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Sometimes Life just be Life-ing: Mental Health HYPERawareness
146 Plays6 months ago
Not everything is anxiety or depression. Also, discussions about: switching health providers based on race, election season is upon us, and Equinox gym is trying to scam you out of 40K.
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Transcript
The Cat's Adoption Tale
00:00:18
Speaker
And welcome to another episode of Chocolate with a Sign of Medicine. I am one of your hosts, Dr. Chris, and I'm joined by my three other lovely hosts. We have Amy Jo MD. What's up, y'all? And then we got Dr. Sunshine. What up, what up, what up? And last but not least, Dr. No-No. Hey, guys. All right, so here we go again. Another episode, guys.
00:00:48
Speaker
How are y'all doing? How is your week so far? I swear, if this cat get the zoomies in the middle of this recording, I'm going to have a whole video. Uh-oh. We dealing with a lot of different things now. So for those of y'all who don't know, we were adopted. We were imprinted on by a cat that now comes to our house. Not imprint. Like Twilight? Yeah, definitely got imprinted on.
00:01:12
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Yo, but the cat is sweet. The cat is sweet. Why can't you just say you adopted the cat? Like, it's yours now. I know. The cat definitely is ours. But yeah, so she is more and more comfortable. And so now she has comfortable. Now she gets comfortable enough that she starts. You know how cats do when they start looking around different places, like they get ready to jump up and start running. She starts to do that. And I'm like, you better not.
00:01:41
Speaker
Yeah, we got a cat up in the building. So now you have to train your cat. Correct. You're going to train a cat? What? I don't know. How do you, do you, can you train a cat? You know, cats are their own people. I don't know.
00:01:55
Speaker
Cats really are the young people. They do what they want. They're pretty self-sufficient. It's interesting. They are a combination of being ultra needy and self-sufficient all at the same time. So like, love me, pet me, pet me. But then, OK, that's enough. All right. That's enough. All right. I had enough of you.
00:02:13
Speaker
So, you know, sometimes she leaves out of here and we just don't see her for a couple days. And then she shows back up like nothing ever happened. So my husband was off today. So he's been home all day. So she has been like chilling. So now she won't leave. So she'll be like this for a couple of days and then she'll get bored and she'll take off. Doesn't it make you want to have a pet? Like have a pet for real? We do have one.
00:02:39
Speaker
Sucks. So it's a symbiotic relationship, right? Absolutely. You don't have to really have her 24 seven. She comes and goes and then you take care of her when she's there. Oh my gosh. It is so good. This is a pet with benefits. That's exactly what that sounds like.
00:03:03
Speaker
Oh my God. No labels, no labels, no titles. No labels, no titles. We just press with benefits. We here for a good time. So, you know, we enjoy doing it. Oh my God. Not a long time. Right. You are insane. You are insane. I like that. You know, I could actually have a pet like that.
00:03:23
Speaker
It's great. You can only do with cats too. Dogs, you would never, it would never do, this would not work. Only cats could have this relationship. Dr. Chris, that fits your life perfectly. That's a little, little, little, little does the audience know. Right. It does. Get you a cat. But then, but then y'all gotta be worried if I, if I do that, then I'll have too many cats. Then I'll be a cat lady.
00:03:48
Speaker
That's a lot of work. And you guys have to watch out for that. You can't let me be one. That's not for me. My cousin calls herself a cat lady. She says it's not that bad. She's got two cats. She cool. That's two cats. Cat ladies have 30. Yeah, she got two. She's my younger cousin. But the thing is, the thing is I'm an overachiever, so I'm not going to be OK with just two.
00:04:11
Speaker
Oh, are you an overachiever? Sometimes, when I feel like it. I was like, Dr. Chris, the overachiever says when. OK. When she feels like it. When she feels like it. Lord Jesus. If it works out. And I'm like, oh, this is great. And I'll just keep getting more. And then like, oh, no. Then it's too much.
00:04:32
Speaker
But to answer your question, Dr. Chris, I'm fine.
Cultural Insights from a Persian Wedding
00:04:35
Speaker
I feel like I've been overexerting myself over here. Because yeah, we have the little one. But then we have family visiting from out of the country because they're here to meet him. And then we had a wedding this weekend. And then we went to a Dodger game. It's a lot of moving parts. My in-laws watched the little one for a long time. And I had to pump a lot of milk. A lot of stuff. A lot of stuff.
00:04:59
Speaker
But but overall everything went well and I'm happy we went to the wedding and the Dodger game was fun and everything, you know But you ever like finished doing a whole bunch of stuff and then you sit down and you're like wow I really needed to sit down like I probably don't need any more interaction or any more events for another Two weeks three weeks maybe a month. That's fine It's been a while since I've been to a wedding that I wasn't in to be real
00:05:24
Speaker
Because the last weddings I've been to, I've actually been in the weddings. And I'm like, oh, I forgot what this feels like to go to a wedding and not need to like do anything. So this is actually really nice. Nice to be a guest. You're like, oh my gosh, look at that. That's so pretty. Exactly. I'm like, exactly. I'm like, oh, look at this venue. And oh, what's that? I'll take one of those. Thank you for offering this in order. Thank you. Oh, the Opal Bar too. This is great. Oh my god. It was really nice. And my husband had told me it was a Persian wedding. No idea.
00:05:52
Speaker
No idea. Right. Right. Because his friend from college, he's not Persian. But the wife who's getting married, she's Persian. So it's a Persian wedding. And I'm like, why didn't you tell me it's a Persian wedding? He's like, oh, I know that. I was like, all right. OK.
00:06:07
Speaker
I'm like, are there rules? Are there colors I'm not supposed to wear? I usually like to look stuff like that up, you know, because I know it's some like, for example, I know some like traditional, like Chinese weddings, you're not supposed to wear red, like there's rules and stuff. And he's like, nah, I have to grow all right. I was like, Oh, of course. Oh, my God. Always.
00:06:24
Speaker
Right. Exactly. Whatever you want. But the ceremony was like so interesting. There was a lot of like veils and spices and honey and cinnamon and eggs and apples and stuff. And it was a whole it was a whole thing. And then it turns out they eat late, which I didn't know. So then as soon as we got as soon as we finished like the cocktail hour and you go to the reception hall, they start partying.
00:06:46
Speaker
So the DJ is like, like you walk in there and the party has started. So we're dancing, we're dancing, we're dancing. I'm like, oh, maybe we're just going to dance for five, 10 minutes until like, you know, the bridal party comes out. But the bridal party came out. We kept dancing. The next thing you know, we're like on the dance for like an hour. And then my husband was like, yo, we didn't eat. I'm like, I know. Are we supposed to eat? We didn't eat till like eight, thirty nine o'clock.
00:07:08
Speaker
Oh, wow. Right. And then I asked one of the people who are around, the bride's cousin, and she's like, oh, no, at Persian weddings, we eat after. You party, and then you eat, and then you... Yeah, so it's in reverse. And I was like, what? I'm like, thank the Lord, I'm not diabetic or something, and then took an insulin or whatever. Like, what? See?
