some musings on George Orwell, Goethe, Google, facebook and debt ceilings

What does facebook, Goethe and global economic instability have to do with your health? What’s one to do when their motivation is blunted by fear and loathing in Google-opolis? I’ve been putzing around with a website launch for about 10 months now, in that time Google has changed their algorithm for organic ratings and the prospect of facebook and twitter looms heavily on the virtual marketing horizon. It makes sense to me now, the visibility of another website essentially for free with facebook and twitter- the increased presence online and all, but what is the tradeoff? I think of the Goethe quote: “How much knowledge have we lost to information? How much wisdom have we lost to knowledge?” Though, it would seem the option to post on one’s business facebook is so inviting, it holds very little appeal for me. Sure, there are awesome triumphs to report about patients who’ve lost 14 Ibs in a month or another’s chronic yeast infection that has finally resolved, or the mood elevation and improved focus of another patient- all without high intervention pharmaceuticals or weekly injections of pregnant women’s urine (i.e hCG), but where’s the line? Where is the anonymity? Where is the privacy in which to treasure these triumphs in a more meaningful way than a momentary news flash amongst the deluge of tidbits mashed in with major events? Where’s the respite from information? And, more poignantly what’s information and what’s marketing? Yes, great results are great things to report so that others may feel invited to start their journey- to maybe inspire them that they, too, can do it, and that indeed it can be done. That is surely valuable. However, what about anonymity? Yes getting over a chronic yeast infection is great, but how would you feel about reading about it and knowing it was your story of woe? Would you feel embarrassed or would you feel left out for not having the option to put your name on such a victory? Would you post on the wall that it was you and that it was awesome? Because in facebook there’s no anonymity- your preferences, and your group of friends and their preferences are all there for everyone to see. It’s a marketeers’ wet dream- perhaps their drool accounts for the sticky feeling I get when I visit facebook ; ) It’s probably cliché by now that facebook is better than even George Orwell could have imagined in 1984, (maybe because it’s decades later), but who would’ve imagined that the government would have been usurped in it’s role as the fascist voyeur? Not even Edgar Allen Poe imagined a time where instead of government, or guilt, that the downfall of civilization ends up being in the name of marketing for voracious consumption. And, here we are in year 2011 where the economies of the world so melded have begun to melt, and the habitual drive of creating consumer demand has far outpaced the ability of consumers to support their habit. What does the drug dealer do when his poppy or pot crop is bursting and yet there aren’t enough addicts able to pay him in a currency that pays for the manure, or the water bill? Dorothy, we are not watching the game show jeopardy, it’s the reality of jeopardy (that was a wizard of oz allusion btw)- and it’s happened before. What did our predecessors do in such tight times? Well they threw a party of course- not for just the rich, because in these times the rich are better off than ever, but for everyone. They threw a forgiveness party- a jubilee, where all debts were forgiven and those who committed petty crimes were allowed again into the world, and the game could begin anew. However, in this convoluted time of virtual currency what’s one to do? The whole point of virtual currency is to solve the inevitable insolvency, right? Perhaps all we can do is evolve- taking that of past tradition and adding a twist of modern sophistication (you might google the word sophistry, btw) - like the pop stars of modern times have made their fortunes by rehashing songs from the 80’s (as far as I can tell : ). Thus, I propose, WE proclaim a jubilee-potlatch hybridization. A full on Jubilee, as in the days of old is just too extreme for these times, of high population. But combine it with a potlatch ( where one holds a party and gives away objects that are valuable and usable to the invited), may be just the right type of mixer for the strong drink needed to adjust our present dismally confusing economic reality. Here are some ideas for the potlatch if the governments are the party giver: 1. Student loan debt forgiveness: can you say “Uh Huh Uh Huh, Oh Yeah!” Hey, the big banks were fished out of the creak with a TARP instead of a paddle, why not give America’s educated the same courtesy. It could be in a form like homeowner’s are given, especially when graduates, like myself, come out of school with mortgage sized educational loans. And, though we can write off interest to a limited amount, why not allow us tax write-offs for all student loan interest? After all, the fact that the government is paying banks the interest on these loans is clearly only benefiting the banks! 2. Health care solutions. How about instead of allowing pharmaceutical companies and private laboratories to set a price for their business they are given a range of Usual and customary charges that are acceptable not to some insurance company that’s creating a contract, but to all people who use their lab or pharmaceutical. 3. Have you noticed that your Health Insurance premium is increasing? So, is your co-insurance costs for labs? My goodness, I bet even your co-pays for pharmaceutical drugs are going up, too. Well, what’s the point of paying hundreds of dollars for insurance coverage and then hundreds more towards what they’re supposed to cover? I think it’s time to start a Health Savings Account revolution, it will benefit patients by giving them both choice and credit for when they pay for health care outside of the choices available to them in network, and for the medicines, including those that have no side effects that aren’t mainly beneficial side effects like nutritional or botanical supplements. High quality fish oil, mercury and PCB free, of course, should definitely be covered or at least credited toward a deductible. What other substances can you think of that not only lowers your bad cholesterol, increase your good cholesterol, decrease depression and anxiety and reduce joint pain and inflammation? I know this started off on a facebook rant, and ended with strange archaic, perhaps even mythical, theocratic acts of yore, but these are the times when national healthcare, global debt forgiveness, and the health of the individual all collide- at least in my view. After all, when there's economic anxiety there's sympathetic nervous system override- which is a physical equivalent of raising the debt ceiling to pay back on what was borrowed. When you've been running on adrenaline for a long time, the constant stimulation will wear down your family jewels, (your adrenal glands) and what can you do then? You might feel like you've been hit by a truck physically and emotionally, you'll experience more allergies, more illness, more forgetting things, and running out of momentum just by thinking of doing something, etc.. What to do then? Of course, augment with adrenal glandulars or other supplements and botanical medicines, and count on investing time, money, effort and patience. Of course, it's your family jewels you'll have to commit to seeing it through, but wouldn't it be great to start sooner than later? Salvage what you can and invest in restoring your sanity without sacrificing your greatest resources? What do you think? These are just some musings, and I’d love to hear your inspiring or insightful comments.

