Therapist

Therapy is considered a basic clinical discipline. This science studies diseases that affect various internal organs of the human body, and a therapist, accordingly, is a certified doctor who deals with this particular area of medicine.

And if we speak more specifically, answering the question, who is a therapist?, it is worth turning to a dictionary or a medical encyclopedia, which voice the fact that this word comes from the Greek word therapeia (care, supervision, healing) or therapeutes (caring for the patient, healing). Even in these few phrases, one can understand that a therapist is a qualified specialist who has received academic knowledge of the cause-and-effect mechanisms of the occurrence and development of a wide range of diseases of internal organs, the skill for qualified diagnosis, treatment and preventive measures designed to prevent the onset and progression of such diseases.

But it is worth noting that a therapist is a fairly broad-based specialist, so within this area of medicine there is a more specialized division. A number of doctors who completed an internship in therapy subsequently chose narrower areas of diagnostics and treatment as their profession, becoming, for example, cardiologists, proctologists, rheumatologists, gastroenterologists, pulmonologists, and so on. The rest, on the contrary, do not want to focus their knowledge and skills only on “one internal organ” and remain broad-based specialists.

When should you see a therapist?

Most people do not like visiting medical institutions, postponing such visits as long as possible. But such an attitude to one's health is unacceptable. After all, the minimum amount of measures that can lead to a positive result with early treatment can result in difficult therapy and a long rehabilitation period if the patient, afraid of doctors, sought help late, when the destructive process has already started and gone too far. At the same time, it is not always possible to restore former health due to the irreversibility of some processes.

So the answer to the question of when to see a therapist? There can only be one - as soon as possible! This must be done after the first signs of illness appear. It is much better if the doctor tells you that panic is false than to delay diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

The reason for contacting a doctor may be:

• Unexplained weight loss.
• High degree of fatigue.
• The appearance of physical and psychological discomfort.
• The appearance of the first signs of illness. For example, with a cold, this may be a runny nose, fever, sore throat, and so on.
• A feeling of pain in one or another part of the body.
• If you experience a feeling of heaviness, distension or pressure.

It is worth taking a closer look at the most dangerous symptoms, which should definitely not be ignored by a person, and which should prompt him to seek advice from his doctor as soon as possible.

The first is if, despite a stable diet and the absence of radical changes in lifestyle, a person begins to lose weight.

This symptom is mainly characteristic of the presence of developing malignant neoplasms in the human body. Particularly sharp weight loss may be associated with an oncological disease affecting the digestive tract, most often stomach cancer. In women, this may also be a malignant tumor on the ovaries.

Second. If a person has a sensation of noise in the ears, a feeling of cotton wool legs, general weakness, numbness of the upper limbs.

One of the reasons for such symptoms may be an impending stroke. Therefore, if a person begins to feel something like this, it is necessary to immediately call an ambulance, since this disease is very dangerous and can lead to irreversible processes in the brain tissue or even death. If a general practitioner is called in time or the patient receives medical care from an ambulance (where a general practitioner is also on duty), then it is quite possible to avoid an attack and further negative consequences.

The third criterion that should make people seek medical help from their local doctor or another specialist is the presence of a black tint in the feces in the absence of intoxication due to poisoning.

This rather alarming symptom may indicate internal bleeding. The loss of blood itself, especially intense, is dangerous to human life. But this sign can indicate an exacerbation of a number of diseases, such as an ulcer or cancer in the digestive tract. In this case, time can pass by in minutes. The sooner a diagnosis is made and effective measures are taken to stop the problem, the higher the patient's chances of surviving.

The fourth “dangerous” sign is severe pain in the head, spreading to the neck and cervical vertebrae, manifested against the background of an increase in body temperature.

A set of these signs may indicate that the body is affected by such a dangerous disease as meningitis. Therefore, you should not postpone going to the doctor, and in certain circumstances it would be right to call him at home. With timely therapy, this disease is perfectly controlled with antibiotics.

Another sign is the appearance of sharp, excruciating headaches, the likes of which the person has never experienced before.

If pain of this intensity occurs, you should immediately seek medical help. The cause of such a painful condition may well be a cerebral hemorrhage. Another cause of headaches may be excessive dilation of the blood vessels of the brain (or as doctors call it, an aneurysm of the blood vessels). In both cases, the probability of a fatal outcome is high.

But these are just some of the most common signs that should prompt you to visit a doctor - a therapist, but there are many more. Therefore, it is better not to delay going to the doctor and at the first signs of the disease, you need to seek advice at a specialized clinic.

