his made doctor. So most people actually did more things at home to take a look at it when we were more of a rural Society. Now, we've been kind of said told that that's a No-No for the people have been kind of saying what is it? Okay for me to do these things and I say that yes, if you follow some of the tenants that we've taught in our courses use the medical self-help guides and in my book and so on then your you will not get into trouble and that's the kind of thing that we want people know. There are things they can do. Do you find people responding with a certain amount of fear and reluctant sometimes to this advice? That is the gno if I take care of this at home if I slammed my finger in the door and I do these things you suggest while she couldn't become infected or couldn't I end up maybe even losing my finger and what do you say to someone who in this book that they were talking about today help yourself, which is going to be made available to any listener that wants it. There is a story that I relate about the man up in the Cass Lake Minnesota who banged his finger in his shop and it was in the middle of winter and it was a long ride to the nearest physician in Bemidji and so on so forth. But anyway, this was what we call a hematoma or blood under the fingernail and he got up at midnight and his wife wondered what in the world happened to him and when she went down in the basement to the shop here he was and he had my Coppel en he was drilling a hole in his fingernail and just as she came in that he received a sigh of relief in and the and the dark blood came out and he said I may as I could do it myself call. The thing is that sort of type of handling of a common injury is something that people can do it and they may be fighting about putting a thumb putting a pen knife blade through the nail. But as a matter fact, there's no pain sensation at all in the nail and you can actually do it very well the old Norwegian Carpenters who bang their fingers but making Barns and houses that have always done this through the years. So that's one example of how people that's one example in the area of monitoring their body keeping what I would call a in touch with what the body is saying to us and then the whole area of taking blood pressure at home people can learn to take the blood pressure themselves or have Take it people can learn to monitor their blood pulse other heart rate. They're breathing their body temperature and they can learn to be a lot better reporter about a lot of the symptoms. Who what when and where about I'm letting me interrupt. I want to talk more about how we can be better recorders to our physicians, but I want to mention at this point that for listeners who have questions for Doctor seen it this afternoon. You can call us in the Twin Cities at 2 to 11550 at 2 to 11550 in the Twin Cities. If you live outside the Twin Cities area, but in the state of Minnesota, you can call us call us toll-free at 1 800-652-9700. That's a toll-free watch number and I'll give it again. It's one 800-652-9700 in the Twin Cities number again is 221 15504 question directed to dr. Keith Schoenherr to as the Author of a book on how to better care for oneself medically and perhaps that otherwise as well and not always be going off to the doctor talk more doctor standard about this reporting process and how one gathers data on oneself. Okay. First of all, we know that the body is speaking to us all the time. We're sitting here. We're getting messages that make us wait a little bit. We're getting messages that we might be hungry. We're getting messages that may be our throat is sore. These are what are called symptoms. But the fact is that the body is constantly trying to help us live is well with her environment as possible. If it's too warm, we get a feeling that makes it go open the window. If it's too cold, we close the window. If there's too much stress in our daily situation, we may get a headache if there's too little stress we get bored bored and sleepy we're constantly involved in this and yet We often and don't know how to listen to her about it and she wanted things we encourage people to do is listen to the body now in this material that were talking about today from this book that help yourself. Dr. Hahn say who is one of the authors of one of the Articles tells us how to listen to the body's warning signals and some of the signals that he gives us are such things as that irritability pounding of the heart dryness of the mouth inability to concentrate those are kind of little metal things, but they also are ways in which the brain is telling us. Listen. Listen. Listen, you mentioned a minute ago to about taking your own blood pressure or having someone else take it to who should be interested or concerned about that should everybody no matter what age or is there a particular age of particular person who has a particular history. We should be concerned we are the thing is we believe that anybody who has high blood pressure has a responsibility to know. What is there blood pressure to always bothers me. Somebody will say it a meeting or something old and yes, I have high blood pressure and I usually kind of tuned in and say we'll know what do you know about your blood pressure and often as they don't even know the numbers we know that the top number is called the diastolic in the bottom number is called the the systolic and we're in a situation where we should know those things. Like we know my social security number look like the normal blood pressure is 120 over 70 as we sit here and relax Condition. It's 120 / 70 now if we friends were excited or fighting than we were something happen are blood pressure might jump up high if it's early in the morning and we're just rolling out of bed at might even be lower but we should know our blood pressure are Pulsar temperature and things about ourselves