Treat the whole person

Why it’s hard to be a pure Specialist if you’re a Naturopathic Doc, and hallelujah!

Even though conventional medicine can’t get enough of specialization, and insurance companies begrudge the costs of specialist visits, it’s hard to complain of overpriced Specialist care from a Naturopathic Doc.

You see, we are trained in the science of the body as a whole system- it is all generally interdependent. That is if you hurt your ankle, we’re not gonna forget about the hip or the knee or the adrenal glands for that matter. There’s just no escaping the fact that we can’t help create our treatment plans without addressing the whole person- including your livelihood, lifestyle and your general environment. For example, people with arthritis rarely realize that they need to make changes in their diet to reduce the pain in their joints.

You might be stunned, “how can food have anything to do with joint pain?” It all boils down to inflammation. Inflammation is the cause of pain, swelling, redness and well more inflammation. It can fast become a vicious cycle and it often involves an immune reaction that perpetuates or worsens the inflammation. Inflammation itself is not a bad thing, it is an important mechanism meant to protect the body by giving clear signals of pain, like redness and swelling to help our minds easily recognize the place of pain and adress the source of it quickly. As we ignore the symptoms they worsen, or sometimes they seemingly go away only to return in another more serious form. An example of this is an allergy that creates skin eruptions, and the longer this is either ignored or just treated symptomatically (i.e. hydrocortisone lotions) the inflammation goes “underground” it turns into a deeper pathology commonly in the form of asthma. Asthma is a serious long lasting disease and a cause of early death and a lower quality of life for many.

Thus, by treating the whole person naturopathic doctors need to make the time to see who their patients are in their unique situation. Only by seeing our patients in all the aspects of their current situation can we clearly imagine our patients being whole, and doing all we can to help them get to that stage. We cannot treat the cause until we know as much as possible about each of our unique patients.

So a Naturopathic doctor is a specialist at generalization, and putting together the fractals of each individual patient.

