It can be hard to stay healthy these days. The cost of prescriptions is often ridiculous. The cost of health care, in general, is rising. And it takes way too long to get a doctor’s appointment!

But there is something that can help everyone stay healthier. And here it is: Do what the doctor says.

For instance:

If your blood pressure is high, but you simply don’t take your prescribed medicine, odds are it will stay high. This is not surprising. Ditto for diabetes medication, whether it’s pills or insulin.

Overweight with back and knee pain? Your physician said to exercise and lose weight? Reading this in the recliner with a bowl of ice cream? Don’t be surprised when you need a knee replacement.

If you have an infection that won’t seem to go away, but you refuse to finish the antibiotics, then odds are that’s the reason it won’t go away.

Do you get the flu every year but find that the vaccine, recommended by your doctor, is just too much of an effort? Maybe if you try it next year, you’ll feel better!

Did you have a surgical procedure? Did you pay a lot of money for it? Did you then have a complication, but decided not to call your surgeon’s office? After she explicitly told you to do so? There’s probably a reason she said to come to the office.

Do you know that smoking is bad for your health but keep lighting up? Without even trying to stop? Then the wheezing and shortness of breath, along with a host of other problems, will continue.

Are you weak, and did your physician say that it’s because you won’t drink water? And do you continue to neglect that very simple thing? It’s quite possible that you keep getting dizzy because you didn’t do what your physician said.

While this may sound preachy, it’s very important. All across the land there are parents, spouses, children, friends and caregivers who are daily frustrated when the people they love who have medical problems simply refuse to do as they’re told.

And every day, physicians like me feel as if we’re banging our heads against the wall when we know how to fix a problem, tell you what to do, but are met with non-compliance. 

If it’s about money, tell us. If it has to do with transportation, let us know! If you have unpleasant side effects, we can work with that.

But if you, dear patient, just refuse to listen? We just don’t know what to do with that. So help us all out and do as you’re told.

You just might feel better.