again for someone who has been told that they have high blood pressure and they might want to keep it right keep track of it. And I don't know maybe cuz often times, you know, we get our blood pressure in a very abnormal situation. We park the car we've gone up into the office, maybe we've Add a while and it's not exactly a normal situation in in there for them when the doctor takes our blood pressure for. What is the blood pressure at home? What's the blood pressure and weekends? I think we should know these things. The time is almost to turn is it exactly 29 minutes past 12 noon and you're listening to a discussion with Dr. Keith singer, who was the author of a book entitled how to be your own doctor sometime. And if you have a question for doctor saying that you can ask him by calling us at 2 to 11550 that's two to 11550 in the Twin Cities area are lines are open right now and our toll-free watch offline for anyone living around the state outside of the Twin Cities is 1 800-652-9700 1 800-652-9700. Another question that you would rest in your book is how to find a good physician or a physician with whom person can feel comfortable. What are some of the things that a person should look for? The first of all, let me say something a little in general about Minnesota by and large there. You have a core prime or family doctors available in this area than than most States but this is a very good sign so that you do have a good pool to pick from you also have a well-established supply of good doctors through the training programs of all kinds of of care, but the thing is that if you say moved into a new community, that's the most common experience that people find we moved to town. My husband is with IBM or whatever and you know, we've we move a lot when we moved to town we never know where to go. But one thing that that increasing numbers of people are doing now is a join what I called Health maintenance organizations hmos in there for the end. There is an orientation that the part of that as subscriber and rolly procedure is telling them how to find a doctor. So that's one option with that's quite popular for many people but enough Option if you if you died in a prepaid plan, if you have regular Blue Cross or other kinds of insurance, then what you can do is a is call the medical society and ask for names of physicians in your part of town. Another thing you can do is actually used let your fingers do the walking and look in the Yellow Pages again fighting some people in clinics or groups that are in that kind of part of town what you are and which is convenience. Then the other thing of course is that thing that I always recommend is find a nurse or a or a nurse's aide or someone who is in your neighborhood and ask them who the doctors are that are available in others ask another professional and then another way is to ask the local druggist often times are very helpful resources. And then if all else fails you can go to your local hospital and there are listings are the AMA directory and so on so forth American Academy of Family Practice direct reason, there are directors that we can actually look People who are providing that kind of service for you. If your mother would that has kids you might want a pediatrician and some might want a family doctor some might want to obstetrician-gynecologist some might want a general internist depends a great deal on what we call if you're looking for a primary care or would you looking for a specialist? In other kinds of care? We have a caller on the line a couple of callers on the line and let's go to the phone out for first question. Good morning. Good afternoon, and you're on the air? Yeah, I have a question, but I guess with the revolver. Around the analogy to the deschooling thing which was mentioned earlier. And one thing I guess I'm curious about is It seems to me that you don't give him any complaints about the incompetence of the school system. When can also mentioned similar things about incompetence of doctors and the extent to which this in a phony professionalisation and pretending to be God when they're not able to really take care of illness is something that seems to me is a much more important issue. Certainly. We were activated patients and then the other programs that I've been involved with we try to do what we called demystifying of of medical care. We believe that that there is too much what I would call Expectation for these very human people called doctors in so many times people have the feeling, you know that they can abuse their health do anything they want and yet they can go to this priest physician who has a magic pill or Magicka blade that can cure their problems that they have helped create and one of the things that I'm interested in that we go into in in this booklet is that we are now into a stage of what we call man-made diseases in the past. Most of our training has been for what we call Nature's diseases the infections and now we're into a new situation in which education is a key to the treatment and that as we go into this whole new ballgame of of man-made diseases diseases that are caused by medicines and bullets and Automobiles and cigarettes and alcohol and in air pollution that we as individuals have a much different role than just going to the physician and having it solved. Relatively simply with washing hands a covering the face taking an immunization like it was it one time. So there's a new ball game. And in the new ballgame The Physician has to have a new role. Okay. Thanks very much for calling. The time is 25 minutes before 1 and if you'd like to ask dr. Keith Schoenherr to question you can do so by calling to to 11550 that's two to 11550 in the Twin Cities area. If you live outside the Twin Cities, but in the state of Minnesota, you can call us toll-free at 1 800-652-9700 and we have another caller on the line. Go