00:07:29
Speaker
I mean, the sequence of events is you do the reception, you get your cocktails, you get your orders. As soon as you walk in the ballroom, the DJ is bumping. And I knew it was okay because the bride's family was on the dance floor. So then they're like, oh, come dance, come dance. I'm like, all right, cool. So then everyone's on the dance floor. But then, you know, it was like six.
00:07:51
Speaker
It's seven. It's eight. It's eight thirty. And I'm like, pause. Aren't we supposed to eat because the open bar, you keep drinking, but you got an empty stomach. And I'm like, what am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing? And then they're like, yeah, you know, a pressure when we eat later around like nine. They're like, it's kind of like a running joke. They're like, oh, we're going to make you work for the food. You got to you got to work it off on the dance floor. You got to. I'm like, this is so interesting. Oh, man.
00:08:14
Speaker
And then the food comes and then they do father-daughter dance and all the, you know, all the other stuff later. And they had the ballroom till like midnight and I'm like, okay. What time did it start? Four.
00:08:32
Speaker
This is why you got to pay attention to, you know, when your, when your, your parents tell you, you got to eat before you go. You know, they be trying to go to parties and they tell you got to eat before you go. Cause you don't know what kind of food is going to be exactly. So that's why you always got to eat something before you go out. Cause you don't.
00:08:47
Speaker
But to be fair, they did have really good orders, but I only had like two or three, because I figured we're about to eat, right? But if I didn't know we were eating until nine, I would have been like, oh, run back those chicken, those chicken skewers, where them chicken skewers at? Like run them back, run them back. I had like one egg roll, one chicken skewer, and I'm like, oh, that's cute. That's enough. Let's go eat. But I would have, listen, I'm all out of sorts.
00:09:16
Speaker
I know what kind of wedding it was. I just showed up and look cute, which my husband was very grateful for. He's like, no, you look great. We're good. We're fine. I'm like, but still, geez Louise. So yes, that was my weekend. Then we went to a Dodger game the day after Dodger game was great. Beautiful weather is lovely. And then now I'm just recovering because that's too much social action for me. I'm not back to my normal extrovert self yet. I don't have that kind of energy and my tolerance is real low too.
00:09:40
Speaker
after not drinking alcohol for so long. So now I can just drink one drink and I'm like, whoa, I'm feeling it. So, I'm just a little, yeah, I'm just a little, I'm just a little off, just a little off, but otherwise I'm fine. You just need a little bit more sleep. I know, I need more sleep, more hydration, you know, to get back to my normal, get back to my normal self. Shout out to the in-laws for watching, little man, cause we did a lot.
Fight Night and Family Scheduling
00:10:05
Speaker
My weekend was not as exciting. We went to go see the Tyson Fury, what's that guy's name?
00:10:10
Speaker
The guy he beat, I can't pronounce his name. Oh yeah, I forgot. I meant to watch that fight and I missed it. It was pretty good. They had me on the, I completely thought Fury was going to take it, but old dude knocked him out and like, didn't knock him out completely, but like he was bouncing up against the ropes and everything. I'm like, and Fury is like almost seven feet tall and 200 and like seven. He is a humongous man. And this guy just like,
00:10:40
Speaker
punching the heck out of him and like he's bouncing up against these ropes. And we were all just like, I remember all the guys in the room just like stood up, they were jumping on the couch, someone ran out the door and I'm like, what is going on? I've heard of Tyson Fury through my partner, but I didn't know like how big this fight was. And apparently it's like the biggest heavyweight fight in like the past 20 years, I guess.
00:11:10
Speaker
So it was a pretty, pretty big fight. But we just did that. We had a great barbecue. Smoked chicken is the best. I thought you were going to say smoked. I'm like, oh, for real? Cool, cool, cool. Yeah, on our grill.
00:11:24
Speaker
But no judgment. No judgment. It's cool. It was great. They bought this new house up in the northern neighborhood of Chicago, and it's really cute. So that was our Saturday, and Sunday was chill. I want to also shout out my co-hosts for being awesome, because this recording is rescheduled because of me and my child. So shout out to them, because I love y'all. That's all. Because the babies come first.
00:11:49
Speaker
Yeah, you know and I can't come first and I can't bring the baby on the podcast I just can't y'all wouldn't like that. I would hate y'all would hate me for that. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Yeah, I would It wouldn't be cute like how Beyonce has her kids talking on the mic. It wouldn't be cute like that. It'd be like I'm sure she did a lot of edits a lot of edits exactly. We'll have we'll have that episode
00:12:26
Speaker
No, no, did you? No, no, did you? Did you? I know he's older. No, no, you find your trending topic? Uh, I have two. The one that I really want to talk about is buried in my Instagram. So we will save that for the next time. It's not in your messages? No, I can't find it. I don't know. I think they may have deleted the post. So that's probably why I can't find it. Oh, was it controversial? Right. It was not really. I don't think so.
00:12:49
Speaker
Well, controversy when I found out. Well, first off, what is it about medicine? Because, you know, sometimes you'd be pulling some trending topics that have nothing to do with medicine. What a call out. What a call out. Oh, what a call out. Hey, she would have done the same to me. All right. I
Evaluating Equinox's Lifetime Membership
00:13:07
Speaker
have two. I still love you. One of them is, well, I have two. One of them is soft.
00:13:11
Speaker
We have plenty of time, so if you all want to interject with your own trend and topic, that's perfectly fine. But I just got to. So the Equinox, if you guys have heard, it's like a big orange theory type of fitness chain, essentially. So they just announced that they are starting a $40,000 membership, which claims that they can help their members live longer.
00:13:37
Speaker
So New York Times actually wrote an article on it to see like, is that claim relevant? Turns out it's not. So yeah, so the 40,000 was actually for like the lifetime membership for the Equinox. And Equinox has like pretty much everything under the sun. So they have really nice workout equipment. They have like, you know, juice bars, you know, lap pools, everything you could possibly want in like an actual gym.
00:14:05
Speaker
The question is like, obviously not everyone can afford a $40,000 membership right off the bat. So the claims of saying that they can help you live longer are kind of like a moot point. So a lot of people were kind of arguing like, Hey, who is this membership actually trying to target? And where are the claims coming that, you know, how, how's it going to help you live longer, essentially?
00:14:29
Speaker
I think it's a bunch of BS, but people swear by Equinox and say that it's actually worth the price tag. I beg to differ, but I don't know if you guys have any thoughts on it. 40,000 a year? 40,000, yes. For one year? Annually. Not lifetime. I thought it was a lifetime. No, it's a lifetime. It's a lifetime. Over your lifetime, 40,000 you're paying? Yeah. I got to calculate that. I mean, so how much would that... Well, I guess it depends on how you're living. Well, it's the 40,000 though. It's like upfront though.
