Practical health tips I learned in family medicine

I would like to share with you some medical advice and tips I learned while working as a family medicine doctor over the summer. We can group this advice based on the most common illnesses that affect us every day.

At first, if you get enough sleep, eat somewhat of a healthy diet, and at least walk for 30 minutes a day, you will massively improve your health both in the short and long term. Doctors are much more in agreement on the importance of prophylaxis (preventing the disease) than treating the consequences. In my native language, there is a saying that goes something like: “It’s always better to prevent than to treat the disease.” Even if some diseases aren’t preventable, just by following these three pillars of health, you can have a huge impact on all major diseases of today. With that out of the way, here are some practical tips for you to be ready when you get sick.

Everyone, regardless of their medical knowledge need to know basic life support. It’s something you learn in driving school, but unfortunately, most of us forget these basic skills.

You need to know your ABC’s.

A- Airway (open the airway by tilting the person's head to the back)

B- Breathing (check if the person is breathing by putting your ear next to the patient’s mouth, and simultaneously checking if you can feel the air on your face, looking if their chest is expanding, and checking if you can hear the breath sounds at the same time)

C- Circulation (if you work in the medical field, it is expected of you to check the person’s circulation by palpating his/her pulse. You can do it by placing two fingers on the side of their neck, slightly above the Adam’s apple in males, and equivalent in females.) *

 *Most experts recommend skipping this step since people often either miss the pulse point or feel their own pulse which can lead to misinterpretation of a person’s condition. It’s much better just to check if the person is breathing since if he’s not breathing, you follow the same chest compression and ventilation protocol afterward.

If the person collapses and isn’t breathing, call 911 as soon as you can and start giving chest compressions along with mouth-to-mouth ventilation. If the person collapses and isn’t breathing, first open his/her airway and check if the breathing is now adequate, since a collapsed position can lead to their tongue falling over their airway, blocking it consequently.

If the person collapses and is breathing adequately, put him/her in a safe position on their side, and check them regularly to be sure nothing changes regarding their breathing pattern. That way, you can be sure their tongue won’t fall back and suffocate them, and they won't aspirate their stomach content in the case of vomiting.

Regardless of what happens, you can always call 911, and they will guide you through the whole process. The worst thing you can do is not call anyone or ignore their instructions once you reach them.

Another emergency you need to be aware of is a stroke. If someone close to you suddenly drops to the ground and starts acting strangely, it might well be a sign of a stroke.

When it comes to stroke, there is a cool acronym you can remember to recognize stroke more easily- FAST.

F- Facial droopiness (The face of the patient becomes uneven; you can usually spot that one side of the person's face is lower than the other part)

A- Arms (You can see that the patient suddenly lost the motor control of one arm, and you can easily check that by asking them to lift both of their arms. The affected side will be much lower than the healthy side.)

S- Speech (You will probably notice that the person's speech is slurred or unrecognizable)

T- Time (You need to call 911 as soon as possible, and remember at what time the symptoms started. The brain is an incredibly sensitive organ to hypoxia, and infarction can occur much faster than some of the other tissues in our body.)

Another thing I suggest to my patients (especially the older population) is to always have basic medical equipment at home, like gauze, sterile strips, scissors, painkillers, a thermometer, a blood pressure measuring device, and even a glucose meter if the person has diabetes.

These basic tools can greatly aid in lowering your pain in the case of an accident, but also be a good first aid until the emergency team arrives.

One of the most important errors I see people make is trying to medicate themselves with antibiotics they have at home. Never do that. If you have an infection, go visit a medical practitioner since many causes of your symptoms might just be viral, and taking antibiotics isn’t only unhelpful in viral infections but can be dangerous. Antibiotics can wipe out your “good bacteria,” causing you even more problems in the future without helping with your viral infection in any way.

Another thing that I would like to teach patients is the right way to lower their fever. If your temperature is below 37.5C you probably don’t need aggressive antipyretics. If your fever is above 39C you can use a combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen (if you can tolerate them) for a maximum daily dose of 4000 mg of paracetamol and 2400 mg of ibuprofen. It would be best to spread these medications across the whole day, and you won’t have a problem with fever anytime soon.

Try to avoid “natural medications” from the pharmacy, not because they will cause you any harm, but because they probably won’t help you whatsoever.

Always be strict with taking your medication per your doctor’s orders, and carefully read the instructions that are contained in every box.

Do not jump to conclusions when you notice a strange symptom and read on the internet that it surely is cancer. The human body is extremely complex, and most doctors spend their whole lives trying to understand just a tiny aspect of it. If you fill yourself with all sorts of negative beliefs about the possible outcome, you will put a lot of stress on your body. Something you need the least when your body is trying to recover.

Always question your doctor’s judgment. All good doctors will tell you that. Even if your doctor is an expert in a certain field, he/she is not without fault. You can easily recognize this if you see that your doctor is not paying attention to you when you explain your symptoms.

Your doctor probably knows a lot more about your disease, but you know more about your body than he/she does, especially if you have already gone through the same disease before. You know what works best for you. I’m not encouraging you to completely ignore what your doctor has to say, but don’t be afraid to ask for a second opinion. If your doctor is a good one, they will encourage you to do so. You can never be too sure when it comes to your health. 

Summary:

🧠 General Health Tips:

• Prevention is key. The basics like sleeping well, eating decently, and moving your body daily (even just walking) go a long way in keeping you healthy and preventing diseases.
• It’s always better to stop a disease before it starts than to treat it after it happens.

🚑 Emergency Know-How Everyone Should Have:

👃 Basic Life Support (BLS):

Remember your ABC’s:

• A - Airway: Tilt the head back to open the airway.
• B - Breathing: Check for signs of breathing, look, listen, and feel.
• C - Circulation: You can check for a pulse, but if unsure, just focus on breathing and call 911.

If someone isn’t breathing:

1. Call 911.
2. Open the airway and start chest compressions + mouth-to-mouth.
3. If they are breathing, put them on their side and monitor them.

Important: Calling 911 is never the wrong move; they’ll guide you.

🧠 Stroke Awareness – Use FAST:

• F - Face drooping
• A - Arm weakness
• S - Speech difficulty
• T - Time to call 911 right away and note when symptoms started.

🧰 Basic Home Medical Kit Checklist:

Keep these at home:

• Gauze & sterile strips
• Scissors
• Thermometer
• Painkillers (paracetamol, ibuprofen)
• Blood pressure monitor
• Glucose meter (if diabetic)

💊 Medication & Fever Tips:

• Never self-medicate with leftover antibiotics. They don’t work on viruses and can actually make things worse.
• For fevers:
  • Under 37.5°C: usually no meds needed.
  • Over 39°C: use paracetamol + ibuprofen (max 4000mg + 2400mg daily).
  • Space the doses out throughout the day.

Skip the “natural remedies” from pharmacies because they usually don’t do much.

🩺 Doctor-Patient Relationship:

• Trust your doctor, but also trust yourself. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or seek a second opinion.
• A good doctor will listen to you and encourage your involvement in decisions about your health.
• Try not to panic about every symptom you Google because it’s rarely as dramatic as it seems online.