Navigating Healthcare with Patrick's Expertise

Ever wondered how small lifestyle changes can significantly impact chronic illness management? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Patrick, a dedicated Florida-based pharmacist who specializes in reducing medication burdens for those with chronic illnesses and autoimmune diseases. Patrick shares his holistic approach to healthcare, which includes a meticulous review of medication lists, medical histories, and lab results to identify nutrient depletions and lifestyle adjustments. He also discusses his role as a healthcare advocate, providing invaluable support by accompanying clients to doctor appointments and organizing their healthcare information for optimal outcomes. Additionally, Patrick gives us a sneak peek into his podcast, Men's Health Unscripted, which provides men with relatable and non-judgmental health information.

In a heartfelt exploration of his personal journey, Patrick recounts how his close relationship with his grandparents exposed him to systemic healthcare issues, inspiring his career in pharmacy. From his diverse background in baseball and pathology labs to his experiences in cancer research, Patrick's path has been anything but ordinary. Now, he leverages these experiences to focus on improving healthcare communication and efficiency, particularly for patients grappling with multiple medications. One memorable success story involves a simple switch from nightly ice cream to fruit, leading to remarkable health improvements for a patient. This chapter underscores the transformative power of minor lifestyle changes and the critical importance of understanding medication purposes and the potential benefits of deprescribing.

Patrick sheds light on the complexities of healthcare, especially how insurance constraints often limit the time and care providers can offer. He emphasizes the significant role of healthcare advocates in bridging gaps between appointments and ensuring continuous care. Turning the focus to men's health, Patrick shares alarming statistics like the rising male suicide rate and the connection between erectile dysfunction and heart disease. He advocates for open conversations and strong support systems, urging men to build deeper friendships and confide in trusted individuals. To wrap up, Patrick offers practical advice on transforming stressful doctor visits into self-care opportunities, encouraging listeners to reward themselves and stay connected to support networks. Don't miss this insightful episode filled with actionable tips and heartfelt stories.

Ig: your_pharmacist_your_advocate

Web: www.tampahealthadvocate.com

Hi, Jen here! We are so glad to have you back. I want to personally thank those that have signed up with Rare Patient Voice recently. We love your support of the podcast, and this is another way that you can by signing up with Rare Patient Voice through our referral link. Remember, we're here to support you every step of the way. 

Chapters

• 0:11 Healthcare Advocacy for Chronic Illness
• 9:45 Balancing Healthcare Advocacy and Passion
• 22:36 Impact of Polypharmacy in Healthcare
• 34:22 Men's Health Advocacy and Connections
• 40:24 Supporting Self-Care After Doctor Visits

Transcript

Jen: 0:12

Hi, my Spoonie sisters, it's your host, Gracefully Jen, and I am so excited to welcome a former college athlete. Patrick understands the physical and mental challenges men face and women, of course and has experience working with CEOs as well as athletes. So hi, Patrick, Welcome to the show.

Patrick: 0:32

Hey, Jen, it's a pleasure to be here and it's a real honor to be talking with you and your audience.

Jen: 0:37

Thank you so much, so I guess let's just dive into the beginning here. So tell us a little bit about you and what you do.

Patrick: 0:45

So I'm a pharmacist by trade, so licensed in the state of Florida, and I have created a business where I help people get off drugs. So I kind of can think of me as the pharmacist that helps you maybe remove some of the medication burden and that comes through various outlets right Like so you can identify inappropriate prescribing, you can help people make lifestyle changes to lower their need for medications and kind of everything in between and that's really where I put my emphasis on my practice is helping people, you know, reduce their pill burden. And then that comes with a lot of financial things. You know medications that are expensive, and so it's kind of a trickle down effect. It helps other aspects of their life as well.

Jen: 1:30

And you also have a podcast of your own right.

Patrick: 1:33

I do. It's called Men's Health Unscripted. My podcast partner, cam, and I went to pharmacy school together and we have been working in the men's health space for about seven years, so that's a separate project. If you think of me like a mullet the haircut, your Tampa Healthcare Advocate is my business on the top and Men's Health Unscripted is kind of my party in the back and it's just a little bit more fun and it's just like a way of kind of giving guys information without being so finger pointy and that kind of stuff and just like really opening them up to a bunch of different health modalities.

