November 11, 2025 • 23 mins
Welcome to the "You’re Not Gonna Make It" podcast, where I discuss threats to your physical and mental health (and find ways to deal with them, too).
This episode: Your prescription to not be fat anymore.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kevin Tejada:
The healthcare system is failing you, and it's annoying me. (00:28):
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Kevin Tejada: Mostly the U.S. healthcare system. I'm sure others in developed countries are (00:32):
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Kevin Tejada: pretty decent, but ours sucks. (00:36):
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Speaker2: Now, I will (00:39):
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Kevin Tejada: Get into how this applies to weight management, (00:40):
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Kevin Tejada: but I, I, I, this episode is coming about because I got annoyed as fuck yesterday (00:44):
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Kevin Tejada: at what transpired and how impossible it feels to get actual support. (00:50):
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Kevin Tejada: So this might be a bit of a tangent, but I'll get there, (00:56):
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Kevin Tejada: So long story short, about a year and a half ago, I had to cover for a co-worker at my day job. (00:59):
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Kevin Tejada: And basically I computer too hard and I got probably tendinitis in my hand. (01:04):
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Kevin Tejada: That's what I've been told. (01:09):
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Kevin Tejada: Now, because health insurance in this country works in a really fucking annoying (01:11):
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Kevin Tejada: way, I waited and it is my fault for sure. (01:15):
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Kevin Tejada: I waited until January to start physical therapy because I didn't want to start (01:18):
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Kevin Tejada: paying into the deductible. And then January hits and I have to pay again right (01:22):
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Kevin Tejada: away because it was near the second half of the year at that point. (01:27):
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Kevin Tejada: So I didn't want to double pay basically in a shorter amount of time. (01:31):
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Kevin Tejada: So I started physical therapy for some months. (01:35):
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Kevin Tejada: Not sure how helpful it was. Wasn't hurtful. I don't know how helpful though. (01:38):
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Kevin Tejada: And then insurance says, hey, we need a doctor's thing before we can continue. (01:43):
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Kevin Tejada: So we're not going to pay anymore. (01:46):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm like, fuck, I got to get to the doctor ASAP so they can, you know, approve this. (01:48):
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Kevin Tejada: Because my hand's fucked up i tell them hey (01:53):
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Kevin Tejada: my hand is fucked up from work can you please you know (01:56):
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Kevin Tejada: give them back that signature whatever it is authorization and (01:59):
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Kevin Tejada: they did and then about two months later insurance was (02:02):
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Kevin Tejada: like okay yeah we'll we'll pay yeah but by this point i'm coming back for my (02:06):
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Kevin Tejada: trip to japan i'm forgetting about this shit i'm like damn do i want to set (02:11):
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Kevin Tejada: up that schedule again i mean i need to but if i'm gonna do this i want to do (02:15):
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Kevin Tejada: it so it doesn't take like five months before I see substantial progress. (02:19):
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Kevin Tejada: So let me try to go to a certified hand therapist instead of just general physical therapy. (02:24):
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Kevin Tejada: And all the ones in a reasonable distance from me, I'm in Chicago, (02:31):
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Kevin Tejada: so it's not like, you know, I'm lacking, right? But I don't want to drive all (02:34):
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Kevin Tejada: the way up above the loop and shit. (02:38):
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Speaker2: Right? (02:39):
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Kevin Tejada: So the ones near me, like under, you know, the city, a little bit, (02:40):
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Kevin Tejada: just slightly out of downtown, I'm looking around and a lot of them don't have (02:44):
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Kevin Tejada: certified hand therapist. (02:48):
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Kevin Tejada: And the ones that do, they require a referral from someone who's already part (02:49):
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Kevin Tejada: of that system. I'll say Rush Hospital. (02:54):
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Kevin Tejada: I basically ask them, hey, I need (02:57):
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Kevin Tejada: a referral. What about for my primary physician? And they're like, nah. (02:59):
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Kevin Tejada: You need to be referred by one of our doctors. And I'm like, (03:03):
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Kevin Tejada: okay, so no matter what my doctor says, if I don't get a referral from one of (03:07):
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Kevin Tejada: your guys, I cannot do this with you. (03:10):
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Kevin Tejada: Even though you guys are apparently really fucking good. They're like, (03:13):
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Kevin Tejada: yeah, that's exactly the case. Get fucked. (03:15):
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Kevin Tejada: They didn't say get fucked, but they might as well have. (03:18):
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Kevin Tejada: So I call my doctor's office and ask him, hey, is this a thing? (03:20):
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Kevin Tejada: They have limited referrals or, you know, there's limitations on that? (03:24):
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Kevin Tejada: They're like, I mean, it's kind of weird, but I guess so. Because it was the (03:28):
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Kevin Tejada: front desk person. And they weren't familiar, I guess, with all the laws and stuff. (03:31):
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Kevin Tejada: So I called the initial place back to confirm that, yeah, no other referral (03:35):
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Kevin Tejada: matters. If you're not in the system. (03:40):
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Speaker2: Get fucked. (03:41):
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Kevin Tejada: So on the call with my doctor's office, they're saying, hey, (03:42):
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Kevin Tejada: maybe, you know, you can go to an orthopedist, you know, and this is me after (03:46):
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Kevin Tejada: asking, hey, do you have any certified hand therapists that you guys know? (03:50):
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Kevin Tejada: So they gave me orthopedist, which would be an extra step before I actually get therapy again. (03:54):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm thinking, okay, that sounds kind of annoying But if I want to truly know (03:59):
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Kevin Tejada: what the hell is going on So I can get this treated faster I'm open to it And (04:02):
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Kevin Tejada: I ask, okay, so to see this orthopedist I need a referral Does that mean I need (04:07):
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Kevin Tejada: to go and see my primary doctor? (04:11):
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Kevin Tejada: And they're like, yeah I'm thinking, fuck me in the ass How many goddamn days (04:13):
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Kevin Tejada: of work off do I need to take To find out what to do? (04:17):
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Kevin Tejada: So I'm going to have to go to my doctor So they can see me Just guess at something (04:21):
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Kevin Tejada: Send me to an orthopedist So they can find out what's going on So then I can (04:25):
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Kevin Tejada: see what the hell happens next And see if I can even do therapy I don't know, (04:29):
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Kevin Tejada: This system is fucking stupid, (04:33):
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Kevin Tejada: And just for shits and giggles I asked, I did some research I asked perplexity (04:35):
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Kevin Tejada: Hey, by the way, this situation that I'm telling you right now How would this (04:39):
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Kevin Tejada: go if I were in, I don't know Japan or Germany or something like that, you know. (04:43):
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Speaker2: Like a very (04:48):
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Kevin Tejada: Orderly place in Asia and a very orderly place in Europe. How would this go? (04:48):
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Kevin Tejada: And they're like, yeah, this would take like two steps instead of the fucking (04:52):
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Kevin Tejada: five that you're having to take. (04:56):
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Kevin Tejada: And it would be cheaper too. I'm thinking, very cool. (04:59):
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Kevin Tejada: Very cool, America. Love it. So I didn't even get to schedule that because I (05:03):
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Kevin Tejada: found all this out in the afternoon. And I was going to call my main doctor (05:07):
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Kevin Tejada: again to say, hey, can I schedule something? (05:11):
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Kevin Tejada: You know, the closest, the nearest appointment you have, which is a fucking week from now. (05:13):
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Kevin Tejada: To even get this shit started. But I couldn't because at the end of the workday, (05:18):
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Kevin Tejada: a big meeting popped up at work on my day job. (05:23):
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Kevin Tejada: So I had to stay on a call for about 90 minutes. (05:27):
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Kevin Tejada: So it was past five and I couldn't call. So I'm going to have to do that probably (05:30):
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Kevin Tejada: after I'm done recording this. (05:34):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm surprised. Failure's very fun. Isn't it great when your software just fucks (05:36):
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Kevin Tejada: up and it causes a huge issue that you have to be on a long ass call for? (05:41):
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Kevin Tejada: Now this is definitely a tangent but point is the system that we have here in (05:45):
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Kevin Tejada: the u.s is dog shit if you want help to better yourself now let me tie this (05:49):
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Kevin Tejada: into weight loss for all the people who are still fucking. (05:54):
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Speaker2: Left here so your main (05:57):