ahead. We're listening for your question. Good afternoon. You're on the air. Hello. Apparently there's no one there. Good afternoon. We're listening for your question this burden from the doctor into other professions such as a pharmacist. It's a pharmacist schooling to know what the drugs are with the Drug's effects are in the body and things of this nature. It seems a little unrealistic to me to expect the doctor to be able to both diagnose the patient and also carry around this Encyclopedia of dread knowledge and is he well as a matter of fact, I think that the price of the most poorly used professional in the healthcare professionals is the pharmacist. The pharmacist is a valuable resource. In fact in all of our courses, we always insist that the pharmacist participate and they're always able to give us a lot of information the average person Intimidated by that wall in the pharmacy and sometimes a pharmacist or up on a platform working back there. And you feel I don't dare ask you any questions, but these people do smile and talk and things like that and they are good resource and I think that you should make use of that resource. Next time you go to to the drugstore. I I thank you for bringing that question up. It's my impression too that at least some schools of Pharmacy and the University of Minnesota among them is beginning a training program that that is geared toward that it hasn't forgiven pharmacist more training and long advocated that all the other kinds of health professionals in addition to the pharmacist the social workers the nurse practitioners. The nurse has the physician assistant all these are also very good sources for information. We Advocate that they all become better teachers and Educators than they have been in the past, but you have to ask Other Elementary in the area of the Allied health professionals are the nutritionist in the in the dietitian one of the articles in this to help yourself. Serious is by another Minnesota physician and Sookie is another Minnesota doctor. I should say eye doctor Keys is written an article called Food and Health. He was the man who started the laboratory for physical education unit in at the University of Minnesota and points out a lot of things that people can do to stay healthy by knowing about eating habits and coronary disease food additives cholesterol control diets and everything because we are what we eat and we feel that that too although there's a big shift going on in America today as far as eating habits. We still eat too much salt. We still eat too many fat foods. We still eat too many as sweets and these are all things which in their in their own relative importance. Are essential but when we overdue then we start getting the we pay the piper. We have another listener on the line. Go ahead. We're listening for your question. Good afternoon last week. I got an appointment with my doctor and I asked him about an irritating cough I had and I had a chest x-ray and the Adventure land area of density and he said I probably could ignore it because I also had that in 1961 now do you think I should ignore it or should I follow up on that? I'm always reluctant to give specific advice. I like to speak in generalities. So I'll speak in generalities. The thing is that I believe that people should be not told just to don't don't think about it. Don't worry about I think you should ask for more details. We believe I believe the people should have their own medical passport in that people should have briefed a resumes of physical exams. Notes regarding a shadow that has been said to be not important. And as you get these bits of advice write them down, if you don't know for sure ask questions and it's your own body and if you're on vacation somewhere and you have an illness, if you are changing doctors, if you're moving around the country a lot. I think you really need to know much more about your body than people usually know and can tell each other and health professionals that help you out at all. I guess she's not there anymore. We have another caller on the line. Go ahead. We're listening for your question. Well, that is a again complex question. And if you have a real suspicion that you are allergic to milk, I think a good history keeping record as to when it occurred, you know, whether it was a type of thing that you can predict and it will reoccur again with with a history of of a certain type of food or something that has milk in it. And then of course the final thing is going to require professional help or you have some skin testing and some dietary but they call maintaining a certain kind of Elimination Diet which is of complicated things but something that you're you are a specialist in allergies, they will often time to be able to help you with. Yes, because this is not quite complicated in the Elimination Diet and skin test and everything or something in an allergist would have to do usually Send out an hour and allergist specialist in Internal Medicine. Thanks for calling before 1 and we're taking questions from listeners to dr. Keith standard about how to be your own doctor sometime. +22-115-502-2115 50 if you live in the Twin Cities area, if you live outside the Twin Cities within the state of Minnesota, you can call us toll-free at 1 800-652-9700. I've been in doctors offer its offices at times when things are very busy there two or three or four Physicians practicing their and there are lots of nurses and aides moving about quickly and I go in and sit down and whatever I've come there for is is a address and then there may I begin to feel a certain amount of pressure to get out of there and it may not be a spoken pressure. But I guess it goes back to a question that was asked a question or two ago about getting information from a fish. What do you recommend? What do you suggest in in a situation like that? We're not only the physician