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Transcription: Episode #3- The Cost of Doing Nothing
Disclaimer: The below is an auto-generated transcription from today’s podcast. Typos and grammatical errors are possible.
Transcription: The Cost of Doing Nothing
Announcer 0:00
Welcome to the Health Unlimited Podcast, the only podcast that unlocks your unlimited health potential. Here’s your host, Dominic Sembello, L.Ac.
Charlie McDermott 0:13
Well, welcome back listeners, Charlie McDermott co hosts back here once again producer the show with Dominic Sembello. Dominic. How you doing?
Dominic Sembello 0:22
Charlie? Good to hear from me again.
Charlie McDermott 0:24
Yeah. Great to hear from you. And how’s life been treating? Yeah. Is the weather warming up at the at the beach?
Dominic Sembello 0:31
The Jersey Shore? quite ready to be swarming? Yes. Swimming right?
Charlie McDermott 0:40
On good time on good time, right. So there’s been a lot of talk, I mean, really, the past year, even maybe a little longer, you know, there’s this thing called, oh, inflation, I think that’s how you pronounce heavy, heavy, I heard rumors of that
Dominic Sembello 0:59
edge and haven’t seen that anywhere.
Charlie McDermott 1:05
And, you know, the cost of things are going up and all that. And so we’re really, I think, just as a society, you know, you want to be cost conscious, you’re always kind of looking for the sales and deals and all that. But then there’s, you know, when it comes to you, and I, you know, when it comes to taking care of us. Maybe that’s not necessarily the time to focus on cost, and more importantly, to look at, alright, if I don’t do something, what’s the cost, and part of that is looking into the crystal ball, which is impossible to do, but you know, dominant. Again, we’ve talked about this in previous episodes, the amazing stories that you have, from your patience, and the ability to help others who are trying to get out of pain, trying to get rid of some conditions that they’re, they’re at their wit’s end, in many cases. What do you say, you know, what do you say to someone in the eye? Again, keep in mind, you’ve got listeners all over? Certainly the country in particular South Jersey there, but for someone who is, you know, go and cheese, Yeah, but how much? What do you say to that individual that helped them get their life back in many ways?
Dominic Sembello 2:29
Yeah. I mean, you’re right. Inflation is a big deal. People looking for for deals. And, but but when it comes to your health, I think it’s more than just financial, right? What’s the cost of what is it costing you to live your life? Or should I say, what is it costing you to not live your life? So examples of playing with grandkids, exercising, golfing, right, pickleball. Everyone, everyone has their own activities that they like to do. But it can be even even more than that, Charlie, some people literally can’t bend over to tie their shoes, because they’re in so much pain, right? I just had a new woman start. Yesterday in my office, she couldn’t even drive here, her daughter has to drive her here, because her pain is so bad, that she can’t sit for literally more than like a minute. And as soon as she gets in that car, and that driver’s seat, she can’t do it. Now, that’s a big deal. Now you’re talking actual, just daily activities of life, as we call it. So, you know, going back to the cost is like, there’s a financial cost, but more so the cost of what is it costing you in your life? And that’s really, really important. It’s something we really focus on a lot in the office.
Charlie McDermott 3:52
Yeah. Yeah, lifestyle is so so important. And for that individual that can’t drive today, you know, if he or she doesn’t do something, what’s gonna happen tomorrow, you know, and the burden, you know, she must feel so bad having to have her daughter take her from place to place, you know, at some point, you just stop asking because you don’t want to bother people which degrade your life even more. So I mean, it really is a sad, sad situation.
Dominic Sembello 4:22
Charlie, let me tell you even more, this is the same woman from yesterday. Unfortunately, her husband had a stroke. Guess who helps he he needs help at home. So now she has terrible back pain, but she still has to perform, if you will, to help her husband. And so yeah, so now it’s not even for herself. It’s herself and her husband. And anyway, she got started. We’re going to help her, but it’s terrible. But the good news is she found us and I’m very confident we’re gonna get her life back, which is really what this is all about him. getting your life back, Charlie, doing what you want to do, as I said, whether that’s for just every day, again, what they call activities of daily living, normal stuff that people don’t think about, again, tying your shoes putting shoes on, most of us don’t think about that. But when you can’t do it at the big deal, or doing activities, again, recreational, same thing. That’s what living is all about. So I think that’s really what we’re talking about here today.