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Kevin Tejada: Doctors they spend about 20 ish minutes on average, (05:59):
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Kevin Tejada: with you which is i think that's fucking crazy unless you're really healthy (06:02):
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Kevin Tejada: but apparently only 98% of that goes to discussing, you know, (06:07):
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Kevin Tejada: your overweight issue, your obesity issue. (06:11):
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Kevin Tejada: And when you do the math, that's about two minutes to talk about a problem that's (06:15):
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Kevin Tejada: going to take huge lifestyle shifts and months to address, probably years. Very cool, right? (06:19):
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Kevin Tejada: Apparently, three-fourths of doctors say, oh, they don't have time to deal with (06:28):
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Kevin Tejada: all this stuff for the patients. They have to go from one patient to the next, to the next, to the next. (06:34):
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Kevin Tejada: So if you're fat as shit and you're going to die of diabetes, (06:39):
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Kevin Tejada: well, what happens is the system is financially encouraging of just prescribing, (06:41):
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Kevin Tejada: you know, pills or syringes or whatever over behavior changes because, you know, (06:46):
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Kevin Tejada: doctors sitting you down saying, (06:52):
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Kevin Tejada: hey, you're fat as shit and you're going to die in about two years. (06:53):
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Kevin Tejada: So what you need to do Is you need to understand How calories (06:56):
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Kevin Tejada: work in your body You need to understand What kind of deficit What kind of math (07:00):
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Kevin Tejada: What kind of timeline You're looking at What kind of change You'll be going (07:03):
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Kevin Tejada: through In that time What you should do To speed that up In a healthy way Blah (07:06):
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Kevin Tejada: blah blah You don't have time For that shit I assume I don't know why They can't (07:10):
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Kevin Tejada: just take You know More time But you know More patience More money So fuck it, (07:12):
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Kevin Tejada: All that takes way longer Than saying Alright you're fat Here's the thing Go (07:18):
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Kevin Tejada: get some Mozepik And I'll see you I'll see you in a year. (07:21):
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Speaker2: That's easier And that's why While (07:25):
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Kevin Tejada: I think doctors are very informative I think many of them are smart The way (07:28):
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Kevin Tejada: that the system is What they do for you is not the best Sometimes what they (07:33):
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Kevin Tejada: recommend for you Is not necessarily the optimal thing It's more like Hey this (07:38):
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Kevin Tejada: is the best I can do in the like one minute, (07:43):
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Kevin Tejada: side effects be damned. You know, it'll kind of help. So I'll see you next year. See how it is. (07:46):
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Kevin Tejada: Apparently this is fucking wild. 92% of primary care physicians actively prescribe weight loss drugs. (07:52):
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Kevin Tejada: Like Ozepic, Wegovi, Manjaro, is that one? (07:58):
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Kevin Tejada: They do that while less than half of these doctors get into kind of the lifestyle (08:04):
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Kevin Tejada: aspect of it, which long-term is more effective. (08:09):
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Kevin Tejada: So if you work in tech In an office and you're fat You're just becoming a blob (08:14):
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Kevin Tejada: in your chair And a doctor just gives you A prescription for Fucking Wegovi That's not gonna. (08:19):
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Kevin Tejada: That's like If your kid kept lighting your cat on fire And they kept giving (08:29):
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Kevin Tejada: you Buckets of water for it Like yeah it's gonna help You're gonna get the cat (08:33):
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Kevin Tejada: not on fire anymore But the ideal thing to do would be to teach your kid To (08:38):
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Kevin Tejada: not light your fucking cat on fire That's what that's going to be like. (08:41):
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Kevin Tejada: When they prescribe this drug or whatever it is, instead of telling you to change (08:45):
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Kevin Tejada: that life, those, you know, 8, 9, 10, God forbid, 11 hours that you're sitting (08:50):
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Kevin Tejada: down, those are doing far more harm than you think. (08:55):
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Kevin Tejada: But they're not going to talk about that. Hey, what do you do for work? (08:59):
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Kevin Tejada: Hey, you want to start standing up? (09:02):
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Kevin Tejada: You know, many doctors, they don't get into that. They're just going to say, (09:04):
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Kevin Tejada: hey, you're fat as shit. It looks like you're not losing weight on your own. So here's a drug. (09:06):
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Kevin Tejada: To be fair, a lot of doctors are not into, you know, behavior therapy. (09:13):
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Kevin Tejada: They don't understand how to, you know, just because you understand the biological (09:17):
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Kevin Tejada: science doesn't mean you understand the psychological science to help. (09:20):
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Speaker2: People get there (09:24):
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Kevin Tejada: Because everyone knows how to fucking lose weight, eat less, (09:25):
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Kevin Tejada: and optionally move more. That's it. (09:28):
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Kevin Tejada: How you do that is very challenging though, in modern day, especially. (09:32):
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Kevin Tejada: And some doctors aren't prepared for that. You know, when the client or the (09:36):
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Kevin Tejada: patient comes back to you, they're like, this is really hard. (09:40):
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Kevin Tejada: I can't really follow the workouts. (09:44):
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Kevin Tejada: Tracking my food takes too much time. (09:47):
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Kevin Tejada: Blah, blah, blah. Doctors can be like, what the fuck? No, just take this drug, (09:50):
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Kevin Tejada: you fucking annoying fuck. (09:55):
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Kevin Tejada: And I'm sure some doctors are good at talking to people, but that's not what the job is, right? (09:57):
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Kevin Tejada: So I am kind of blaming doctors, but I'm kind of not in a way. (10:01):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm more blaming the system, as you're seeing here. The thing with this system (10:05):
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Kevin Tejada: is that a lot of things that are issues for us, the physicians and other things, (10:09):
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Kevin Tejada: they focus on treating the symptoms, not the cause. (10:15):
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Kevin Tejada: So you're fat as shit, you're getting diabetes, you're getting whatever's going on. (10:20):
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Kevin Tejada: They're going to tackle that instead of saying, hey, you want to change your (10:23):
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Kevin Tejada: life So you're not fat anymore and getting all these other issues branching off from that one. (10:27):
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Kevin Tejada: That's too much. That's too much work for them. Come on. (10:33):
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Kevin Tejada: You expect them to help with your health, you silly fuck. Like, (10:36):
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Kevin Tejada: again, I don't hate doctors. I'm just, this system is not, is not, (10:38):
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Kevin Tejada: it's not letting them shine. (10:41):
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Kevin Tejada: I mean, I'm sure some doctors just suck ass and they just don't give a fuck. (10:44):
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Kevin Tejada: They're just writing a prescription and kicking you out of the office. (10:47):
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Kevin Tejada: Some, I assume, want to help, but, you know, the practice they're in is like, (10:51):
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Kevin Tejada: yo, if I don't see this amount of patients, we can't be open at all. (10:54):
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Kevin Tejada: So I need to just get through them. (10:57):
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Speaker2: I don't know. (11:00):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm not defending. I don't fucking know. This system sucks ass. (11:00):
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Kevin Tejada: So it's time to discredit some myths here. (11:04):
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Kevin Tejada: First one. My doctor knows what's best for my weight loss. (11:08):
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Kevin Tejada: You know what? They really should. You understand the basic science. (11:12):
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Kevin Tejada: They can probably help quite a bit. But the truth is most doctors, (11:16):
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Kevin Tejada: as I said, they don't have the time for that. (11:21):
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Kevin Tejada: And to change your lifestyle, it's going to be mostly on you. (11:23):
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Kevin Tejada: So when they see you and talk about this shit for like three minutes tops, (11:26):
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Kevin Tejada: the weight loss advice they're going to give you is not going to be the best, (11:30):
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Kevin Tejada: not going to be the most high quality. (11:34):
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Kevin Tejada: So I'm not saying, hey, fuck what doctors say. I'm saying, keep in mind, (11:36):
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Kevin Tejada: they got to get you in and out. (11:40):
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Kevin Tejada: So that's the choice they're going to make most of the time. (11:42):
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Kevin Tejada: The one that gets you in and out. (11:45):
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Kevin Tejada: Next myth, weight loss drugs are a permanent solution. Do I, (11:47):
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Kevin Tejada: I don't know if I need to address this. (11:51):
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Kevin Tejada: Okay, let's say this. If you take them permanently, sure, they might be. (11:53):
