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Parenting Guide: Health & Wellness

A Glut of Information


Doctors are generally encouraged by patients doing online research about their health, but warn that it comes with certain risks.

As a family and urgent care physician for the past 30 years, Dr. Tim Hendrix can recall a time early in his career when patients would regularly bring in magazine clippings, worried about the so-called “disease of the week.” More often than not, their concerns about experiencing similar symptoms and possibly having the ailment they read about ended up being nothing to be alarmed about.

Nowadays, the information is of course much more easily accessible, and instead of printed articles, people just show Dr. Hendrix their smartphone or tablet. But his stance on patients doing their research remains the same—while there are risks involved, overall it is wise to be active in your own health plan, he believes.

“It’s the same situation [but] more people have instantaneous information on the internet and it becomes more about Dr. Google than the disease of the week,” says Dr. Hendrix, the medical director of AdventHealth Centra Care. “We’ve seen that transformation over the years, but people are motivated by the health information, which is encouraging. I think it’s just a matter of it taking time to work through that information with patients.

“I’m a family doctor, so my main job is education and prevention. I encourage all of my patients to become better informed about their health, and there’s a lot of information that they have access to, which is very helpful to maintain their health. But you have to take the good with the bad.”

Dr. Reo Peniston, chief of family medicine for Community Health Centers Inc., agrees that there are advantages to people having insight into certain conditions.

“My patients are more informed, and doing their own research can be a benefit,” he says. “If the patient and physician work as a team, then the information obtained will assist with shared medical decision-making. This, in turn, will help patients adhere to the treatment plan.”

Dr. Chirag Panchal, a board-certified family medicine physician with Orlando Health Physician Associates, is encouraged by patients being better advocates for themselves and knowing more about their history and potential risks. He just warns that differentiating between the accurate and misleading information available online can be difficult.

“The human body is very complex,” he says. “A simple search for something like ‘stomach pain’ could lead to results ranging from minor issues like acid reflux to life-threatening conditions such as colon cancer. The uncertainty can cause significant anxiety. This apprehension can discourage people from seeking out proper medical care for fear of a life-threatening diagnosis. As a result, a delay in diagnosis could occur, leading to a poorer prognosis in the long run.

“There is danger in overreacting and underreacting. People may find information online that suggests their symptoms are harmless. As a result, they may ignore or minimize their symptoms when they could be a warning sign of serious illness.”

Along with the undue stress that reading about one’s symptoms may cause, Dr. Hendrix has additional concerns.

“I think the bigger risk is that people might avoid a medication I’ve prescribed because they read something online about it, or they delay treatment because of things they’ve read online or because they’re seeking out alternative or unproven therapies for a serious condition that delays their care,” he says. “There’s a lot of risk associated with it, but people can definitely become stressed when they read the details of their possible health condition. For instance, if you look up any symptom, you’re going to get a long, scary list of diseases, and it takes a physician to help you sort through the possibilities. Common things are more likely to be common.”

The issue becomes a bit trickier when children are involved. Parents are understandably going to be even more worried when reading about a possible disease afflicting their son or daughter.

“That all is going to be a part of both being a health care provider and being a parent from now until the end of time,” says Dr. Robert Dorman, a colorectal surgeon at Nemours Children’s Health. “That’s something we call have to come to terms with. The key is, identifying reliable resources—Nemours Children’s Health is a great example—that have vetted and reviewed information that you can trust to be accurate. I think educating yourself is a great thing. Parents who educate themselves about their child’s condition through reliable sources are great advocates for their kids … and their kids have better outcomes, because their parents are more active participants in the process.”

Fortunately, there are plenty of trustworthy resources available if patients do their homework.

“The sources for their research should include credible medical websites such as WebMD, Medline Plus, Medical News Today or medical journals like the New England Journal of Medicine,” Dr. Peniston says. “Patients can even read medical textbooks. The source of medical research is important, as patients needs to make sure they have the correct information and most updated information regarding their signs and symptoms.”

“I always encourage patients to research their condition and understand it better,” Dr. Panchal adds. “Knowledge is empowering. Look for reputable websites like government health agencies and nonprofit organizations, i.e. CDC, NIH, American Heart Association, etc. Use multiple sources to confirm things you may be reading online. Be intentional about seeking out reliable and trusted medical sources, and remember, the internet is never a substitute for your own doctor.”