Jen: 2:06

That sounds wonderful, so I'm going to make sure that you give us links to all of that so we can share that with all the men that listen, because even though it's called my Spoonie Sisters, we get a lot of men here too, and so what I want to talk to you about is primarily my audience is people living with chronic illness and autoimmune disease, and so if one of these people came to talk to you, I guess where would you begin with them?

Patrick: 2:35

Well, so, being a pharmacist, I focus on the medication list first, right, so that's not kind of the first and foremost thing.

Patrick: 2:40

But we kind of have a discussion about what's a past medical history look like, what are what are like maybe the last one or two sessions of lab work look like, and then what do their current medication lists work look like.

Patrick: 2:53

And so what I would do is kind of especially someone with an autoimmune disorder, a lot of those medications have nutrient depletion factors and so I will check and make sure that all these medications are being supplemented appropriately. So anybody that's listening that has rheumatoid arthritis probably on methotrexate, vitamin B12 gets absolutely destroyed. So those types of things I really I would look at for somebody with an autoimmune issue and then just kind of really look and see like what kind of adjustments maybe we can make to medications or lifestyle and really just tailor fit it to kind of fit them. The other thing I offer to all of my clients as well is, if you're in the Tampa Bay area or I can do this remotely as well, but specifically in Tampa Bay I go to their doctor's appointments with them, make sure that the healthcare system is treating them appropriately, that there's no confusion or mishaps, scheduling issues, all that, so everything kind of falls in line, I'm like. Think of me as like your healthcare or personal organizer, but also has a intricate knowledge of medications too.

Jen: 4:03

It's like you're the health manager.

Patrick: 4:05

Right.

Jen: 4:06

Which that's actually great because, if you think about it, we have a whole entire healthcare team. It's not just one specific doctor, it's not one specific anything. We have an entire team that helps us to be the best that we can be. And so you're part. You're part of that.

Patrick: 4:23

I am definitely and it's it's really nice to work with other disciplines in healthcare.

Patrick: 4:29

I think maybe 20 years ago the healthcare industry looked much different. It was all kind of spearheaded by doctors. It still definitely is, but there is definitely a more interdisciplinary approach being taken, kind of taken into effect, and I think that there's so many specialties now outside of physicians but you're talking about pharmacy, dieticians, and everybody has their own kind of lane, but they all do have a crossover and so when really smart people are really you know expertise on certain areas, that just can only lead to better outcomes for the patient, because now it's not just one set of eyes looking at somebody, it's a bunch of different sets of eyes that have intricate knowledge on certain topics and they can really help people, you know, with their chronic, chronic illness or autoimmune disease, things like that, if it's pertaining to your audience. So I really think it's good to get more you know, more disciplines involved, because then you can just have a lot better outcome and you're really reducing any kind of potential harm that can happen if, like, only one or two sets of eyes are looking at you.

Jen: 5:38

Absolutely. I love that. So I'm looking at the notes I have for you and it says you work with men and women and you help them develop the treatment plan. So OK, as a health care advocate, know what you offer and going to appointments. What else do you do?

Patrick: 5:59

So, first and foremost, I think what I've noticed doing this is a lot of health information is really scattered. So, outside of scheduling appointments, I request medical records. I put the whole picture of the healthcare scene kind of right in front of them, very organized and easily digestible. I mean, if somebody's seeing an endocrinologist, their primary care cardiologist, if they have a surgeon on board or different specialties, then a lot of that information can kind of get scattered. And so really one of my main jobs is organizing everything and also making sure that those providers are aware of each other.

Patrick: 6:38

Some electronic health records don't speak to each other and so saying like, hey, this patient, by the way, they have a cardiologist for this reason, they have this doctor for this reason, and you really just kind of start to put the pieces of the puzzle together so that the patient doesn't feel so lost and it all comes. You know, for me it comes back to appropriate prescribing, so that one doctor doesn't prescribe something that another doc already did, which is kind of something that happened to a family member and one of the reasons I started this business. But also it allows for no mistakes to be made as far as drug interactions, and so I'm really just trying to prevent people from ending up in the hospital or severely harmed. But it also kind of ties in nicely together because I'm able to just really help people understand the healthcare system so much better.

Jen: 7:31

I think you nailed it right there, because a lot of these systems they work great, but they don't talk to each other, and the specialists and the doctors they're not exactly talking to each other either, and so you could go to urgent care or a different specialist and somehow you're prescribed something that maybe another person said you're allergic to or that it's not going to work with something else you're taking, and so that's kind of where I think it's great that you're stepping in.

