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Month: October 2022

3 Ways Having A City GP Can Help Your Career

Posted on by Jake Jackson

If you are a highly ambitious person, working in Melbourne CBD, then it’s likely that you’re working pretty hard. After all, there are few, if any, shortcuts to success.

Working all those frenetic hours and focusing on your career can take its toll, but there are ways to avoid the downsides, and at the same time progress even faster. In that sense, finding a really good GP in the city, makes sense.

GPs see so many different people every day, likely including people like you. Building a relationship with a good one who you can easily connect with face to face if you need to, could be a master stroke in building your career.

Here’s how:

1. FOCUS. A clear head doesn’t need to practise being in the moment, it always is.

Anyone serious about becoming remarkable in their career knows the importance of focus. With so many things vying for your attention, the city can be a distracting place. As a budding professional, your life is bound to be filled with many things rapidly changing or about to. All of this can hamper your focus. Yet exceptional focus is what achieves exceptional work. When there’s a lot going on, seeing a GP, to debrief and get objective advice, to defuse and problem solve, reaching sound decisions, rather than procrastinating and carrying mental baggage, will increase your focus.

2. HABITS. Operate on cruise control, with the right map.

Habits are what you automatically do for much of the day. Sometimes we don’t even know they exist. Yet these ‘scripts’ control most of our lives. Everyday, up to 90% of our decision making is driven by habits, making it a fundamental part of our unconscious psychic functioning. The sequence of a habit is there – CUE, FEELING, BEHAVIOUR, REWARD. If you’re an ambitious person, and serious about your career, chances are you have some really positive habits. However, we may still have persistent negative ones. Maybe it’s a rising alcohol consumption, perhaps it’s a particular negative thought pattern or perhaps it’s not enough exercise. Whatever it is, a skilled GP can be on your side, to help you challenge bad habits and develop the right ones, so that 90% of your day, is automatically driven by actions that lead to sustainably high performance.

3. FREEDOM FROM DR GOOGLE. Information without context, can be confusing.

Googling symptoms – everyone does it. But what do you do next after you find out your symptom could be that extremely rare but life-threatening disease? A blood test? A scan? Nothing? If your issue continues, you need a doctor you know and trust after you’ve Googled. And you don’t want to start over and over again meeting new GPs. You need one. One good one. One you have built a relationship with that you can go and see or call, when you need to, to move on. Worthwhile noting also, that the availability of medical information on the internet, though positively liberating and educational, can increase health anxiety. Having a GP will help you minimise or avoid health anxiety. They will also help you know what things you should do in a proactive way, to keep you well, based on your individual situation, so you can concentrate on your career, knowing someone’s got your back, when it comes to your physical health. And, maintaining a physically well body, will prove a massive asset to success along the way.

So, there you have it. If you want to set yourself up for success, get a solid GP on your side. Make them a part of your winning team. Your mastermind. It does make sense also, that if the type of career you seek, means that you’ll be spending a lot of your working life in the city, then having a GP in the city itself, makes sense. This way, you’ll be able to conveniently duck in when you need to, and get back to work. Remember, building a long-term relationship is key.

The road to true success is long. Enjoy the journey. Stay the path.

Good luck.

Dr Floyd Gomes
Founder and Managing Director, Atticus Health

Be Proactive!

Posted on by Jake Jackson

Being proactive about your health means caring for your body before it breaks down. An old adage states, “Your body will let you know if something is wrong.” This default approach for most people has been the reactive approach, waiting until something goes wrong and then addressing it. Unfortunately, this approach puts many lives at risk.

A proactive approach to health care recognises the importance of addressing issues before they arise or before they become serious. Proactive health care happens when you take responsibility to proactively manage your own health. You want to move from a doctor “treating an ailment or disease” to you practising “self-care” activities such as exercising, taking prescribed medications and vitamins, drinking water, and eating healthily (most of the time!).

Practising proactive health care prevents disease, detects disease early, and improves your health care results.

Here are some great lifestyle changes to start:

Sleep
Your bed is for sleeping. Try not to eat or work while in bed. Develop a sleep routine, wake up at the same time each day. Go to bed around the same time every day, around 8 hours before you expect to start your day. Find calming, relaxing activities to do before bedtime like reading or taking a bath and avoid watching TV or using a computer near the time you want to fall asleep. Make sure your sleep area is quiet, dark, and is at a temperature you like.

Alcohol & Smoking

Try to break the association of smoking with drinking. By not engaging in both sets of behaviours at once, you can focus on stopping one habit at a time, instead of both, which can be daunting in the beginning. Cut back a little each day. Consider alternative activities for future social gatherings: sports/games, social gatherings in non-drinking/smoking areas.

