Episode 22: Pills Can't Solve All Ills

In this episode, my fellow horse lover and younger friend, Delaney, joins me to talk about the culture that we live in that often promotes medicine as a quick fix to health issues.  Delaney is a nurse and currently works in an ICU unit and sees the most sick people at the hospital. While we both agree that prescription medicine saves lives, it can also be a trap to believe that pills can solve all problems.

The 20 minutes or less timeframe goal went "out the window" in this episode because we both are so passionate about this topic.  

To learn more about me and to purchase my book that outlines all the topics I share about parenting, organization, wellness, leadership, and life skills, visit www.kristynlee.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hello, this is Kristen Lee, and this is the Show Me the Baby podcast. Today I have my dear family friend Delaney. I never know. Earlier I said, I don't know, are you my friend? Because she's younger than me, older than my girls by a little bit, but she's my family friend and long, longtime family friend because I know her parents too, and horse lover as well. So welcome. Thanks for coming, for joining me on another episode. Um, today the topic that we are going to discuss is pill, a pill for an ill. And Delaney said earlier she has lots to share. So I will what when you when I say that and you've read the book, what what are your what are your initial thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Well, thank you for having me again. You're welcome. Uh that title, when I was going through, I didn't look at the chapters ahead of time. It just started right in on the book. But that was one that really stood out to me. Um I'm an ICU nurse, uh, so we of course deal with a lot of very, very sick patients. Uh but looking before they come in or just people in general, even with my own experience, um, I think there's a lot of medications nowadays that are really important for us, and people definitely need them. Of course, in the ICU setting, we definitely need a lot of these medications. But I think prior to uh working in the hospital setting, um, I noticed even like with myself, the biggest one, which we did a podcast before on, was food. Just even eating healthy, starting out in school, uh eating healthy. I mean, that can help reduce the risk of obesity, um, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, all of those things. Cancer is probably along with it. Cancer, there's a bunch of that and yes. Yeah, and a good food with antioxidants that can help fight cancer. So, of course, some of this is not a total prevention, but just starting with a good foundation of just eating well, I think is really, really important. Um, not smoking. That's another one. We we have a a lot of patients who they started smoking and it was normal when they were 14 years old. However, in their in their 80s, and they talk about it, they're like, That's that's the worst thing that you can do for your body is smoke. And they said that it was just normal. That was what everybody did. Yep, that's what everybody did, and it wasn't a big deal. But looking back, they're like, I wish I would have never done it. I wish it wasn't normalized. You know, now they've got like um COPD, uh like respiratory issues, um, high blood pressure, which puts strain on all of your organs, your heart, and then that can lead to uh other you know, heart disease, and then next thing you know, you might have to have some sort of pretty extensive cardiac surgery. So, of course, you know, medications are important in certain situations, but if certain medications could potentially be avoided just by not smoking or by eating healthy, antioxidant-rich food, um, I think that that is something I wish, especially in schools, was pushed a little bit more. Yeah. I know and and within the family system too. Yes. Yes, and understanding, I mean, that was my parents always talked about, you know, the importance of not smoking and just the the risk it could have. And we had, or I had a family member that smoked, and they talked, they quit, but talked about it was normal when they had been smoking for so long, it was normal, and it was what their friends did, and that's how they ended up picking it up, but they stopped because of family and there were more littles around and just the health, their blood pressure was one of the big things. It was you go to the doctor and your blood pressure is extremely high, and well, let's stop smoking and then come back in a few months and let's see if that's changed or different things like that.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