What tests should you take when visiting a therapist?

When visiting a medical institution, one examination by a specialist is not enough. In order to make a correct diagnosis, the doctor needs to have a complete picture of the disease "on hand", which can be clarified by some laboratory tests. So what tests should be taken when visiting a therapist?, so that the doctor can get a complete picture of the patient's health condition.

The first tests the patient will have to take are:

• A clinical examination of urine that allows one to assess the condition of the patient's excretory system.
• Density of liquid.
• Its transparency and the presence of impurities.
• Presence of sugar in urine.
• Protein.
• On acetone.

General clinical blood test. Taken from the phalanx. Allows to determine the presence or absence of an inflammatory process in the body, anemia, blood diseases, etc. Allows to determine the numerical indicators:

• Leukocytes.
• ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate).
• Other parameters.

Analysis of feces for the presence of helminths (if necessary).

Blood sugar test is performed on an empty stomach. It allows to determine the blood sugar level (refusal or confirmation of the presence of diabetes in the patient's medical history).

If necessary, the specialist can prescribe additional tests and examinations.

What diagnostic methods does the therapist use?

But in addition to laboratory tests, other methods of functional diagnostics allow the doctor to obtain a complete picture of the disease. And the completeness of the information obtained depends on how fully the patient's body is covered by the examination. So what diagnostic methods does the therapist use?

The most popular examination methods are:

• Ultrasound examination of internal organs.
• An electrocardiogram shows the condition of the heart.
• Fluorography is a must. It helps diagnose tuberculosis, changes in the pleural zone, and the presence of benign or malignant neoplasms.
• Digital radiography.
• Digital mammography.
• Computed tomography.
• Magnetic resonance imaging.

All these studies, and some others, are now put to the service of human health and allow the therapist to establish the correct diagnosis in a shorter time and begin to treat the disease in a timely manner.

What does a therapist do?

We have already received an answer to the question of what is therapy and who is a specialist engaged in this area of medicine? But still, it is necessary to analyze in more detail what a therapist does? What is in his power? It turns out, almost everything that relates to conservative methods of healing, not spending questions of surgical treatment.

Such a specialist must have broad monumental knowledge. Its advantage is that an experienced doctor of this profession treats a person, and not his disease, as narrowly specialized doctors often do, sometimes forgetting that the human body is a delicate mechanism in which everything is interconnected. And if you treat one thing without paying attention to another, then, on the contrary, you can bring even more harm to the body.

This specialty is the most extensive in medicine. It requires an unprecedented amount of knowledge and experience. Having received an education from a classical medical school, this doctor continues to study for the rest of his life. Only with such an approach to his specialty can we talk about his high level of qualification and professionalism.

But not only knowledge is important. They say "a doctor from God", and a high intuition of a doctor is also assumed. Without it, one cannot talk about 100% high-quality treatment. But intuition, not supported by knowledge, is nothing. Only a combination of knowledge, excellent memory, intuition and experience allows one to achieve the expected positive result in diagnostics and treatment.

The therapist must know the names of many medical drugs, their features, advantages and disadvantages. Always be aware of pharmacological innovations. In his practice, he has to use various methods of treatment and rehabilitation: various diets, physiotherapy procedures, mutual combination of various drugs and their effect on the body, and much more.

In case of any ailment, it is with a specialist of this profile that we, ordinary people, have to deal first of all. And it is from the initial examination of the local doctor (his knowledge and experience) that the timeliness of the correct diagnosis and the adoption of adequate measures to stop the problem, and, if necessary, a referral for consultation to a more specialized doctor largely depend.

It is this doctor who is the first to encounter the patient’s problems, and he sometimes makes a “fateful” decision about the direction and scope of research, determines the timing, schedule and completeness of the treatment process following the diagnosis.

It is this kind of specialist who is able to isolate the most urgent and primary complaints from the patient, resolving them without causing harm to the patient’s health.

Today, the ongoing healthcare reforms are trying to reshape the organization of medical care in the Western manner, introducing more qualified specialists of a broad focus, family doctors, reducing the positions of more narrow specialists. Whether this is good or bad, life will judge. But what an experienced, qualified therapist is responsible for and manages cannot be replaced by anything - this is not even discussed!

What diseases does a therapist treat?

