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There is a common error in thinking when it comes to healthcare that is so common, it’s nearly universal in the U.S. and other industrialized countries.  In my opinion, it is this one error in the way we tend to approach healthcare that has produced our incredibly expensive, yet remarkably ineffective healthcare system.  And while this error in thinking is most prevalent in conventional medicine, it is also quite common in alternative medicine, and diminishes the effectiveness of natural treatments just as much as it does the effectiveness of drugs and surgery.

So what is this error in thinking?  It’s the approach that treatment is directed at alleviating a health condition or set of symptoms.  Now, this way of thinking is so ingrained in our culture, you’re probably wondering what I’m talking about.  “Of course treatment is directed at alleviating a health condition!  What else would treatment be for?” you may be thinking.

I submit that a FAR more effective approach to healthcare is to treat the PERSON, not the condition or symptoms.  What I mean by this is that I often get questions from patients and from email along the lines of “What should I take for [insert condition or symptom here]?”.  The problem with that question is that it only looks at the condition or symptom in isolation.  There may be other symptoms or conditions present that would alter my answer to that question.  For example, if someone is on blood-thinning medication, I generally recommend that they not take ANYTHING (drug, herb, or nutrient) for ANY condition while they are taking that medication. 

From another standpoint, anytime we seek to treat a condition or set of symptoms, there is a tendency to make certain assumptions that may or may not be true.  For instance I had a patient contact me to find out what I could do to help the stress fractures in her spine.  She had been to a few different orthopedists who all diagnosed her and attempted to treat her for stress fractures, with no results.  Since she was getting tired of the pain, when a friend suggested she consult with me, she was more than willing to get another opinion.  Now, if I had simply assumed that her diagnosis was correct when she called my office, I would not have even scheduled an appointment for her.  There’s not a whole lot I can do for stress fractures, they simply have to heal over time.  But I asked a few questions.  This was a young, otherwise healthy patient and she had been in constant pain for over a year.  Stress fractures should have healed up in that span of time, unless she had some kind of metabolic bone disease that was reducing her bone density.  I told her that a bone density test would be in order.  She had already had one a couple of months before and it was normal.  At this point, I didnt know what was causing this person’s pain, but I was pretty sure it was NOT stress fractures.  So I agreed to see her.  I could see on her X-rays what the orthopedists had diagnosed as stress fractures, and to be fair, they weren’t stress fractures but looked very much the same as stress fractures.  But the patient’s pain was not anywhere near where the supposed stress fractures were!  What was causing her pain was a congenital anomaly in the lower spine that in essence was an extra joint that had become jammed and inflamed.  We got the joint working properly and the pain went away within a few treatments.  If I hadn’t taken the time to look beyond the pre-established diagnosis, I would not have even taken the case. 

Now, I’m not immune to this faulty thinking either.  I’ve made some incorrect assumptions in my career and I’ve treated the (wrong) condition rather than treating the whole picture that every patient is.  I know all too well how easy it is to get caught up in incorrect assumptions.  I do the best I can to remain flexible in my thinking and to consider the big picture and to remain open to other possibilities. 

The point I’m trying to make here is that healthcare providers and  people who are attempting to treat their own issues need to be careful when applying treatment to a condition.  Commonly I see patients who are taking multiple remedies that they have read or heard are good for whatever condition they are suffering from and what they don’t realize is that they are overdosing themselves and ultimately doing harm to other body systems.  At the very least they may be simply taking redundant remedies and spending a lot more money than they need to be.

We need to take a broader view and consider the person as a whole, not simply the condition or bothersome symptoms he or she wants to alleviate.

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One of the main criticisms I hear from skeptics regarding nutritional supplements, herbal remedies, chiropractic, acupuncture, homeopathy, etc. is that these methods of healing are unscientific.  Now, I could debate that point on many specific alternative medicine treatments, but what I must object to is the HUGE double standard being applied. 

What those who are hung up on the science (or lack thereof) behind alternative medicine seem to be completely oblivious to is the fact that conventional medicine is far from scientific.  In fact, if you restricted healthcare to only those treatments and practices that have been verified as being effective and safe by a consensus of extensive amounts of research, there wouldn’t be a whole lot of healthcare of any kind going on!  Have you ever noticed how many times the popular media will report on the findings of some large-scale study only to report on the exact opposite findings from another large scale study within a few months or a few years later? 

But let me get a little “multiple personality disorder” here and argue one of the points that the conventional medicine afficionados always seem to fall back on: “But ALL medications undergo rigorous scientific evaluation as to their safety and efficacy before they are approved for sale.  Nutritional supplements and herbs aren’t regulated at all.”  Well, if that’s true, what’s been going on lately with the drugs getting pulled off the market because of “minor” little side-effects, such as a high rate of DEATH when they start being used by the general public?  Yes, all drugs must go through a long testing process before they are cleared by the FDA for sale in the U.S. (and by similar agencies in other countries).  The problem is that there is a strong temptation to falsify research results when there are billions of dollars on the line.  This temptation might be stifled if the FDA was a better watchdog over drug trials, but the FDA has been deficient in it’s policing of the drug industry.