So and and when I wrote the chapter, I think it it it's been in the um well, other over the last few years, I had some health issues. And uh when I was diagnosed with what I have, the doctor wanted to give me a I don't I won't say the name of the prescription, but a shot. It was a I don't know, I don't even know what it's called, a biologic or whatever, a T it doesn't matter, doesn't matter, but a shot every two weeks. And then I must have asked the c you know, I and they and the doctor said, Well, you know, this is what people do. And I said, for how long? Oh, forever. Like, forever? I mean, I'm only, I mean, I think I feel at that time, and I will I I was just probably turned 50. I'm like, I'm only, I mean, like, I'm a young 50. I'm not I do not want to put a shot in myself twice twice a month if I can help it. So I started down the path of what else can I do? And what else is there? But interestingly, and I'm still on no medication, by the way, and I exercise every single day. That's great. Every single day, I start my day with some kind of whether it's yoga and stretching or Pilates or weightlifting, I do it every day and I feel so much better every, I mean, every day. And yes, I wake up some days and think, do I really want to do this? No, I don't. But I put on my workout clothes and I force myself, and every day I and and the more I've done it and stayed on the routine now, what happens is if I don't exercise, because if you know something happens where I I'm I I I've gotten that emergency call from one of my parents, like we need, you know, we need help, we need help now, you know, something so so the exercise that morning, I I it has to go, but it doesn't happen, but then I feel guilty. So now it's the other way that that when I don't, I I feel guilty not exercising. But also in this journey, what I've realized in sharing it with people, often so many just want a magic pill. Like they don't want to they don't want to eat right, they don't want to work out, they just want a pill to make it all better.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Yes, yeah, and the big one right now is of course like the in uh like the GLP one. Yes. And we have actually seen a lot of people come in and they have they're basically like their their intestines or bowels have like backed up and stopped working. And we're trying we're going through, we're trying to figure out why. And uh they're like, well, I actually just started, you know, and then they name off one of the medications, and that that's the only consistent thing that you're seeing. Yep, and so we they they have to come off of that medication um if they're taking it for weight loss. Of course, some the original um oh, like some of those drugs are meant for like patients with diabetes, and it is important for them, of course, to take those, and you know, if your doctor prescribes it for that, but yeah, the weight loss is the big thing, and I think social media also plays into it because you get on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook or whatever it may be, and uh you see these influencers and promoting or they're very fit and they're showing their workouts or whatever, but you notice like they have lost a lot of weight very fastly. Yes. And then people think, Well, I want to do that, and then you start looking into it. Well, are they on this medication? So I definitely think social media plays into it. Uh it and it's it's it's scary. I mean, we've we've had some pretty sick patients, and it it is scary. I mean, something that could have been avoided in hospitals aren't cheap either. That's the other thing. Hospital bills are really it's expensive, and I also think it's unfortunate because people, especially nowadays, like health literacy is just it's not where it should be. I think it needs to be taught more in schools. Um, I mean, as a nurse, we really try and sit down with the patients, and I work with great physicians, and they will sit down and explain everything, and people just don't understand, but it's it's not their fault. They don't know or uh, you know, where we live. It's very difficult sometimes to get to the doctor. And then if you see a TV ad or you have a smartphone, I mean everybody has a smartphone.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Yes, no, we do we all mostly do.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Yes. Not that very many that don't. Yeah, so you get on Facebook or you know, one of those social media sites, and then you see an ad for an easy weight loss drug. Yes. It's magic. Right. Right, and you don't you don't read the side effects or you don't consult a doctor, and I actually just recently found out um that you there's certain like weight loss drugs where you can just order them online. I saw an Instagram ad and you can just order it online. There's really without any, without any. Yep. Oh, that sounds so dangerous and scary. Yes, so that that is very, very scary. I mean, people who, yeah, like you said, you see it and you're like, wow, that's that's easy, that's magic, but then you don't read the side effects and you're not being evaluated by an actual doctor.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yes, you're it's very concerning. Yeah, and I think, and I'm and I'm sure there are pl you know listeners who will listen to this who are on those medications. It it and and I don't think I'm ever, I would ever, you know, everybody's different, your situation is different, but also my my belief is that it's nothing is nothing is magic. Most things are, you know, there are things, as you mentioned, if you have diabetes, if you have a heart condition, there are m medications that are gonna save your life. Yes. I mean, that's that's a whole we're not talking about that. We're talking about the setup of this pill, this medicine, this injection is gonna fix you. Chances are it's not I mean, or it may, it may help temporarily. I mean, it may, and if somebody needs to lose a lot of weight, and meaning they're more unhealthy at the weight they are than taking the medication to lose the weight to get that start. And again, every situation is different, but I think there's that such an importance to have a conversation and to also be cognizant of, okay, and thoughtful, how long am I gonna be on this? Is this a forever? Right. Because I also think a lot, I mean, I don't want to say this because I gotta be I you know, I I never want to offend anybody, but I mean, I I am I'm always a believer of and and I feel like in my life I've been at certain weights. I haven't, I I have not been comfortable in my body. And I can't tell you I don't weigh myself anymore because that also was dangerous to me, especially in my 20s, because I put a lot of uh I put I was hard on myself and I you know I went went to school and you know they all you know the the you go to college and you gain weight. Yes, I did. I ate the you know, door I was off my normal family schedule, my family meal schedule once I left home. I gained weight, but anyway, I don't weigh myself anymore, and I just feel like okay, how do I feel in my body? Because I think everybody's body is different, and um I don't know, I'm going on a tangent, but but I just think again, there's no magic that's gonna be forever with some of this stuff. And when I wrote that chapter, I was really thinking not only of myself, but also of my dad again. He will never listen to this podcast, so I can say whatever I want. Maybe somebody else will listen to it and say, Do you know what your daughter's doing? But he does not know I'm even doing this and wouldn't look probably would he wouldn't connect to him anyway. But anyway, he had a back issue because he sat so much. He's in his 80s now, and he was sitting, sitting, sitting, sitting, not moving on his phone, on Facebook. He loves Facebook, doesn't post but stalks people. I know he does. Always on it, and wasn't moving. I mean, he would go from the chair, you know, to the kitchen to wherever, and then he would go and get in his truck and probably go to you know, fast food, probably. But then he got all of a sudden he got a really his back just flared up. And he decided, I oh I was visiting him and I said, Do you ever stretch, Dad? You know, are you doing any exercise? No. And I said, Well, just you know, can you pull your leg up to you know just stretch your leg? It'll stretch your back. Anyway, long story. He refused to exercise. He said, I'm just gonna have back surgery. That's what I want. I said, You would rather have back surgery than try to exercise? Well, back surgery will fix me.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Yeah, back surgery is painful too. The recovery is very painful, very back surgery is very difficult. And what he may not know too is there's a lot of physical therapy post-back surgery, post-surgery in general, and that's the other, I think, department in the hospital or even in healthcare that they do not get enough credit. The physical therapy and occupational therapy departments truly help the patients so so much. They bring them back from yes, and patients look forward to it, majority of the patients, and when they don't look forward to it, then they usually talk the nurse and they're like, Hey, do you want to talk to so-and-so? Um, but they truly they come in and there's a lot of patients that look forward to it because they get up or they get them up, they get them to the chair. I mean, even moving from the bed to the chair is like a big deal for some patients, and they have tried and they just they live alone, or they just they don't have um a good family support system, and so they can't get up. So the physical therapy and occupational therapy departments are so important, and that's the one thing that, like, when we are in the hospital, it's oh, hey, do they need physical therapy? Hey, is is that something that would benefit them, or how soon can they start physical therapy? Because just that movement alone in certain conditions that they've been in, and I mean, of course, in the ICU, unfortunately, they're very sick, so they're in the bed more depending on what's going on. Which takes longer to recover after. Yes, but even um patients who are in bed, we can physical therapy or their nurses can come in and we can still move their arms and do like range of motion with their arms and legs, and um, like patients that are um intubated, so on the ventilator, uh, in our charting, one of the things that we it asks us is did you do range of motion? Because you don't think, I mean, you're so can you know everything else and if with what's going on with them, but it's oh hey, well, we still need to move their arms, we still need to move their legs, like we still need to try and keep them in motion. So exercise, yes, very, very important. A body in motion stays in motion is I mean, really, I didn't think much about that until I started working in healthcare, and I was like, wow, this it's crazy how exercise, I mean, even walking, you know, five minutes, ten minutes a day, getting outside, doing something just to keep your body moving and your brain moving. I mean, it it's amazing what it can do.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