Physical Activity
Increasing the amount of moderate physical activity (like walking or gardening) has clear health benefits. Start with simple, everyday activities that are fun and easy for you to do. Walking 10 minutes a day is a good place to start for most people. Pick an activity (or range of activities) that appeals to you.Find a friend or family member to be active with, motivate each other and enjoy the process together. Put ‘exercise appointments’ in your diary, at least for the first few weeks, until exercise becomes a habit.
Eating Habits

Drink more water. If you like soft drinks you can first try flavoured sparkling water. If you can’t stand plain water, infuse it with fruit. Snack on berries and almonds. Try to sneak in something green and healthy into your diet.

It’s important to remember that being proactive is largely a state of mind.Positivity breeds positivity, so if you consistently tell yourself you want to be more in tune with your health and your body, it’ll happen!

Invest in yourself by prioritising your health now. Too often people wait till a health condition arises to change their lifestyle. Need help? Our team of health professionals can help you create a routine and stay accountable. Learn more and contact Atticus Health. 

Operation Recooperation

Posted on by Jake Jackson

I walked to the coop like usual that morning, with my small bucket of food. A mix of scraps and a few pieces of bread. And as usual, two chickens ran to their breakfast. But where was number three?

There she was, sitting under the fronds of a palm, eyes closed. Laying an egg? Odd, but maybe. I came inside and mentioned it to my son. “I don’t know if one of the chickens is sick or laying an egg”. He promptly went to check and reported back, “Sick. I tried to move her and nothing happened”. In that case, gravely unwell.

That morning, I was confused, what to do with a sick chicken? Some years back this happened, and I had to put that chicken down – myself. Not a good day. My decision was forced when later, whilst I was standing in my bedroom, three children walked in, one with the chicken in her arms “we must take her to the vet Dad. Bee’s really sick”. That was her name, Bee. She was really sick.

Bee – one very sick chicken

I said what I thought, that in all my experience with trying to help sick birds get better, they always died. Always. Most recently, I remembered “Drew” that Magpie I picked up off the side of the road whilst driving to Drouin. He died within 24 hours of introducing him to the family. And countless others. But the kids were persistent and they knew I was sitting on the fence.
Half an hour later, we were sitting in the Animal Emergency Department, waiting for the vet. Originally, they offered us to go somewhere more specialised for birds, but that was closing. So, here we were, watching dogs and cats wander in and out.

They took Bee away, behind the doors, and some hours later the vet emerged and gave us his sombre verdict. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her, she’s got a fever so she may have an infection. Give her antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and hope for the best. I think she’s got a 10-20% chance of making it, but too early to put her down.” Okay. 3 hours and $392 dollars later we were heading back home.

That night we gave Bee the first dose of her antibiotic, Augmentin. And this is where our story begins.

For the very first time in my life, this stubborn bird actually looked a bit better the next morning. Her cheeks were less warm, her posture less grave. Only a flicker of hope, perhaps we were at 15%.

Feeding her was tricky at first, then became more straightforward. On day 1, I mixed up some Weetbix, malt, half a crushed kid’s chewable vitamin tablet, sugar and water. It was squishy enough to suck up in a syringe and squirt down her throat. That was her diet for the first two days. We’d wash her face and eyes daily. To keep a good check on her, and keep her warm, she stayed in a box in my bedroom. My wife found that out coming home at midnight after work and nearly tripping over her! What’s that saying again? Better to be told off than ask for permission! We had trialled the kids’ room, but just a bit too much attention there. At any rate, now living inside the forbidden land of the human coop, Bee knew she was loved and very special. Animals know.

Over the coming days, her chances kept improving. We upgraded her diet from Weetbix to bread, to date loaf – date loaf? My wife wasn’t too happy about my use of that one. But Bee loved it! Opening her mouth and pushing the food down her throat with an index finger. Great teamwork – the kids, Bee and me. Gradually, from being quite catatonic she began to regain the sort of things a chicken would ordinarily do. To see her open her eyes again for the first time, we clapped. To watch her flap her wings or stretch, we sighed, and to hear familiar “poc poc poc” was like a merry jig, returned.

Eventually one afternoon, we let her back out on the lawn. The dogs came out to inspect their feathered frenemy. Lo and behold, Bee puffed her chest out, and with drumsticks high ran towards them, scaring them off as usual. Wow – instinct alright!

After nearly one week of recooperation, Bee was drinking for herself, eyes open sometimes, closed others. Still hand fed and still living in my bedroom. At this point, my wife began to ask me questions like, “So how much longer will the chicken be here?” Fair enough, Bee was getting loud, shuffling lots at night, and looking like she may well jump out of her box potentially pooping indiscriminately on our doona. Not a good thought.

