How many of you know how to change the oil in your car? How many could change your tire, if need be on the side of the interstate? These seem like basic questions and hopefully, the majority of the readers have said "yes, I can" to both of those questions. Now, we move on to something more complicated...
How many of you know the impact of various foods and our diet on overall health? Do you think it is a fad? Do you truly believe that diet and nutrition can improve health? How many of you know basic anatomy of your own body? How your heart and lungs work? The importance of the kidneys and liver? How about cholesterol and the truth behind it? How about the high sugar content to our foods and drinks and how it impacts health?
I don't know how many would respond positively to those questions, but to me they are important. Why? Because without this basic knowledge we become prone to being at the mercy of others with no knowledge to help assist us in decision making.
For instance, if your car was difficult to start and you took it to the repair shop, without knowledge you might end up paying for an new alternator instead of just having the battery replaced. Without knowledge of tires and tread wear, one might end up paying $500 for four new tires, instead of maybe just rotating them for another 10,000 miles of use.
The same applies to our health and to that of our pets and equine companions. I realize that most people would remark that there is not enough time in the day to learn about health and this is why they rely on others to guide them, which is a valid comment. However, the question comes as to which information you are being supplied with is truly 100% accurate?
As a veterinarian, I always made it a point to explain to my clients what was going on with their pet or their horse. It was important to me that they understood as it helped them to make a decision. I never made decisions for them, as that was not my job, but my job was to inform and give options. In some cases, the clients drank in the information, wanting more details, while in others, I could barely maintain the client's interest for more than 30 seconds. In the end, it was up to them to either choose to understand or choose not to understand, but their level of knowledge would dictate the end result no matter what they thought.
Knowledge is a powerful thing and should not be contained within one individual or group of people, it should be shared and explored. This is true for everything, but most importantly, it is true of medicine and surgery. What I observe is that people either just don't care to know about their own health or that of their pets or horses, OR they are just not given the information that they need to become informed. Even if they are not, I think it is important that they still explore and discover information on their own to come to better conclusions and decisions. Point being...don't just rely on information provided to you, check it out, investigate and discover the validity to the claims.
When I practiced actively, we would have elderly clients come into the office with their pets, not so much due to a health problem with the animal, but they would often pull out a sheet of paper with a list of their own personal medications, asking for our help in letting them know what all those pills were for. They had no idea and often, they just took the pills because their doctor told them to. In some cases, they were on the right medications. In others, there were blatant or obvious interactions between medications going on, which is unfortunate and goes unnoticed for various reasons. Often this is because there are several doctors involved and confliction of health goals. In the end, the patient suffers because of a lack of knowledge.
My goal is to help others and to educate. There is much to be said and much to explore. In many cases, there is not a 'fix' or 'cure' for most situations or conditions, but I do believe that with knowledge, many conditions can be better controlled or managed. The end goal with medicine and surgery, no matter the species, is to improve quality of life for what ever period of time that may be. What I see is that even with the current therapy options for most patients, quality of life is actually lowered, more so than improved.
I think this can be changed, but in order to do this, we have to step outside of the box and begin to open our minds in order to learn and understand. If one is willing to do this, then the possibilities are endless!
All my best,
Tom Schell, D.V.M.
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