And after the whole, I'm gonna have surgery, and he just he was almost defiant, I'm having surgery. Like that. I mean, he was and and then he went, it was a whole thing. But anyway, he went to a a pretty big hospital that's not in our town, but he was very he he respected everybody there. He said it was great, the experience was great. Um they told a group of a team of people came in, which was like the nurse, his nurse on duty, the uh I'm not I'm nurse practitioner, the the the doctor, so there were like four or five people in the room, and they all agreed, and the quote was 90% this is he didn't have back surgery, but 90% of your pain can be eliminated with exercise. 90%. And then they said the other 10%, if if it's discomfort, you can deal, you know, Tylenol or or ibuprofen or some just over-the-counter medication. So he gets home, he was the at this hospital for like, and I was with him for three or four days. Um, and my sister was there earlier, but I was the the one that brought him home and heard the 90% that I could pound in his brain for like days after. So we get I get him home, and you know, two days later I'm out there again, and I'm like, okay, well, are you exercising? What do you mean? And I repeated it, and he's and that's when he said, I'm having back surgery. Well, he couldn't have back surgery, they wouldn't do it. He's because of his age, because of the you know, just anesthesia, which is horrible, all the risks. So they said, You were not, and that that must have been a neurosurgeon said, you know, you'd really benefit from exercise or laughed. So finally, finally, after all of that, he started it and he was on a walker. I mean, he was not in great shape. He's he uses a walker sometimes now, but is walking almost upright and he's you know out going places again, all because of exercise. Yep. Now he refuses to give me credit for saying that before he even went to the doctor, but because I said when he said it again after he's gotten better, he goes, Yeah, exercise really helped me. I said, Are you gonna give me any credit for this? He goes, What do you mean? They told me that at the clinic. And I said, Dad, I told you that before you started any of this. But it's fine, I'm not a doctor. But I just know the power of exercise. Yes. Because I have I am a testament to what it has done for me. Yeah. But and in your experience, and how long have you how long have you been a nurse, like a practicing nurse in the hospital or at least in the in the field of helping people with challenges?

