February 14, 2018
If you think back to the last time you talked to your doctor, did you come away from the doctors office wondering what about half of what was said actually meant?
If you think you heard a lot of medical “mumbo jumbo” then you are not alone. It’s a frequent problem – lost in translation.
Medical experts use words that need deciphering by us ordinary people. It’s very important that we understand, so that we can be partners in our own care and decision making.
And yes, it’s ok to tell health care providers that they sound like they are speaking in Greek or Latin, because sometimes they are! Medical terms go back a long way and can be hard to say and impossible to spell.
Of course you can ask a HealthUnlocked community – most of us have had to learn this stuff too.
You will have probably used the word “morbid” before. It might refer to someone who tends to expect the worst or thinks about death all the time!
In medicine “morbidity” means that something is causing serious problems. For example overweight people who are getting lots of exercise maybe called “fat but fit”. But being very overweight in a person is usually called “morbidly obese” when there are serious health risks, or “morbidity”.
As you know, obesity and diabetes go hand in hand. Together they are called comorbid conditions. If you add in other conditions then you have comorbidities.
Let’s say for example that you have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, AND you have joint pain too. That means several comorbidities that are related.
Only exercise is pretty much guaranteed to help with all the comorbid conditions you might experience, including diabetes and depression. That is why it is so important to start moving to help with joint pain and everything else.
That is the why, but what about the how? The Start Moving community can help. Find out more
By Rolf Taylor