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Kevin Tejada: I mean, you know, you can still out eat that stuff if you're really hungry. (11:59):
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Kevin Tejada: It makes you less hungry, but dude, if you're super fucking hungry, (12:03):
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Kevin Tejada: you just eat way more than these drugs even tamper down your hunger for, (12:06):
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Kevin Tejada: you're still going to gain weight. (12:09):
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Kevin Tejada: That's, I believe that's kind of rare, but it can still happen. (12:12):
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Kevin Tejada: But I mean, in a way, if you take them permanently, they are a permanent solution. (12:16):
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Kevin Tejada: I wouldn't say a solution, though. I would say like a Band-Aid or something. (12:20):
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Kevin Tejada: Next myth. If lifestyle changes work, doctors would recommend them first. (12:24):
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Kevin Tejada: What? Maybe they used to. And they still do sometimes. You know, (12:29):
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Kevin Tejada: obviously, they say, oh, make sure you get to mixer size. (12:33):
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Kevin Tejada: But everyone knows that. The thing is, if they come to your fucking office and (12:37):
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Kevin Tejada: it's still fat, that's not working, obviously. (12:42):
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Kevin Tejada: So more instruction would be helpful. And sometimes I mention instructions on here for weight loss. (12:44):
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Kevin Tejada: So subscribe, not medical advice, but subscribe. (12:49):
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Kevin Tejada: And, you know, even if they do recommend lifestyle things, like I said, (12:53):
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Kevin Tejada: that's mostly on you. And they often don't because they don't have the fucking time. (12:57):
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Kevin Tejada: It's not, it's, they're not incentivized to do so. It just doesn't make sense (13:01):
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Kevin Tejada: for them to do it if they want to keep doctoring. (13:04):
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Kevin Tejada: And going back to the weight loss thing, the weight loss or permanent solution (13:07):
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Kevin Tejada: myth, many people get on them, come off of them because the side effects suck ass. (13:10):
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Kevin Tejada: So next myth, getting prescribed medication means I tried everything else. (13:15):
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Kevin Tejada: It's almost the opposite. (13:19):
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Kevin Tejada: I think I've told this story before, but I have a friend who was a kid who, (13:21):
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Kevin Tejada: And he was, you know, being a kid, not paying too much attention. (13:26):
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Kevin Tejada: So they were thinking, hey, how about we give him some drugs? (13:30):
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Kevin Tejada: Because he has, let's give him some Ritalin because he probably has ADHD or something. (13:33):
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Kevin Tejada: My friend was like, hold the fuck up. (13:37):
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Kevin Tejada: How about we try other things to maybe see if his attention can improve? (13:40):
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Kevin Tejada: I don't know the specifics of what he was doing because I'm his child or his wife. (13:46):
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Kevin Tejada: But yeah, he was able to make progress on improving his kid's attention without drugs. (13:50):
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Kevin Tejada: Medication so oftentimes the the medication is (13:57):
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Kevin Tejada: what comes first because it gets you get you out sooner so (14:00):
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Kevin Tejada: no it's not a prescription does not mean that everything (14:03):
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Kevin Tejada: else has been tried that's the last resort that would (14:07):
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Kevin Tejada: be cool if a medication was the absolute last resort because a (14:10):
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Kevin Tejada: lot of them have bad side effects and make you reliant on (14:13):
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Kevin Tejada: uh external chemicals when you know (14:17):
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Kevin Tejada: many much of this stuff can be done from you (14:20):
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Kevin Tejada: know coming from your brain not having to take something to force (14:23):
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Kevin Tejada: a change and that's preferable last myth (14:26):
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Kevin Tejada: insurance will cover what i need how do (14:29):
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Kevin Tejada: we tell them going back to you know my earlier story about the insurance they (14:33):
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Kevin Tejada: cut i mean depending on your insurance most insurances cost too much the good (14:38):
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Kevin Tejada: ones cost a fuck ton but it's like a mafia thing you know if you don't have (14:43):
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Kevin Tejada: it it sucks so it's like the health insurance is kind of like Like, (14:48):
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Kevin Tejada: hey, nice, decent, healthy got there. (14:51):
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Kevin Tejada: It'd be a shame if anything would have happened to it. Because if it does, (14:53):
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Kevin Tejada: you're getting fucked financially. (14:56):
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Kevin Tejada: I recommend insurance to everyone to have it. (14:58):
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Kevin Tejada: Not because it's going to be super helpful. But if you don't have it and something (15:02):
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Kevin Tejada: does happen, you are going to get financially fucked into oblivion. (15:05):
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Kevin Tejada: And your life is going to be maybe over. So just get the fucking insurance. (15:10):
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Speaker1: It's not going to cover everything, (15:14):
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Kevin Tejada: But yeah. I mean, for insurances, from what I understand, a lot of them, (15:16):
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Kevin Tejada: they help with the drug, the cost of the drug. (15:19):
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Kevin Tejada: But in terms of, let's say, counseling or something to make lifestyle changes, (15:23):
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Kevin Tejada: that's not often covered. (15:27):
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Kevin Tejada: If it is, they don't pay that much for it. So the incentive is not there for that. (15:29):
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Kevin Tejada: And like I was mentioning before, depending what time of year it is, (15:34):
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Kevin Tejada: it might affect what you're willing to do. (15:38):
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Kevin Tejada: You know, if it's like, if you're deductible, let's say your deductible is like 5,000. (15:40):
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Kevin Tejada: Right and it's october right it (15:45):
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Kevin Tejada: could be the case you start paying the five thousand right (15:49):
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Kevin Tejada: you have to pay all that out of pocket until you hit the deductible the year (15:52):
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Kevin Tejada: ends you haven't hit the five thousand yet january hits you (15:55):
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Kevin Tejada: have to start over the five thousand just restart (15:58):
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Kevin Tejada: so you end up paying you're gonna end up paying like upwards of like nine (16:01):
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Kevin Tejada: thousand hopefully not the full ten thousand to do all (16:05):
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Kevin Tejada: that but that's how it is so if i if (16:07):
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Kevin Tejada: i misunderstand what the reality is blame the fucking (16:10):
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Kevin Tejada: system because it is ridiculous to decipher that shit (16:13):
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Kevin Tejada: but for me in my case i wait till january so i (16:16):
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Kevin Tejada: can start so so this year if i (16:19):
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Kevin Tejada: go in and get some stuff done now it's gonna cost me very little (16:22):
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Kevin Tejada: because i already hit my deductible in fucking february immediately (16:24):
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Kevin Tejada: almost because you know shit costs a lot but i want (16:29):
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Kevin Tejada: to get that out of the way so i can start paying a little bit for the these regular (16:31):
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Kevin Tejada: treatments of physical therapy which may or (16:35):
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Kevin Tejada: may not be the absolute key that i need so if i'm gonna need some some x-rays (16:38):
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Kevin Tejada: or some shit i want to do that this year because i hit my deductible so it'll (16:42):
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Kevin Tejada: cost very little if they push that shit till january i'm gonna have to fucking (16:45):
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Kevin Tejada: eat it uh eat the cost pay all that shit from the beginning have have fun great, (16:50):
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Kevin Tejada: Anyway, yeah, that's a mistake. If. (16:58):
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Speaker2: You take in (17:00):
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Kevin Tejada: Or accept a prescription before a behavioral thing, like if your doctor's like, (17:01):
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Kevin Tejada: hey, take this thing because you have whatever. (17:05):
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Kevin Tejada: It's like, hey, is there any way I can do this on my own without taking this? (17:08):
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Kevin Tejada: They should have an answer for you. Please ask. (17:11):
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Kevin Tejada: Instead of me hopping on a bunch of fucking supplements or something, (17:14):
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Kevin Tejada: it's like, hey, if you're low in iron or something, eat a bunch of sourdough bread. (17:18):
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Kevin Tejada: Great, I'll do that way before I touch other stuff. (17:23):
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Kevin Tejada: Not the supplements Like iron would You know Be terrible for you But what I'm (17:26):
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Kevin Tejada: saying is If there's a way to do it. (17:30):
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Speaker2: That can be part (17:32):