SPEAKER_00 17:45

I've been a nurse, it's going on five years, four years or five years? I'll I'll have to look.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

One of those two, four or five. And do you feel, and I I don't, because you're a younger nurse, I mean, do all health, I mean, I can't say all, a lot of the healthcare workers that you're with, is exercise and movement more important than do you feel like it used to be? I mean, I know you've only been doing not only, but five years. Like, do you feel like it's a bigger push than it has been in the past? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Okay. Yeah, I do feel like a lot of our nurses too work out way more than me. One of the nurses I work with, she is very, very, she plays soccer, she does all of this like fun stuff. And um, yeah, I I'm like, I wish I could do that. Uh but yes, exercise is really important. And like I said before, our physical therapy and occupational therapy, I mean, they are amazing. Like that department does so much, and that's a really big push. Um, I mean, I haven't been a nurse for as long as a lot of my coworkers, so they would could probably speak more on, like, you know, if they've noticed like more physical therapy. But I feel like now, I mean, every patient in the hospital pretty much gets physical therapy, unless they're young, which a lot of our patients are older, but unless they're like younger and you know, can bounce back right. Yeah, like in their 30s, not so much, um, unless they had randomly had to have like a knee surgery. But I feel like majority of the patients in the hospital have physical therapy um orders, and it it's just amazing how much of a difference it makes. And then a lot of the patients, too, that we have will go to when they leave the hospital. If they are going, if they aren't going home, they will actually go to a like physical therapy rehab, which I think is really important. And I've seen some patients make some pretty astounding recoveries just from what they were sick from, and it was like, oh my gosh, this is what you're sick from, and everyone's really worried about you, to now you're you're going on walks, you're riding one of those stationary bikes, you're you're on the walking pad, like you were talking about. I mean, it's amazing what, especially now. I mean, modern medicine is like with these new advancements that we're getting, it is pretty cool to see uh different things that you can do. And even with like I talked before about the patients who are not mobile, like different devices we have to help them get up and get out of bed. And like one that comes to mind is it's called a sit-to-stand. So basically, if a patient can't stand up yet on their own, but we want to get them out of bed, this device can help them stand up, and then we can um kind of maneuver them into a chair. So even that, I mean, we've had patients that are like, I've been in bed you know for days, and just they because they can't get up with that type of thing. Yep, and having the strength and the worry. Right. And then we move them and they it makes their day. I mean, they just recovered from something amazing, but and they were happy about that, but they were more excited about the fact that they're up and eating in a chair and they can socialize with their family, and they they don't feel as sick, I think, when they can get up to a chair. They feel more like themselves, and I think it's a dignity thing too, is you know, if whenever I was in the hospital with having Eliza, it was like I was laying in a hospital bed and I just felt so I'm like, I I don't like this feeling, like I feel like everyone's staring at me. It's just that way I'm like, I just had a baby, I know I can't get up yet, but I just feel like everyone's staring. But even just getting up and like the dignity of like getting your patient into a chair, and I I think that's a big thing that we really try to do is you know, making our patients feel comfortable and we want them to be confident and yeah, I I love my job. I really tell you.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Well, and as you're talking about it, you're beaming and you're sm I mean you're just smiling, and I think that and having that kind of enthusiasm about your patients, and that that you know, that makes I I think that also makes a big difference in in a recovery is to have a team of people, or even if it's just one person who cares. Yeah. I mean, that can be a game changer for for somebody who's sick. And I think um the other thing I was gonna mention about pill for an ill too, one of um a a a family friend who's a physician, and I and it could be different now, but back when he was trained to be a doctor, um I I asked. Him a few years ago, I said, How many classes did you have on nutrition? And this, I'm I'm just guessing. He probably was in medical school maybe in the mid-90s, just based on his age. Just a guess. Um, he said, one. I hope that's changed. It sounds like from what you're saying, there's a lot more, a bigger focus on nutrition now than there has been.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Yeah, I'm not sure from medical school if they have a nutrition class. I know in nursing school we had a nutrition class, but I think it's something that needs to still be pushed more because it is very, very fascinating when you like break down to the literal like chemical compound of food and how it like the antioxidants can fight cancer, which is true. I mean, when you like see the chemical breakdown and like chemically how it works, it's amazing. And I I think I also I am a picky eater, but I think I really started like opening up and having a bigger variety once I realized like all of the nutritional benefits and what different vitamins and minerals can do for your body. And especially now, I mean, we look at lab work, and some of the lab work, it's like, oh, well, if you eat this, that, like potassium, you think of potassium, you think of bananas, but um, in certain conditions, of course, a banana is not going to fix it. But like if you're you get your lab work and your annual, and there's different things that like vitamins and minerals you're lacking. Well, instead of taking like a medication potentially to help, well, maybe if you eat healthier, you can start there, you know, get follow-up, and then see if you need to start a multivitamin or whatever it may be.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Just to see the impacts, to see what those small changes even small changes I think can make a big difference. Definitely, a big difference. Well, uh I looked at the time and it's show me the baby time is up. Um, thank you for joining me. And I think I think there's always I we could go on and on, I think, about this topic, but I just come back to the I guess the point of most a pill usually is not magic. Usually, you know, certain things, there's certain things you have to have, but for the most part, a pill isn't gonna solve it all. You have to, it's it's a holistic thing, you know, whether it's a medication and exercise and what you eat. And I don't like to say the word diet. Like it's not a diet. It's like to me, a diet means you're you know, you're you're restricting. That's the way I like the diet.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

