Reflections on 2023

by Dr. Jill Green

Reflections on COVID

COVID is still alive and well. There are still a lot of positive tests and a lot of people feeling crummy and sick. 

There is no quality data on positivity testing to report since most people either test at home and don’t report it to the state or are simply not testing. 

Testing fatigue, quarantining fatigue, and masking fatigue has led to increased transmission. 

The good news is that there are very few hospitalizations other than people with significant health problems or elderly/frail patients (WI/IL both have a state rate of 3% hospitalizations). 

Booster vaccines are available at pharmacies if you would like one and have not had COVID in the past 3 months. 

Paxlovid is available for people with risk factors if they test positive.  It needs to be started within 5 days of symptom onset. 

Just know that our area (IL/WI) has mild cases compared to the Southern US and the Western states, so if you have holiday travel plans to those areas or are hosting guests from those areas, you may get the gift that keeps on giving. Hardest hit states for COVID are South Carolina and Louisiana followed by California, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and New Jersey.  Note that these stats are all under-reported, so cases are actually much higher. The best state award right now for fewest cases goes to Minnesota. Overachievers. 

Flu, RSV, & Strep

Flu was alive and well in 2023, but for the time being has died down as of the start of the new year (2024). There was a lot of influenza going around in November/December 2024.

The flu vaccine is available at MedLogic if you would like one. We expect flu to increase through winter. The typical peaks occur after the holidays and through February and March.

Similarly, RSV is popular this year in the pediatric population. 

Surprisingly, strep is also making a comeback in both adults and children.  Strep is the only one of these infections that is bacterial and requires treatment with antibiotics to prevent post-strep complications like scarlet fever, rheumatic fever, and post-strep kidney disease.

2023 Office Updates

Libertyville office:

The practice in Libertyville is full. We continue to accept patients who are referred by current patients and as space opens up. If you refer someone, please tell them to let us know that they were referred so that we can put them as a priority for enrollment. We want to be able to accommodate referrals from current patients ahead of other patient sign-ups. 

We are still working on finishing construction in LIbertyville – mostly because my own house construction took away my free contractor (aka my husband). He will be thrilled to start a new project in 2024, I’m sure of it. 

Kenosha office:

The practice in Kenosha, WI is thriving, and we are still accepting patients.  Michele has moved her Elevation Health practice to the lower level, and that is thriving as well.  

Office staff:

Laura will be out for surgery in January 2024.  She has been a trooper and has been on crutches since JUNE 2023. She is inviting people to her crutches burning party (LOL).

Michele is still building her Elevation Health practice and managing family and life while also taking excellent care of our Medlogic patients. 

I’m truly grateful for both these ladies.  We call each other our work family, and we really appreciate how easy it is to work together. If anyone has ever had a job that was miserable or a colleague that was a pain in the tushy, you can definitely appreciate how much less stress we all have after from working together for 8 years now. Cheers to us and all the other normal colleagues out there!

Education and learning:

This year we decided to close on Thursdays to have time for education, meetings and professional development. In that time, I have taken several additional courses to increase my depth of knowledge and scope of practice. I took courses and certifications in functional medicine, opioid safety, trans healthcare, psychedelic integration, thought work, men’s health, low dose naltrexone, ultrasound, polyvagal theory ,and functional nutrition. I am hoping to be able to share what I have studied in a podcast/video series that everyone can access if they want a brief summary of any of these topics. I’m still working on the tech side of that and have finally recruited someone to help me because I definitely do not have any media skills. 

Functional Medicine or Wellness Intensives:

Functional medicine is a fascinating area of medicine, and I have spent the past 2-3 years taking various courses toward certification in this. The testing is more refined and complex than standard primary care blood tests that are done at the annual physical, and it has been fun to dig deeper to solve for the root cause. Getting to the root of problem can be a time-intensive process but can be very rewarding if you have a concern or issue that has been hard to solve or if you have tried many different things and seen several specialists with no real answers or solutions. If you are interested in a functional medicine consult, you can find more information on our website's functional medicine page.

Likewise, if you have been thinking about working more intensely or consistently on some part of your health, I do have Wellness Intensive spots available in Winter 2024. There are spots still open for the 4-week, 8-week (limited space remains), and 12-week programs. The 24-week program is currently full. Definitely check it out if this interests you, and please message me if you have any questions.

New Year Resolutions

The new year often brings goals of new beginnings for people. If you are setting resolutions for 2024, here are some good guidelines:  

• Set small goals

• Celebrate your success

• Accept that failure is just as good as success because at least you were in the game - remember that a lot of people didn’t even try 

• Failure brings growth but negative self-talk does not

• Learn to fail with grace

Set small goals:

If your end goal is to lose 60 pounds or find a partner or find a new job, set small incremental goals that move you toward that, and give yourself time and grace. The people that set the BIG goal for 2024 and then don’t see much progress in January end up giving up because it seems sooooooo far away, but then they also beat themselves up mentally for not making it. 

Setting goals is a way to challenge yourself.  It’s not intended to make you feel worse than you do now because you didn’t “make it”. Your first goal should be a new minimum baseline. What is the minimum you need to do to work toward your goal? 

If your goal is to lose 60 pounds, your minimum baseline could be to walk once day a week for 10 minutes. Or it could be to cut out alcohol one day a week. If you make your goal to lose 60 pounds by exercising for one hour every day and eating low carb and low fat every meal and cutting out all alcohol, you are setting yourself up for frustration, because that is a lot of intense change all at once. 

If your goal is to find a partner and get married, you could start by creating an online dating profile.  Even if you don’t post it. Don't shoot for the marriage goal right out of the gate - start with the goal of creating a first impression.

Let’s be honest, you aren’t going to wake up on January 1st a drastically different person from when you went to bed on December 31st. Trying to take big leaps and do several things at once is going to feel overwhelming - because it is overwhelming. The brain loves and craves safety, comfort, and routine. So making big changes is very upsetting to your brain, and it will fight you on this. You need the sneak-attack strategy. Your brain will definitely rebel if you try to go big but won’t protest at a simple step. Start small, but start somewhere. Becoming fixated with the end result feels overwhelming because it is.

The difference between doing something and doing nothing is called The Infinite 1%.  Even if you just do one small thing, you are infinitely ahead of all the people who chose never to start at all. You are more likely to keep going if you set a small tangible goal that you can achieve quickly. Then you can set the next one.... and the next one.... and so on... until all of your small steps demonstrate a big leap when you look back at it all. 

In my own life, I have been working on some goals for 20 years. I have a yoga posture that I work on every week, every practice session, and have not succeeded in 20 years.  Failing but trying again every week has still been a valuable lesson, and I’ve benefited from the practice much beyond this one elusive posture. Thankfully, I have another 3-4 decades to get it. Start somewhere and be consistent. 

Happy new year and best wishes on your success!

Warmly,

Dr. Green