Patrick: 7:56

Sure, I mean, I've got two really great examples. So number one I had a client recently go to an urgent care kind of facility because of something that happened. Well, even though that's kind of like her primary health organization, I dropped off the medication list and any other information that was very up to date and their records, since she kind of hadn't been in the system in a while, were very out of date. So giving them the ability to update those records, like even the nurses on staff were like thank you, this is perfect, right. So that was very helpful for them but one, but also helpful for the patient. So they knew exactly what they could give her, what she's already taking, and making sure in that case that she didn't miss any doses of medication that she really needs appointment with a client to a doctor that they hadn't seen in a while.

Patrick: 8:55

And the list of medications was so long, and so we kind of had to sit there and go through hey, are you still taking this? What are what? You know? What's kind of going on? And we narrowed down and we we got like five or six medications off their list that they were no longer taking for various reasons, or one they might've already been deprescribed, or two, they found a different therapy. So right there I was able to kind of clean up two situations very easily and give those patients some relief that they were kind of they had somebody kind of watching over them like a helicopter mom right For their healthcare.

Jen: 9:27

I love that. I think everybody needs some of that.

Patrick: 9:29

Right.

Jen: 9:30

So what inspired you to establish your healthcare care advocacy in the Tampa Bay area and how do you envision its role in shaping the future of health care advocacy?

Patrick: 9:43

So I appreciate that question very much. I had a really close relationship with my grandparents. My parents were divorced kind of at a young age and my mom really had to kind of work her butt off to kind of catch up and she was in grad school when they got divorced and was working like two full time jobs, was working very hard. So I'm super thankful and grateful for my grandparents that they kind of helped pick up some of the slack with while she kind of dealt with the divorce and kind of getting herself back on her feet after that. She kind of dealt with the divorce and kind of getting herself back on her feet after that. And so I would have to say that for the most part my grandparents lived like really long, great lives, um, towards the end of their lives that you know, they lived in their eighties and nineties.

Patrick: 10:25

But towards the end of their lives I noticed that and this is pre-pharmacy like I really had no healthcare experience Um, they had started to pick up more doctors and I kind of just became a little bit more involved in their healthcare. Like they needed a ride. I, you know, on my days off or whatever, I would take them to their, to their doctor's appointments and I realized, like kind of I said before, one doctor was still on paper using fax machines which like still kind of is happens but another doctor was more up to date. They were part of a larger health system, but neither one of them were communicating. So my grandpa my grandfather was actually duplicate prescribed a beta blocker, one mild dose, one very high dose. He ended up having a hospital stay for it and we're just like what's going on here. And as I got into my pharmacy practice, I started to realize that people coming to the pharmacy were having the same issues. This wasn't anything in isolation in my family and this is becoming a more and more kind of chronic issue in healthcare lack of communication. A lot of drugs right are out there, and so it was really important for me to kind of find a way to consolidate all of this and just the experiences I had with my grandparents towards the end of their lives and trying to just make their lives a lot smoother and easier really kind of reflected on this practice as well and just really making sure that people are getting what they need out of healthcare. I think our healthcare system is fantastic in so many ways. We have the most up-to-date treatments, the best medications. I mean, really we have a lot more access. If you look at other countries, we have so much more access to treatment modalities where, if we look, but there's still huge gaps, and so it was my goal to kind of start filling these gaps for people and helping them get the treatments that they need much faster, without wasting time, without wasting money.

Patrick: 12:23

And the biggest thing that you really start to realize too is that people could hope you don't call me when things are going right Right. People call me when crap is hitting the fan, for lack of a better term, and so I'm kind of that. I jump in, I get right to work and really just try to help make this whole situation a lot less stressful. They're already sick, they're already tired, so that's what I was saying.

Patrick: 12:48

It's like it's not exactly healthy people calling me. There's generally some issues going on. There's a lot of stress and confusion by the time they get to me, which I would prefer if it didn't, but that's just the nature of the beast. But getting them kind of caught up and getting everything to fall in line for them is so important because it saves so much money, it saves so much time, it saves so much frustration and people actually get better. I mean, I really focus on trying to help people get better, feel better, and when you start and I'm sure you've noticed it people with chronic diseases or autoimmune diseases if you can make them feel 5% better, that is a world of difference to them.

