The 21 day rule for medical treatments

Not really relevant to the article;
but I do like it!

The 21 day rule

I often come across people including athletes who have been undergoing a form of medical treatment for months; sometimes longer.

It raises the question:

"How long should one undergo a course of medical treatment before calling it quits?" 

As a general rule of thumb, I recommend applying the

"21 day rule"

If you are undergoing any form of treatment or therapy, be it physical therapy or medicine, apply the 21 day rule.

If, after 21 days of consistent application of the therapy, there has not been a significant improvement in your condition and at a rate or level above what would normally be expected if things were left up to Mother Nature herself, then you need to review what is being done. 

Far too often, ineffective therapies are continued with long after when their use should have been critically reviewed, modified or ceased altogether. In addition, progress is often erroneously attributed to the treatment or medicine when it is really just the natural healing processes that should be getting the credit.

Many medications (unlike herbs, vitamins and minerals) cease to be effective after a month of regular use.  In many cases, the body "habituates" (another term for "addiction") to medicines such as steroids, anti-depressants and pain medications).

Simple methods of monitoring progress, such as using a personal heart rate monitor, are often overlooked, therefore causing a loss of objectivity when assessing progress.  Always ask:

"How is my progress being measured?"

Nutritional and lifestyle strategies, including exercise and deep tissue massage, can be extremely effective. These enhance and support, rather than replace or inhibit normal body physiology. Sometimes no obvious benefit is ever demonstrated by exercise, eating well and supplementing where the need exists, other than looking good and feeling great over the long term. Give these strategies at least 3 months to take effect.

Medical students feel unready to practise safely

" Senior medical students lack confidence in their abilities and some believe they have insufficient knowledge to practise safely, a survey shows.
The survey, published in the latest New Zealand Medical Journal, found that just over half of fourth and fifth-year Auckland University students questioned had doubts about their level of knowledge.
Only one-third of the 156 students surveyed felt their knowledge of anatomy was sufficient to practise safely and fewer than 20 per cent felt they knew enough about pharmacology."
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Gary Moller comments:
As per usual, I have a different take on this "disturbing" study: This is very good news. If the level of confidence was higher, I would be really worried. A doctor never knows everything, skills as routine as listeningto a phlemy chest take years to perfect and it is probably not until 10 or so years of full-time practice that one can be confident that a medical practitioner is really hitting his or her straps.The worst person a patient can encounter, next to a doddery old fool who has not kept up with the play, is a young graduate who thinks he or she knows everything from Day One.

Fortunately, nowadays, the vast majority of medical graduates are in some kind of supervised setup and this includes the inexperienced general practitioner who was often quite isolated from immediate professional support. All but a few General Practitioners now work in group practices.Medical and drugs mistakes kill at least 3,000 New Zealanders per year. Many more survive; but must live with the ongoing consequences. Don't be one of them. Don't be an unwitting medical experiment:

• Always seek treatment by a doctor with 10 or more years experience See a doctor with training in your area of need: If you have a knee injury, don't go to a doctor who is interested in gynaecology; see a doctor with post-graduate training in sports medicine
• Stay away from hospital emergency rooms if you can - the lengthy wait is not healthy and the odds are you will encounter a trainee doctor when you are eventually seen to.
• If you are sure the problem can wait, then do so and go see your regular doctor at the earliest you can get in.
• Not sure about waiting? then ring your doctor and seek his or her advice. Ring even if its after hours, you will get the after hours duty doctor.
• If your inner voice is expressing doubts about the diagnosis or the course of treatment, do not hesitate to ask for a second opinion before proceeding.
• If the need for treatment is not urgent; always ask about alternatives, like waiting a while, or alternative therapies like exercise, nutrition, massage, or even a relaxing holiday on a sunny tropical atoll.