With a COVID vaccine coming soon, now is not the time to let your guard down. In fact, taking charge of your health has never been more important.
By now, you already been practicing things like social distancing, wearing a mask, and coughing/sneezing into your elbow for nearly a year, but if you’re older or have an underlying health condition, extra precautionary steps should be taken.
1. ROUTINE medical visits should be virtual if possible. Especially as COVID cases are spiking, it’s important to avoid close contact with other people whenever possible — and that includes doctors, especially when some medical visits which could be done just as effectively over video chat. This does NOT mean actively delaying care or postponing follow-up visits. A less spoken-of tragedy of COVID is the increases in rates of preventable illness due to delays in care. My advice: keep your medical appointments but find out if your physician offers telemedicine and whether it makes sense for your visit to be done virtually.
2. Keep taking all your medications as prescribed. It’s imperative to continue managing all of your ongoing health conditions as best as possible.
3. Be diligent about refilling prescriptions. It’s best to be proactive and put in a request for the refill when you have at least 7 to 10 days of pills left. A lot of pharmacies offer medication delivery, but this is typically not a same-day service.
4. Stay away from purchasing COVID-19-related products. Don’t fall for this trap. No home remedies, supplements or tinctures have been shown to help prevent or cure COVID-19. Trust the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website for treatment and prevention updates.
5. Nutrition needs to be a priority. If there was EVER a time to focus on eating the right things, this is it! A healthy diet supports immunity, reduces inflammation, and helps fight constipation. Need some help? Find out if Step One Foods is right for you.
At Preventive Cardiology Clinic, care begins with a conversation. We spend time with you to really learn about what symptoms you are experiencing, what your risk factors are, and what you hope to achieve in terms of your health. A typical first consultation with Dr. Klodas takes approximately one hour. During that time, we will go over your general health history, your heart history, your cardiac risk factors and your diet. Please call 952-929-5600 to schedule your consultation today. Learn more.