Jen: 13:30

Absolutely, you know. I mean, the whole reason I got into this is because I'm living that life as well and you know, if there's anything we can do to feel that much better, we're going to take it. So how do you integrate your diverse background?

Patrick: 13:53

So I think, well, I guess we can start with baseball, because I think anybody who knows me from the time I was little to even now, everybody would be like, oh, pat was a baseball player and I played all the way, played in college and I loved my time with baseball. I think everybody dreams of playing in the major leagues and things like that. That wasn't it for me. It wasn't good enough for sure. I mean that's a different level of talent, but it did afford me to kind of help get my college education and kind of start my education journey. But I would say that baseball really I was a player and a coach, so it taught me how to build teams. It taught me how to put people in situations where they can be successful and kind of take them out of situations that would be difficult or kind of make them more prone for failure Just makes a much better teaching and learning environment, and so that's really. I mean, baseball gives you so many transferable skills I don't even think I have enough time to kind of name all of them. But also I worked.

Patrick: 14:47

I was very grateful to work in a pathology lab while a cancer research study was going on and while a business merger was going on and so I got all of these different pieces because I was part of all of it, right, and so I got a good idea of business. My old boss was just a great mentor for business knowledge and then our medical directors really were like you should go to pharmacy school. I mean, there's so many cool things that you can do there. So I thought that was really cool and so I just had all these signs like go to pharmacy school, go do this, and so kind of.

Patrick: 15:25

When that task and job was over, I got into pharmacy school and you know, maybe it took some step backs on earnings. It was nice to get a paycheck for a while. You go to school and that kind of goes away. But I learned so much and I think all of these things really just little bits and pieces really helped me kind of maximize. I would say I maximize the patient's experience is probably if I could sum it up into just a few words, yeah.

Jen: 16:57

So that's pretty cool actually. But my next question for you is how do you balance your roles? So you are consulting, you're doing all this podcast fun. I mean you've got your hands kind of all over the place. How do you balance that?

Patrick: 17:13

You know, you're like the third person today to ask me that.

Jen: 17:17

Don't worry, I get asked this all the time too.

Patrick: 17:20

Right, I think, um, you know, I've had some people tell me that I have like maybe mild to moderate ADHD. Um, I've never sought like getting diagnosed for it because I don't like I personally don't feel like it hampers my life, it's not like severe. I know some people with very severe ADHD. They need a lot more work and so with me, I guess I kind of I manage that with different, if it's true, right, I manage it with different projects, and so I usually keep about two to three things on my plate that I can kind of switch on and off to. I can, you know, really work here in this space, consulting, working with healthcare professionals and patients.

Patrick: 18:06

I do the Men's Health Podcast because I just I think men need more resources I don't think there's enough out there and I also like to have fun. It's more of like a creative outlet for me rather than like a hard, you know, stern work environment. Like you know, when you're dealing with patients who are sick and doctors and professionals, you have to be a little more serious. Podcasting you can have a little bit more fun, uh, in some instances, and then I just I just really like kind of incorporating things that I would normally do in my regular life, into my business and my podcast and things like that, which kind of allows me to bounce from all these things right. I think it never allows me to get bored or feel stagnant. If one project is kind of the wheels are spinning, I move to another one and I can move forward, gives me time to think and then I can readdress any issues I might have at the other project.

Jen: 18:58

Well, and I think what you're describing also is if you enjoy your job, it doesn't feel like a job, you're having fun doing it.

Patrick: 19:06

Oh yeah, I will tell you right now. A couple of weeks ago I kind of had a. I got kind of hired on to help somebody in an assisted living facility and I got to say we got them off gradually. We got them off, like, I think, four medications that were inappropriately prescribed and let me tell you, that really blew my skirt up. It just gets me so excited to help people. And then you get the feedback from the family saying, oh, my family members up and communicating with me now, my family members, they remembered my name, they're doing all these things that they hadn't done in months because of some of these medications. And so that just gets me so happy that people give me good feedback on the work that I'm doing. And also, probably the most important thing is it really is allowing people to understand the full scope of the pharmacy practice. I'll ask you, jen, when somebody says, hey, I'm a pharmacist, what's the first thing you think of?

Jen: 20:06

Going to the pharmacy and picking up my meds.

Patrick: 20:08

Right and so.

Jen: 20:10

And people that look overworked. That's what I think of.