Doctor as Teacher

Just like the fable of compassionate helping, we can offer others in need longlasting benefits by offering them tools they can use to help themselves and others. In that spirit, I offer each patient as much information about their condition in easy to understand language- in fact I create mind maps (simplified flowcharts) that give a good picture about the many different elements that play into their condition the obstacles, the catalysts and the main players.

It is very important to offer patients as much information as possible so that they can make good decisions. After all, I am a guide and coach mainly for each patient; the best doctor is inside each one of us. Still, information can only give you so much. Perhaps you’ve noticed the abundance of information on the internet?

Yet, I have patients come ot me, even practitioners like Nutritional therapists and massage therapists who’ve been using something they heard about on the web or by word of mouth, and yet they are ignorant that their current complaints are related to the misuse of that same information.

For example, high doses of Vitamin B6 can create numbness and tingling in the hands and feet. Though Vitamin B6 can offer excellent relief for conditions from insomnia to PMS, it can be used in lower doses with other vitamins and minerals to create even better results without creating side effects. As Goethe said “How much knowledge have we lost to information? How much wisdom have we lost to knowledge?”

Not only do I offer patients information, I put it in context- I offer my knowledge and, with many treatments, I offer first hand experience. I don’t stock medicines if I don’t know they’re effective. Doctor as teacher is not only about sharing information, it is about sharing my own experience with you and creating an experience where your body and it’s present state makes sense to you.

If that’s not the case how can you know that it’s time to change and if the route to change will be effective for you or not? I’d love to hear your view on this and how you envision a doctor’s visit being a satisfying learning experience. Or perhaps I should say that visits aren’t so much about learning but unfolding what is the next step, what makes sense at this point in the journey.

Sometimes, I must ask myself what are my patients needing to recognize about their situation, now. Doctor as teacher, more importantly, is not about hierarchy. Though medicine has bred an arrogant lot of Mdeities, doctor as all-knowing authority, it is a disservice to approach patients from a pedestal. Inevitably, the man behind the curtain like in the Wizard of Oz, will tumble from grace by the smallest gap in knowledge. This gap in knowledge is really the gap in recognizing that we are all fragile human beings seeking refuge from suffering, reaching out towards happiness and support. I see my work as being present with my patients, hearing them fully and seeing who they are trying to become.

To this end, I continually hone my skills and offer my best to bring you long lasting benefit. A lot of naturopathic medicine could be coined “antecdotal,” if we see that it is tried and true practical applications of knowledge passed from generation to generation then we recognize the loving kindness and wisdom of our grandparents who’ve passed this knowledge to us freely. I feel privileged and honored to share this with others, and combined with the latest information I offer you the opportunity to email me if you’d like a quick clarification or simplification on a medical condition you have or a treatment you’re considering. Until then, may you go in Grace and good health.

Prevention

PREVENTION, is a fundamental principle of Naturopathic Medicine.
Is it enough to inform patients?

There are many handouts I make available for patients at initial visits specific to their conditions and concerns. But I’ve found on follw up visits that some feel overwhelmed and do not even read the materials. What to do? These patients know how to read, they know it is specifically for them and their situation and yet they are shy to learn more.

I’ve found this is especially the case with people who’ve had longstanding problems and that it is mainly for them a combination of two reasons: disbelief that a simple practical change in their life like diet changes will magically help them, that they will not know how to do it right and it won’t work and they’ll have wasted their time at the least embarassed themselves in failing.

What is the underlying theme here? Fear.

Both of these reactions are fear based, one is fear of success and the other fear of failure—how can they be the same? They are really fear of change. It’s hard to admit, I know from my own experiences, that something that is a big problem has also shaped daily life and to change it creates a kind of vacuum in the conscious mind, perhaps you’ve also experienced thoughts something similar to this—“What will replace this? If I do this my life might change in drastic ways, and I’m not sure how I will cope with the changes—after all I’ve been coping well enough with the current situation because I’ve made it this far.”

If that’s so, please try this simple exercise:

Take a moment now and close your eyes, relax and think about how it is truly impossible to be afraid of the unknown, and that all this time your fear of change is that it will be one of many known and unwanted results. Perhaps you can list 15 of the most crazy unwanted results you can come up with, be as far out there as you can get. Really, go for it, if you can get more than 15 write them down. The point is to take it so far that you know you are creating worst case scenarios that keep you from moving out of your current patterns. That’s right, it needs more balance so now think of 15 positive results that are not so far out there at all- in fact they’re the intended goals of practical suggestions!