seems to be in a hurry to take care of you but to move on to the next patient if you aren't satisfied with all the information that you've gotten about the particular reason you came across I think it's an individual situation, but I think you should if you have some real doubts as to what happened and why and Sons what I think you should ask the doctors age the nurses the nurses aides and the other people in the office will often as be able to give you some help but importantly you have to set up what I call a Health Partnership. In other words, you have to get a relationship in which you are activated that you actually gather information that you are part of this whole process and for you just to walk out of the office with a prescription in your hand and it kind of hazy idea what's going on is not in the in the best interest of anybody. I believe it we've got to join hands if we're better health in other words the whole business of of not only individuals and doctors but Physicians and other health professionals providing more education to their people and organizations and companies in actually helping people help themselves and there's all sorts of ways that people can do this. I think one way is to get involved in what I would call a physical fitness program get involved in establishing maybe a Stress Management program. There's a lot of things and what you can do more for yourself rather than just quote go to the doctor that may already be overloaded may already be busy and it may not be an appropriate visit for you to make in the first place. So I think that people have to start doing more of themselves and not being quite so doctor dependent. We have a number of callers on the line and we'll take another question right now, but afternoon we're listening for your question. Hi, I was interested to hear you say that you have the impression that minnesotans are more interested in taking care of their health and maintaining their health in. People in other parts of the country. And if you think this is really true, could you speculate on reasons for this and then also? What was my other question? Well the reasons for this I think it's always a complicated to cultural political educational economic kind of things, but we know this that recent statistics of showing that the two healthiest states in the union are Minnesota and Hawaii and this is always not just one simple answer it but it involves an awareness of Health perhaps a healthier lifestyle that they can practice without it being too complicated, but we definitely find that in the difference between say moving from Washington DC to Minneapolis. So this year is remarkable how many people I see jogging changing their diet habits stopping smoking staying away from alcohol abuse their just a healthier bunch out here. And of course, that's one of the reasons why I think the demand has been so great for this. Look at this been put out now by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is the type of thing that is a really ate something that the people are already there and their Another resource for them to to kind of find out to a few more tricks. I can practice in there with themselves and their family or other question. Okay. Psychological benefits besides the financial benefit of knowing how to take care of yourself in a lot of different situation. Certainly. It's been pretty well proven that nearly 60% of all reasons that people go to the doctor for have some emotional element that may not be the primary reason. There may be a sore throat or some other primary reason but behind all this is almost always some anxiety either about the illness or bought some other problems within the family and we find that if people have resources at their own control, there's less anxiety and less uncertainty as to whether or not you should seek professional help and so on and this I think keep giving people power that they can handle it is going to make them less anxious and less concerned. Okay. Thanks very much for calling. We have another caller on the line. Good afternoon. We're listening for your question. Why are doctors so reluctant to discuss the side effects of medications that they prescribe one might think that it was the patient's fault that side effects of well, I don't know where their reluctance is. It is the word but I think often times they are optimistic. Yeah, they hope these darn things aren't going to happen to you and they often times. It's that kind of reasoning behind it rather than reluctance but medicines are if they're powerful enough to do some good. They're also powerful enough to do some harm. And so we find that there are a lot of side effects and there are a lot of adverse effects sometimes I think that it should be experienced least. It's been my experience and and experience of friends. They've gotten medication with very little explanation from a physician is the mutual understanding I will fix it and I will be fixed in and it isn't until they get And the check and I think the other day art ulene said something on the Today Show, which I thought was good. He said that sometimes the best medicine is no medicine often times. I think that if a person has a problem there are alternatives that they can use in other words instead of taking any medicine which is an antacid you can often times avoid the food that makes the indigestion in the first place. If the situation is a headache often times rather than taking a headache pill why not find out why the situation is causing the headache if it's a backache why not find out whether it's due to being physically out of shape. They're kind of seat you're sitting on and these other kind of things are there's a whole lot of Alternatives with such things as as yoga exercises TM all sorts of physical fitness program. Many of these things are probably alternatives to Pills and I think