00:14:59
Speaker
Oh, you have to pay the $40,000 up front and still pay a gym membership or that's it? I'm assuming that's it. For the article, that's it. And then I get to use it as much as I want. Essentially, yeah.
00:15:16
Speaker
Okay. But there's two factors here. One is, is it worth the money? And the other is, is there claim true that it's going to help you live longer? These are two separate things. Cause right now the girls are talking like, is this a deal? Is it a bargain? How much is the normal membership? Okay. I got it. I am perfectly fine with that. There was no like ridiculous upfront charge with it. And I'm,
00:15:44
Speaker
The bike is down in the basement and I still have trouble going down there to do a workout. So I don't know how 40,000 is going to kind of motivate people. Cause I guess I'm just thinking like, let's say I'm, let's say I'm 20, right. And I got 40,000 to spend if this is what it really is. So if I've got 40,000 to spend, and if I give you that 40,000 upfront, I can use this gym for life. Well, if I use it for the next 40 years.
00:16:10
Speaker
That's not, that's not that much. I am assuming though, I'm assuming that this cannot be $40,000 for life because that would not be, they're not going to make money like that. I mean, if they ask for it upfront and you like kick the bucket tomorrow.
00:16:26
Speaker
Oh, that's on you. Yeah, but the people. Yeah, but no, but the people who the people who got 40,000, not that rich people don't die. But I mean, y'all seen the the royal family, they be living for a long time, right? There's something about people with money. They live long. And so typically people who got their money that are willing to use that money specifically for a gym, you're not gonna
00:16:55
Speaker
it isn't like 40% of those people are gonna drop off, right? So I'm assuming that the majority of them are going to at least live through the stated age, right? So 20 year old, you know, the next 40 years, that puts them at 60. That's not even the average life expectancy. So, you know, they still got another 10, 12 years on top of that, 10 to 17, I guess, if you're really, you know, trying to calculate it and you go from there. So it's gotta be more than just 40,000.
00:17:25
Speaker
I think so too, because if you really think about it, like if you just did a regular membership someplace else, if you calculate how much you spend a year over time, it might equate to about the same amount that they're claiming, in a sense. And what we're talking, we're talking naps, controlled naps with like
00:17:43
Speaker
you know, supersonic, you know, sensation. I mean, what is it that you're giving me that's gonna make me live a long time? Because you can't be giving me no free weights and bench dips, right? Like, that's not gonna come on my life. I mean, am I getting something? Am I getting like a nutritionist? Am I getting like biometrics? Am I getting some kind of accountability call? Like, is somebody drawing my blood?
00:18:05
Speaker
you know, once a month to monitor my kidney liver, you know, lipid panel. Do I get a free A1C every three months just on GP? Like, are you preparing my meals? Right. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, Joe asking about nap pods. Right. All right. I mean, that's a good thing. Because I mean, the diet is like 80% of, you know, of like weight loss and maintaining a healthy, healthy status. But
00:18:30
Speaker
I, it's kind of like to me when they said live longer, I just assumed like, you know, if you go to New York and you try to find the world's best coffee shop, but you see like 30 of them on the same corner, it's kind of like that effect. So I think they were just doing that for a marketing ploy. Um, but like the 40,000, I was trying to rack it in my head to see if this was actually going to be worth it or not, but I don't know. I think I'll just stick with my little.
00:18:54
Speaker
bike downstairs that I need to go use every once in a while. Ain't nothing wrong with good old fashioned exercise. Just ride a bike, go running, whatever, swimming, whatever floats your boat. It's free usually. You'd be all right. So that's, that's that one. And then this one is, this will take like
Amber Rose and Political Controversy
00:19:15
Speaker
two seconds. So we kind of prefaced it before we got onto the, to the podcast. But so as you know, we have a,
00:19:23
Speaker
Well, time out. How political do we want to get? That's up to you. OK. Well, you guys can make it as political as you want. So essentially, Amber rose through her support for Donald Trump. Essentially, Donald Trump took credit for overturning Roe v. Wade, which for our listeners, that is the big landmark case by Supreme Court that essentially had to do with abortion within the United States. So as you know, like going through many states
00:19:53
Speaker
currently are a lot of states that are kind of putting their own legislation in place in terms of women's reproductive health and whatnot. So that's like the big kind of
00:20:06
Speaker
the big hot button topic. Yes. So essentially for the upcoming election, since women's pretty much reproductive rights are on the chopping block right now, the fact that are one of the forerunners for our election to take credit for overturning that is kind of a touchy subject for about half of our population, essentially. So if you're a woman, this pretty much relates to you.
00:20:35
Speaker
So one of our celebrities are gonna throw their hat in for whoever they want, but given that Amber Rose is one of a bigger celebrity that people know to kind of see a lot of their followers follow behind her to support this legislation is a little bit troubling. So yeah, that's something I just picked up today and I was just like, that's disappointing.
00:21:01
Speaker
But as the election goes on, there's going to be celebrities that, well, the celebrities that choose to, if they're smart, I say every celebrity should always remain neutral. Whether you're an actor, a musician, whatever, I think it works better for you marketing wise if you just stay neutral and no one knows that much about your thoughts and feelings. That's me personally.
00:21:19
Speaker
But as the election gets closer, there's going to be lots of celebrities, I'm sure, that are going to kind of tell you their thoughts one way or another, whether they're left, they're right, moderate. And I think that just comes with the election season. I think it happens all the time. I think if it resonates with you, then, of course, she's going to get followers and things like that. But to me, I think that's just par for the course. It is what it is. Yes. I saw it. It was interesting. You know what's funny, though?
00:21:49
Speaker
I actually, you know what, Dr. No, I can't stand you for making me even have to speak on this man, but whatever. You know how the news, social media is always trying to catch you real fast. And so there was a clip that was circulating where Donald Trump was walking and somebody was like, Donald, are you gonna make abortions a nationwide thing?
00:22:19
Speaker
He said, no, so fast. He turned around like, nah, like this is not his, you know, I don't think that that's, I think it, I think it gets the people going. So he knows that, that somebody out there has some, um, you know, some, they see some value in it. Do I think that former president Trump, uh, is daydreaming about the day that he, you know, bans abortions nationwide? Well, no, and he said so.
00:22:44
Speaker
And typically he's not, you know, he does a lot of things. We kind of says whatever he's got on his mind. So he was like, nah, I don't care nothing about that.
00:22:52
Speaker
I kept it moving. Of course there were no other questions because I am sure that they were, you know, waiting for him to be like, yes. He was like, no. So they were like very quiet. Um, but you know, that's just, you know, that is what I thought you were going to mention. Like Diddy, I thought you were going to mention all this other stuff. Like, Oh, I got actually upon my topic, um, Diddy for, uh, next week, but.
00:23:19
Speaker
So you guys remember that kicker from the Kansas City Chief Harrison Bucker? Did you guys see the commitment? You know that trash dude.
