Reflections on the Lecture on Prevention and Treatment of Geriatric Diseases

The priority of prevention of geriatric diseases is much higher than treatment, and there is no "universal health formula" suitable for all elderly people. Following the trend of supplements, copying other people's exercise and medication plans may be more harmful to the body than not maintaining health.

Aunt Zhang, who is sitting next to me, is a well-known "health enthusiast" in our community. She has dozens of videos of health bloggers on her phone. She bought imported coenzyme Q10 after watching a live broadcast and took three pills a day. After taking it for three months, she went for a physical examination and her transaminases were twice as high. She took the report to the doctor to ask if there was a liver problem. The doctor in this lecture happened to mention supplements, saying that Coenzyme Q10 does have an auxiliary therapeutic effect on patients with myocarditis and heart failure, but healthy elderly people or people with only mild hypertension can consume enough by eating nuts and deep-sea fish every day. There is no need to take extra supplements. Taking too much will increase the metabolic burden on the liver. Aunt Zhang sat next to her and patted her thigh, saying that if she had known about this lecture, she would not have spent so much money.

In the past, my mother always said, "If you don't feel well, you don't have a disease." She always felt it was a waste of money to have a physical examination at home. In this lecture, Dr. Li from the community hospital did not read the PPT first, but first took out the physical examination data of the elderly in the area last year: among the 327 elderly people over 60 years old who participated in the free screening, 42% were found to have high blood pressure and 27% had abnormal glucose tolerance. Nearly half of them had no idea that they had problems before. To put it bluntly, most geriatric diseases have a hidden onset. Problems such as high blood pressure and high blood sugar may not even cause dizziness or fatigue at first. By the time you feel uncomfortable, target organs such as blood vessels and kidneys have often been damaged. Therefore, a targeted basic physical examination once a year is more effective than taking any number of sky-high-priced supplements.

Speaking of the "transfusion of vascular fluid twice in spring and autumn to prevent cerebral infarction" which is particularly popular among the elderly in the community, this lecture also deliberately presented the different perspectives of traditional Chinese and Western medicine, without making it one-size-fits-all. The clinical guidelines of Western medicine clearly state that for the elderly who have no previous history of cerebral infarction or myocardial infarction, and whose blood lipids, blood pressure, and homocysteine ​​are all controlled within a reasonable range, there is absolutely no need for regular infusion. Not only does it not have a preventive effect, but it may increase the risk of allergies, phlebitis, and even severe infusion reactions. ； The doctor of traditional Chinese medicine at the clinic added that if you often suffer from dizziness, numbness in one side of the hands and feet, or a hard tongue, there is no need to join in the excitement of infusion. You can first take some Chinese patent medicines that promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, or regularly moxibustion on acupuncture points such as Zusanli and Sanyinjiao, which is much gentler and can also improve circulation. After listening to this, my mother quietly told me that she had invited her old sisters to play together a while ago, but luckily we didn’t go.

Speaking of which, there is a lesson learned in my family. My mother had knee pain before. An old sister in the community told her that "the joints become more active the more they are used" and asked her to walk 10,000 steps a day to exercise. As a result, after walking for half a month, her knees became so swollen that she could not even squat. She had to wear plaster for almost a month. The orthopedic surgeon in this lecture specifically mentioned this misunderstanding, saying that knee pain requires exercise to really score: If the meniscus has been found to be worn and has synovitis and effusion, and the wear and tear becomes worse the more you walk, you must first practice static squats to strengthen the strength of the quadriceps muscles, so that the muscles can hug the joints, and then slowly increase the amount of activity ； If it is just joint pain caused by osteoporosis, moderate slow walking and Tai Chi are indeed beneficial, but it really cannot be generalized. When my mother got home that day, she searched for instructional videos on silent squats and practiced them for ten minutes twice a day. It has only been two weeks and her knees no longer hurt when going up and down stairs. She even went to the vegetable market this morning carrying a vegetable basket.

There is another misunderstanding that I have heard from many elderly people before, and they always feel that "medicines are three parts poisonous". Antihypertensive and hypoglycemic drugs cannot be stopped after taking them, and they can also damage the liver and kidneys. They often secretly reduce or even stop taking the drugs. The lecture mentioned that Uncle Wang from the neighborhood next door felt that his blood pressure was normal for half a month last year, so he secretly stopped his antihypertensive medication. As a result, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage when the temperature dropped in winter. Now he is still on crutches and has trouble walking. Doctors say that the current first-line antihypertensive and antidiabetic drugs have been clinically proven for decades, and the incidence of side effects is extremely low. Even if there is an intolerance, you can still consult a doctor to adjust the medicine. Compared with kidney failure, stroke, and myocardial infarction caused by long-term high blood pressure and high blood sugar, the risk of side effects is not worth mentioning. If you are really worried, just check your liver and kidney function regularly, and never stop taking the medicine on your own.

At the end of the show, many elderly people gathered around the doctor to ask questions. My mother dug out all the videos from health promotion accounts that she had collected for more than half a year, and asked them one by one which was true and which was a rumor. The doctor patiently explained to her for almost 20 minutes. On the way home, my mother also told me that I would never buy health care products blindly from the “health guru” in the community group again. If I have any questions, I should first go to the community hospital and ask the doctor. Do you think this lecture is worth it? I think it is much more useful than spending thousands of dollars to buy useless health mattresses and health teas. To put it bluntly, the core of preventing and treating geriatric diseases is never to follow the trend, but to understand your own physical condition and find the solution that suits you best. This is truly responsible for your body.