Black, White, and Gray in the World of Medicine

John 8:32 says, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” As a Christian, I wholeheartedly believe that scripture. In that case, John was quoting Jesus Christ, and the truth of which he spoke was the truth of Jesus’ purpose for his life, death, and resurrection on this earth.

We hear that phrase thrown around in the everyday vernacular because it rings true for worldly topics, not just the heavenly. A good decision can only be made about a matter when the truth of opposing sides is known. Otherwise, any decision seems tainted in some way. Truth makes things clear and eliminates the gray in the black and white of the decision-making process.

So where is the gray in the world of healthcare? You don’t have to look far. In modern healthcare, physicians depend on the latest prescription drug to solve the problems of a symptomatic patient rather than delving deeper into the underlying physical chemistry. Having my practice dictated by which pharmaceuticals to dispense didn’t seem right in my soul. Where was the preventative care for the body? Was there a way to prevent disease and return the body to optimal health?

Truth in health and wellness is found in physiology and biochemistry. I, often begrudgingly, waded my way through the classes of organic chemistry, biochemistry, and physiology, not knowing that one day I would return to those roots as the fundamentals of my medical practice.

In returning to these fundamentals, I now spend time analyzing the body’s current function and, as naturally as possible, returning the body to optimal health.

Can I prevent disease? Well, not entirely. The overwhelmingly toxicity of our environment and the unique genetics of each person have a factor in disease, too. But the idea behind anti-aging and functional medicine is to provide my patients with the best quality of life possible for as long as they live instead of being debilitated by disease for years. It’s all about HEALTHY LIVING.

As I continue to practice medicine, I realize how important it is to EDUCATE. Health and wellness education is one of our primary missions at Seasons. It is the lack of wellness in north Louisiana which led me to seek further education in functional medicine (I am now board certified and fellowship trained in Functional Medicine) giving me the tools that I need to solve the health problems my patients deal with every day.

You see, I became a physician to help people get better and feel better. And because that wasn’t happening with the protocols currently being used by the American College of Gynecology, I sought a better way of doing things. But in doing so, I have also found that educating my patients, the community, the state of Louisiana, and even my fellow physicians is required. How to do that is the question!

Allow me to introduce you to DIIGO. Notice on the front page of our website in the column on the right there is a box labeled Seasons Diigo Updates. Diigo is a “cloud-based information management service that enables users to collect, highlight, access and share a variety of information, on a variety of devices,” according to their blog. That’s a fancy definition. For you non-tech types, Diigo allows me to bookmark what I’m reading and share it with YOU.

From the Seasons Diigo list, you can see what I’m reading — the latest developments and research in health and wellness — and what I recommend that YOU read in order to educate yourself. I use this tool to organize scientific research available on the world wide web that will help YOU understand the Seasons Five Points of Wellness (nutrition, exercise, hormone balance, reducing inflammation, and detoxification).

The abstracts (brief synopsis of studies) and articles you find on our Diigo list represent the latest discussions by physicians and scientists from around the world whose research contributes to your understanding of health and wellness TRUTHS. This is not information regurgitated and twisted by a news report. This is the real, actual science.

If you have questions about our preventative approach to healthcare, then read, and learn for yourself what the latest research indicates about the Seasons approach to wellness. I update our Diigo list almost daily, so check back often. Or better yet, subscribe to our list so that you receive daily updates of new wellness research.

With the world wide web at your fingertips, information is so readily available. You are not limited by the resources on your street, in your town, in your region, or even in your state. You have a whole world of information available at your fingertips. At Seasons, we’re trying to get the right information into the hands of those who are truly passionate about taking charge of their own wellness. And if you are reading this, then THAT IS YOU!

Happy reading. And cheers to the pursuit of wellness.

How do I keep up with the Seasons Diigo List?