00:23:28
Speaker
I mean, you keep pulling this trash. That's all I'm saying. I know. I'm saying trash, trash, trash. So it's not going to be anything fun to talk about. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So and did it even been fun? No, there's lots of things like Gabby trying out for the Olympics. Now she didn't make it. So unfortunately, she had two falls on the bars and then withdrew.
00:23:54
Speaker
So she's essentially ineligible. So just Simon and Simone and who else? Well, there's, you know, Jordan Biles. Jordan is still there. There's Sonny Lee, who was, you know, last year, last Olympics, you know, all-American. So there's still lots of good gymnasts in the game, but I was kind of excited to see Gabby return.
00:24:18
Speaker
because you know I feel like you know everybody's like oh she's been gone so long and blah blah blah but I sincerely feel like that's stress like I don't think you know people are maybe they don't remember but
00:24:32
Speaker
They, oh man, we, she was under so much stress. Her hair, you know, what she looked like, what she sound like. I felt like she was really withdrawn. What was that, Rio? She competed in Rio. She just seemed like she was just not having a good time. And so there was a part of me that was hoping that
00:24:52
Speaker
She even made, you know, the team, even if she did, you know, any event specialist or something like that, because I just want her to, I wanted to see her have a good time because I thought she deserved that.
Gymnastics and Age Challenges
00:25:05
Speaker
Because we're not going to sleep on the fact that, you know,
00:25:10
Speaker
Uh, the flying squirrel definitely brought us some gold medals. So we really, you know, kind of treat her like she didn't do anything sometimes. And I don't, I don't mean we like, you know, as black girls, I think the black girl magic is always flourishing. And so we see her.
00:25:25
Speaker
But I just think that she probably deserves more national recognition than she ever gets day to day. So I was hoping for a comeback. She's still young. So I mean, I don't think she's retiring or anything. She's not gymnastics. She's not gymnastics young. She's over for gymnastics. She's like mid 20s. Yeah. But you, okay. So you got to, there's very few 30 something year old,
00:25:55
Speaker
gymnast competing in the Olympics. There was one. She, and I don't remember what, I think her country was Brazil. I might be messing up. Somebody's gonna correct me, listen, y'all, I know. But there was, and it was such a big deal because she was like either late 20s, early 30s and was competing in the Olympics. Now she was, she didn't medal or anything like that, but you know, just the fact that she was there is, she's 28. So, you know, I don't foresee her
00:26:23
Speaker
you know, competing, you know, for a spot one by the time the next one, which is gonna be in LA, which would be really cool. Oh, nice. Yeah, so, you know, but so it was like, I was so I was so excited to see her to see her there. But she did not she did not she was not able to make it make you do what they do.
00:26:46
Speaker
gymnastics takes it takes such a toll on the body. And especially because gymnastics, I think the entering age for Olympics is 16. Right. I think it's 16. And your body just goes through so many changes between 16 and 28. And just like, you know, like a lot of the repetitive movements that they do, even just like the landing from the vault or the landing off the bar, like it's just a lot of repetitive movements like that. And there's a reason why a lot of women, you know, it's hard for them to come back or take breaks from gymnastics because it's just
00:27:16
Speaker
It's exhausting on the body. It really takes a toll. I mean, it's probably the most, I'd say it's probably the most dangerous sport like in the Olympics as well. So I mean, it's up there just because with the, like the flips and whatnot, like one wrong move and you land wrong, like that could be like a fracture in your spine, your brows. It's
00:27:38
Speaker
Oh my God, girl. I was a gymnast. So when I was little, I did gymnastics for about three years. And then my mom was like, you can't be doing all this stuff. You got to pick your top three things. You can't be in gymnastics and soccer and in the church choir and in Girl Scouts. And my mom's like, you got it. She's like, you got a little brother now. We can't do this. I can't. Anyway, enough about my life. But in gymnastics,
00:28:04
Speaker
I remember we did all of these different drills and all the different things. And I don't know what it was, but I was just deathly scared. Even to this day, the balance beam is not my thing. The beam is just, I think the beam is scary to this day. Yes, yeah.
00:28:22
Speaker
And like the way that they're just kind of like, no, like before you go on the beam, like they put like this line on the ground and they see like if you can stay on the line and try to do all these different things. And then they're like, oh, if you do really good and you stay on this line, they will make the line a little wider and then you'll go to the beam. And I'm like, I have zero desire to go to that. Like I have, even as a child, I'm like, the goal is to go on that. Like I have no desire to do that whatsoever. That's running from the beam and from the,
00:28:49
Speaker
the rings. I don't know what you call those. Well, the men, the men, the men do the men do the rings. Women don't do that. They do the uneven bars. Yes. Yeah. Because the men do the rings, the pommel horse. And either way, don't let me lecture y'all on gymnastics. But just know that. Yeah. The dismounts from all of those, like when they have to do like the quadruple, triple flip in the air and then lay on directly on their feet.
00:29:16
Speaker
Like, that's the part that, like, terrifies me. Because what if you, like, misstep and you, like, land on an ankle or a knee or you hit your head? Like, it's just... Nah, man, I'm more cool. I'm more cool with that than the beam. Yeah, but this one's cool. Don't bother me. All right, that's her bonus topic. I'm terrified of it all. I'm good. Yeah, that part's a terrible... You know, I'm like Dr. Sunshine, so I was a gymnast growing up. I just knew I was going to the Olympics.
00:29:46
Speaker
When they broke the news to me to tell me that, you know, people who were 5'10 and up were not destined to be gymnasts, I was like, what do you mean? Aw, they just crush you.
00:29:59
Speaker
I was born for this. Yeah, they were like, yeah. Actually, you were born for basketball. Which is how I got into basketball. I was at a gymnastics camp. So I was literally at a gymnastics camp. And I met who would eventually become a coach.
00:30:22
Speaker
What are you doing out here? You want to play basketball? Like, no, I don't. And you didn't like look around and see that you're probably the tallest one. And you're just like, I'm sure I was, but it didn't bother me. I was in my element. I was just, you know, I
00:30:40
Speaker
It was a gymnast. It was who I was. Because when you're that tall, it's hard for you to get in the spins that they need you to get into. It's like, oh, they want you to do a certain amount of spins or flips. And it's hard for you to fit them in that space because you're so tall. Correct. I am the most petless person that has more animals. She has more animals. Oh, the dog is coming from over there. So I don't know if they're going to be able to cut this dog out. It's the dog that's coming. The door is closed.
00:31:10
Speaker
And I don't know what this dog is barking at. We haven't, I've got new neighbors coming in, which is fine. My neighbors are great, but you know, I've kind of lived, um, I've been lucky that we've not had neighbors to the left or to the right of us, but you know, as our, as our town halls have gone up for sale, cause they stopped renting and they're selling them to people.
00:31:28
Speaker
People are moving in. So, you know, most times this is folks letting their pets out for that last night, you know, rendezvous and it's beautiful out tonight. So, you know, the weather is good. So he is out here barking at something that we cannot see. And I can't go outside and tell him to be quiet. Anyhoo. So, yeah.