Patrick: 20:13

Right and so that, and that's great because that's a very valuable part of our profession and community. But generally people don't know that when they go to the hospital there's a pharmacist watching over their shoulder, kind of making sure that their medications are appropriate. I've created this kind of profession for myself, partly because I don't like to have bosses and I just I'm an entrepreneur at heart, so doing something new, doing something exciting and really helping people kind of gets me super excited. And then on top of that there's so many different areas of pharmacy that a lot of people don't know about. So my podcast partner, Cam, he's a nuclear pharmacist. He actually creates radiation for diagnostic procedures. He works, like you know, 11 pm to 7 am because they have to get those out to the hospital early for these procedures to happen. There's just a bunch of really cool, interesting things that pharmacists can do, and I just don't think that the public knows enough about pharmacy and how skilled of people are in the pharmacy industry, or pharmacists specifically.

Jen: 21:20

That's a fair point and that's pretty incredible because, if you think about it like I've had a nuclear bone scan done before, so there's a person behind that, not just the person that I'm seeing.

Patrick: 21:29

Right, there's a. You know Cam was probably sitting in a lab, you know, playing the joystick machine with his little robot arms making radiation.

Jen: 21:39

Wow, okay, that's. That's actually really fascinating. I hope you guys talk about it on your podcast.

Patrick: 21:45

We do.

Jen: 21:47

Okay, so without giving names, is there a way you can give us an example of someone that you've helped and how you've brought them off of so many medications?

Patrick: 21:58

So I'll say I think my favorite example was like my first client ever. They came to me they're A1C, they were diabetic, they had other chronic health issues AFib, diabetes, high blood pressure, kind of the general cardiometabolic type issues. Well, one of the easiest things for a pharmacist to kind of address is diabetes, depending on how long it's progressed, and things like that. And this person was an insulin dependent, but they were on a few medications for it, but they were also on a few high blood pressure medications and kind of these things go hand in hand. So the biggest change that we made was he loved eating ice cream every single night, which it's delicious I'm not saying it's, you know not, but it's not always the greatest food, right. And so we talked and I was like hey, I bet you can get your A1C down a little bit If you just like switch out some fruit at night for your ice cream. You think you can do that like one or two nights a week. And he said, yeah, he thought so, and so we tried it.

Patrick: 23:05

And his next day, one C is a one C had gone down like 0.6 or something. And he was like, oh wow, it really worked, didn't? He claimed that he didn't make any other changes, but that inspired him and so he said well, do you think I can make this switch like four nights a week? Yeah, you can do it as many nights a week as you want, but just do it as many as you're comfortable with. So he made the switch to four nights a week and then he started going for walks after meals. So, like two, he would go for two walks a day after lunch and dinner, and so we go to his next day once he's down another like 0.8. And so then he's like, okay, there's something to this, what else can we do?

Patrick: 23:49

And so he just kind of kept doing that, didn't really change his diet or lifestyle.

Patrick: 23:52

He had said he had told his doctor I don't feel like I've done too much, I don't feel, you know, taxed or stretched with this new change. But you notice. So as his A1C starts dropping, his Fadal starts dropping, his blood pressure starts dropping, and so they're tied hand in hand and so one diabetes med comes off, then we get lower dose, then his blood pressure goes down, so we can lower the dose of his blood pressure meds. And he was on a kind of an outdated med for AFib that his cardiologist and I agreed that maybe we should just get him off of that, and so that cleared a bunch of stuff up, just because it's such an impact on the kidneys. And so you kind of start to see that while medications are great tools to help people get to a safe kind of range right, they're not always like the solution or the final ticket. So it's really important for people to realize that, like sometimes, just like a little bit of a lifestyle change can make such a huge difference in their life.

Jen: 24:49

That's a really good point and you know I've heard before and we talk about it all the time the more medications you add to the list, the more difficulty it is. And so do you ever find a person with you know 13 or so medications and you're kind of like, wow, okay, where do we go from here?

Patrick: 25:07

Try 30.

Jen: 25:09

Oh, wow, okay, I thought 13 was a lot.

Patrick: 25:12

Yeah, try 30. I've. The most I'd ever seen was right. When I got out of pharmacy school I was doing some telehealth like side hustle, uh, doing medication therapy management and for a company I worked for while I was in pharmacy school and then I just switched. I was like ops and now as pharmacist, um, the most I'd ever seen, I think, was 38 medications that someone took and some of those they took twice a day. So we're looking at like 50 drugs, 50 pills a day, essentially not including vitamins and supplements, which is another set of fun things.