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Kevin Tejada: Of your normal life In a good way That's ideal Before popping something In your (17:33):
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Kevin Tejada: mouth Or stabbing something In your stomach Or whatever However the fuck goes up It works. (17:38):
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Speaker1: You know what's interesting? (17:43):
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Kevin Tejada: When there is some kind of physician, yeah, that's how you say it, (17:44):
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Kevin Tejada: physician delivered counseling for weight loss, the average weight loss is like (17:48):
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Kevin Tejada: five pounds or something. That sucks. I don't know what that means. (17:53):
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Kevin Tejada: If maybe it's not covered as much, so it's not done as much, (17:57):
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Kevin Tejada: or it's not as effective for the patient to fully understand what they need to do. (18:00):
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Kevin Tejada: But that's pretty wild. So what can you actually do? (18:03):
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Kevin Tejada: For doctors, this whole weight loss situation, it's (18:07):
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Kevin Tejada: not going to mesh well with the American healthcare system that (18:11):
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Kevin Tejada: we've got here so what's going (18:14):
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Kevin Tejada: to happen is you can ask like you know if there's a problem for (18:18):
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Kevin Tejada: you ask your doctor for sure ask him like hey please tell me what I can do you (18:21):
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Kevin Tejada: know they're going to tell you to eat less and move more of course but you know (18:26):
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Kevin Tejada: for specifics you can maybe ask something but at the end of the day you can't (18:29):
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Kevin Tejada: like literally there's the system doesn't allow for the time needed so, (18:35):
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Kevin Tejada: you can't expect your doctor to be your weight loss coach. (18:39):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm not just saying this because you should definitely come to me. (18:43):
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Kevin Tejada: What I'm saying is the weight loss is one aspect of health. (18:46):
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Kevin Tejada: If you're going in there with a broken, you know, you have a broken ankle, (18:49):
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Kevin Tejada: you have this other blood cancer or whatever the fuck, they're going to be talking (18:52):
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Kevin Tejada: about that most of the time. (18:54):
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Kevin Tejada: The weight loss stuff is important, but it's kind of, depending on how old you (18:55):
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Kevin Tejada: are, might not be as urgent as the other thing. So they're going to focus on (18:59):
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Kevin Tejada: that. They're going to talk on the weight loss. (19:01):
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Kevin Tejada: They almost definitely will, but it's going to be a smaller part because it's (19:03):
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Kevin Tejada: not going to kill you right away. (19:06):
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Kevin Tejada: It will kill you eventually, but not right away. (19:07):
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Kevin Tejada: So I'm not going to prioritize that. They might kick you a prescription or something, (19:11):
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Kevin Tejada: but yeah, the main weight loss effort will be relying on you. (19:14):
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Kevin Tejada: Like seriously, if you ask a doctor, they're probably, like I said, (19:19):
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Kevin Tejada: they're going to tell you eat less and move more. (19:24):
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Kevin Tejada: But like I'm saying, push, not necessarily push back, but ask for clarification. (19:25):
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Kevin Tejada: Say, hey, can you give me specifics or can you refer me to someone who can work (19:29):
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Kevin Tejada: with me and my lifestyle in particular to help me out. (19:33):
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Kevin Tejada: Maybe they'll have someone. Maybe they're covered by insurance. Maybe not. I don't know. (19:37):
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Kevin Tejada: You know, it doesn't hurt to ask. They might have that kind of thing. (19:42):
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Kevin Tejada: And one important thing that you can do, I've done something like this before. (19:45):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm sure many people do. When you go into the doctor for your visit or for any (19:50):
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Kevin Tejada: reason, have like a list of what you actually care to get through. (19:54):
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Kevin Tejada: Don't make it too long because I don't have time for you, but have a list of (19:58):
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Kevin Tejada: things you want addressed in some way, shape or form you want addressed. (20:02):
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Kevin Tejada: Get a list beforehand so you don't forget because it's possible you forget. (20:07):
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Kevin Tejada: You're not sticking shit in your ear. your mouth having you cough putting stuff (20:11):
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Kevin Tejada: up your butt sometimes like you know you might forget, (20:15):
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Kevin Tejada: you might forget what you came in there for so yeah in terms of of weight loss honestly, (20:17):
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Kevin Tejada: i mean you do know what to do but in terms of getting extra help (20:22):
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Kevin Tejada: you can reach out to me of course (20:25):
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Kevin Tejada: because i'm cool of course don't reach out to me for doctor shit i'm not a doctor (20:28):
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Kevin Tejada: i just lost 100 pounds i know how the fuck to lose weight but when you're going (20:32):
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Kevin Tejada: to these doctor's visits you know ask questions ask them ask them but it's the (20:36):
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Kevin Tejada: system is not made to help you out that much not with this and if you work weird hours you. (20:41):
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Speaker2: Know what maybe (20:46):
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Kevin Tejada: You can do the telehealth telemedicine visits I've never done one of those because I want. (20:48):
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Speaker2: The physical stuff (20:52):
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Kevin Tejada: Done to me I don't want to just say hey doc let's hop on a fucking what's a (20:53):
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Kevin Tejada: zoom call I don't want to do that shit I mean that's an option too they don't (20:58):
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Kevin Tejada: have to do anything physical you just want to speak to them and, (21:02):
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Kevin Tejada: you know, get charged a bunch, the telehealth could be helpful. (21:04):
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Kevin Tejada: And if that's outside of a normal... (21:07):
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Kevin Tejada: Physical visit you might be able to spend a bit more time on on (21:11):
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Kevin Tejada: you know the weight loss recommendations there so that's (21:14):
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Kevin Tejada: an option so yeah this is so the u.s (21:18):
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Kevin Tejada: health care system is is is structured in a way where they get you in and out (21:21):
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Kevin Tejada: as soon as possible and they give you a drug and show you the fuck up not really (21:25):
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Kevin Tejada: necessarily changing your life or the habits that you do because they don't (21:29):
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Kevin Tejada: have time for that shit and doesn't pay as much and believe me i've worked just (21:33):
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Kevin Tejada: a little bit in healthcare before, (21:37):
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Kevin Tejada: if you don't follow all the rules, Medicare will stop fucking paying you. (21:39):
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Speaker2: So if there's (21:43):
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Kevin Tejada: A reason that a lot of doctors want to stick to the, you know, (21:44):
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Kevin Tejada: get in and out, here's a drug, whatever, that's why. (21:47):
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Kevin Tejada: Because if not, I mean, if you do stuff that's too out of the norm, (21:49):
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Kevin Tejada: not following procedure too much, they'll just stop paying you for a bit. (21:54):
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Speaker2: And it's not fun. So you're going to (21:58):
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Kevin Tejada: Have to advocate for yourself. You're going to seek out help with the help of (22:00):
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Kevin Tejada: your doctor or elsewhere. (22:03):
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Kevin Tejada: Do some kind of research, please. If you need help from a person, reach out to them. (22:04):
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Kevin Tejada: However you get it, it'll be helpful, but you have to seek it because the system (22:10):
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Kevin Tejada: itself is not going to just kind of funnel you into a good place with this weight (22:14):
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Kevin Tejada: loss stuff. It's just not made for that. (22:18):
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Kevin Tejada: Shit, I have an issue with my hand. Like, it works. It's just uncomfortable (22:20):
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Kevin Tejada: and weird sometimes. But that's even taking me, it's taking me months and talking (22:24):
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Kevin Tejada: to this person, this person, this person to get this shit even set up again. (22:29):
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Kevin Tejada: So imagine making a life change, like, you know, reducing your weight by 30, 50, 70 pounds. (22:34):
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Kevin Tejada: Imagine how that'll go. It's going to be kind of a pain in the ass. (22:40):
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Kevin Tejada: So try it for sure. But, you know, have a plan in place for what kind of help you want. (22:43):
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Kevin Tejada: Otherwise, you're just going to get a fucking prescription for Manjaro. (22:47):
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Kevin Tejada: Leave a comment. What's the craziest or most useless advice you've gotten from (22:53):
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Kevin Tejada: a doctor regarding weight loss? (22:57):
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Kevin Tejada: It would be funny if they just said, hey, can you exercise twice? Twice a week? (22:58):