Among other things, “The FDA cannot fulfill its mission because its scientific base has eroded and its scientific organizational structure is weak.”  In addition “The FDA cannot fulfill its mission because its scientific workforce does not have sufficient capacity and capability.”  Now, you may think I’m being harsh with those statements, but you’ll notice that they were in quotes.  Where did those quotes come from?  They were from a 60 page report entitled “FDA Science And Mission At Risk.” Is this the work of some conspiracy-theory nut-job?  Perhaps it’s from some alternative medicine political action committee?  No!  The report was prepared by the FDA itself on the request of FDA commissioner Edward Von Eschenbach! 

But then, we don’t really NEED the FDA to police the pharmaceutical industry.  If you can’t trust a multibillion dollar industry to put truth and public health above profits, who can you trust?

Is a conventional medical treatment supported by tainted research any more reliable than an alternative medicine treatment that has little to no research supporting it? Again, if we limit healthcare to only those interventions that are truly scientific, there’s not going to be much healthcare of any kind going on.

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This news story details a “breakthrough” treatment program for fibromyalgia sufferers.  OK, for those of us who are in holistic and alternative medicine it’s not really anything new, but what is revolutionary about it is that mainstream medicine is using this approach and the mainstream media is reporting it.

Click Here to go to the story.

Stay tuned to the natural remedies blog, and my fibromyalgia category for updates.

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Hello and welcome to my blog!

This site is devoted to providing you with the best natural remedies and non-drug, non-surgical treatment approaches to the most common health issues people experience.  In most cases, safe, effective, natural treatments are available to help a person recover from and/or prevent almost any health problem. 

I operate from the underlying concept that the body is a remarkable self-healing system.  Think about it for a moment… An adult human being is composed of around 100 trillion cells that developed from the joining of just 2 cells - a sperm and an egg.  But we’re not just a big blob of cells, are we?  Those 100 trillion cells are organized and specialized into numerous different tissues, organs, and systems, all interconnected with each other in their daily functions.  Whatever your religious beliefs, or lack thereof, I think you’d have to agree that the development of those initial 2 cells into the massively complex and organized system called the body took a tremendous intelligence and power to create.

Do you think that the body that gets sick or fails to heal properly from an injury somehow became “stupid”?  After all, as we’ve just discussed, there had to be some major intelligence at work for the body to develop in the first place from just a sperm and an egg.  So what happened to that intelligence in a body that is sick or not healing? Is it on vacation? 

I believe what happens is that the creative intelligence that made the body in the first place is ever present throughout our lives to heal us when we are sick or injured - but we have to get out of its way!  We also have to supply the body with what it needs to do its job. 

You know those symptoms you get when you’re sick or injured?  They are there for a reason! 

For example, if you have an infection, you usually get a fever.  What do most people in our society do when they get a fever?  They try to suppress it with some type of medication.  Now, if you don’t have a background in chemistry, it probably makes sense to suppress the fever.  After all, a fever makes you feel bad, and nobody likes to feel bad.  But if you know anything about chemistry, you know that heat increases the speed of most chemical reactions.  And if you know anything about the immune response, you know that it involves a bunch of chemical reactions.  So, when you suppress a fever, you are actually suppressing your immune response - which will prolong the infection!  Of course, an extremely high fever can be damaging to the body, but a fever that high is very rare.  The vast majority of the time, a fever is healthy and necessary to fight the infection effectively.

Like I said, I certainly understand why someone who doesn’t have a background in chemistry would suppress a fever.  But why on earth would ALMOST EVERY medical doctor on the planet, ALL of whom supposedly have a pretty strong background in chemistry, advise people to suppress fevers?  The innate healing intelligence of the body doesn’t suddenly get stupid, but we as human beings certainly do!

Now, as this blog continues into the future, I’ll be commenting quite a bit on conventional medicine.  I want to be clear that I am not “anti-medicine”.  There are many instances where conventional medical practices are useful and appropriate.  Unfortunately, there are a number of conventional medical practices that are completely illogical, inappropriate, and often do more harm than good.  It is this type of medicine that I am against.  I am likewise against “alternative medicine” approaches and natural remedies that are illogical, inappropriate, and do more harm than good.  Ultimately, my goal is to present to you the information you need to make good choices for healing and maintaining your health.

The vast majority of “good” natural remedies and treatments do one simple thing:  they give the body what it needs to carry out its normal functions of healing and repair.  Can you imagine hiring the best contractors you could find to remodel your house, but you refuse to purchase any construction materials or supplies and just told the contractors to “make-do” with what they could salvage?  You probably wouldn’t be too pleased with the outcome.  Yet, I see quite a number of patients who smoke heavily, eat food with virtually no nutritional value, drink everything except water, get zero exercise, and then wonder why their health sucks. 

Again, the body has an incredible capacity to heal itself, but we have to get out of the way and also supply the body with the basic things it needs to do the job. 

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