00:31:45
Speaker
Gymnastics, I forgot what I was saying, but yeah, I definitely thought I was going to be a gymnast. I ended up being a basketball player. It worked out. Yeah, it did. Yeah, it did. I was like, I want to be a cheerleader. So I was a better cheerleader and gymnast than I was a basketball player, if you can believe that. Oh, did I tell you I'm going to the Olympics? Yes, we know. Yes. OK. I'm the one who told you to get your life in order before you go, remember?
00:32:11
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that's right. I did. I'm getting my life in order. Okay, good. Look at you. Look at you. See, you got the friend that tells you to get your life in order and you got the friend that's like, it don't matter, just go. Correct. It'll all work out on its own.
00:32:41
Speaker
Dr. Chris, everybody needs balance. But anyway, OK, I'm going to transition us to the main topic. But just know that there's a whole bunch of mess that I know that no one wants to talk about, whether it's Diddy and also like y'all kicked to the Kendrick and Drake to this episode. But we're not going to talk about this episode either. We can talk about it whenever y'all want.
00:32:58
Speaker
At some point, there's a lot of petty things that have nothing to do with medicine that these girls want to talk about. So maybe we'll fit it in somehow, some way, in some episode. I don't know when. But just know that we're aware. Really quick, I'm going to send a quick message to Dr. Nono because it's the article that I'm going to talk about.
00:33:21
Speaker
And this is not that deep, y'all. Like, I promise you, this is not a deep discussion. It's more so for us to talk to each other. But I came across an article. This is just going to be a general discussion. And it also could have been a trending topic. We're just going to talk about it in general. So there's an article that came out in Forbes a couple of days ago. And it's kind of on par with a lot of chatter that's been happening on social media and stuff too.
00:33:47
Speaker
So the article is basically written by this doctor, he's a psychologist, and he's basically saying that we're having a problem in the mental health realm with a mental health hyper awareness. So basically in this article, he talks about how he feels like as a society, we may have or we might, we might have begun over correcting
00:34:12
Speaker
the awareness for mental health because there was a timeframe where people didn't really know what it was. They didn't know what was going on. They're like, what? Anxiety, depression, what's that? And then we've kind of gone through this like renaissance where everyone's very aware of mental health. And then now he's like, we're getting into this realm of hyper awareness where it's all anyone wants to talk about. And people think that everything is depression and everything is anxiety and everything is some type of health condition.
00:34:38
Speaker
And he basically, the article's kind of lengthy. It's in Forbes. I sent the link to Nono. So she'll post it on our episode if you want to click on it and read it. It's very interesting. But he basically talks about a couple of facets that have kind of leaned into this. One of them, of course, is social media.
00:34:55
Speaker
which also perpetuates the second thing, which is misinformation. There's also the factor of the lack of access for people to get in to see. Healthcare providers like psychiatrists and psychologists to make formal diagnosis, which leads to another facet he talks about, which is people self-diagnosing themselves.
00:35:15
Speaker
I can't get in to see a psychiatrist or anyone. So I just think that I have depression, I have anxiety, I have this, I have that. And then it turns into this thing where you're trying to normalize everyone having a mental health condition when in fact,
00:35:31
Speaker
That's not the case. You're human. You are allowed to just have emotions and like be sad or be happy or be this or be that. He's like, there's a realm, you know, there's a there's a spectrum of normal there where you're living life and things happen and everything isn't like a major diagnosis. So the article is really interesting. This also came into my mind because there is recently an incident, which I don't know if you guys are following it, with Amanda Seals.
00:35:58
Speaker
I just wrote that down. Yo. OK. Not to get too deep into it, because I didn't watch a whole interview with Amanda Seals. For those of you who don't know who Amanda Seals is, she is a comedian. She's an actress. A lot of people might know her from being Tiffany on Insecure, who's with Derek. And they have the perfect family, and Tiffany. But she does a lot of other work. She has a huge social media following anyway.
00:36:22
Speaker
Apparently, she did an interview long story short. She basically said that she is autistic, like she's on the spectrum. And then like later on in the interview, I guess she said that she actually didn't get a clinical diagnosis. She diagnosed herself as being autistic. And then it caused like this whole kerfuffle about how can you diagnose yourself with having autism? Are you guys aware of this? It's a whole thing. I didn't see the whole interview, but I'm aware that this is what happened because people were giving her all kind of like
00:36:49
Speaker
That was the reason why her and Issa had beef like on the set and there was like a lot of strained relationships there because of her autism diagnosis. Like she has different interactions with other people in a different way that like a neurodivergent versus a neuro, what's the word, neurotypical person would have and that's kind of what strained their relationship.
00:37:17
Speaker
Which, I don't know. Is that what the interview was about? It was part of that. No, but that's always been the running.
00:37:27
Speaker
I disagree with that. But again, I wasn't there, so I can't pretend like I know it. Up until her admission of autism, I did not think that that was the reason why she was... Because she has had a longstanding complaint that she feels like an outsider in this inner circle. That has always been the case, right? So there was rumblings that...
00:37:56
Speaker
On the set, she wasn't vibing well with Issa. There was Issa and her crew and then there was Amanda and those crews were not the same. And so she felt really slighted. And then there came the, was it the Oscar party or some party where she went and was not on the list. They did not let her in. So there was this whole big, you know,
00:38:15
Speaker
incident with that and then if you follow her and I do I follow her every now and then I take a look at her lives. It comes up often enough that every now and then there is a conversation that she does not feel as accepted by the people that are working in the same industry.
00:38:33
Speaker
And I just think that that's just because of her personality. Like, I don't know that I would really consider her. I did not. I do not look at her personality and think, oh, she's autistic. This is not me saying that Amanda Seals is not autistic. I have not assessed Amanda Seals, so I don't know. And I would give her the same liberties. I would give any patient that walked in my, in my office. If you tell me that's your diagnosis, we work with that work and diagnose and then work our way down. If we need to adjust that diagnosis later.
00:39:01
Speaker
We would do that. So for the record, if Amanda Seals came in and told me she had autism, it would go down as a diagnosis list. And we'd say, well, are you being treated? Who are you seeing all this kind of stuff for the record? But I thought that her conflict was just because, you know, she calls it how she sees it. She's very politically aware. She has very strong thoughts and opinions about things that are often controversial.
00:39:22
Speaker
and she does not hold her tongue for anybody. And so to me, her feeling- Ostracized. Ostracized is just a byproduct of how she decides to roll, right? She's standing on her business and whatever sacrifice it is, that's what I've always thought. So I was a little taken aback to hear this autism thing thrown in the mix. I was like, whoa, where'd that come from?
00:39:48
Speaker
Yeah, I was too, and I agree with you too. I think the whole issue is that she said she was, but she didn't get a formal diagnosis. So I think people do that all the time. Right, but I guess people would have thought that if she's going to say that, that she would have gotten a clinical diagnosis.