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Kevin Tejada: Also, subscribe or you're not going to make it. All right. See you next time. (23:03):
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Kevin Tejada: Mostly the U.S. healthcare system. I'm sure others in developed countries are (00:32):
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Kevin Tejada: pretty decent, but ours sucks. (00:36):
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Speaker2: Now, I will (00:39):
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Kevin Tejada: Get into how this applies to weight management, (00:40):
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Kevin Tejada: but I, I, I, this episode is coming about because I got annoyed as fuck yesterday (00:44):
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Kevin Tejada: at what transpired and how impossible it feels to get actual support. (00:50):
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Kevin Tejada: So this might be a bit of a tangent, but I'll get there, (00:56):
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Kevin Tejada: So long story short, about a year and a half ago, I had to cover for a co-worker at my day job. (00:59):
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Kevin Tejada: And basically I computer too hard and I got probably tendinitis in my hand. (01:04):
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Kevin Tejada: That's what I've been told. (01:09):
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Kevin Tejada: Now, because health insurance in this country works in a really fucking annoying (01:11):
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Kevin Tejada: way, I waited and it is my fault for sure. (01:15):
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Kevin Tejada: I waited until January to start physical therapy because I didn't want to start (01:18):
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Kevin Tejada: paying into the deductible. And then January hits and I have to pay again right (01:22):
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Kevin Tejada: away because it was near the second half of the year at that point. (01:27):
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Kevin Tejada: So I didn't want to double pay basically in a shorter amount of time. (01:31):
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Kevin Tejada: So I started physical therapy for some months. (01:35):
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Kevin Tejada: Not sure how helpful it was. Wasn't hurtful. I don't know how helpful though. (01:38):
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Kevin Tejada: And then insurance says, hey, we need a doctor's thing before we can continue. (01:43):
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Kevin Tejada: So we're not going to pay anymore. (01:46):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm like, fuck, I got to get to the doctor ASAP so they can, you know, approve this. (01:48):
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Kevin Tejada: Because my hand's fucked up i tell them hey (01:53):
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Kevin Tejada: my hand is fucked up from work can you please you know (01:56):
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Kevin Tejada: give them back that signature whatever it is authorization and (01:59):
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Kevin Tejada: they did and then about two months later insurance was (02:02):
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Kevin Tejada: like okay yeah we'll we'll pay yeah but by this point i'm coming back for my (02:06):
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Kevin Tejada: trip to japan i'm forgetting about this shit i'm like damn do i want to set (02:11):
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Kevin Tejada: up that schedule again i mean i need to but if i'm gonna do this i want to do (02:15):
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Kevin Tejada: it so it doesn't take like five months before I see substantial progress. (02:19):
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Kevin Tejada: So let me try to go to a certified hand therapist instead of just general physical therapy. (02:24):
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Kevin Tejada: And all the ones in a reasonable distance from me, I'm in Chicago, (02:31):
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Kevin Tejada: so it's not like, you know, I'm lacking, right? But I don't want to drive all (02:34):
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Kevin Tejada: the way up above the loop and shit. (02:38):
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Speaker2: Right? (02:39):
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Kevin Tejada: So the ones near me, like under, you know, the city, a little bit, (02:40):
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Kevin Tejada: just slightly out of downtown, I'm looking around and a lot of them don't have (02:44):
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Kevin Tejada: certified hand therapist. (02:48):
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Kevin Tejada: And the ones that do, they require a referral from someone who's already part (02:49):
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Kevin Tejada: of that system. I'll say Rush Hospital. (02:54):
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Kevin Tejada: I basically ask them, hey, I need (02:57):
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Kevin Tejada: a referral. What about for my primary physician? And they're like, nah. (02:59):
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Kevin Tejada: You need to be referred by one of our doctors. And I'm like, (03:03):
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Kevin Tejada: okay, so no matter what my doctor says, if I don't get a referral from one of (03:07):
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Kevin Tejada: your guys, I cannot do this with you. (03:10):
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Kevin Tejada: Even though you guys are apparently really fucking good. They're like, (03:13):
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Kevin Tejada: yeah, that's exactly the case. Get fucked. (03:15):
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Kevin Tejada: They didn't say get fucked, but they might as well have. (03:18):
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Kevin Tejada: So I call my doctor's office and ask him, hey, is this a thing? (03:20):
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Kevin Tejada: They have limited referrals or, you know, there's limitations on that? (03:24):
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Kevin Tejada: They're like, I mean, it's kind of weird, but I guess so. Because it was the (03:28):
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Kevin Tejada: front desk person. And they weren't familiar, I guess, with all the laws and stuff. (03:31):
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Kevin Tejada: So I called the initial place back to confirm that, yeah, no other referral (03:35):
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Kevin Tejada: matters. If you're not in the system. (03:40):
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Speaker2: Get fucked. (03:41):
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Kevin Tejada: So on the call with my doctor's office, they're saying, hey, (03:42):
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Kevin Tejada: maybe, you know, you can go to an orthopedist, you know, and this is me after (03:46):
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Kevin Tejada: asking, hey, do you have any certified hand therapists that you guys know? (03:50):
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Kevin Tejada: So they gave me orthopedist, which would be an extra step before I actually get therapy again. (03:54):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm thinking, okay, that sounds kind of annoying But if I want to truly know (03:59):
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Kevin Tejada: what the hell is going on So I can get this treated faster I'm open to it And (04:02):
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Kevin Tejada: I ask, okay, so to see this orthopedist I need a referral Does that mean I need (04:07):
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Kevin Tejada: to go and see my primary doctor? (04:11):
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Kevin Tejada: And they're like, yeah I'm thinking, fuck me in the ass How many goddamn days (04:13):
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Kevin Tejada: of work off do I need to take To find out what to do? (04:17):
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Kevin Tejada: So I'm going to have to go to my doctor So they can see me Just guess at something (04:21):
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Kevin Tejada: Send me to an orthopedist So they can find out what's going on So then I can (04:25):
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Kevin Tejada: see what the hell happens next And see if I can even do therapy I don't know, (04:29):
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Kevin Tejada: This system is fucking stupid, (04:33):
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Kevin Tejada: And just for shits and giggles I asked, I did some research I asked perplexity (04:35):
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Kevin Tejada: Hey, by the way, this situation that I'm telling you right now How would this (04:39):
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Kevin Tejada: go if I were in, I don't know Japan or Germany or something like that, you know. (04:43):
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Speaker2: Like a very (04:48):
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Kevin Tejada: Orderly place in Asia and a very orderly place in Europe. How would this go? (04:48):
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Kevin Tejada: And they're like, yeah, this would take like two steps instead of the fucking (04:52):
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Kevin Tejada: five that you're having to take. (04:56):
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Kevin Tejada: And it would be cheaper too. I'm thinking, very cool. (04:59):
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Kevin Tejada: Very cool, America. Love it. So I didn't even get to schedule that because I (05:03):
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Kevin Tejada: found all this out in the afternoon. And I was going to call my main doctor (05:07):
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Kevin Tejada: again to say, hey, can I schedule something? (05:11):
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Kevin Tejada: You know, the closest, the nearest appointment you have, which is a fucking week from now. (05:13):
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Kevin Tejada: To even get this shit started. But I couldn't because at the end of the workday, (05:18):
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Kevin Tejada: a big meeting popped up at work on my day job. (05:23):
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Kevin Tejada: So I had to stay on a call for about 90 minutes. (05:27):
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Kevin Tejada: So it was past five and I couldn't call. So I'm going to have to do that probably (05:30):
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Kevin Tejada: after I'm done recording this. (05:34):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm surprised. Failure's very fun. Isn't it great when your software just fucks (05:36):
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Kevin Tejada: up and it causes a huge issue that you have to be on a long ass call for? (05:41):
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Kevin Tejada: Now this is definitely a tangent but point is the system that we have here in (05:45):
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Kevin Tejada: the u.s is dog shit if you want help to better yourself now let me tie this (05:49):
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Kevin Tejada: into weight loss for all the people who are still fucking. (05:54):
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Speaker2: Left here so your main (05:57):
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Kevin Tejada: Doctors they spend about 20 ish minutes on average, (05:59):
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Kevin Tejada: with you which is i think that's fucking crazy unless you're really healthy (06:02):