Patrick: 25:46

But yeah, so what actually happens a lot in health care, and especially like from a pharmacist perspective, is it's pretty easy to kind of deprescribe. Sometimes when somebody is on like 20 meds, even you know 15, generally five or more, you can five like maybe everything's appropriate, but you're close. When you start seeing 15, 20 drugs, um, the biggest thing is to say to find out why they were prescribed it. And a lot of times in healthcare this kind of goes back to the multiple doctors and lack of communication through electronic health records and things. But they were prescribed one drug and they were not appropriately educated on the side effects, so they forgot or it didn't pop up until a couple of weeks later, after they were like at a therapeutic dose.

Patrick: 26:37

But so kind of what happened is there? Another doctor said, oh, we'll just take this for that. And so they were prescribed a medication to cover up a side effect. But then that had a side effect, and so then they're prescribed another medication for the side effect and it turned into this hamster wheel and so you can kind of start identifying which medications are appropriate and which medications are not, and that's kind of where the whole process really starts medications or not, and that's kind of where the whole process really starts.

Jen: 27:06

Yeah, I think that's absolutely true and I think you know, for any of us that have been, you know, chronically ill, we see that number climb and as a patient, we're concerned as well, and so I think that's a great thing to come to someone like you and be like okay, how can we start to mitigate some of this?

Patrick: 27:20

Sure.

Jen: 27:20

So okay. So where did I leave off with my questions here? Explain the dangers of this, and there's a word that you used here the dangers of polypharmacy, so excessive medications, and you said it's also doubled since the year 2000.

Patrick: 27:39

Sure. So this is actually kind of one of my favorite stats to read off because it's like really eye-opening and impactful. But polypharmacy, which is the use of five or more medications, has, like you said, has grown since the year 99, 2000. They did a kind of a study. I think it was. The CDC did a study on how many medications from that polypharmacy patients were at 99, 2000. And then they jumped and kind of followed the whole pharmacy train and healthcare until 2018, 2019. So right before COVID, and they had noticed that that so there was 8% of patients that they were following were on polypharmacy and that it actually doubled to like 18 or 19%. So it had like over doubled the amount of people that were prescribed five or more medications.

Patrick: 28:31

And polypharmacy is kind of it has its own issues, right. It's kind of the reason between sorry, it's the reason for about 30% of hospital admissions as well and when you know, when you start looking at who polypharmacy really impacts, it's a lot of our older patients, right. I mean, they're the ones who have more of the health issues Like this is in pharmacy. You know, not necessarily there are definitely younger patients on polypharmacy. But then you and then you start really where it really impacts people is like you start getting into the beers list, so patients that are 65 and older, some medications who you know we're young, you know I'm in my thirties a medication wouldn't affect me. Like it would affect a 65, 70, 75 and up person, like they're much more at risk for side effects.

Patrick: 29:20

Um, if they have any time of cognitive issues. So like we'll take alcohol, for example, right, like one drink for me is like one drink right, but one drink for someone with cognitive issues or dementia is like five. And so the impact on the brain of some of these medications is so much more profound. They're at much higher risk for falls, bleeding, a lot of these other issues that are really where, like you and I might say I need to sit down for a few minutes, they might fall. That ends them up in the hospital for various reasons. So that's why it's so important to kind of like really protect our old folks and our loved ones and like I really like geriatric patients and old people, like they're really smart, they have a lot of wisdom to give. I had a really close relationship with my grandparents and I think people they generally like spending time with their relatives, but if they're so overmedicated that they can't. I mean, what do they do?

Jen: 30:14

Well, and I think it starts to get confusing, as you know that maybe they go to stay in an old folks home and maybe they don't have family members going with them to the doctor, and so it gets confusing, because then your loved one doesn't really understand what's going on with you.

Patrick: 30:27

To also help you, yeah, I mean, I had a friend of mine who his parents live in a different state and he flew up to see his parents and he called me and he's like, hey, I was here six months ago and this list is five drugs longer than it was six months ago. What do I do, right? Um, and that's, I mean that happens all the time. It is not in isolation. I know a lot of people think that, oh, maybe because it's happened to them, but it happens a lot and it really happens a lot in assisted living for various reasons.

