Podcast Intro: Blu Dream Health Collection

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Link to podcast platforms: here

iTunes: link

*Being that this is the first episode, this episode will not be available on Apple Podcasts until next week, as well as a few other platforms. By next week, there will be several more listening platforms to choose from, including Apple!

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YouTube: link

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Who/What is BDHC?
Blu Dream Health Collective is the start of a journey to better our community and address invisible illnesses, mental health, healthcare equality, and other patient issues while working towards goals, breaking stigmas and linking resources. I am Misti Blu, the founder of BDHC from mistibludream.com.

BDHC aims to address health stigmas, medical bias, healthcare inequality, body positivity, medical treatments and advancements, and other important topics with health advocates, authors, experts, and healthcare providers. BDHC is only a seedling with hopes to sprout and grow with others in the healthcare community. The goal is to provide resources, support, education for patients, loved ones and physicians, help individuals to find a sense of community and to feel seen and heard. This platform will encompass a digital magazine, podcast, blog, and community.

Mental Health

Mental health has always been tied to stigmas and is something that most people tuck away and hide, sweeping it under the rug until they just can’t deal anymore. This results in self-medicating, isolation, low self-worth, anger and loss of control. Being able to manage your depression, PTSD and other mental health issues are crucial for your wellbeing. We live in a world that is wrapped up in diet culture, suppressing emotions, and toxic positivity.

Blu Dream Health Collective wants to provide a safe atmosphere for people to learn how to cope and work through their thoughts. This is a tool that is important to learn in life that many of us never get the opportunity to have. It is time to shed light on mental health so that we the people can leave the darkness and find help without fear. Mental health needs to be addressed before it becomes critical or too late.

Education in Healthcare

Education is such a valuable tool for self-care and health management. Patients often leave the doctor’s office feeling lost, scared, and confused. Personally, I was diagnosed with POTS at the age of 16. I only remember this due to the documentation noted in my medical records. Being a young patient and before what the Internet has become what it is today, I had absolutely no idea about POTS. A common treatment for POTS is a high salt diet. approximately 10 years, I avoided salt. I avoided salt because I heard once somewhere that if you have heart issues (such as high blood pressure) that you should avoid salt, so I did. It turns out that I actually needed a high salt diet, thus making my symptoms much worse. Though I had seen multiple doctors and had endless visits with my specialists, I never had any mention of POTS again, until my 30s. At this point, my symptoms were so severe.

The Whole Body

Having the diagnosis of Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome lead me to fall into a position where any other possible diagnosis what missed. No medical provider thought to suspect that there could be more than this one particular issue. This led me to having a long list of health concerns that were lurking in the shadow of my primary diagnosis for most of my life. This oversight caused me to miss out on proper management of my health, leading to even bigger medical issues. Professor Rodney Grahame once said, “No disease in the history of modern medicine has been neglected in such a way as Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.” This statement has resulted in many patients like myself to become their own expert, as most healthcare providers are trained that when you hear hooves to think of horses and not zebras. But what happens to the zebras in this case? Though rare, they do exist.

What is Rare?

When you think of rare, perhaps you think of a small number, like 1%.

7.8 billion people is the approximate world population at this time (January 2020)

78 million is approximately 1% of the world’s population.

0.01% of 7.8 billion is 780,000. That is still a lot of people!

According to healthline.com, 12 million people are affected by medical diagnostic errors each year. An estimated 40,000 to 80,000 people die annually from complications from these misdiagnoses. Women and minorities are 20 to 30 percent more likely to be misdiagnosed. This means that approximately 1 in 20 are misdiagnosed. We have to do better than this!

The Goal

As we come together in our community to raise awareness, education, and advocacy, we can aim to prevent fewer patients from falling through the cracks. A collective mission from patients, caregivers, loved ones, and healthcare providers should be to find solutions and to reduce medical error. Once again, education is vital to bridging the gap. I hope to have many guests, contributors, and collaborators to share their expertise and knowledge on important healthcare topics. Together we can unite and find common grounds with the mutual goal to all live our best lives. This grassroots style of building a stronger foundation in the healthcare world can benefit those who walk after us. It is up to us to make a difference and to be the change. Little by little, all of our voices add up to a strong beautiful sound that will pave the way for future generations.

Best Wishes,

Misti Blu