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Kevin Tejada: but apparently only 98% of that goes to discussing, you know, (06:07):
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Kevin Tejada: your overweight issue, your obesity issue. (06:11):
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Kevin Tejada: And when you do the math, that's about two minutes to talk about a problem that's (06:15):
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Kevin Tejada: going to take huge lifestyle shifts and months to address, probably years. Very cool, right? (06:19):
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Kevin Tejada: Apparently, three-fourths of doctors say, oh, they don't have time to deal with (06:28):
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Kevin Tejada: all this stuff for the patients. They have to go from one patient to the next, to the next, to the next. (06:34):
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Kevin Tejada: So if you're fat as shit and you're going to die of diabetes, (06:39):
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Kevin Tejada: well, what happens is the system is financially encouraging of just prescribing, (06:41):
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Kevin Tejada: you know, pills or syringes or whatever over behavior changes because, you know, (06:46):
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Kevin Tejada: doctors sitting you down saying, (06:52):
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Kevin Tejada: hey, you're fat as shit and you're going to die in about two years. (06:53):
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Kevin Tejada: So what you need to do Is you need to understand How calories (06:56):
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Kevin Tejada: work in your body You need to understand What kind of deficit What kind of math (07:00):
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Kevin Tejada: What kind of timeline You're looking at What kind of change You'll be going (07:03):
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Kevin Tejada: through In that time What you should do To speed that up In a healthy way Blah (07:06):
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Kevin Tejada: blah blah You don't have time For that shit I assume I don't know why They can't (07:10):
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Kevin Tejada: just take You know More time But you know More patience More money So fuck it, (07:12):
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Kevin Tejada: All that takes way longer Than saying Alright you're fat Here's the thing Go (07:18):
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Kevin Tejada: get some Mozepik And I'll see you I'll see you in a year. (07:21):
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Speaker2: That's easier And that's why While (07:25):
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Kevin Tejada: I think doctors are very informative I think many of them are smart The way (07:28):
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Kevin Tejada: that the system is What they do for you is not the best Sometimes what they (07:33):
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Kevin Tejada: recommend for you Is not necessarily the optimal thing It's more like Hey this (07:38):
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Kevin Tejada: is the best I can do in the like one minute, (07:43):
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Kevin Tejada: side effects be damned. You know, it'll kind of help. So I'll see you next year. See how it is. (07:46):
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Kevin Tejada: Apparently this is fucking wild. 92% of primary care physicians actively prescribe weight loss drugs. (07:52):
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Kevin Tejada: Like Ozepic, Wegovi, Manjaro, is that one? (07:58):
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Kevin Tejada: They do that while less than half of these doctors get into kind of the lifestyle (08:04):
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Kevin Tejada: aspect of it, which long-term is more effective. (08:09):
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Kevin Tejada: So if you work in tech In an office and you're fat You're just becoming a blob (08:14):
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Kevin Tejada: in your chair And a doctor just gives you A prescription for Fucking Wegovi That's not gonna. (08:19):
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Kevin Tejada: That's like If your kid kept lighting your cat on fire And they kept giving (08:29):
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Kevin Tejada: you Buckets of water for it Like yeah it's gonna help You're gonna get the cat (08:33):
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Kevin Tejada: not on fire anymore But the ideal thing to do would be to teach your kid To (08:38):
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Kevin Tejada: not light your fucking cat on fire That's what that's going to be like. (08:41):
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Kevin Tejada: When they prescribe this drug or whatever it is, instead of telling you to change (08:45):
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Kevin Tejada: that life, those, you know, 8, 9, 10, God forbid, 11 hours that you're sitting (08:50):
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Kevin Tejada: down, those are doing far more harm than you think. (08:55):
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Kevin Tejada: But they're not going to talk about that. Hey, what do you do for work? (08:59):
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Kevin Tejada: Hey, you want to start standing up? (09:02):
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Kevin Tejada: You know, many doctors, they don't get into that. They're just going to say, (09:04):
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Kevin Tejada: hey, you're fat as shit. It looks like you're not losing weight on your own. So here's a drug. (09:06):
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Kevin Tejada: To be fair, a lot of doctors are not into, you know, behavior therapy. (09:13):
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Kevin Tejada: They don't understand how to, you know, just because you understand the biological (09:17):
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Kevin Tejada: science doesn't mean you understand the psychological science to help. (09:20):
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Speaker2: People get there (09:24):
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Kevin Tejada: Because everyone knows how to fucking lose weight, eat less, (09:25):
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Kevin Tejada: and optionally move more. That's it. (09:28):
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Kevin Tejada: How you do that is very challenging though, in modern day, especially. (09:32):
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Kevin Tejada: And some doctors aren't prepared for that. You know, when the client or the (09:36):
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Kevin Tejada: patient comes back to you, they're like, this is really hard. (09:40):
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Kevin Tejada: I can't really follow the workouts. (09:44):
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Kevin Tejada: Tracking my food takes too much time. (09:47):
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Kevin Tejada: Blah, blah, blah. Doctors can be like, what the fuck? No, just take this drug, (09:50):
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Kevin Tejada: you fucking annoying fuck. (09:55):
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Kevin Tejada: And I'm sure some doctors are good at talking to people, but that's not what the job is, right? (09:57):
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Kevin Tejada: So I am kind of blaming doctors, but I'm kind of not in a way. (10:01):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm more blaming the system, as you're seeing here. The thing with this system (10:05):
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Kevin Tejada: is that a lot of things that are issues for us, the physicians and other things, (10:09):
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Kevin Tejada: they focus on treating the symptoms, not the cause. (10:15):
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Kevin Tejada: So you're fat as shit, you're getting diabetes, you're getting whatever's going on. (10:20):
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Kevin Tejada: They're going to tackle that instead of saying, hey, you want to change your (10:23):
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Kevin Tejada: life So you're not fat anymore and getting all these other issues branching off from that one. (10:27):
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Kevin Tejada: That's too much. That's too much work for them. Come on. (10:33):
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Kevin Tejada: You expect them to help with your health, you silly fuck. Like, (10:36):
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Kevin Tejada: again, I don't hate doctors. I'm just, this system is not, is not, (10:38):
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Kevin Tejada: it's not letting them shine. (10:41):
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Kevin Tejada: I mean, I'm sure some doctors just suck ass and they just don't give a fuck. (10:44):
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Kevin Tejada: They're just writing a prescription and kicking you out of the office. (10:47):
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Kevin Tejada: Some, I assume, want to help, but, you know, the practice they're in is like, (10:51):
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Kevin Tejada: yo, if I don't see this amount of patients, we can't be open at all. (10:54):
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Kevin Tejada: So I need to just get through them. (10:57):
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Speaker2: I don't know. (11:00):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm not defending. I don't fucking know. This system sucks ass. (11:00):
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Kevin Tejada: So it's time to discredit some myths here. (11:04):
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Kevin Tejada: First one. My doctor knows what's best for my weight loss. (11:08):
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Kevin Tejada: You know what? They really should. You understand the basic science. (11:12):
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Kevin Tejada: They can probably help quite a bit. But the truth is most doctors, (11:16):
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Kevin Tejada: as I said, they don't have the time for that. (11:21):
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Kevin Tejada: And to change your lifestyle, it's going to be mostly on you. (11:23):
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Kevin Tejada: So when they see you and talk about this shit for like three minutes tops, (11:26):
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Kevin Tejada: the weight loss advice they're going to give you is not going to be the best, (11:30):
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Kevin Tejada: not going to be the most high quality. (11:34):
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Kevin Tejada: So I'm not saying, hey, fuck what doctors say. I'm saying, keep in mind, (11:36):
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Kevin Tejada: they got to get you in and out. (11:40):
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Kevin Tejada: So that's the choice they're going to make most of the time. (11:42):
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Kevin Tejada: The one that gets you in and out. (11:45):
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Kevin Tejada: Next myth, weight loss drugs are a permanent solution. Do I, (11:47):
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Kevin Tejada: I don't know if I need to address this. (11:51):
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Kevin Tejada: Okay, let's say this. If you take them permanently, sure, they might be. (11:53):
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Kevin Tejada: I mean, you know, you can still out eat that stuff if you're really hungry. (11:59):
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Kevin Tejada: It makes you less hungry, but dude, if you're super fucking hungry, (12:03):