It's very restrictive.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

To me, I look at it, okay, what are what just what kinds of what kinds of what are you gonna input? Like I think of input and output. Yes. You know, if whatever you input into your body, there's gonna be an output. I mean, there's an output. And and it can be sickness um based on what you eat. It could be, you know, you you're able, you become stronger, you become more fit, you become more muscular because of things you eat. But again, I can I started a new topic, but I can keep I could because I am such a uh I'm a firm believer in the power of it, in the power of exercise and eating right, and that again, a pill most of the time will not solve it all. As much as we all would like it to. Wouldn't it just be easy if we could just take a pill? I mean, yeah, it would be, it would be, but it's that's not how it works. That's not how it works. Maybe someday, maybe someday, but there's always side effects. And one more thing, I was watching a commercial. Doesn't matter what, but there were like turtles or something on it. Caught my attention, like cartoon turtles. Can't even tell you what the medicine was, but I was I was cooking dinner and it was just the TV was on, and it was like the side effects were horrific, and I'm sure it involved things like death. That's always the one on everything. Death Death, of course, it was death was the worst, but then along the way it was I call them okay. Number one is going P. Number two, as people know, is two. Well, if it's number three, that's number two, that's worse. That's number three, and if it's number four, that's like water coming out you. So this is basically saying you're gonna have the number threes and number fours. Like, who wants to go around? What do you go around and you take this medicine and and you're gonna like so I recorded it and I sent it to my kids and I said, This sounds like fun to take. Like, how is this worth it? They thought it was funny. They think I'm, I'm sure, think I'm nuts, but anyway, caught my attention, and I thought, well, that would not be a medicine that I would ever remotely want to take. No. So sorry, now you know about threes and fours and my codes for threes and fours. I never wanted him to say the word, you know. I don't know, but so we just did numbers. Sorry. Thanks for joining me on another episode, and I hope you'll come back another time to chat more. And we could even do a part two on this, and and and I think I think there's so much to get, especially in what you do and your role as a nurse. You have so much to offer and what you see, because those are the results.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

So well, thank you for having me. This was fun. Yeah, think so too.