By this stage, I must say, that I too was getting carer’s fatigue. The kids had been very good, helping heaps along the way. However, often, I’d find myself needing to tend to her before I could leave for work, and I wondered about when she’d start eating for herself. Her progress, though present, was slow. With her eyes still closed, Bee seemed oblivious to my creeping frustration.

In cleaning her, we also discovered she had a cut above one eye. Perhaps that’s how she got sick in the first place. In the meantime, it was clear that Bee loved all the attention. We started to have our suspicions that she loved it so much, that she may have been faking things even these days.

And so it happened that one day, sometime just after a week, I came into my bedroom to find Bee standing outside her box having just done a big poop on the floorboards. Alack and alas and hooray, it was time to return to the coop.

She’s still not fully right, but seems to be improving every day. One sister does occasionally bully her, I suppose that’s what you call the pecking order after all, but we all agree that she’s happy to be back where she belongs.

I still can’t believe she’s alive. Not bad for a 10-20% chance. Thanks kids, for once again proving me wrong. Thanks Nat, for letting a chicken live in our bedroom for over a week. Thanks life, for showing me that it’s always worthwhile trying because you don’t know exactly where luck falls, one day to the next. And finally, thanks Bee, for being such a good patient and one lucky chook!

If there are any lessons to find in this story, I’ll leave it up to you. From my part, I can say, chickens sure do have big hearts and even bigger mouths!

Lost weight recently?

Posted on by Jake Jackson

I know, I know! Everyone is always talking about weight loss like it is a good thing. If someone is losing weight without trying it can be a worry and is worth a visit to your GP to see what is going on. Weight loss can be associated with some medical conditions, cancer treatment, eating disorders or mood.

Signs of weight loss (other than the scales)

  • Clothing is looser
  • Jewellery not fitting
  • Pants are falling down or using an extra notch on your belt
  • Dentures not fitting as well
  • Feeling the cold more than usual
  • Feeling like you have lost some muscles in your arms or legs
  • Not feeling as strong and steady on your feet
  • Bones poking out more than usual
  • People have been commenting on your size
  • Eating less than usual

 

Loss of appetite can be due to

  • Low mood, depression or stress
  • Effects of illness
  • Gastrointestinal symptoms – e.g., nausea, vomiting
  • Treatment or medication side effects
  • Being unable to cook or prepare food

 

Why is it a worry?

  • Higher infection risk
  • Poor immunity
  • Decreases in mobility
  • Instability and higher chance of falls
  • Reduced ability to do usual daily activities
  • Increased risk of pressure sores
  • Increased risk of bone loss and hip fractures
  • Longer hospital stays

Our nurses can ask you a few questions to see whether you would benefit from seeing Emma our Dietitian. Emma will work with you or your loved one to find strategies to help to prevent any further weight loss and work towards gaining weight.

What Is A Dietitian

Posted on by Jake Jackson

It is unfortunate that the title contains the word diet! It makes it sound like dietitians are the food police.

Let me reassure you, what a dietitian does is understand the role and importance of nutrition and the impact that food has on disease-related conditions and health. They use medical nutrition therapy to treat a range of health conditions. Their job is to understand, how what you eat impacts our health and medical conditions. Using this knowledge to explain how certain foods may be impacting their health or contributing to certain symptoms. They work with patients and figure out their health goals, suggesting ways to improve their diet and supporting them to improve their health and well-being.

Medical Nutrition Therapy for:

  • Anaemia (low iron) – improve the intake of iron-containing foods and foods that improve the absorption of iron
  • Coeliac disease – which foods you can eat on a gluten-free diet and how to read food labels for hidden gluten
  • Diverticular disease – foods to eat during a flare and reintroducing food after
  • Food allergy – understanding food labels and improving confidence in eating
  • Reflux – find trigger foods and strategies to reduce reflux
  • IBS – identify foods that may be causing symptoms, balance fibre intake and fluid or low FODMAP diets
  • Liver disease – diet to match the stage of disease and manage symptoms
  • Heart failure – work on strategies to meet low salt diet and fluid restrictions
  • Diabetes – how diet impacts blood glucose levels and how to improve BGL control and HbA1c
  • High cholesterol – foods that impact cholesterol levels and foods to improve them
  • High blood pressure – foods that impact blood pressure and foods to improve BP
  • Mental illness – medications that impact nutrition and appetite, strategies to improve dietary patterns being mindful that poor mental health can reduce motivation and ability to buy and prepare food
  • Unintentional weight loss – some conditions, mood or undergoing cancer treatment can cause weight loss without trying. Working on strategies to improve nutrition intake and prevent further weight loss.
  • Kidney disease – foods to choose or avoid depending on the stage of renal disease
  • Normalising relationships with food and improving dietary patterns through non-diet and intuitive eating