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Kevin Tejada: you just eat way more than these drugs even tamper down your hunger for, (12:06):
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Kevin Tejada: you're still going to gain weight. (12:09):
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Kevin Tejada: That's, I believe that's kind of rare, but it can still happen. (12:12):
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Kevin Tejada: But I mean, in a way, if you take them permanently, they are a permanent solution. (12:16):
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Kevin Tejada: I wouldn't say a solution, though. I would say like a Band-Aid or something. (12:20):
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Kevin Tejada: Next myth. If lifestyle changes work, doctors would recommend them first. (12:24):
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Kevin Tejada: What? Maybe they used to. And they still do sometimes. You know, (12:29):
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Kevin Tejada: obviously, they say, oh, make sure you get to mixer size. (12:33):
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Kevin Tejada: But everyone knows that. The thing is, if they come to your fucking office and (12:37):
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Kevin Tejada: it's still fat, that's not working, obviously. (12:42):
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Kevin Tejada: So more instruction would be helpful. And sometimes I mention instructions on here for weight loss. (12:44):
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Kevin Tejada: So subscribe, not medical advice, but subscribe. (12:49):
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Kevin Tejada: And, you know, even if they do recommend lifestyle things, like I said, (12:53):
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Kevin Tejada: that's mostly on you. And they often don't because they don't have the fucking time. (12:57):
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Kevin Tejada: It's not, it's, they're not incentivized to do so. It just doesn't make sense (13:01):
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Kevin Tejada: for them to do it if they want to keep doctoring. (13:04):
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Kevin Tejada: And going back to the weight loss thing, the weight loss or permanent solution (13:07):
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Kevin Tejada: myth, many people get on them, come off of them because the side effects suck ass. (13:10):
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Kevin Tejada: So next myth, getting prescribed medication means I tried everything else. (13:15):
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Kevin Tejada: It's almost the opposite. (13:19):
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Kevin Tejada: I think I've told this story before, but I have a friend who was a kid who, (13:21):
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Kevin Tejada: And he was, you know, being a kid, not paying too much attention. (13:26):
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Kevin Tejada: So they were thinking, hey, how about we give him some drugs? (13:30):
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Kevin Tejada: Because he has, let's give him some Ritalin because he probably has ADHD or something. (13:33):
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Kevin Tejada: My friend was like, hold the fuck up. (13:37):
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Kevin Tejada: How about we try other things to maybe see if his attention can improve? (13:40):
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Kevin Tejada: I don't know the specifics of what he was doing because I'm his child or his wife. (13:46):
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Kevin Tejada: But yeah, he was able to make progress on improving his kid's attention without drugs. (13:50):
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Kevin Tejada: Medication so oftentimes the the medication is (13:57):
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Kevin Tejada: what comes first because it gets you get you out sooner so (14:00):
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Kevin Tejada: no it's not a prescription does not mean that everything (14:03):
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Kevin Tejada: else has been tried that's the last resort that would (14:07):
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Kevin Tejada: be cool if a medication was the absolute last resort because a (14:10):
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Kevin Tejada: lot of them have bad side effects and make you reliant on (14:13):
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Kevin Tejada: uh external chemicals when you know (14:17):
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Kevin Tejada: many much of this stuff can be done from you (14:20):
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Kevin Tejada: know coming from your brain not having to take something to force (14:23):
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Kevin Tejada: a change and that's preferable last myth (14:26):
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Kevin Tejada: insurance will cover what i need how do (14:29):
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Kevin Tejada: we tell them going back to you know my earlier story about the insurance they (14:33):
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Kevin Tejada: cut i mean depending on your insurance most insurances cost too much the good (14:38):
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Kevin Tejada: ones cost a fuck ton but it's like a mafia thing you know if you don't have (14:43):
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Kevin Tejada: it it sucks so it's like the health insurance is kind of like Like, (14:48):
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Kevin Tejada: hey, nice, decent, healthy got there. (14:51):
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Kevin Tejada: It'd be a shame if anything would have happened to it. Because if it does, (14:53):
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Kevin Tejada: you're getting fucked financially. (14:56):
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Kevin Tejada: I recommend insurance to everyone to have it. (14:58):
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Kevin Tejada: Not because it's going to be super helpful. But if you don't have it and something (15:02):
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Kevin Tejada: does happen, you are going to get financially fucked into oblivion. (15:05):
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Kevin Tejada: And your life is going to be maybe over. So just get the fucking insurance. (15:10):
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Speaker1: It's not going to cover everything, (15:14):
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Kevin Tejada: But yeah. I mean, for insurances, from what I understand, a lot of them, (15:16):
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Kevin Tejada: they help with the drug, the cost of the drug. (15:19):
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Kevin Tejada: But in terms of, let's say, counseling or something to make lifestyle changes, (15:23):
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Kevin Tejada: that's not often covered. (15:27):
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Kevin Tejada: If it is, they don't pay that much for it. So the incentive is not there for that. (15:29):
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Kevin Tejada: And like I was mentioning before, depending what time of year it is, (15:34):
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Kevin Tejada: it might affect what you're willing to do. (15:38):
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Kevin Tejada: You know, if it's like, if you're deductible, let's say your deductible is like 5,000. (15:40):
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Kevin Tejada: Right and it's october right it (15:45):
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Kevin Tejada: could be the case you start paying the five thousand right (15:49):
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Kevin Tejada: you have to pay all that out of pocket until you hit the deductible the year (15:52):
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Kevin Tejada: ends you haven't hit the five thousand yet january hits you (15:55):
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Kevin Tejada: have to start over the five thousand just restart (15:58):
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Kevin Tejada: so you end up paying you're gonna end up paying like upwards of like nine (16:01):
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Kevin Tejada: thousand hopefully not the full ten thousand to do all (16:05):
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Kevin Tejada: that but that's how it is so if i if (16:07):
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Kevin Tejada: i misunderstand what the reality is blame the fucking (16:10):
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Kevin Tejada: system because it is ridiculous to decipher that shit (16:13):
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Kevin Tejada: but for me in my case i wait till january so i (16:16):
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Kevin Tejada: can start so so this year if i (16:19):
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Kevin Tejada: go in and get some stuff done now it's gonna cost me very little (16:22):
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Kevin Tejada: because i already hit my deductible in fucking february immediately (16:24):
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Kevin Tejada: almost because you know shit costs a lot but i want (16:29):
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Kevin Tejada: to get that out of the way so i can start paying a little bit for the these regular (16:31):
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Kevin Tejada: treatments of physical therapy which may or (16:35):
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Kevin Tejada: may not be the absolute key that i need so if i'm gonna need some some x-rays (16:38):
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Kevin Tejada: or some shit i want to do that this year because i hit my deductible so it'll (16:42):
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Kevin Tejada: cost very little if they push that shit till january i'm gonna have to fucking (16:45):
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Kevin Tejada: eat it uh eat the cost pay all that shit from the beginning have have fun great, (16:50):
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Kevin Tejada: Anyway, yeah, that's a mistake. If. (16:58):
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Speaker2: You take in (17:00):
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Kevin Tejada: Or accept a prescription before a behavioral thing, like if your doctor's like, (17:01):
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Kevin Tejada: hey, take this thing because you have whatever. (17:05):
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Kevin Tejada: It's like, hey, is there any way I can do this on my own without taking this? (17:08):
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Kevin Tejada: They should have an answer for you. Please ask. (17:11):
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Kevin Tejada: Instead of me hopping on a bunch of fucking supplements or something, (17:14):
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Kevin Tejada: it's like, hey, if you're low in iron or something, eat a bunch of sourdough bread. (17:18):
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Kevin Tejada: Great, I'll do that way before I touch other stuff. (17:23):
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Kevin Tejada: Not the supplements Like iron would You know Be terrible for you But what I'm (17:26):
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Kevin Tejada: saying is If there's a way to do it. (17:30):
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Speaker2: That can be part (17:32):
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Kevin Tejada: Of your normal life In a good way That's ideal Before popping something In your (17:33):
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Kevin Tejada: mouth Or stabbing something In your stomach Or whatever However the fuck goes up It works. (17:38):