The area of interest and influence of the doctor in question is large. Due to this, the list of diseases that this doctor is able to diagnose and treat is quite long. So what diseases does the therapist treat? His competence includes:

Pathologies affecting the cardiovascular system.

• Post-infarction conditions.
• Anemia.
• Heart failure.
• And so on.

Disruption of the kidneys and the entire urinary system. o

• Pyelonephritis.
• Nephritis and cystitis.
• Many other pathologies of this direction.

Diseases of the endocrine system.

• Diabetes mellitus.
• Disruption of metabolism and metabolic processes.
• Goiter.
• And others.

Chronic fatigue and nervous exhaustion.

• Changes that have affected the organs of the gastrointestinal tract.
• Gastritis.
• Duodenitis.
• Pancreatitis.
• And so on.

Pathological changes in the blood.

• Leukemia.
• Hemorrhagic diathesis.
• Leukemia.

Diseases of the components of the musculoskeletal system.

• Bursitis.
• Arthrosis.
• Sprains, bruises and injuries.
• Osteochondrosis.
• And other things.

Rheumatoid diseases.

• Diseases of the pulmonary system.
• Pneumonia.
• Bronchitis.
• And others.

Diseases of the ENT organs.

• Otitis.
• Colds.
• Infectious diseases of the nasopharynx.
• And so on.

Neurological diseases.

Disruption of connective tissue function.

Advice from a general practitioner

The local doctor, who is also a therapist, is the first medical person the average person has to deal with when health problems arise. It is not for nothing that even before the revolution, every family (which could afford it) had its own family doctor, who observed all its members. And it was he who gave advice and recommendations that allowed one to avoid many health problems.

Today in this article we are ready to offer you advice from a general practitioner, which, if followed, will make it possible to completely forget about many illnesses or reduce the severity of those that a person is already suffering from.

• Hypodynamia is a direct path to many diseases. Therefore, doctors recommend their patients not to ignore sports. It is desirable that physical activity be diverse. For example, you can walk to work, dance and swim. Such activities will help raise the threshold of human endurance, strengthen the body's defenses, and improve metabolic processes. Outdoor activities are especially welcome. Winter sports in the open air are good.
• You should subject your body to hardening. But you need to do it gradually. If a pampered person immediately decides to become a walrus, nothing good will come of it. Most likely, such zeal will end in pneumonia or bronchitis. Hardening methods include:
  • Contrast shower.
  • Walking barefoot on surfaces of different textures is a good massage of acupuncture points, of which there are a great many on the foot.
  • Visiting a bathhouse, sauna and swimming pool.
  • Rubbing the body with snow.
  • Dousing with ice water.

In order not to harm the body, you can contact a specialist who will develop a hardening system individually for a specific person, taking into account the characteristics of his body.

• It is necessary to review the diet. A complete rational diet is the key to good health! Adhering to this statement, it is necessary to monitor what products are included in the diet. The daily menu should be balanced. It should contain the required amount of minerals, microelements and vitamins. It is necessary to maintain an optimal balance of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. It is necessary to refuse "harmful" products and dishes as much as possible. Vegetables and fruits are the basis of the menu.
• You should lead a healthy lifestyle, giving up, if possible, bad habits: smoking, drinking alcohol and using drugs.
• You should not self-medicate. Only a specialist, after establishing a diagnosis, is able to prescribe adequate treatment.
• It is worth periodically taking a vitamin course. Today, there are practically no problems with choosing such drugs, since the pharmacological market offers a fairly wide range of such products.
• It is worth making it a rule to visit a medical center regularly. A preventive examination by a specialist will allow you to detect and stop the problem at an early stage.
• Not the last place in protecting the body from various diseases is given to the psychological state of people. Constant irritability and aggression will not add health, but, on the contrary, will take it away. Whereas a positive attitude, an optimistic mood will return the colors of life and will allow you to cope with the disease much faster.

Thus, it can be seen that the advice of a general practitioner is simple and straightforward, but if followed, a person is quite capable of protecting his body from many problems that can affect his health.

After reading this article, you should make one very important conclusion: you should not ignore the body's signals about problems in its functioning. At the first, even minor, symptoms of an impending disease or the appearance of discomfort, you should immediately consult your local doctor. The therapist will help find the cause of the ailment, establish a diagnosis, prescribe effective treatment or preventive measures, and, if necessary, refer you to a more specialized specialist. Only through joint efforts of the doctor and the patient can you achieve maximum treatment effectiveness and expect a positive result of therapy. Trust your doctor and be healthy!