Patrick: 30:59

I'm not here to like attack that system or anything, but you know, sometimes, if we're really talking about older people, sometimes, you know, if they do have cognitive issues there's, you know, there can be aggression, there can be those kind of emotions because they're confused, they don't know what's going on and, like anyone that gets overstimulated and confused, they just want to shut down. So, um, then all of a sudden it's like, oh well, maybe they need this medication and then next thing you know, it's like 10. And, um, so there's really a lot of prescribing that goes on in the U? S and I think it's it's almost like gotten to the point where they're literally giving it out like candy for some drugs, and it's important that there's enough people out there putting out and I don't think there are enough people saying like, hey, maybe we should reevaluate this and take away. And that's kind of where I'm just like the reverse pharmacist I just try to help you get off drugs.

Jen: 31:58

I love that. I think we need a little bit more of that in our lives. So what are the most common pitfalls that the average person will fall victim to in the healthcare system?

Patrick: 32:09

Oh, that's a great question. So I always like tell when somebody comes in for a consult or patients that are like really just disorganized, I say let's kind of turn you into an A-plus patient. So number one show up on time. So we figure out ways that they can get to the doctor's appointment on time and ready right. I think the number two thing kind of like we've talked about a little bit all podcast is making sure that every single healthcare provider is up to date on what's going on with the rest of the healthcare team. So getting that information out there effectively concise. No doctor is going to read 20 pages worth of reports, but if you have like a concise one or two pages, they'll go through it and they have a really great picture of what's going on.

Patrick: 32:57

Number three back to the drugs making sure all that information is up to date with every single provider and their active pharmacy. So they go to a pharmacy, making sure that that list is okay, that a lot of times people will kind of get into this situation where they're like I don't know what I take, my doctor prescribes it and a medication will kind of linger and they just keep getting it from the pharmacy A they're like I don't know what I take. My doctor prescribes it and a medication will kind of linger and they just keep getting it from the pharmacy. A they're taking a med that they might not need to be taking anymore, but B they're wasting a lot of money going and filling a drug that they don't need anymore. So it's really kind of just helping all of that. I think those are probably the big issues that I see. You know, with my practice and once I get all that streamlined, it usually takes me somewhere between 60 and 90 days to like get everybody on board and get all these records out and like really figure out like what the true picture is going on, like reading back like maybe a couple of years in the medical records and things like that and just getting everything caught up so that everybody's on the same page. It sometimes is faster, it just depends how many issues are going on, but that's kind of really what I like to kind of think. It's like just being an A-plus patient.

Patrick: 34:09

I think every single doctor out there, if you went to medical school or someone in healthcare system like they really went to go, do good, they went to really help people in healthcare system like they really went to go do good, they went to really help people. The problem is, school is one thing and then, like, early practice is another, and then you're like in the real world, in the healthcare system, and sometimes insurance and other things constrain the provider from actually giving the care that they probably could. I'll give you a perfect example. I mean, how many times do people go to the doctor's office and they get 10 to 15 minutes with the doc? Hey, how you doing Everything? Okay, okay, great, see you in six months.

Patrick: 34:43

But really there's other issues going on and the person just might not have time to talk about it. Um, and so that's kind of where I can also help. Come in is like if something happens in between appointments, a, we can schedule a new one, or, b, I can let the doc know. Hey, these issues are happening for whatever reason, what kind of treatments can we get, or when can we come in and see you, and it really expedites the process.

Jen: 35:09

Again. I think everybody needs help like this in their lives.

Patrick: 35:13

You know I mean a lot of people have lawyers, right when the legal troubles like I can't defend myself in court or do any of that stuff. People have personal organizers. You have financial advisors. Why not a health care advocate?

Jen: 35:26

Absolutely. I mean we have mentors, we have coaches. I mean we have it all available in our lives. So back to the men's health. Unscripted. Can you give me three reasons people should go check it out right now?

Patrick: 35:41

Okay.

Patrick: 35:41

So I'll tell you this men are four times more likely to die by suicide. That's number one. Alarming stat. It's actually been going up since 2020. So since COVID happened, it was like 3.5 times. Now it's four.

Patrick: 35:54

Um, erectile dysfunction is generally an early indicator of heart disease. So it's not just like this sexual health issue. There are actually other things going on. The vasculature that's going to the penis is very similar in structure to the heart. The sphincters and valves. They work very similarly. If one is clogged, chances are the other one's clogged. So that's number two and number three.