1. Visit our website regularly. You can click on any of the links in the Seasons Diigo Updates box and go directly to the article.
2. Visit Diigo regularly. Visit http://groups.diigo.com/group/seasonswc and see the list there.
3. Have summary emails sent to you daily/weekly. To do this, you’ll need to create a diigo account at http://diigo.com. Once you’ve created an account, you can join the Seasons Wellness group. Depending on the notification setting you choose when you create your account, you’ll receive a summary email with all the articles I’ve bookmarked that day or that week.

Related articles

• Wellness: Do Doctors Know What To Look For? (time.com)
• Healthy Medicine: A New Model for Cancer Care (truthonmedecine.wordpress.com)
• Seasons Diigo Updates
• Integrative, Functional Medicine Comes to Hawaii (prweb.com)
• Wellness: Do Doctors Know What To Look For? (time.com)
• Wellness: Do Doctors Know What To Look For? (time.com)
• Talking with your doctor about COPD: NetWellness (cleveland.com)
• Why Become a Naturopathic Doctor? (brighthub.com)

 

Is Medicine Losing Its Way?

It seems to me that medicine is losing its way. I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but I am VERY concerned about the growing trend of polypharmacy. It’s a problem not just for people, in general, but specifically for children.

How bad is the problem? According to Mike Adams at NaturalNews, the percentage of children on prescription drugs is going up, up, up. Up to 25% of all children are on some kind of chronic prescription drug!

Just look at the numbers reported by the Wall Street Journal in an article entitled “So Young, and So Many Pills” (12.28.2010) and cited in this article by Dr. David Brownstein.

In 2009, prescriptions for children included:

• 45,388,000 Asthma medications
• 24,357,000 ADHD medications
• 9,614,000 Antidepressant medications
• 6,546,000 Antipsychotic medications
• 5,224,000 Antihypertensive medications
• 307,000 Sleep aids
• 424,00 Non-insulin diabetes medications
• 94,000 Statin (high-cholesterol) medications

These are startling figures that should make any parent shutter. What are the long-term implications? We don’t know.

These drugs being prescribed for children are not just some mild prescription drugs either. According to the Wall Street Journal, These include sleep aids, anti-depressants, ADD/ADHD drugs, anti-cholesterol drugs (statins), and diabetic medications  All are very dangerous drugs.

Let’s look at Prozac for example. Prozac has a side effect profile larger than any other prescription available. Over 3,500 deaths have been attributed to Prozac. The approval study of Prozac involved 278 people over 8 weeks. No long-term studies were included.  Additionally, Prozac dosing was designed for an average 170-pound individual. Do you know any children that weigh 170 pounds? I’ll answer for you. NO. Any child being dosed with Prozac is likely being overdosed, unless they weigh 170 pounds.

What about anti-depressants? Are there any studies that have looked at the long-term effects of anti-depressants over, let’s say, 40+ years?  Again, a big NO is the answer to this question, too!

We are told that these medications are needed. Prozac is supposed to balance out the imbalances. Unfortunately, that’s a statement that has been made before that was eventually determined to be false. Heroin, Cocaine, PCP, Methadone, LSD, and even Xanax were all pharmaceuticals that were supposed to be safe and effective. All but Xanax are now controlled and/or illegal! In their book Break Your Prescribed Addiction, Billy Sahley, Ph.D., and Katherine Birkner, Ph.D., do a great job of pointing this out.

As a physician, the big question I ask is this: whom are we serving?  Are we serving our system of medicine? Are we serving big pharmaceutical companies? Are we serving the FDA?

We should be serving our patients. We should be protecting our children.

Want to cut future costs of medicine? Let’s get our children off these medicines that mask their problems. Instead, let’s solve their health problems by finding their true source. Let’s listen to physicians like Dr. Danny Benjamin, a professor of pediatrics at Duke University who noted in the WSJ article that “parents must do more to question the safety of medicines their doctors prescribe.”

I think that’s advice that applies across the spectrum of patients. What are you taking? Why are you taking it? And here’s the big question in my book. Are the pharmaceuticals you are taking REALLY solving the problems that you have? Are they just a mask?