Your Medical Questions Answered! What Is The Role Of An Internist?

When one gets to that certain age and way-outgrows their pediatrician, it’s time to take their healthcare a tad more seriously. One route is to find a good internist who can help you navigate your way through these new adult issues and problems as they arise. An internist is typically in for the long haul. Many patients make long serious relationships with their internists, ones that last a lifetime. An internist can be like a best friend—as they definitely got your back when things get rough.

                  

One thing an internist is not is an intern. No, no, no… two totally separate things. Whereas an intern denotes new and recent an internist denotes advanced and adept. While an intern can be an asset to a company, an internist has passed the intern phase by many, many years. An internist has studied advanced medical procedures and is a certified doctor with advanced degrees and post-graduate training in internal medicine. To sum up a primary care doctor, the American College of Physicians defined them as doctors who are specialized in the detection, prevention, and treatment of adult illnesses.

An internist studies and practices internal medicine. This is a medical specialty and they are skilled in the management of patients who suffer from multisystem disease processes, for hospitalized and/or ambulatory patients, and can also be major players in groundbreaking new research and education. Commonly, during medical school an internist would have spent approximately half of their seven years on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases that affect adults specifically. Just what type of person would be the most likely candidate to be an internist’s patient?

Typically, the patient of an internist would have been referred to them because their primary care doctor hits a wall, and had been unable to diagnose the root of the problem the individual is currently suffering from. It is only through the specialty of the internist’s training that answers shall be had. In other words, we older folk need a different doctor to diagnose our defaults; one that knows the ins and outs of our old bones. Hey, when you want the best you see a professional in an urgent care facility—a specialist—and that’s just what an internist is. In fact, an internist is commonly known as the “doctor’s doctor.” Knowing you are in the hands of someone that doctors themselves relay upon should definitely lesson the stress and make you confidant in their knowledge and skills.

What sort of medical problems send a person to an internist?

Ischemic or hemorrhagic blood vessels—two of the main causes of strokes and are the type of problems that an internist is trained for.

Osteoporosis— the thinning of bone tissue over many years.

Hypertension—high blood pressure.

Gastroenterology—disorders of the digestive system.

Lung disease—any disease that affects the lungs or the airways that carry oxygen, including emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and asthma

Cardiovascular disease—problems with the heart, blood vessels or circulatory system in part or as a whole. Cardiovascular diseases include—but are not limited to—arteriosclerosis, coronary heart disease, arrhythmia, endocarditis and problems with the peripheral vascular system.

For more information on a dedicated internist available at convenient hours and for affordable prices, please log onto find medical clinic in NYC. This highly respected clinic is located just several blocks from Grand Central Station in state-of-the-art offices on Park Avenue. Dr. Fuzayloff is a board-certified internist in NYC with a biology degree from St John’s University and who has also graduated with honors in Pathology and Nephrology from the New York College of Osteopathic medicine. He has dedicated his life to walk in clinic NYC. Please call 1-212-696-5900 to arrange a personal interview with Dr. Fuzayloff today. 

Overweight? It’s time to walk in to a doctor’s office for a diabetes testing

Being overweight is not a guarantee you’ll get diabetes. It does, however, dramatically increase your likelihood of getting it. Research has shown that individuals who are overweight are at a substantially higher risk for diabetes than others. In their national obesity and diabetes research survey, The Center for Disease Control shows a clear correlation between obesity and diabetes. Our nation’s two fattest states (Mississippi and Alabama) also have the most cases of diabetes in this country. In comparison our nation’s thinnest states (Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and Utah) also have the fewest recorded cases of diabetes. If you’re overweight, getting to a NYC urgent care clinic should be a major priority for you.

But why does being overweight or obese increase ones likelihood of getting diabetes? To understand this you need to understand how our body breaks down the food we eat and uses it for energy.

Food doesn’t fuel our body, what we turn food into does. A cell does not swim up to a piece a ground beef you swallow and absorb energy from it. Remembering high school biology: our body sends food into our digestive system and then uses bile (it’s gross) and enzymes to break down the starch and sugars until all that’s left is our body’s number one source of energy: glucose. Yet glucose is not a self-sufficient machine, it needs to be carried around. This is what the hormone insulin does. Insulin, which is formed in the pancreas, takes glucose from our blood and feeds it to our cells, which in turn energize our body.  

Yet insulin cannot always manage the glucose intake from over eaters. People who are overweight have an excess of fat cells in their body. Fat cells don’t just chill out in the body; they, like other cells, like to be fed glucose. Yet unlike muscle cells, fat cells are incredibly inefficient at absorbing glucose. Because of this, glucose circulates in the body longer as insulin works overtime to push glucose into an overwhelming amount of fat cells. On top of this, when the pancreas recognizes a high demand for insulin its starts overworking its insulin-producing cells, which eventually become defective and then decrease in number. Thus there is too much glucose and not enough insulin to manage it effectively.

When this happens, you will immediately start feeling low in energy, as there’s not enough insulin to feed starving cells. In the long run, high blood glucose levels can damage your eyes, heart, and kidneys.

If you know you’re overweight, visit our internist in NYC, Dr. Slava Fuzayloff, for a diabetes testing NYC. His office is affordable and convenient, located blocks away from two major subway stations and open six days a week. He’s one of the few licensed physicians that takes walk-ins, but you can also make an appointment but logging onto the Walk-in Clinic NYC website.