we should look at these Alternatives more often than we do. Thank you for calling we have time for a couple of more questions. Good afternoon. You're on the air. Yes, I would like the doctor to come and how one goes about getting Specialty Services. I have to be a public health nurse and one of the ones that I sometimes have difficulty with is whether to refer a patient for example to general practitioner in orthopod or neurologist say they have some you know, some neck that type of of pain and bearing in mind that we might not be able to tell me just exactly how their health insurance. You know, it's going to cover this. I would like the doctor to come in. And maybe make some some remarks about how you do go about selecting specialties. Well, I'm sorry in this short time. I just can't go into that because that's a very complicated whole books have been written about it. And I haven't really been in town long enough to know what resources are available here in the Twin Cities. I'm sorry. I can't answer that Rich has been talking about my book how to be your own doctor sometime. But the thing we're talking about other than that is the help yourself book with its put out by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. And that address is 3535 Blue Cross Road, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55164. Now that's a specific thing which is free. The other thing is it does not is not covering their in my book. It is discovered this type. You do talk about it in your book about how to Okay, thanks for calling we have time for a couple of more questions. Good afternoon. We're listening for your question labor and he's never been sick a day before in his life and he suddenly came down with an ulcer his doctor. The primary diagnosis is an ulcer with complication has developed into what he described medically as chronic pain and I was wondering if you could describe for his what chronic cleaner the call it what it is how to tell about how he could best cope with it himself and how people around him to help him cope with that pick Parts. When first of all what is chronic pain for the two kinds of pain acute pain, which is short term duration and chronic pain is long term duration. So the difference is one last a long time in the When is short-lived as to how a person can cope with the pain? I think that your brother-in-law should be keep a very close diary as to what things make it worse to be very aware of what situations Foods other things and it really be tuned in as to who what when and where about that problem. And then there are books in your library books and in the book stores in song with talk about the pain. I think you should get some of those but we're finding that probably the best pain control mechanism for chronic pain is obtained from some of these new a pain clinics which are being set up around the country and they find that understanding the cause of pain is the most important Single part probably more important than surgery and medicines and someone's over us at the new attitude about pain is giving people resources to handle the pain and cope with it. There is such a center at the University of Minnesota. And there's one at the at the Park View Treatment Center in St. Louis Park. And there's a number of these pain control centers around the Twin Cities, which are very good at this kind of a complicated problem. Okay. Thanks very much. Let's go to another listener and another question. Good afternoon. You're on the air had it for about six years and I've had X-rays. I've been arthrogram done on it and the doctor just insist that it's going to get better and he refuses to do anything to me about it. Like a surgery everything needs to be done and getting better after six years. I was just wondering what you have in mind. What I should do to specific for a year on individual situation. I'd have to know more about before I could give you any details and specific details in general. We know that surgery as always. Great Expectations and often times when you don't get the Great Expectations and you're disappointed and that's the beginning of lawsuits and things like that. So we find that that often times no surgery is still a good option for many people like rose. I'd have to know more about your situation as to why the doctor is saying no surgery but that is a very common good reason to it. Okay. Thanks for calling we have time for one more quick question here before we get off to news headlines. Good afternoon. We're listening for your question positive or negative. Good companies in you're making a healthier Society. Well, of course, we are all victims of both beneficiaries and victims of advertising whether it has to do with the medicines or automobiles or cigarettes or whatever and I have to admit that the Physicians are are are greatly influenced by the ads and their medical journals and the detail man and so on so forth. So I think that the older I get the pry the less medicine I recommend for people and one time I even work for a pharmaceutical company. So that's been that's quite a move for me. But I think that we have been affected by it and there's no question that maybe and sometimes is an adverse effect. Dr. Keith Schoenherr. Thanks for being with me this afternoon. I'm coming up on 5 and 1/2 minutes. Now that we've been talking about a couple of books here. And once again, I don't you mention there is a booklet that we've been discussing in that where people can get it. Now. This is a free booklet called help yourself with a variety of very good hints about food stress exercises and medical self care and it can be obtained by from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota at 3535 Blue Cross Road, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55164 and Guinness without charge. Okay, that's good. Thanks very much doctor seen her Dan back to you.