For example, quit smoking possibilities:

WCS: I’ll never be relaxed again. I’ll never get outdoors enough. I’ll probably die healthy. I’ll bite nails to the quick. I’ll chew so much gum I’ll be up at night with the aching jaws. I’ll get so fat, I won’t be able to get in my car. I’ll be fidgeting so much that people will think I’m on drugs. I’ll get sugar diabetes from putting so much sugar in my coffee, because I can’t match it with tobacco. My family will have to find other things to nag me about, like my personality. I’ll have so much extra money from not buying cigarettes that I’ll become addicted to the lottery. I’ll have no good excuse for buying new clothes, cause they won’t have yellow stains and burnholes. I’ll start biting my toenails. I’ll start biting other peoples toenails. I’ll have bad breath. I won’t have any thing to cover up the smell when I have gas. Etc, etc….

Positives:I’ll be able to relax around others without having to go outside like I’m an unwanted guest. I’ll have a lot more money to spend on nice clothes, that will stay unyellowed. My family and friends will stop nagging me about my health. I can enjoy fresh air and the great outdoors without gasping for air. I will lose weight now that I can move and breathe well. My dental bills will go down. I’ll be able to take airplanes without panicking about my next nicotine fix. I will contribute to the good health of my family as well as myself. I won’t have to be a slave of an addiction. I’ll chose for myself what I want to do with my time, energy and money instead of being a slave to nicotine.

As you can see prevention depends on your view, if you only see the difficulty then there is little that can be done in the way of prevention- for what you keep anticipating will certainly come your way.

However if you’re able to notice those moments when your body tightens up with resistance and recognize the source of this you can glide through to taking the next step. Humor is a great way to help get perspective, really it is the best way to put the farce of fear in it’s place and let us move on with the work of creating a better tomorrow. For in the end, the ability to choose is always with us but the choices we have are not up to us—take heart that your choices now are great chances to widen your future choices instead of ending up in a helpless situation.

Prevention is the best we can do to increase our options for the future, so don’t miss out!

The downfall of MDeities

Perhaps it happened in the 80's when the drug companies started rolling out antibiotics as if they were the next best thing to sliced bread, and, by intimidation perhaps, doctors bought into the hype.

Remember when undercover cameras were the hottest thing in tv journalism? There was a 20/20 story, I still recall, where a reporter went into 3 different doctor's offices as a new"patient" with a sore throat. All 3 doctors gave the "patient" antibiotics; no lab tests were run, no fever was present, no throat scrapings, etc.. When asked why, a female doctor replied "It's about customer satisfaction, I want my patient to come back." At the time I was blown away, patients are customers in the eyes of doctors? Holy Hippocrates since when? I had always seen doctors as highly intelligent people gifted with the humility to help others, or even intermediaries of the Gods from an ancient Greek perspective, and here this female doc was talking customer service.

A new day dawning indeed...it wasn't until 10 years later when I was eating a ribeye steak at the most expensive hotel in town listening to a doctor "expert" talk about the virtues of Prozac, and how patients will feel the doctor is really making cure happen. The enormous bill graciously paid for by Eli Lilly. In retrospect, I think the antibiotic drug reps must have been convincing in their sales terms: keep your patients coming back, give them this. Convincing, indeed, drug pushers, in fact, for the pharmaceutical industry has a phenomenal profit margin. As for M.D.'s, in a way, who can blame them? Especially female doctors at that time- it was the new wave, just think of the pressure to perform.

Medicine is surely an art, for sometimes our best thought out plans don't always work and seeing a patient's condition stagnate, or worse decline, under our care would instigate doubt in anyone. Put that together with a patient's lawyer's willingness to sue your doctor and you have a winning combination for mediocre if not dismally uninspired care. Where there's no inspiration how can there be curiousity and creativity?