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Speaker1: You know what's interesting? (17:43):
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Kevin Tejada: When there is some kind of physician, yeah, that's how you say it, (17:44):
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Kevin Tejada: physician delivered counseling for weight loss, the average weight loss is like (17:48):
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Kevin Tejada: five pounds or something. That sucks. I don't know what that means. (17:53):
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Kevin Tejada: If maybe it's not covered as much, so it's not done as much, (17:57):
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Kevin Tejada: or it's not as effective for the patient to fully understand what they need to do. (18:00):
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Kevin Tejada: But that's pretty wild. So what can you actually do? (18:03):
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Kevin Tejada: For doctors, this whole weight loss situation, it's (18:07):
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Kevin Tejada: not going to mesh well with the American healthcare system that (18:11):
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Kevin Tejada: we've got here so what's going (18:14):
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Kevin Tejada: to happen is you can ask like you know if there's a problem for (18:18):
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Kevin Tejada: you ask your doctor for sure ask him like hey please tell me what I can do you (18:21):
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Kevin Tejada: know they're going to tell you to eat less and move more of course but you know (18:26):
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Kevin Tejada: for specifics you can maybe ask something but at the end of the day you can't (18:29):
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Kevin Tejada: like literally there's the system doesn't allow for the time needed so, (18:35):
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Kevin Tejada: you can't expect your doctor to be your weight loss coach. (18:39):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm not just saying this because you should definitely come to me. (18:43):
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Kevin Tejada: What I'm saying is the weight loss is one aspect of health. (18:46):
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Kevin Tejada: If you're going in there with a broken, you know, you have a broken ankle, (18:49):
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Kevin Tejada: you have this other blood cancer or whatever the fuck, they're going to be talking (18:52):
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Kevin Tejada: about that most of the time. (18:54):
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Kevin Tejada: The weight loss stuff is important, but it's kind of, depending on how old you (18:55):
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Kevin Tejada: are, might not be as urgent as the other thing. So they're going to focus on (18:59):
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Kevin Tejada: that. They're going to talk on the weight loss. (19:01):
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Kevin Tejada: They almost definitely will, but it's going to be a smaller part because it's (19:03):
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Kevin Tejada: not going to kill you right away. (19:06):
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Kevin Tejada: It will kill you eventually, but not right away. (19:07):
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Kevin Tejada: So I'm not going to prioritize that. They might kick you a prescription or something, (19:11):
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Kevin Tejada: but yeah, the main weight loss effort will be relying on you. (19:14):
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Kevin Tejada: Like seriously, if you ask a doctor, they're probably, like I said, (19:19):
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Kevin Tejada: they're going to tell you eat less and move more. (19:24):
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Kevin Tejada: But like I'm saying, push, not necessarily push back, but ask for clarification. (19:25):
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Kevin Tejada: Say, hey, can you give me specifics or can you refer me to someone who can work (19:29):
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Kevin Tejada: with me and my lifestyle in particular to help me out. (19:33):
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Kevin Tejada: Maybe they'll have someone. Maybe they're covered by insurance. Maybe not. I don't know. (19:37):
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Kevin Tejada: You know, it doesn't hurt to ask. They might have that kind of thing. (19:42):
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Kevin Tejada: And one important thing that you can do, I've done something like this before. (19:45):
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Kevin Tejada: I'm sure many people do. When you go into the doctor for your visit or for any (19:50):
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Kevin Tejada: reason, have like a list of what you actually care to get through. (19:54):
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Kevin Tejada: Don't make it too long because I don't have time for you, but have a list of (19:58):
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Kevin Tejada: things you want addressed in some way, shape or form you want addressed. (20:02):
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Kevin Tejada: Get a list beforehand so you don't forget because it's possible you forget. (20:07):
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Kevin Tejada: You're not sticking shit in your ear. your mouth having you cough putting stuff (20:11):
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Kevin Tejada: up your butt sometimes like you know you might forget, (20:15):
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Kevin Tejada: you might forget what you came in there for so yeah in terms of of weight loss honestly, (20:17):
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Kevin Tejada: i mean you do know what to do but in terms of getting extra help (20:22):
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Kevin Tejada: you can reach out to me of course (20:25):
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Kevin Tejada: because i'm cool of course don't reach out to me for doctor shit i'm not a doctor (20:28):
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Kevin Tejada: i just lost 100 pounds i know how the fuck to lose weight but when you're going (20:32):
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Kevin Tejada: to these doctor's visits you know ask questions ask them ask them but it's the (20:36):
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Kevin Tejada: system is not made to help you out that much not with this and if you work weird hours you. (20:41):
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Speaker2: Know what maybe (20:46):
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Kevin Tejada: You can do the telehealth telemedicine visits I've never done one of those because I want. (20:48):
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Speaker2: The physical stuff (20:52):
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Kevin Tejada: Done to me I don't want to just say hey doc let's hop on a fucking what's a (20:53):
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Kevin Tejada: zoom call I don't want to do that shit I mean that's an option too they don't (20:58):
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Kevin Tejada: have to do anything physical you just want to speak to them and, (21:02):
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Kevin Tejada: you know, get charged a bunch, the telehealth could be helpful. (21:04):
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Kevin Tejada: And if that's outside of a normal... (21:07):
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Kevin Tejada: Physical visit you might be able to spend a bit more time on on (21:11):
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Kevin Tejada: you know the weight loss recommendations there so that's (21:14):
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Kevin Tejada: an option so yeah this is so the u.s (21:18):
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Kevin Tejada: health care system is is is structured in a way where they get you in and out (21:21):
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Kevin Tejada: as soon as possible and they give you a drug and show you the fuck up not really (21:25):
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Kevin Tejada: necessarily changing your life or the habits that you do because they don't (21:29):
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Kevin Tejada: have time for that shit and doesn't pay as much and believe me i've worked just (21:33):
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Kevin Tejada: a little bit in healthcare before, (21:37):
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Kevin Tejada: if you don't follow all the rules, Medicare will stop fucking paying you. (21:39):
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Speaker2: So if there's (21:43):
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Kevin Tejada: A reason that a lot of doctors want to stick to the, you know, (21:44):
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Kevin Tejada: get in and out, here's a drug, whatever, that's why. (21:47):
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Kevin Tejada: Because if not, I mean, if you do stuff that's too out of the norm, (21:49):
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Kevin Tejada: not following procedure too much, they'll just stop paying you for a bit. (21:54):
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Speaker2: And it's not fun. So you're going to (21:58):
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Kevin Tejada: Have to advocate for yourself. You're going to seek out help with the help of (22:00):
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Kevin Tejada: your doctor or elsewhere. (22:03):
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Kevin Tejada: Do some kind of research, please. If you need help from a person, reach out to them. (22:04):
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Kevin Tejada: However you get it, it'll be helpful, but you have to seek it because the system (22:10):
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Kevin Tejada: itself is not going to just kind of funnel you into a good place with this weight (22:14):
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Kevin Tejada: loss stuff. It's just not made for that. (22:18):
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Kevin Tejada: Shit, I have an issue with my hand. Like, it works. It's just uncomfortable (22:20):
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Kevin Tejada: and weird sometimes. But that's even taking me, it's taking me months and talking (22:24):
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Kevin Tejada: to this person, this person, this person to get this shit even set up again. (22:29):
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Kevin Tejada: So imagine making a life change, like, you know, reducing your weight by 30, 50, 70 pounds. (22:34):
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Kevin Tejada: Imagine how that'll go. It's going to be kind of a pain in the ass. (22:40):
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Kevin Tejada: So try it for sure. But, you know, have a plan in place for what kind of help you want. (22:43):
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Kevin Tejada: Otherwise, you're just going to get a fucking prescription for Manjaro. (22:47):
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Kevin Tejada: Leave a comment. What's the craziest or most useless advice you've gotten from (22:53):
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Kevin Tejada: a doctor regarding weight loss? (22:57):
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Kevin Tejada: It would be funny if they just said, hey, can you exercise twice? Twice a week? (22:58):
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Kevin Tejada: Also, subscribe or you're not going to make it. All right. See you next time. (23:03):
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