When it's Time to Get a New Liver

 A Liver Transplant is a surgical procedure that may require you to follow a strict diet and physical activity for several months. During this time you will not be able to consume alcohol and or consume certain types of food.

Causes Of Liver Disease

Liver disease is caused by a lack of nutrients in the body. It can sometimes be caused by liver failure. Here are some of the things that can cause liver failure including dehydration (shaky stomach), viral infections (such as chickenpox), chronic alcohol consumption and certain medications. Blood, especially from the liver, can become poorer and harder to circulate through the body, changing the makeup of your red blood cells and decreasing the oxygen available to them. This depletion of oxygen causes pain in the abdomen, fatigue, numbness and tingling in the extremities and changes in skin color or sensitivity.

Liver Transplant Recovery Period

The transplant procedure is the most important medical procedure that a patient will undergo. The chances of survival after a liver transplant are around 20%–30%, and the recovery time can be up to a year. Before you decide to get a liver or stem cell transplant, you should know what the recovery period will be like and how the liver will function after treatment. In general, a patient can return to their normal activities immediately after undergoing a liver transplant, although they may require some limited assistance for 1–3 months after the procedure.

Liver Transplant Success Rate

This means that for every 100 people who receive a liver transplant in India for any reason, about 75 will live for five years and 25 will die within five years. People who receive a liver from a living donor often have better short term survival rates than those who receive a deceased donor liver.

When do you need a New Liver

A liver transplant may be recommended if you have end-stage liver disease (chronic liver failure). This is a serious, life-threatening liver disease. It can be caused by several liver conditions. Cirrhosis is a common cause of end-stage liver disease.

Tips to Taking Care of a Liver Patient During Covid

Liver disease in the form of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and liver cirrhosis is a serious concern in India with more than 10 lakh cases reported ever year. It has been reported by the World Health Organization that liver disease is the tenth most common cause of death in India, with liver cancer being the fourth common cause of cancer related deaths.

A growing number of people with liver disease are experiencing severe complications as the spread of a new virus, Covid-19, continues. As a matter of fact, more than half of patients afflicted with SARS experienced liver damage as early as 2003. Prognosis of the patients with severe Covid-19 is expected to be poor, as over 90% of these patients will most likely develop liver dysfunction.

While more research is required to fully understand the link between Hepatitis C and liver disease, possible reasons for this include an undesirable immune response from the body which impacts the liver, sepsis, or medication related liver injury. The virus has spread to many people during the second wave of the pandemic, leading to more cases of gastro-intestinal disturbances, which are a sign that the virus may affect non-respiratory organs.

There are numerous ways to care for your liver with intrinsic relevance to the current pandemic.

• Take liver friendly diet: Regular consumption of liver-friendly vegetables can be beneficial in preventing liver damage. These includes antioxidant rich fruits like berries, green tea, olive oil, fatty fish, avocado, bananas, nuts, and green leafy vegetables like spinach.
• Not avoid the exercise: Regular exercise is absolutely crucial to liver health. It helps your body to remove toxins, and keeps your heart, brain, and muscles healthy. Even those with specific illnesses like hepatitis should be exercising regularly.
• Avoid drinking the alcohol and binge drinking: Make your liver healthier by staying off smoking, alcohol, and drugs. Don’t forget to also eat well and exercise. Happy Holidays! Use your time for a healthier lifestyle to keep illness at bay during the holidays
• Take covid vaccine: We strongly advise you to take these vaccines if suffering from any chronic liver ailment or are otherwise eligible. Discuss this with your treating doctor.

We are a group of liver specialist in india who aim to achieve world-class awareness in the prevention and management of liver disease. We are a research based, specialist practice with a focus on critical care and emergency paediatrics, please visit a doctor for consultation.

Pros and Cons of ZocDoc to make doctor appointments

 

With telehealth, or virtual visits, people can see and talk to a doctor through their smartphone, tablet or computer. This means they don't have to go to a doctor's office or sit in a waiting room. Instead, they can visit with a doctor from the comfort of their own home. 