Patrick: 36:18

I think that if you would ask me this a few years ago, I would say guys don't talk about their mental health or their physical health or anything. I think that the tide is kind of shifting. We noticed that in 2022 there was a big shift. There's probably another big shift coming, maybe in the next year or two. But guys, I think, just need to be more open, and guys are in a friendship epidemic.

Patrick: 36:41

So one in six men report having a good friend that they feel like they can confide in and trust. There's at least five other guys out there that don't, and so finding support systems, I think that most guys think that no one cares or there isn't someone who cares, when in reality there is someone very close to you that really does care. And guys, I think need to get away from the typical like cars, chicks, sports type convos and get a little bit deeper. And I think women do a fantastic job of you know, having a couple of really close friends that they can confide in. I think guys should probably do the same. It has been shifting, but we still have a lot of work to do.

Jen: 37:20

I think those are three really good tips.

Patrick: 37:30

And then, just for fun, can you give us three fun facts about you? Oh, three fun facts about me. Ooh, I'm a very, very proud dog dad. I love that. He's a Dutch Shepherd mix. We never got I never really got his genetics or anything tested, but he's just like a party animal. He's eleven and a half and he's doing great for for his age. So that's one. I just huge dog dad, animal lover. In general, I would say that's number one, um, number two I'm an avid, if you follow, if you end up like checking out men's health unscripted. I'm an avid pro wrestling fan. Um, so that's just something I've kind of always enjoyed since I was a kid. And the reason I like it is because, yes, it's script, scripted right, but if, if they can suspend your disbelief enough, they've done a good job and, like, every movie that you watch is kind of scripted too, so that you know that's it's my soap opera.

Jen: 38:29

So who's your famous, your favorite wrestler then?

Patrick: 38:32

Oh, uh, of all time, I would probably have to say, like Ric Flair and Stone Cold, steve Austin, but right now, in this era, I'm a big Kenny Omega guy. I just started watching him randomly in Japan and I was like man, this guy's awesome. He was a Canadian, he taught himself how to speak Japanese and he's just, yeah, really cool. And so he's wrestling in AEW and we've had a couple of the AEW wrestlers on the podcast too, talking about mental health and, um, you know, substance abuse, recovery and things like that. So, you know, having those guys open up and talk about it I think is really cool. Um, and then one more, yeah, one more fun fact about me Um, I would use the cheap, the cheap one that played college baseball, but we already got that one.

Patrick: 39:21

Um, I would have to say I, I really, oh, I, I would say this is probably pretty fun. I really like like classic rock, like music that's not, I guess, in my era or like maybe more music. I, I'm like caught in the 80s as far as music goes, 70s and 80s as far as music goes, seventies and eighties as far as music goes, the eighties are the best.

Jen: 39:40

Who's your favorite?

Patrick: 39:41

Ooh, uh man, I love quiet riot. I love ACDC. Ah yes, um, I love Metallica. Ooh, there's just so many. I just like a good. I love Judas priest. It was just like some good rock music I can get down on. It's probably like crazy for the people around me. They're like please turn that off.

Jen: 40:06

But I love it. Well, thank you so much for sharing and for coming on the podcast, so I will make sure I have everything in the show notes. My gosh, everyone. Make sure you go check out Men's Health Unscripted. Also, just go check him out in general. And again, Patrick, thank you for joining.

Patrick: 40:23

Jen, it's my pleasure. I'm glad that you know I can open up people's eyes to just even if you know they don't have to hire me or anything like, that's fine. But take somebody with you to a doctor's appointment if you ever feel anxious. Like having someone there, just as a support system is so important and a lot of people they take their friend or family member or whatever they don't feel as isolated, right, and it's so hard when you have like all these professionals around and stuff and just kind of having somebody that's really supportive there. Also. I think one other thing that I would say is like if you go to appointments like doctor's appointments, things like that you really don't like go do it like make it a self-care day after, go get a massage, go to a restaurant that you like, go do things like that because it it's kind of a reward for doing something that you didn't really enjoy, but it's also just makes you understand that you're taking care of yourself.

Jen: 41:16

Absolutely. You know, I have several friends that they treat themselves to a shake or a mocha afterwards. And why not?

Patrick: 41:24

Treat yourself.

Jen: 41:25

Yep, alright, my spoonie sisters, until next time, don't forget your spoon, can't stop it.

Patrick: 41:37

Oh. I gotta stop the recording.