00:40:09
Speaker
Now, I'm so torn, because this is going to break us into something all the way different. I'm sorry to the sunshine if this is coming up. No, you're fine. But this brings me into how many adults do we see? And I'm like, damn, I think your ass is autistic. Or you got ADHD. Right. And I always wonder if, because of your socioeconomic background or your skin color, if this was just marked as bad behavior or
00:40:37
Speaker
who, you know, it depends on who saw it, right? So I'm always wondering that if you went to a school that was well resourced and teachers were not overwhelmed and overloaded, will somebody have looked at you when you're younger?
00:40:49
Speaker
and said, hey, this is not somebody behaving badly. Maybe we need to have them assessed. I don't know what her background is, but I know that I see other patients that have similar diagnoses that have gone undiagnosed. And I'm always wondering like, well, how did we miss this? And when you talk to them, they kind of have similar stories of they were always in trouble in school or well, they got switched over to the, you know, special needs program, but
00:41:16
Speaker
They had an IEP, but it doesn't seem that there was anything to come of it. So maybe she was missed. I don't know. I mean, she could have been missed. Let me say that. She could have been missed and overlooked and not diagnosed appropriately when she was little. I agree with that. And I think that is possible, right? I mean, that all of that could have happened because I do feel that she is someone that just states her opinion and says what she feels.
00:41:46
Speaker
Now what's interesting is, side note y'all, I did not mean to make this about Amanda Seals, but we can consider this a topic and a trending topic. Anyway, but what's interesting about it is within the autism community, like in their support systems for each other, they do value self-diagnosis. They do.
00:42:06
Speaker
as in like they are aware that it's hard to get diagnosed with autism. A lot of them talk a lot about how much money it costs to get diagnosed with autism and the appointments and the things that some people don't have insurance and some people can't afford it. I think Amanda Seals made a reference as to how much it would have cost her to actually get the formal diagnosis. So she diagnosed herself. That's in that interview somewhere, too. But within the autism support group community, it's acknowledged. But then in the medical community,
00:42:36
Speaker
Self-diagnosis is not a thing. You need to be assessed. You need to be assessed. Assessment, a plan. You put a diagnosis on it. We put a code on it. It's a whole thing. So the article really goes into that, too. Just a lot of self-diagnosis, a lot of people thinking they have things that they don't. Perpetuated by social media. Influences, of course, are a factor there, too.
00:43:01
Speaker
And it really emphasizes the fact that, hey, we have tools that we use to diagnose depression, PHQ-9. We have a tool we use to diagnose anxiety, the GAD-7. You should go to actually license professionals to get these formal diagnoses, and then we can worry about treatments and how that affects you, things like that. But everything is not depression. Everything is an anxiety. Everything is not autism. It's just not all. Everybody doesn't have a diagnosis.
00:43:31
Speaker
TikTok and see like a million different influencers using like different mannerisms like throughout the house the diagnosis lady HD or I Can't tell you I don't know how I got on that Algorithm, but they just keep popping up. I'm like I do that normally why do I do I have ADHD? um but it's just I think that's I want to read the article and it's like into entirety but I
00:43:59
Speaker
I definitely think there's a hyper awareness going on between the terms of like neurodivergent and neurotypical, which I think are now new, newer terms in the lexicon to kind of describe behaviors that are not, you know, not part of the societal norms of how we should conduct ourselves in public, essentially.
00:44:18
Speaker
A neurodivergent for people I don't know are essentially people with like ADHD or autism or on the spectrum diagnosis, where you have different behaviors or attitudes or things that are not typical of what a neurotypical person or, you know, quote, air quotes, a normal person that would, you know, react in public or society, which those terms itself are very vague.
00:44:46
Speaker
typically like using them in actual practice, but those have been thrown around everywhere on social media and people are now trying to like put themselves in either one of those two boxes for like a mental health diagnosis, which is interesting.
00:45:02
Speaker
But you know what the thing is though? I think that originally, especially during COVID, originally, I feel like social media, I feel like this is originally formed to be helpful.
Mental Health: Awareness vs. Over-diagnosis
00:45:12
Speaker
People are just trying to help other people and being like, hey, I went to the doctor. It turns out I have depression. This is what I learned. And just trying to help inform others and just trying to, originally, I think it started off as being very helpful.
00:45:26
Speaker
Um, but then of course, like everything else in social media, it gets oversaturated. There's some misinformation. There are some people that are so scared of getting depression or being depressed that now you're hyper focused on it. And then it makes you depressed, like a self-fulfilling prophecy almost because you're so focused on this thing. And you're like, Oh my God, Oh my God, do I have this? Do I have this? And you're reading all the symptoms. Next thing you know, you start experiencing the symptoms. It's like, it's like, you know,
00:45:51
Speaker
reading about something that has lice and it's like, oh my God, your skin is itchy. Oh my God, my skin is itchy. Do I have lice? It's like, no, it's just, it's just relax, just chill. But there's a lot of, and he talks about that too, like kind of like the self-fulfilling prophecy because you are so hyper focused on this condition that you're wondering if you have it and you eventually give it to yourself. So that's more of the article too. So it's, it's a lot, it's interesting.
00:46:17
Speaker
The human mind is crazy. It's a lot. But I think we all have levels of anxiety, depending on what situation. We all get anxious sometimes. We all get sad sometimes. We have all these different emotions. But it doesn't necessarily mean that you have a diagnosis of depression or anxiety. Sometimes people just go through some rough times.
00:46:48
Speaker
It's tough right now and you're sad and it's taken a little bit of time, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you're like super depressed or maybe you just, there's also variations of the diagnoses as well. I mean, when it gets to the point where it's like interfering with what you do from day to day, like you can't function at home, you can't function at work or in society, that is where something is wrong and you need to talk to somebody.
00:47:15
Speaker
friend, your doctor, therapist, because when it gets to that level, that's where, okay, you know, this potential to go south very quickly. And if you have the signs and you're exhibiting them, and you can't function now because of those, and that's when we need to start talking about, okay, what can we do to help to remedy this essential?
00:47:37
Speaker
But what I also find, and Dr. Sunshine kind of mentioned, it's a really interesting situation because there is this influx of this acceptance to at least be curious about being undiagnosed with some kind of mental health issue, depression, anxiety, PTSD, adjustment disorder, acute stress disorder, I mean, you name them. But I also have noticed that
00:48:05
Speaker
any sensation. So just like Dr. Chris said, like sometimes you get anxious about things or sometimes there are elements of depression, like they kind of happen, they come and go. But I have found that now people are in one or two categories. They want to do nothing about it or you need to fix any variation of a neutral emotion, right? Like they are only supposed to feel calm,
00:48:30
Speaker
and at ease, and if anything enters in, any level of anxiety, they're there, they're in your office, they need to talk about it right now. And so now I feel like more and more since the pandemic, I'm finding myself having to balance the conversation and say, well, maybe this is healthy. I don't expect you to feel well if you are getting ready to move to a new state or just got a new job,
00:48:59
Speaker
or you don't like your boss or you are getting a divorce, right? You know, I think people come in and they're just like, you know, I need something. I can't feel like this. Like, that's the new thing. I can't feel like this. What's going on? I'm getting a divorce and I feel sad. Like, I don't know what's going to happen. And I'm thinking, well,
00:49:22
Speaker
That's legit, like divorce is serious, right? It's a major life event. So I would expect you to feel something, but it is now the expectation that you make me feel good. And I'm like, I don't know how to do that. So I have more of those conversations. It's kind of like how we got into pain as the fifth vital side.