There are a few different telemedicine apps, with varying features and pricing structures, out there on the market. We've put one of those best apps in the market named ZodDoc in this list only to let you know its Pros and Cons.

Pros

• The ZocDoc service makes it very easy to book doctors appointments. You can search for a Doctor that is in your network and you can book an appointment online or on the phone.

• See your appointment schedule anytime, anywhere. Get reminders, alerts and access via text, email or call.

• Many providers have a lot of available time slots, so you can easily choose which time and date is best for you.

• This is a great app for individuals who need urgent or last minute appointments.

Cons

• For new providers or those who accept all or any insurance plans, the cost of the service can be extremely expensive (at $3000 per year), especially considering accrued student debt and rates of potential cancellations, which may be higher for those using the app casually and first time appointments

• The problem is that many Doctors do not use the ZocDoc service. So if you have a narrow network of Doctors this may not be for you.

• The app is hard to use, often glitches, and overall ruins what should be a simple process.

• Zocdoc, the online doctor scheduling service, may be filtering out negative reviews of doctors, according to a new study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. The study found that a doctor's overall rating on Zocdoc is often significantly higher than the average rating given by patients in Yelp and Healthgrades. Zocdoc's website does not show any reviews by users with a one-star rating or lower, and the company has no plans to change this.

Online doctor appointment explained in fewer than 300 words

In the current digital era, most of you want things to be done as quickly and on-demand as possible. That's why immediacy is turning into the new norm. According to experts, about 70-71% of patients expressed that it's essential for them to schedule, book, change or cancel an appointment online with their respective healthcare specialist. The growing demand has encouraged numerous healthcare providers to offer an option to book an online doctor appointment according to your convenience.

Need For Online Appointment

When patients acquire the convenience of booking an appointment by using smartphones, you're able to offer a much better consumer experience as a doctor. You have a robust competitive incentive to launch an online scheduling system.

An online appointment booking option helps patients to choose the most-fitted time from the available time slots. This way of dealing with patients is time-efficient, offers complete transparency, and helps patients feel well-informed and in control of the treatment. Moreover, as the online appointment booking option operates 24/7, it gives you the freedom to book an appointment anytime you want.

Benefits of Online Appointment

• Online appointment booking is perfect for people with limited free time as it allows you to schedule doctor's appointments online at your convenience.
• Most patients tend to open up well with the doctor when you book an online doctor appointment. You may offer more extensive descriptions of your symptoms and conditions, particularly if you feel embarrassed to speak in person.
• Through the online appointment, you can easily verify, cancel, and reschedule your appointment without having to leave your home.
• Online appointment options reduce staff workload and make them more efficient as they won't get tired by waiting for guest calls.
  

Now that you know all about an online doctor appointment, book one for yourself whenever you want to consult a doctor for any reason.

How to make a doctor's appointment over the phone

This post will brief about how one can easily book the doctor's appointment over the phone and how telemedicine is beneficial these days. Read to know and avail the benefit at the comfort of the home.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the world drastically, booking the doctor's appointment online has become the need of the hour to comply with the social distancing norms. Hence, telemedicine is essential as it is conducted using video-conferencing tools while restricting physical presence. This makes sure that patients don't have to compromise on their health check-up in any circumstances. Thus, this post will brief you about how you can book a doctor's appointment online and how it is beneficial.

1.    How to book an appointment online: 

In renowned hospitals like Max healthcare, one can book the appointment by calling the hospital and fixing the specific doctor's appointment. The other easy way is to refer to their website. On the "book an appointment" category, one can choose the specialized doctor under "the doctor" or "speciality category search" and accordingly select the location. It will then show lists of doctors from which one can choose the preferred doctor and select the video consultation category.