Now that you know how harmful that extra fat is, it’s time to take action. Start by getting screened for diabetes. 

Learned from experience: Don’t fight acne alone, ask a NYC primary care doctor for treatment

When I was 13 I performed as a pirate in a children’s production of the musical “Peter Pan.” Five nights a week for three weeks I borrowed communal makeup and painted on a nasty unibrow, a goatee and some chest hair before running out on stage to sweat and grunt “argh” through peppy musical numbers. Afterwards I would clean the fake body hair with whatever baby wipes available in the green room and go home feeling triumphant about my performance.

Roughly three months later red bumps with sickly yellow tips began popping up in three places: between my eyebrows, on my chin, and all over my chest. While it took me some time to connect the acne with the communal makeup I used, I did tragically acknowledge that my skin condition signaled I was one step away from the lost boys and two steps closer to being a lousy adult. I had growed up.

Like most teenagers (and plenty of adults) that suffer from acne, I treated my zits like enemy combatants who had invaded my soil. My acne treatment consisted of painfully squeezing the life out of every zit and then burning their corpses with toothpaste and whatever drying out substances available in the medicine cabinet. My face and chest were different war zones where I was certain the only path to victory was attack, attack, attack. I scrubbed and exfoliated constantly, wore greenish masks that turned my face bright red if left on too long, and, most importantly, I never moisturized, for I was certain that I had to starve and dry out my skin to kill the acne.

It wasn’t until I sought acne treatment NYC with a wise physician that I learned to take care of my skin, which in turn rid me of the acne. I was prescribed two good face washes and two moisturizers, one for night and one for day. I felt hesitant about putting a soothing lotion on skin I hated, but followed my doctor’s orders. After over seven years of suffering from acne caused by a crummy pirate stint, my doctor cleared my skin in less than two weeks.

I experimented with multiple skin cleaners and moisturizers over the years, but only my doctor was able to analyze my skin condition and suggest a combination of products that actually worked. Everyone’s skin condition is unique, thus amateurish advice from friends who’ve experienced results can prove ineffective, as it did for me. And some people’s acne requires more than good cleaning products. You may need your internist to prescribe medication that adjusts the hormonal levels that affect the look of your skin.

Thanks to my doctor my skin looks healthy and young. So maybe I don’t have to grow up all the way, just yet.

If you’re looking for a great primary care doctor in NYC to analyze your skin condition, make an appointment with Medical Clinic NY. With years of experience treating adults young and old for acne, their doctor is also incredibly and patient and thorough. After examining your skin he will offer the appropriate cleaning regime for treatment. Just log onto their website at Walk in clinic NYC or call 212-696-5900 to make an appointment.

Three ways to prepare for your NYC internist appointment for hypertension.

The most common reason adults in the United States visit an internist is high blood pressure. Between 2005 and 2008 the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that approximately 29-39 percent of American adults have high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. And of these people a remarkable amount of them do not receive the adequate care they need. This survey also tells us that only about 46-51 percent of people with high blood pressure have it under control, and thus put themselves at risk for heart attack and stroke.

Many adults do not realize they have hypertension or do not take their case very seriously because they feel little to no symptoms, as the disease is mostly asymptomatic. Because of this many adults snub doctors’ visits or their suggested therapy that may conflict with their previous, habitual way of life.  This tendency to dismiss the condition is why hypertension is the most frequent cause of heart attack and stroke in men over 65. If you feel you have high blood pressure, visit a medical doctor NYC.

The more prepared you are before visiting the doctor the more productive the time is you spend at their office. Here are three ways to get ready: 
1.    Write Down Your Family and Personal History
You want to be very clear about your history and how your family blood line may impact you. Write down any history of high blood pressure in your family including heart disease, stroke, high cholesterol or diabetes. If recently you’ve experienced high levels or stress due to some life changes, note that as well. Stress can raise your blood pressure levels and may affect your prescriptions.
2.       Write Down Your Recent Symptoms 
The biggest waste of time and money is not being clear about your symptoms to your doctor because it forces him or her to ask leading questions and guess for you what you might be experiencing. Hypertension for the most part has no symptoms, but it helps to note anything odd you’ve been feeling lately that may be connected. Have you had recent chest pains? Shortness of breath? Write down anything unusual, and note the level of pain between 1 and 10, ten being unbearable pain and one being totally bearable.
3.       List all of your medications

Your doctor needs to know about everything that could be affecting the way your body works, including medicines you take. Certain drugs can cause blood pressure levels to rise and you may need a different prescription. But also note what vitamins and supplements you take; everything you ingest should be noted.

Other good ways to prepare is to avoid drinking caffeine the day of your appointment, wear a short sleeve shirt so your doctor can easily measure your pressure levels, and bring along a friend or someone you feel very comfortable with. You need to be honest when talking to your doctor, and may want a supportive friend with you to relax the environment. Be honest about your habits, your diet and how often you exercise. The best diagnoses come from honest patient testaments. 

If you are looking for an internist in NYC, check out the medical clinic NYC located near 42^nd on the west side of Manhattan. Its staff is very professional and its hours very accommodating, open late at night and even Saturdays. You’ll meet with a Board Certified Doctor with years of experience in helping adults who suffer from hypertension and heart related problems. Just log onto their website at MedicalClinicNY.com or call their office for appointment at 212-696-5900.

Don’t forget these three tips for getting prepared, they’ll only help you and your doctor help you.