00:49:43
Speaker
or yeah, yeah, that scenario. So yeah, I mean, anxiety can be uncomfortable. But you know, I also feel like especially with the patients that I had at my previous job, not this one.
00:49:58
Speaker
Um, sometimes they want some, there are some patients who want the label of anxiety or depression because they feel like it gives them closure for everything they've ever felt their whole life. They're like, Oh my gosh, that's why I'm like this. Oh, I have anxiety. This makes sense. Thank you so much doc. Cause they just want to.
00:50:16
Speaker
put a label on everything and once you put the label on it, it makes them feel better. Like it's supposed to be the explanation for all of their problems. And that's not necessarily the case because like Amy Jo and Dr. Chris just said, life will throw different things at you and there are moments where you're going to feel down. And then when there's moments you're going to feel happy or anxious or sad or like life is a huge variable.
00:50:40
Speaker
You know what I mean? And everything doesn't have to be this diagnosis. And mind you, for those that are listening and wondering, there is a formal way that we diagnose it. So for example, I will not go through the formal diagnosis with you. But if we're thinking about depression, they're going to ask you about your sleep, your interest in things you love, do you feel guilty, your energy, concentration, appetite. There's a whole list of things we ask you about.
00:51:02
Speaker
And then for anxiety, we ask you about feeling of restlessness and worry. And does it affect your day-to-day inability to do your normal activities? There's set ways that we assess you. And we also have to assess how long you've been feeling this way. And then once we get the diagnosis, then we talk about treatment. And that's if you fit into that category.
00:51:23
Speaker
you know, everything is not, you know, a major medical diagnosis. Sometimes it just be life and life be life and sometimes it's not great. And sometimes it's wonderful. And you just got to roll with the punches. But one thing I will strongly encourage you guys to do is to really ask your health professional and your mental health professionals some things and not to just go buy what's on Instagram and tick tock and these lives and things because
00:51:48
Speaker
I don't want you to end up down a rabbit hole and then things get sketch and shit gets weird. Shit gets real weird. And then y'all come into our office asking us about all this weird shit. And I'm like, what's, what's, what's, what's popping? And I think you also need to have an idea of what you want, right? So I am surprised at how many people show up just to declare their mood, right? I'm depressed. Okay. Okay.
00:52:17
Speaker
What do you want to do about it? Well, I don't know. And you start throwing out all these things. Well, I need to do a little bit more research on it. Listen, you knew when you came in here that if you told me that you had a mood disorder, depression, anxiety, something, we were going to assess it and make a decision. If we agree with you that this is indeed an issue.
00:52:38
Speaker
And then we were going to make a plan and it's fine if the plan is to, you know, not do medicine because people always, you know, I'm depressed. I don't want any medicine though. I'm like, okay, there's other ways to, you know, approach it. You don't have to take medicine for depression and anxiety, although I would argue
00:52:56
Speaker
that, you know, if you if you treat it, your mood disorders with a multi discipline approach, so behavioral health, cognitive behavioral therapy with medications that your recovery seems to be, you seem to have a higher rate of full recovery than you do if you kind of let it linger and draw out. That's neither here nor there. We can have conversations about that. But you do have to be thoughtful about
00:53:23
Speaker
what can we do for you so that you get the maximum benefits out of a particular encounter when you're coming to express that your mood has been disrupted? Cosine, and that's it. See, it wasn't long. It's short. It's sweet. Talk to your doctors. Talk to your health professionals, please. That's the main message out of all this. That's a take-home message. But the article is very interesting because we are in an age of hyper-awareness. So it's a whole thing.
00:53:53
Speaker
And you can just be depressed or anxious. It doesn't have to become an existential crisis because I think that people look up and they feel stuff and they're like, oh my God, I feel something. Let me call because this isn't it. I get people often that are like, yeah, I've been crying. When did it start? Last week. And I'm like, OK. OK.
00:54:19
Speaker
what happened? Oh, something significant. So something legit happened. And I'm like, Oh, okay. And they're like, yeah, but when is it going to stop? And I'm like, well, it's not a cold. Like it doesn't run its course, you know, like that. Um, it depends. It depends on you. Is this your first time doing it? This is your third time. Are you a seasoned professional or you know, you're a newbie. It can, it has so many variables. And so
00:54:44
Speaker
I'm not telling people not to go see their doctor. I'm actually telling you to see your doctors and have a conversation and be open to doing nothing and everything. Because sometimes we do nothing. Sometimes we say, hey, listen, I acknowledge that what you're saying is legit.
00:55:00
Speaker
I empathize with the situation you're in. I can validate that the thing that happened to you is making you feel bad, and it is my full expectation that this is the set of emotions that you could have for this thing. I will validate you, I will empathize, and we'll make a follow-up plan to say, let's check back in to see how this goes. This could get better without us intervening, but if we have to, we will. Sometimes the answer is nothing. Sometimes the answer is,
00:55:39
Speaker
We got one question, y'all. Just one question. We're gonna keep it real cute. All right, so this is a listener that is asking for some advice. So I'm gonna summarize. So essentially, it sounds like this person had a primary care doctor that they liked, but that primary care doctor was white.
00:56:05
Speaker
They switched because they found an African-American provider. And now that they've gotten with the African-American provider, they are not super excited about being with this provider. And so now they're stuck. They're trying to figure out, do they thug it out with the African-American provider because culturally they match? Or do you go back to your white doctor? I mean, which one did she have the most rapport with?
00:56:31
Speaker
Which one did she trust? Which one did she feel like listened to her concerns? Which one was, when you sat down in the room, what felt more like a just natural conversation versus it being forced and you not having your stuff listened to?
00:56:51
Speaker
I don't think she wins all that, but I'm under the impression that when she looks at both, it seems that she had the better connection and there's the better overall relationship with the doctor who happened to be white. So there is a doctor who happened to be white, there's a doctor who happened to be black. She seems more bonded and more connected to the doctor that happens to be white. I hope it's a she, because I just gave you a gender, sorry.
00:57:16
Speaker
The white doctor is the person that they seemed more bonded with than the black doctor. But she left the white doctor practice and she's over with the black doctors. Not that she doesn't like the black doctor, but it's just, man, she thought she had better rapport with her previous doctor.
Choosing the Right Doctor: Culture vs. Comfort
00:57:34
Speaker
But the clock's always open. They can come back. I can see this. I can see this being one of those situations where it's like, if it's a scale of 1 to 10, you get this white guy that's your doctor, and he's like a 7 out of 10. He's pretty good, not perfect. And then you're like, oh, man, I'm black. There's this other black doctor. Let me switch, because maybe it's a 10 out of 10. And then you go see that doctor, and you're like, oh, man, this is like a 3 out of 10. Like, damn.