Charlie McDermott 5:28
You know, Dominic, I’m sure you hear this a lot, you know, yeah, you know, I got pain here, there. But what happens when you get older, it’s just all a shin. You know, you say to that,
Dominic Sembello 5:42
Yeah. Well, age is just the number. And I truly believe that I also truly believe your body has unlimited potential to get better. And that’s, again, kind of the name of the show here. But that’s really in real life what I believe. So age isn’t a number. I mean, it’s, it’s not just a number, you should be doing the things you want to do for pretty much most of your life. And sure, are you going to have some aches and pains? Yes. Do you have to? Not necessarily. But it’s more like when you ignore those things for 1015 years, and now it becomes real severe, right? That’s when the problem kicks in. And even so, I just had another guy who started and he said to me, it was really interesting, because it’s like, he was reading my mind. He goes up 70, he doesn’t, he’s 74. It goes, I’m 74. He was I walked the boardwalk here. And he goes, I’m one of those guys. He goes, I don’t buy into this get no old thing. And I laughed that I said, you reading my mind. Because I totally agreed with him. I said, You’re right. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be walking on the boardwalk till you’re well above where you’re at now. And I said, and we’re going to help you do that. So, and he’s got degenerative changes and other things that have happened. But regardless, I’m like, you still should be able to do that. I said, You came to the right place.
Charlie McDermott 7:05
Yeah. Yeah. You know, when you think about pain, and our willingness as a society to put up with things, you know, you know, back to, well, it’s just part of getting old, and you think you should be I mean, I remember as a kid, you know, my, my grandmother would talk about arthritis and, and my uncle, you know, with the the trick knee or the bid knee and the pain that these folks who would put up with, you know, not not being able to walk, I mean, just simple things. And, and what you think about the ripple effect, right? You know, not being able to walk or be active. So, not only are you not getting outside in the sun and feeling better about life, because of the What’s that vitamin D that you absorb, right? You’re not, it’s like COVID Right, you know, we were trapped. We weren’t talking with folks because we couldn’t write and, and you see, you forgot that you feel like you’re alone and secluded. The pain just robs us of our energy, it affects our mood, you know, not being involved with people is going to impact our brain and Alzheimer’s and dementia. And then the fact that we’re not active, what does that do to us just physically right, you know, onset of diabetes and weight gain and all that. So, you know, back to the cost of inaction is significant. I mean, my lord, you know, if, if, if I don’t have to take it, and I’m very familiar with insulin, and diabetes, as a type one diabetic, which has nothing to do with lifestyle, it’s just her pancreas as you know, doesn’t work doesn’t put on insulin, why you got to have insulin to live, so she has to inject but type two diabetes is pure, plain and simple. lifestyle related in the cost of insulin is insane. What what my daughter has to even with health insurance. So, so back to boy, if we can avoid all the medications, not just certain medications, you know, Are we better off from a financial standpoint, and certainly from side effects, right? I mean, even the insulin that she injects has a side effect. That, you know, we don’t is really individual. So it’s, um, there’s I guess, there’s a cost, there’s a cost.
Dominic Sembello 9:32
There is a cost and yep, some some things like your daughter’s situation, right? She was born born that way. And that does happen, but almost over 50% of chronic illness can be prevented. It’s pretty staggering a number, isn’t it? Yeah. So and these things happen. And so again, most of the time, many people that I see In my office, many of much, much of it can be helped. But much of it could have been prevented. But it is what it is I treat people where they’re at and where they come in. So it’s more a matter of are they willing to move forward to get back to doing the things that they want to do. And in my profession, not. Insurance coverage isn’t really great. For the majority of it, we, you know, we don’t, it’s just not something that’s like a getting surgery or emergency room. So most people, they invest in their health, they invest in getting better. And, again, it’s not just financial. Because if you were to ask people, you know, what’s more important, the vast majority of my patients when they’re, we’re getting them the results that they want, what do they say they’re back, this was worth everything to me. Because I’m now able to do what I want to do, again, go walk on the boardwalk, or tie my shoes. I know, simple as that. One woman, she just standing for long periods of time she can’t do. So now we’re helping her she’s actually able to do things now she’s actually gardening again.