Since social media and the pandemic have led to more questioning from the public about medical advice, establishing trust in the doctor-patient relationship has become more important than ever.

“The best thing you can do is have a strong relationship with your primary care provider, a family physician that you know and trust, and you can ask those questions to them,” Dr. Hendrix says. “There’s definitely a lot of questioning going on after the pandemic, questioning about science, and science is complex, it’s not easy. If somebody gives you an easy answer, that is something I would immediately not trust—I would want to have more evidence. Doctors deal in science, they deal in evidence-based medicine, they want to know the facts, they want to know the studies and they want to review the studies. If it’s a study that has three participants, that’s probably not as reliable as a study that has 300 participants, but your physician knows how to tease those out, and hopefully you develop a relationship where they can give you information and answers that you trust.”

Dr. Dorman believes online research can be an effective tool, but personal interactions remain ideal.

“Fundamentally, I think people still trust people more, especially if they’ve got a personal relationship with you and you show them that you care about them,” he says. “I think that will be the way that we deal with misinformation and even disinformation that gets out there. We all went through the pandemic and the challenges of trying to get accurate information to people, and in the end, it was sitting down face to face, even with masks on at that time, and letting people know that you care, you do think hard about these problems and that you have experience, and most of the time that’s not much of a challenge if people realize that you’re on their team.”

 

Setting a Good Example


When parents make a commitment to fitness, their children typically learn to love exercise too.

If they don’t know it before they become mothers and fathers, new parents soon learn that their children will intently watch everything that they do and usually end up copying the behavior. That includes their commitment to fitness—if they often sit lazily around the house, the kids might end up a couch potato as well. But if they are the types who prefer to stay active, the youngsters will likely follow their lead.

“I definitely believe that when parents exercise and model it as part of regular daily life, it has a powerful impact on their children’s habits and attitudes toward physical activity,” says Justin Higa, the executive director for the Roper YMCA family center in Winter Garden. “Certainly, the early exposure helps them establish a foundation for lifelong habits—no different than riding a bike or learning to swim. The earlier you can expose children to fitness and physical activity as a family, [the better]. But also you want to keep things positive and fun. Find out what your children enjoy doing, and also what you as parents enjoy doing, because that will play a big part in whether it’s an activity that is sustainable. There’s no one way to approach fitness—it’s about finding the right opportunities for you and your kids.”

Central Florida has many such opportunities, including a program called Mindful Start Family Yoga, offered by the Orange County Library System at its Winter Garden, West Oaks and Southwest locations and run by local yoga teacher Stav Pinder.

“The kids learn the basics of yoga, but the teacher incorporates a lot of other storytelling activities, so they’re moving and having fun,” says Kathryn Thorp, branch manager in Winter Garden. “There’s a puppet, they do parachute play, and it is something we are really proud to offer because it is so popular and the families love it. We get a whole range of kids, from really young—toddlers and preschoolers—to young elementary school kids.”

Thorp says that laughter often fills the library on Monday mornings, when the class is held. A second session had to be added because the program has become so popular.

“A lot of times, the parents are down on the floor or they might help with the kids,” she says. “Sometimes they just sit back and let them go. They’re there to help the kids understand what they’re doing and help them focus. It’s fun for them to do as a group.”

At the YMCA’s many area locations, there is a wide range of activities for all ages that can be done independently or as a group. Family swim time is a huge draw, Higa says, and parents often volunteer to coach their kids in youth sports programs. The Tots at Play program, geared toward the pre-K age group, provides unstructured physical play for children with their parents’ involvement. Several group exercise classes welcome children, and the Y also has pickleball and racquetball courts and open gym time for basketball and volleyball.

As children get older, they may also start working out harder in order to build muscle or train for their favorite sport. The right age to do so depends on the person.

“From everything that I have learned, read and also experienced, each child is different based on their growth, maturity and goals,” Higa says. “At the Y, our wellness centers accommodate children as young as 8 years old on cardio equipment, and for strength training and machines, that’s 12 years and older. Some children benefit from body weight strength exercises; others have sport-specific training needs. Definitely, the most important factors for training with our youth are proper form and control. … My No. 1 recommendation is talking with a wellness professional or personal trainer about the needs and starting point for your child, and going from there.”