00:57:57
Speaker
And you already made the switch. And then it's like, well, do I switch back or do I stay with this Black doctor and give them a chance? Or do I go back to what I know, even though it was seven out of 10? Nothing's close to perfect anyway. But I agree with Dr. Nono and what she's trying to get across. And it's really about who you feel the best rapport with.
00:58:15
Speaker
And I think that if you have a doctor who you feel like listens to you, you guys are on the same page, can form plans together, and you feel more heard and understood, and you feel more confident in that bond, then I would stick with that doctor even if they happen to be white. Despite your thoughts about white versus black, in terms of your health care where you feel comfortable, that's where I would go. I agree. I agree with that. As much as there is a benefit to being seen by people who understand you culturally,
00:58:46
Speaker
We are not a monolith. I tell patients, even in my own practice, we are not a monolith. We are good doctors. The doctors you're talking to, I'll stand on business. We are all good doctors. We are not good doctors for everybody. So there are moments in time where you meet someone and you know immediately, like, this is not gonna work.
00:59:15
Speaker
not because the knowledge isn't there, not because you cannot be empathetic, not because you can't care, not because you can't make good care plans, but there's something about the chemistry that's missing. So they're not gonna leave with that same built-in buying power, that same satisfaction that your other 20 patients that you saw today are gonna get. And so there's some moments where I've never sent anybody out,
00:59:43
Speaker
But there also been moments where somebody has decided to not come back and I have been like, I get that, because that chemistry was not, we're not good. We're not a good chemistry. And they should find somebody else, even if that's in our own practice. So yeah, you've got to find something that makes sense. And if somebody is listening to you,
01:00:03
Speaker
Um, but that's fine. Cause whether we're black and white, we're all individuals with, with our quirks and our own personalities. So there can be a black doctor out there that does not listen as well as your, as their white counterpart. I think that the, what, the thing that you're hitting on is that I think when you are black in medicine and to be such an extreme minority, you pick up a different skill set. Like there's a different sensitivity to the environment around you.
01:00:32
Speaker
to training in places where you're the only Black person, that it wasn't our experience, but we are a rare group, right? Most Black docs train in environments where there's only one, maybe two of them. And so you spend a lot of time being acutely aware of the environment because you got to make sure that you blend in and assimilate
01:00:55
Speaker
appropriately. And so that develops some empathy. So when you see people that look like you and they've got these stories about how they weren't heard or how somebody didn't get that, you feel that because you understand it in so many ways while you're navigating medical fields as a student and then as a resident and now as an attending. So I think that there is some benefit to seeing people of color because our experiences give us advantages in talking to people like you.
01:01:22
Speaker
But that's not everybody. I know a couple of black now doctors that were black med students that became black residents. And I don't know that I thought that they felt privileged to have a black experience going through the process. They were like, no homie, I wanna be like them. I wanna be like everybody else. And that's not a fault against them. It's just that some of them don't relate.
01:01:50
Speaker
It's not often. Not often. Most Black docs are like, oh, I know why I'm here and I'm aware on what I take to get here. But some are like, it's good. We all the same. And we're not. We're not.
01:02:08
Speaker
We're good, we're all good, but we're not all the same. And some people run into more problems with that than others. Shout out to my very black residency for allowing me to feel safe. All I'm saying is just because they black doesn't necessarily mean they're for you, okay? Because sometimes you could think that the black person got your back, but they really don't. And it has nothing to do with the color of their skin. It's more so about
01:02:36
Speaker
their ideals, their personality. And I always tell patients, you should go with the person that you feel has your best interest. And maybe you have an interaction with me and you don't feel that I have your best interest. I mean, maybe I came off that I didn't.
01:02:55
Speaker
That's not, that's not how I want to come off, but maybe that's what you, what you've got. And you feel that we're not a good match and that's okay. It's always okay. To the person who wrote the question. I mean, don't feel, if you feel like you need to go back to the, your previous doctor, I mean, they, this happens all the time in primary care. So don't feel ashamed like you're slinking through the door. Like, Oh, I'm back to get care.
01:03:25
Speaker
We love to have you back, so don't worry about that. If you have to, you're shaking your head. No? No. It depends. Okay, it depends on the person or the patient. If you dipped off, listen here, if you dipped off, then just show back up and act like you didn't dip off, okay?
01:03:46
Speaker
Like, if you didn't leave on bad terms, then it's cool working with you. But if you left like, yelling, screaming, like, ow, can everyone come back here again, then.
01:03:57
Speaker
Yeah, that might be a problem. But it sounds like you probably just left on good terms. So if you just make your next appointment, nothing happened. Everything's Gucci. You're good. And just carry on. Yeah, because as long as you have people coming back, you could come back. Yeah. Yeah. If I fire you, you could come back. But if I fired you and you ain't supposed to be back, then you can't come back. A lot of people don't know doctors can fire patients.
01:04:26
Speaker
So it can happen in the clinic and it can happen in the hospital. So again, we're all like, what? You can't fire me? That's so funny, but then you fire me, but I can't fire you. Yeah, because they just fire us all the time. Like, oh, you're fired. Oh, yeah. Which is fine. Now, here's if you call me, if you call me to make an announcement that you're leaving, like,
01:04:55
Speaker
you made it your business to make sure I knew that you were leaving. And again, this doesn't, I don't think this happens to anybody that is on this podcast often. I'm okay with that. Like I understand, but don't declare, you know, you out and then, you know, show back up, you know, later. And I've had that, I've had somebody attempt that like just casually make an appointment like, yeah, I just need to get in. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You said you were leaving.
01:05:25
Speaker
I got a dissertation still sitting in your chart where you made sure that we understood that you had to move on as somebody else. And that's fine, but nah, no. Because I don't want the stress, right? I don't want you to come back and be like, dang, this is the reason why I didn't come. And it's always all kinds of things, right? Sometimes it's not even about you as a doctor. Maybe you don't like the staff. You don't like the check-in process, right? When you start asking people,
01:05:54
Speaker
They leave for all kinds of reasons. The bathroom wasn't clean. I don't like that I got to sit in the room to get my labs at certain times. I don't know. But we need people to be excited to have their appointments. We want people to feel good when they walk out the door. If you don't feel good walking out the door, you got to go back to where you feel good or find another doctor.
01:06:13
Speaker
I agree. Thank you for the question. Listener. Check us out on our website at www.thechocolatemds.com. Feel free to check us out on social media. We're on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. I forgot the other two. Oh, spill, spill, spill and Instagram. All the things. All the things. Our handle is the same. It's at the chocolate MDS.
01:06:41
Speaker
Please feel free to send us questions, DM, swell wishes, advice, comments. We welcome all of it. And we will see you again on the next recording. Goodbye, my love.