What I Believe Modern Medicine is Missing
As many of you know, I have lived in both worlds…the world of using only allopathic medicine (MD’s) where prescriptive and surgical remedies reign and the world which uses alternative medicine where the body is honored for its self-healing capacity and where food and lifestyle modifications are utilized in addition to the treatment modality offered by the doctor (such as spinal manipulation).
In all honesty, I don’t like calling chiropractic and other treatments rendered by “alternative” practitioners alternative at all. After all, what we call conventional medicine is little more than 100 years old and forms of chiropractic date back over 20 centuries. (Shouldn’t that qualify chiropractic as mainstream medicine?!!)
The actual profession of chiropractic – as a distinct form of health care — dates back to 1895. However, over 2000 years ago Hippocrates advised: “Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases.”
Herodotus, a contemporary of Hippocrates, gained fame curing diseases by correcting spinal abnormalities through therapeutic exercises. If the patient was too weak to exercise, Herodotus would manipulate the patient’s spine. The philosopher Aristotle was critical of Herodotus’ tonic-free approach because, “he made old men young and thus prolonged their lives too greatly.”
So now that I’ve inserted my little chiropractic soapbox, here are my feelings on what I believe modern medicine is missing and why that’s important.
Allopathic medicine, as a whole, declines to acknowledge any creative force and bases its belief system on evolution. As such, it only takes into account the physical body and the symptoms and/or illnesses it presents. By only acknowledging the body, allopathic disregards the spirit of the body (the other half of the soul). In so doing, it eliminates critical components of our health: spiritual, mental and emotional health.
Allopathic does a wonderful job of treating trauma and emergencies. However, I believe it dramatically fails in regards to honoring the patients it treats.
Eliminate giving a patient the time and consideration they deserve, ignore their emotional, spiritual, or mental health, discount that a patient needs to be a central contributor to or part of their own healthcare, or operate from a foundation that the doctor always knows best (in the five minute patient time slots that most allopathic doctors are forced to work within) and I believe you see patients and their health short-changed.
I have been treated by too many allopathic doctors who had no interest in my health history – their only interest was in my current symptoms so they could write a quick prescription. I have been treated by doctors who, when they found that no prescription worked, were all too quick to declare that it was “all in my head”. They were right…my headaches were “all in my head” but the causes weren’t. If I were the only one ever to have been told that a health issue was all in my head – this personal experience wouldn’t even be mentioned. Unfortunately, too many patients have been given that diagnosis by doctors who were unwilling to consider anything other than prescriptions and expensive high tech tests. I believe too many MD’s operate from the ego-driven assumption that prescription medicines, expensive tests and surgery are the only competent tools available in treating patients.
So…here is my short list of the components that I believe modern medicine is missing that should be vital to all healthcare:
- Sufficient time with patient
- Honoring the contribution of the patient in their own healthcare
- Embracing the importance and power of nutrition in health
- Recognizing the influence that a patient’s spiritual, mental, and emotional health has on their physical health
- Eliminating the ego of the doctor in patient care
- Respecting the creative force that created the patient and the world we each are a part of
Some allopathic practitioners are catching on…they have seen the difference that nutrition and chiropractic treatment makes and are chaning their mindsets. I look forward to the day when more of them get the big picture!
Which is the Best Medicine? Food and a Healthier Lifestyle or Prescriptions?
Which is the Best Medicine? Food and a Healthier Lifestyle or Prescriptions?
Which is the best way to health – prescription medications or healthy foods and moderate exercise? Consider some statistics:
- According to a 1998 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association inn 1998, adverse drug reactions cause the death, hospitalization, or serious injury of more than 2 million people in the United States each year, including more than 100,000 fatalities.
- Almost half (49.5%) of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports of deaths from adverse drug reactions and 61% of hospitalizations from adverse drug reactions were in people younger than 60.
- All medications used for the treatment of any type of health condition can cause side effects. Examples of common drug side effects include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, dizziness, dry mouth, headache, itching, muscle aches and pains.
- Dey Pharmaceuticals estimates there are 150-200 deaths each year from food allergies. Their estimate is listed in their media resource kit of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network a lobbying and educational group headed by a former marketing executive. However, the Centers for Disease Control have been tracking data on food allergy deaths and only eleven people died from food allergies in 2005, the last year for which we have data available. More people died from lawnmower accidents.