2.    Benefit of video consultation or telemedicine:

As simple as booking the doctor's appointment online, there are many benefits associated with consulting doctors' telemedicine system. Here are some of the mentioned ones:

• The patients who had limited access to specialized health care services can now have access to physicians at the comfort of their home.
• With medical streaming devices, the aged can consult a doctor without moving out of the house.
• People are safer with telemedicine consultation as contagious disease patients don't have to get exposed to others while travelling to the hospital or waiting in crowded waiting rooms. 
• Cost-effective as the patient doesn't have to travel to the hospital.  
• One doesn't have to miss their work due to a doctor's appointment.
  

Since everything is available at the click of a button, mobile health or video consultations aren't just a blessing to the patients, but it has become a convenient approach for the doctors to attend to more patients than before. So the next time you need to consult a doctor, don't hesitate and book the doctor's appointment online as it's convenient, quick, and cost-effective.

How Do Telehealth Appointments Work?

When the world is hit by a pandemic and thus, physical health check-up has become a herculean task. Therefore, booking a doctor online appointment is the need of the hour which is sophistically termed as Telemedicine.

What Is Telehealth?

Telehealth basically implies scheduling and talking to a doctor who may or may not be miles away, from the comfort of your home on a device like a mobile phone or computer.  

Thus, Telehealth is a broader term, inclusive of Telemedicine, allowing a patient to communicate with a healthcare provider using online communication tools, avoiding the need for a physical check-up.
The nexus of healthcare and technology is not new, however, utilising it to overcome geographical or commutation problems, time constraints or restrictions put due to the pandemic while booking a doctor online appointment is a novel use of the technology.

Need And Benefits Of Telemedicine

To make healthcare services accessible, affordable and time-saving while maintaining social-distancing norms, Telemedicine acts as an effective tool. However, it is not useful for emergency situations and is beneficial only for simple health issues and follow-up consultations.

Telemedicine Appointments In A Nutshell

Telemedicine appointments work just like regular appointments; however, the mode of communication can be phone calls, emails, or web-conferencing, after booking a doctor online appointment on the web-portal of the healthcare provider. 

In a telemedicine appointment, the patient is advised to:
1.    Prepare a list of issues faced by him as he might lose track of some while using virtual means.
2.    Keep track of new symptoms whether aggravating or alleviating for follow-up consultations.
3.    Take photos of obvious symptoms for further diagnosis.
4.    Choose a quiet place for the appointment and maintain punctuality.
5.    Ensure timely fee payments through online modes. 

Conclusion

Although Telemedicine cannot cater to medical exigencies, it acts as a panacea to overcome the problem of accessibility. It helps in connecting the doctor and patient even in these trying times of Covid-19.

How to make a doctor's appointment over the phone?

In the earlier days, seeing a doctor meant at least going for 2-3 physical visits to the clinic. Starting from appointment booking, actual visit, to follow-ups, patients had to take out separate time from their busy schedule to complete their online doctor appointment.

However, now you can make online doctor appointments over the phone and apps without visiting the clinic or the hospital multiple times. Before making a call for booking a doctor appointment, it is necessary for you to have a few documents handy, such as an insurance card, government ID, etc.

4 Steps To Make Online Doctor Appointment Over The Phone

1.     After you have made the call, state the purpose of doing it, i.e., to book an appointment and introduce yourself as a new patient. Also, tell them your preferred date and timing for the clinic/ hospital visit and enquire whether the slot you want to opt for is available or not.

2.    If you have an insurance plan handy, then tell them the name of your health insurance plan and other details like tenure and plan.

3.    Ask them all about the documentation that you need to carry to the clinic/ hospital at the date of the appointment, such as medical records, medication history, surgery details, etc.

4.    Finally, ask them whether you need to pay the appointment fee beforehand and also enquire about the mode of payment. Though in most of the cases, you need to pay an advance appointment fee, some of them are okay with post-visit payment.

Conclusion

Medical consultancies are a basic need, and we cannot imagine our lives without them. Like most other basic needs, increased accessibility will help more people get medical help when they need it and that too at their finger-tips. Also, always adhere to the primary calling etiquettes while making an online doctor appointment at a leading hospital like Max Healthcare.