Though, N.D.'s have been trained in the modern medical methods of diagnosis, our treatment approaches have mostly remained holistic and rooted in antecdotal methods. Modern medicine and science refer to any treatments or trials as antecdotal if they've not been studied in a randomly controlled double blind study. Which I must add, here, is designed for the express purpose of comparing a placebo pill with an active ingredient pill; it's hard to use this template for any other type of clinical investigation, and near impossible when dealing with psychological or emotional treatments that are not encapsulated.

Thus, N.D.'s see a lot of "hopeless" cases, it is our credo that we can do something no matter how small to help patients, and we usually help them quite a bit. It's not that we are curing them, per se, but that we are relying on their body's inherent ability to effect cure. With this in mind, how can one test for an individual's ability to move itself into balance? Does this mean that the ancient observation of the body's power to get healthy is a figment of imagination? I'd love to hear any and all proposals for a double blind randomly controlled study of this dynamic healing power inherent in the human body. Because at this point if it can't be bottled and/or tested it aint gonna work, much less be covered by insurance. 'Til next time, keep it simple, fresh and full of grace.

The job of the physician is to humor the patient while their body does the healing...

How could it be that a French philosopher, a Greek physician and a witty New Englander can all agree that health depends on the patient (and their patience) instead of an injection, pill or surgical procedure?

Though modern medicine is dismissing more and more anything but "evidence based medicine," it is becoming more and more obvious that this is a cop-out. Now, research is an excellent thing, and thanks to Francis Bacon, methodologies have become quite uniform--but is that really so great for the dynamic ailments and solutions of the human body?

Let me put it this way: testing whether an onion makes a person well or ill clearly depends on how much, when and with what it is given, and who it was given to. If you give someone an onion after they finished desert, or for breakfast or if they're a 5 year old all of the outcomes will be different, of course. But, somehow modern medical research thinks that, by analogy, giving the same amount of onion the same number of times a day will create evidence of the onion's effects. Would you agree?

Much of the money that is in the pharmaceutical industry floats around looking for more research to support that allows this same industry to capitalize on the authority this gives these drugs as cures. If anyone's taken a pain killer like vicadin, you're sure to remember the side effects (unless you're Rush Limbaugh of course, which in that case you'd somehow forget that you required them to get through the day). Everyone seems willing to put up with the sometimes dangerous side effects and expenses of pharmaceuticals for if not only for the fact that the doctor has authority to prescribe them in the first place, the scientific research shows they really work by acting on such and such receptors, etc.. Most of the time that is, there are a number of drugs which we have no known mechanism for why they work only clinical trials where enough people experienced few deaths in comparison to those that felt statistically significant results, not necessarily positive.

It was only a few years ago that a study showed that calcium channel blockers, a drug used commonly for congestive heart disease, arrythmias, etc, created a greater risk of dying from a heart attack than not taking any drugs for their heart symptoms.

Now, let me be clear, I'm not suggesting that modern medication is all bad. It is life saving for many. What I am saying is that the ease with which doctors AND patients turn to pharmaceuticals for cure when most of the medicines are treating symptoms and thus ensuring longtime maintenance doses is money and time that could be better spent on treating the cause. And, though we have lots of fancy imaging tests and lab tests for myriad conditions, modern medicine has still neglected to look deeply into the greatest source of information-the patient history. Or should I say, the patient's story. If we can spend some time carefully listening to the patient unfold the process of how they got to where they are, we could make certain headway in discovering how to help them bring the process full circle.

In an acute condition we say there are only two resolutions: death or relief. Modern medicine does great with this 50-50 situation. Now, the chronic conditions are the most complex, no wonder they are the most money consuming- but really, do they have to be? Because, if you think about it, a chronic condition starts somewhere and when we don't correct the cause from the start we have to contend with the body's complex reaction, first to the cause and then to the treatments for the symptoms layered on top of that. Take for example, type II diabetes. A disease caused by dysregulation of blood sugar due to diet and lifestyle factors that could be easily modified. Well, easily modified if doctors had the guts to insist on no more doughnuts and patients had any reason to not question their authority.

Stay tuned for more discussion about M.Deities and their fall from grace : )