That’s quite a contrast – 11 deaths from food allergies a year compared to more than 100,000 fatalies from prescription drugs. That’s approximately 1 food allergy death per 10,000 prescription drug deaths. That alone, is convincing evidence for me but when you consider the potential health benefits of healthy foods…I call that a slam dunk! Just think about what we currently know about eating healthy foods:
- Ginger – Has anti-inflammatory and natural pain killing properties . Reduces nausea and has been shown potential in the prevention and cure of cancer.
- Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables – Thought to lower risk of cancer and possibly prevent colon cancer. Helps to reduce high blood pressure and risk of stroke.
- Tomatoes – Good blood purifier. Helps in cases of liver congestion and helps to dissolve gallstones. Protects the liver from cirrhosis, helps protect against infections and helps prevent heart disorders. The vitamin K present in tomatoes helps in preventing hemorrhages. Lycopene, which is the red pigment present in tomatoes acts as a powerful antioxidant which fights cancer cells.
Add exercise to healthy eating and you will feel better and improve your health!
According to the Harvard Public School of Health:
“Regular exercise or physical activity helps many of the body’s systems function better, keeps heart disease, diabetes, and a host of other diseases at bay, and is a key ingredient for losing weight. According to the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, (1) being physically active on a regular basis
- Improves your chances of living longer and living healthier
- Helps protect you from developing heart disease and stroke or its precursors, high blood pressure and undesirable blood lipid patterns
- Helps protect you from developing certain cancers, including colon and breast cancer, and possibly lung and endometrial (uterine lining) cancer
- Helps prevent type 2 diabetes (what was once called adult-onset diabetes) and metabolic syndrome (a constellation of risk factors that increases the chances of developing heart disease and diabetes)
- Helps prevent the insidious loss of bone known as osteoporosis”
Taking a pill may be quick and easy but utilizing healthy food and exercise where emergency measures are not necessary gets my vote!
Are Chiropractors Real Doctors?
Why I am a Chiropractic Advocate Oblander Chiropractic
I haven’t always been an advocate for Chiropractic care. My first interactions with health care were with medical doctors (allopathic practitioners). For about 15 years of my life, my health was impacted by migraines 24/7. MD’s prescribed every medication then known for treating migraines. They also ordered MRI’s and blood tests and when nothing in their “doctor bag” worked – I was told my headaches were all in my head and that I needed counseling.
The story is too long to relate here but suffice it to say that my husband eventually ended up attending chiropractic school and becoming a chiropractor. While my husband attended chiropractic school, chiropractors who oversaw the student clinic took me under their wing and dedicated their time and talents to helping me find the reasons for my migraines. It was not a quick or simple process but we eventually found that the main culprit in my migraines was MSG (monosodium glutamate). Once MSG and a few other minor culprits were removed from my diet, I was headache free.
Having been a recipient of both allopathic care (MD’s) and chiropractic care let me share why I have become an advocate for chiropractic health care:
- Chiropractic acknowledges that the body is a self healing organism (Our bodies have the capacity to heal)
- Chiropractic looks to address the source of the problem rather than medicate it.
- Chiropractic care promotes the body’s self healing abilities
- Chiropractic heals bad backs and much, much more
- Chiropractic operates from the belief that there is a creative force (God) in the universe we are a part of – rather than the godless world that medical schools profess. (I believe that God should always be a part of healing.)
- Chiropractors are doctors who are highly trained professionals – their curriculum includes almost twice as many hours in diagnosis as their MD counterparts. (Which makes me wonder why more chiropractors are not primary care physicians.)
- Chiropractors are trained in nutrition (the world’s most powerful healing tools are found in nature) while MD’s are trained in pharmacology.
- Except in instances of trauma and life-threatening situations, I believe that chiropractic is much more effective and much less invasive.
- I have seen first hand, the profound effect that spinal manipulation has on health. I have seen spinal manipulation clear nasal congestion, boost immune function (shorten or avert sickness), succeed with accident victims where physical therapy failed, end colic in babies, reset bones that surgeons claimed only surgery would fix, and more.
Chiropractic is safe. The average annual malpractice rates for chiropractors are $4,000 vs $90,000 for MD’s.
Chiropractic is not the cure for everything. It will not cure the damage from smoking and heavy drinking but it can do amazing things and it does it all naturally!