Summary
The failure to look for deeper explanations is widespread among health practitioners--both mainstream and alternative. Fortunately, a younger breed of medical specialists are beginning to get it right, such as those at Health Now Medical.
Eric Armstrong
In the TV show, House, the doctor is an especially logical character who analyzes problems, performs tests, and unerringly cuts to the heart of the problem. In effect, he does a complete systems analysis to figure out what's wrong. His primary weapons are observation and logic, supplemented by tests and experiments that produce the information he needs to make deductions. If every doctor were like that, people would be a lot healthier.
But in real life the focus is more on identifying the symptoms and prescribing the "cure" for those symptoms, as listed in the big book of medicine, the Materia Medica. That's the "drugstore medicine" that goes on in the clinic that Dr. House tries to avoid on the show. The problem with that approach is that eliminating the symptom doesn't necessarily mean you've solved the underlying problem--and it's also rife with undesirable side-effects.
Case in Point: Poison Ivy. For years, the doctors gave me corisone shots and cortisone cream (Lydicane) to treat the itch of poison oak and poison ivy (the symptom). They're still doing that today. But there is a simple soap that removes the sap entirely--TecNu. That soap treats the cause, but most most doctors are entirely ignorant of it. (See Curing Poison Oak and Poison Ivy) I wasn't supposed to use the Lydicane on my face, but what other choice did I have, as the rash continued to spread? But doing so thinned the skin, setting the stage for a bad case of rosacea that developed later (the side effect).
Case in Point: Arthroscopy. I had pain in my knee. It turned out to be caused by a flap of cartilage that had torn lose and inserted itself between the remaining cartilage and the bone. Orthopedic surgery removed that flap to eliminate that pain (the symptom). But I was never informed that there was a simple chiropractic maneuver that could solve the problem without removing cartilage. That manuever is traction--simply pulling on the ankle, which creates a bit of space in the joints. With the additional space a little jiggling, the flap could easily have moved back where it belongs. But it wasn't even offered as an option. That piece of cartilage was removed, and ever since I've been living with pain when I exercise (the side effect).
Case in Point: Rhinitis/Sinusitis. In 1985, I was diagnosed with "sinusitis". The doctor prescribed codeine and anithistamines to control the symptoms. In 2006, I was diagnosed with "allergies". This time, the prescription was for Nasacort and Zyrtec--strong stuff, but still focused totally on managing symptoms. But thanks to the folks at Health Now Medical, the underlying cause was identified: a gluten reaction. (See What's Wrong with Wheat?) With the underlying problem treated, the resulting "allergy" symptoms simply disappeared. When I went back to let him know, did he say "Aha. Wheat! I'll have to check for that in the future"? Hell, no. He chalked it up to a temporary remission. The next patient who comes into his office won't get advice that is any different than the drubs he tried to give me. You see, even when you tell them that cures are possible, they don't listen.
Case in Point: Diabetes. Ask any doctor if Type-II, adult-onset diabetes is curable. They'll tell you, "No." According to them, the best you can do is to take insulin for the rest of your life. A colleague of mine had that problem. She was 100 points over on the glycogen-response test, and was taking insulin. Then she discovered Eat to Live, by Doctor Joel Fuhrman. She radically changed her diet, and 4 months later she was 100 points under the threshold for diabetes. Because she was on medication, she had to work with Dr. Fuhrman's online at his website to reduce her dosage the right amount each week. But at this point she's lost 40 lbs and is well on her way to losing 80. When you see her today, you wonder where the other half of her went. But as nice as it is to look good, being healthy is way better. Her doctor, however was totally ignorant of the possibility. And when she told him, did he revise his medical outlook? Of course not. "Temporary remission", according to him. Just chalk it up to an anomaly and go on your way, totally oblivious to facts that should by rights convince you that you've been misled.
Case in Point: Lupus. I had another friend who was diagnosed with Lupus. She didn't have the good fortune to find Dr. Fuhrman's book. She worked really hard at eating healthy, but no one told her about gluten sensitivity. (Not even Dr. Fuhrman. It's one of the few areas he's weak on.) She went to a tradional M.D. What did he do? He consulted the latest medical journals, which seem to say that since Lupus is an auto-immune disoreder, the remedy is clearly to disable the immune system. So they drugged and radiated her body until the immune system was bombed into submission. Hooray! The Lupus was "cured". But without an immune system, a body outside of a bubble doesn't stand a chance. She developed pancreatic cancer and died a year later. Drugs, hell. They would have done less damage with leeches. But when they see the immune system as the problem, that's how they react: Eliminate the symptom, by whatever means necessary.
Case in Point: The Medical RollerCoaster. I was on a volleyball team with a doctor once. Good player. Got to know him pretty well. He prescribed medicines all the time. So I asked him: What about the fact that the drugs he prescribes have side-effects that cause other problems down the road? His response: When they come up, we'll prescribe something for that. Do you see the potential rollercoaster, there? Not for them the lofty goal of restoring health. Too much trouble. Instead, their goal is simply to eliminate the symptom. If other symptoms arise later, they'll get rid of them, too. But when the underlying problem remains, and you have medicinal side-effects to contend with, as well, it's a recipe for disaster. It's no wonder that the secret to a long and healthy life is to stay the hell out of the doctor's office.
Doctors spend a lot of time treating cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity--the major killers in America today. But to them, their patients are simply a collection of symptoms--symptoms they treat with drugs and surgery. They're blind to the underlying problem--poisons in the food supply that cause those diseases, including partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, and MSG. (See What's Wrong with American Foods?)
