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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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