Charlie McDermott 11:14
Yeah, yep. You know, I’m sure we got into this in the previous episode, what stops a lot of folks is they’ve tried so many different ways in so many different times, and they truly have invested dollars in their health, they just haven’t gotten anywhere. And, you know, you have become in a lot of ways that that final stop, you know, before they get back to health. So two questions there. What can you say to folks who are at the beginning of that journey, rather than, you know, all, you know, stopping at all these other places along the way that may help them save a lot of money and time and get their life back a lot quicker? And then for those who have been down that path in there, they’re probably, you know, going, Yeah, you know, I’m certainly willing to invest in my health, but jeez, am I going to go through that same cycle again, get my hopes up, and then end up back to where I am currently?
Dominic Sembello 12:18
I mean, the first thing I always say to everyone, there is hope. And I think I’ve mentioned this before, I don’t know if I did on any of our previous episodes, we’re usually the last resort, that gets the best results. Now I understand. I’ve been doing this for two plus decades. I understand that people are skeptical, especially when they’ve done other things before. Most of those are the standard medical care that you normally would do. But when those don’t work, people seek out other options. And that is again, when they typically find me and my office, and I get that they’re skeptical. You know, I understand that. It makes perfect sense. And I don’t even deny it. But I do say this. What is the risk of doing nothing? What was Wayne Gretzky’s? I don’t want to butcher it. Wayne Gretzky had a famous quote was gold. What do you know what that is?
Charlie McDermott 13:17
Well, I
Dominic Sembello 13:21
do a basketball one, there’s Oh, isn’t
Charlie McDermott 13:22
it you miss every shot? You don’t take
Dominic Sembello 13:25
Something like that? Yeah. Right. So I always tell people, I’m like, here’s what I do know, right. I do know that clinically speaking, most we get 80 to 90% improvement for people. Right? That’s pretty, I think, significant, right? If I was a gambling person, and 80 to 90% improved, the chance that we can help them is pretty high. Now, I have to evaluate people first. So that is a very general statement. But when I evaluate people, if I feel I can help them, it’s usually because I’ve treated it so much where I’m very competent, and we can. So the second part is going back to the risk, right is like, I know for a fact that if they don’t do anything, they have a 0% chance of getting better. So someone can be skeptical, and I think has every every right to be skeptical. But the real question is, what is it worth to them? And is it worth trying? Because if they don’t try, they have 0% chance of getting better. Yeah, that makes sense. And then it kind of still relates a little bit to the cost, like, again, not the financial cost. The cost for them is like is that worth it to them to try to get their life back?
Charlie McDermott 14:40
Yeah, yeah. So you’ve talked about these different individuals and depending on where you are in the spectrum, Hey, I’ve been putting up with this for months versus years. What do you what do you see Dominic, you know that if you could put someone in the box of a typical on average patient And from the time they start working with you, and yeah, you know, you do your initial consultation and evaluation and you go, yeah, absolutely. This is an individual I can help. What then, you know, did they start feeling a difference after the first treatment or after, you know, so many weeks or months? And then what happens? Once I’m at a point where I’m going, wow, you know, I’ve got my life back my energy, I’m sleeping better all those things. Is it just okay, I go back to life and say bye. Bye. And, and or, you know, in my plugged in so that I don’t regress.