In many more cases than these, medical doctors are virtually ignorant of important alternatives. Yet they are arrogant enough to believe that they know best, and have disdain for anyone who disagrees with them. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people selling snake oil in the alternative health industry. But it is a clear fact that many times, one of the alternatives is a better choice than the drugs and surgery of allopathic medicine--especially for chronic diseases brought on by the industrial lifestyle.
That kind of symptom-oriented thinking has even infected the world of herbal remedies--nutritional remedies that should be very helpful for anyone interested in maintaing health, but which tend not to be as effective as one would hope. If you consult a book of herbal remedies, for example, you'll find a long list of remedies for every symptom and condition you can imagine. All of them have probably worked for someone. The question is, which one will work for you? For example, a symptom of deficiency could be caused multiple ways, as you'll see in the next section. Two people could be displaying the same symptom, but require completely different remedies.
Note:
The symtom-oriented approach worked fine for diseases like typhus and scarlet fever that were prevalent at the start of the 20th century. Those diseases are caused by a "bug", which medicines were designed to treat. Identify the symptoms, and you know the disease. When you know the disease, you known which bug is causing it, and which medicine is appropriate. So it's natural to jump from the symptom straight to the medicine. But today's medical problems are very different. As you'll see in the section on deficiencies, there are multiple possible causes. Such a disease cause problems for doctors, because there is no one treatment that is appropriate for everyone. That may help to explain why Americans spend more on health care than any industrial nation in the world, yet rank last in life-expectancy and general health. Yet, doctors in general continue to display an unforgivable combination of ignorance and arrogance.
The symptoms view tends to treat one persons' symptoms the same as another's. If the symptoms are the same, the treatment is the same. The systems view, on the other hand, looks at a person as a being composed of multiple interacting components, including body and mind, with inputs and outputs. It observes symptoms, but it also runs tests, analyses the results, and targets the underlying causes of problems. The causes tend to fall into two groups:
The nice thing about problems caused by nutritional deficiencies is that they are easy to cure. You get the missing nutrients and, voila!, the problem disappears. But it can be tricky to identify the cause of a deficiency.
Let's suppose for a moment that you do have a nutritional deficiciency (if you're eating a modern industrial diet, you probably do). There are several ways for that deficiency to occur:
So even when you know that a deficiency in "A" causes condition "B", you may have to look deeper to identify the cause of the deficiency. And that's where many health practitioners fall short. The observed deficiency is real enough, but it is generally better to solve the underlying problem than to continually consume megadoses of the nutrient that is, in effect, acting as a "band-aid".
It may also be that you are getting way more of things that are bad for you than your body can handle. In the American diet, those things tend to be partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, and wheat. (See What's Wrong with American Foods?) But there are also heavy minerals and pollutants to consider.
How do you know whether you're treating a cause or a symptom? The question is, when can you stop? With symptom relief, you have to keep taking supplements forever. Stop taking them, and the problems return. But by focusing on the cause and changing your lifestyle to remove it, supplements are only needed for a few months to restore full health to the body--something the body is fully prepared to do, as soon as we stop beating on it and start giving it what it needs. Of course, there are times when it's a good idea to treat the symptom. But you need to treat the cause as well, so the symptom goes away.
Forunately, I have at last found a team of doctors, chiropractors, and clinical nutritionists who have a true systems view of health. They're Health Now Medical. Here's a statement of their philosophy--and an impressive one it is. I suspect that they represent the tip of an important trend: a new breed of doctors who focus first on understanding the system that is the patient's body, identifying the underlying cause, and then treating that cause.
These doctors focus on the body as a system of inputs and observable symptoms. They use medical tests to understand the exact cause of problems, and they don't automatically leap to the latest drug or surgical procedure. Instead they look for long term, health-building cures. That is precisely the procedure I have previously recommended, in Using Medical Practioners Wisely), so it's understandable why I am so thrilled to have found them.
Doctors Rick and Vicki Peterson put it this way:
Imagine the body. (Draws a stick figure.) On the left we have a number of lifestyle inputs coming into the body--things like diet, the environment, pollutants, stress and other stressors. (Draws a bunch of arrows coming into the body.) Over a period of time, they cause problems in the body. (Scribbles a few circles and figure eights in the center of the stick figure.) Those problems create symptoms we recognize. (Draws arrows going out to the right, and writes the word, "Symptoms".) If we treat the symptoms, but don't treat what's causing them, the problem stays there. If we treat the problem, but don't identify the lifestyle factors and make changes, the problem will reoccur. We have to do all three. We have to treat symptoms as needed, but be sure to treat the real problem and, at the same time, identify the lifestyle factors that cause it.
It was their knowledge of the systemic effects of gluten that led to my understanding of the fatigue that has plagued me for years, and resolved the incredibly itchy hives (dermatitis herpetiformis) that developed fairly recently. It also flattened an ugly pot belly, solved my skin problems, and provided a good explanation for my "milk allergy", as explained in What's Wrong with Wheat?.
Here's their process:
In a nutshell, they follow this creed:
Eschew instant gratification in favor of lifelong satisfaction.
The first visit is free, too. It gives you a chance to find out how they work, and it gives them a chance to see if they can help you. And for the icing on the cake, they keep their appointments! Once, an emergency came up during one of my visits, and I had to wait for 20 minutes. So they apologized. Imagine that: A medical appointment where they actually keep the appointment, where they apologize if they're late, and where you actually resolve the underlying problems. A new breed, indeed.
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