Dominic Sembello 15:39
You covered a lot of the topics. Yeah. So I’ll try to go back to the beginning. We’re recording
Charlie McDermott 15:44
this, we may have to play it back. And let’s start with the first one, you know,
Dominic Sembello 15:52
We’re gonna start with the evaluation, I mean that. So everyone is different. In regards to what that looks like. Right? Five people with peripheral neuropathy can have similar, similar symptoms. However, in that these particular case, I’ll just stick with one instance, in the peripheral neuropathy case, case, we do the sensory tests. So five people that come in with a diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy can have similar symptoms, but they can be all over in this spectrum of how severe those symptoms are. And we do a sensory test on their feet to determine how severe of their loss is has been achieved. Then from that point, if we feel we can help them, we then lay out specific protocols for them for each individual based on their, again, their score, their symptoms, how long they’ve had them, underlying conditions. So again, some people might have diabetes, in regards to the neuropathy or their cause some people don’t know why they have it. Some people have what’s called chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy. These are individuals. That is a side effect of receiving chemotherapy, unfortunately, they have cancer. So there’s, there’s different reasons. So one, it’s very individual, of what that looks like. And that will be discussed, again, on an individual basis. Okay. So it’s hard to really, you know, put any type of numbers on it, because it does vary from person to person. If you want to make a general statement, you could say that, typically, the longer someone has a medical condition, it will take more time. But what happens in the beginning, is you will have it the treatments build on themselves. Okay. So in the beginning, you could get some temporary relief, but I call that, again, that’s temporary, what we’re looking for when I discuss with people we talk about what’s the solution, where do they want to be, and we will tell them how long based on on all these other things, we just talked about how long I think it will take to get there. So your body, it takes time, physiologically, it’s impossible to improve overnight. And that holds true for physical therapy, right? Working out which again, you’re very familiar with, with your background and history. You don’t just build a bicep in one day, or even one week, it usually takes several months to see, you know, real change going on. Now, it might not take that long for our treatments. But again, it does vary person to person. Yeah, I hope I covered some of what you asked today.
Charlie McDermott 18:50
You did you did you did a great job, you know, boy, neuropathy, you touched on that. I mean, that that needs to be an episode in and of itself, because I see so many folks what we used to live who a barber and I call it the the shuffle. You know, you just know that they’re so afraid to lift their feet up off the ground, because they can’t they they’ve lost that sensation. And it’s again, it’s it’s heartbreaking. And I know those individuals, you rarely see them out in the neighborhood because they’re, they’re just not able to get around. So
Dominic Sembello 19:26
We shouldn’t do that. But we’ll put that down on the list to speak just on that one, because that’s a big one. And it’s one where there’s not a lot of options for people. We treat that a lot in our office and with great results because we use a combination of modern technological solutions with acupuncture, and we have these very specific protocols to help people with peripheral neuropathy, and it gets great results. Awesome. I mean, a lot of these people sometimes they can’t even drive because They came in, I mean, feel their feet. Wow, that’s terrible. But we’re helping them. And that’s the good news. That’s, that’s what, at the end of the day, that’s what this is all about getting them their life back. And it’s emotional, it’s emotional to treat these people. And, you know, I go home every weekend. And just, I’m thankful for what I do. And I’m thankful that people, you know, allow me to help them and to see how their lives are impacted. It’s really it’s a good feeling. That’s why I’m in this profession.
Charlie McDermott 20:32
Yep. Good stuff. Dominic, anything else that we should know about? Investing in ourselves like caught or the price of not doing anything?
Dominic Sembello 20:42
Well, I mean, to everyone out there, I would say, it’s something really to think about, like if you’re being prevented from doing something that you either need to do just to live, or it’s preventing you from doing things that you just love doing. Don’t, I hope hope you don’t make finances just the only condition because the cost is far more than financial. And it’s about living your life. And so if someone’s holding back are thinking about that is like, when is it time to make that decision? To get back to doing the things you love with the people you love?
Charlie McDermott 21:20
Love it. Love it. listeners who want to get in touch want to learn more, Dominic, what’s the best way for them to do so? Oh, they
Dominic Sembello 21:28
You can go to our website at www.healthsourceacupuncture.com, it has a lot of great information on there. As well as these podcast episodes. We’ve been starting to post those as well.
Charlie McDermott 21:41
Good stuff, good stuff. All right. We’ll let you get back to what you do in there. And we will see in the next episode. Talk soon
Announcer 21:48
Okay. Thanks for listening to the Health Unlimited Podcast. To learn more about Dominic or his private practice, go to www.HealthSourceAcupuncture.com