Category: Natural Medicine

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Sick Care System > Health Care System!

Understanding the limitations of a treatment based medical system and the responsibility of the ‘government’ and ultimately what we need to do in order to keep healthy can only be accomplished if we understand the limitations we are working with.

Allopathic medicine or Medical Doctors (MDs) are not in a position to prevent disease when incentivized to care for only the sick. Furthermore, a portion of the responsibility falls on the ‘state’ to keep their citizens healthy and safe through regulatory measures from banning smoking in restaurants to providing food labelling on menus and grocery store products.

For so long, I assumed it was my family doctor that was suppose to keep me healthy, but in reality family doctors are the gateway into the medical system that only want to see you if there is something medically wrong with you.

If you want to stay out of the system, then the government needs to promote health seeking behaviours, which is a blanket to the general public but definitely doesn’t include the outliers.

This realization has made me think about my own disease and how it could be prevented in others and essentially have people be the healthiest versions of themselves. I had come across the video below by Matthias Mullenbeck who really hits the nail on the head…. our current system is a Sick Care System…his thoughts on changing the mindset to only pay physicians to keep people healthy is brilliant.

Beyond just changing the mindset within modern medicine, I would add that integration of natural medicines that seem to understand the body in ways outside of medications and surgeries sound also be integrated.

If I were to ask someone in Traditional Chinese Medicine or Ayurvedic Medicine they would describe being healthy as having balance in the body through the flow of chi or in the balance of the doshas.

Naturopathic medicine works to combine all forms of natural medicine and if integrated into our medical system would provide the perfect base to provide primary prevention: that is making sure people never get sick. I also feel that because men and women are so different, it doesn’t make sense to have one provider for both. There is already a lot to know, why complicate things even more.

Specializing primary health care by age and sex would help make sure patients are getting the best possible care and allow the provider to be able to stay up to date on the latest and greatest. It’s a win win!

So in the meantime, until we get there as a system, you can choose to learn more about your body and it’s limitations through DNA testing, hair analysis and hormone testing for starters and find yourself a good naturopathic doctor and a family doctor that is responsive to your needs. Build your health care team to work for you, to keep you healthy and if your like me, never get sick again.

Further reading:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4339086/pdf/nihms663715.pdf

Healthy Incentives
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The Epidemiology of Breast Cancer and Individualized Medicine

Invasive Lobular Carcinoma, Stage 3

There are 4 basic aspects to epidemiology: figuring out the cause of the disease of concern, the incidence or frequency (how often it occurs), distribution (who it affects and where), and ways to control or treat the disease.

Of anything I have ever studied, breast cancer seems to be the most vaguely touched on when it comes the “cause”. As far as my physicians are concerned the cause is not important, it’s getting rid of it that is.

However, if we are truly offering individualized care, as it so clearly says on the side of the hospital I have been attending, then as an epidemiologist, in order to prevent a disease we must know the cause for each person in order to prevent recurrence. Even more importantly what we learn from these individuals we can extrapolate to family practice to prevent our society from ever getting cancer.  This to me, is what continues to attract me to epidemiology and what I feel is my responsibility to others.

As a side note, one huge missing link is getting this information back to primary care providers… so that we can prevent the disease from occurring. In my opinion, family medicine should require more years of training and also should be defined or sub-specialised in terms of male or female, and age. With the amount of information that is out there it is virtually impossible for a family doctor to be able to help keep society healthy with so many differing variables.

I do not see individualized care when it comes to breast cancer and I don’t see anything being done in regards to prevention.

There are many such “approved” tests available, that still at the doctors discretion are employed; as OnchoType Dx, a test that examines a sample of your tumour post surgically to assess whether the risks of chemotherapy out weight the benefits.

For me it was crucial to understand the cause of my disease. This is truly the only way to prevent it.

Cancer is not simple and there is definitely more than one contributing factor in order to develop this disease, but knowing the triggers can help you take control from ever being sick again.

From my research there where several tests that led me to understand how I developed breast cancer including emotional manifestations that impact these ‘weaknesses in my DNA’, when I didn’t have any of the ‘so called’ associated risks: smoking, drinking, BRCA1/2 gene mutation, and family history.

So then how did I get this? A relatively young 40 year old women. I would have also included healthy, but for me there were so many warning signs from the age of 20 that to me I didn’t feel healthy, even though doctors would have described me as healthy.

  1. At first glance I thought the best place to first look was at my hormones,

    considering I was diagnosed with estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) positive cancer. The dutch test, is the only test I would recommend for hormone investigation. This test on me clearly showed that my hormones had taken a walk down a dangerous path that would make them carcinogenic. However, they also showed that my testosterone was low which is caused by increased cortisol levels. Combined with my years of insomnia, I knew this was correct and one very crucial piece of the puzzle in learning about my risk factors in developing breast cancer.

  2. Second, was understanding my body’s genetic capabilities.

    This can be done though DNA testing from 23andMe or Ancestry.com and then requesting the raw data and sending it to your naturopath to analyse in PureGenome free software.

After learning that I am unable to methylate estrogen, it become clear to me that my cancer could be prevented through B vitamins, magnesium and other supplements that encourage detoxification of hormones as Indole 3 Carbinol, Calcium D Glucarate, glutathione, and a diet rich in cruciferous vegetables.

Knowing all this, I feel it is important to educate other women in hopes they can avoid ever having to walk this path…

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“Alternative”Medicine it’s Time for a Name Change!

When creating this blog, I decided to reframe from the using the term “alternative” to describe naturopathic doctors, homeopathy practitioners, Chinese medicine doctors, and to some extent nutritionists.

In other regions of the world as Africa, we refer to them as traditional healers and in India Ayurvedic medicine.

I find it naive of us to use this term “alternative”. It is defined as: another possibility, but in reality “modern” medicine became the other possibility. We started with “alternative” medicine.

After working in many countries, mainly low-middle countries, I developed a great appreciation for natural medicine. However, I must say a good number of practices have been improved through “modern” medicine, as cataract surgery!

Across Africa, a common practice in villages is couching. No, this does not mean trying out other peoples couches.

I imagine that years before cataract surgery was available, healers of the time figured out that they could dislodge the opaque lens leaving it to fall to the back of the eye.

This works for the first few days to allow the patient to see light, but soon after the lens destroys the retina and leaves the eye permanently blind.

A strong part of me feels that we have a lot to be thankful for our past generation that led us to “modern” day medicine as we know it.

Where now cataract surgery takes only 5 mins per eye, you are awake while the operation is taking place and you can go home right after! We most certainly have come a long way!

However, somethings have not been as bold and curative as with the example of cataracts.

We have the rapid epidemics of diseases as diabetes and cancer to thank for this. Shown in the chart below, is the increase percentage of persons living with diabetes.

With the increase from late 90’s growing at a much faster rate than in previous years.

I questioned this increase. Noted around the same time is when GMO was launched. I have no idea what GMO does to the human body. But with the exponential intolerance to wheat that has come about in the recent years, I have a feeling GMO has something to do with it.

Chronic disease could benefit from a well rounded group of scientists, nutritionists, naturopaths and politicians focused on looking at the causes of diabetes beyond food choices and at the molecular level of changes in the food supply and what impact those have on our body.

As fast foods and sedentary occupations and lifestyles were around before the year 2000.

It is not until the introduction of tv dinners, highly processed foods, and use of corn syrup in the 70’s and 80’s, that we then start to see the increase in diabetes. This some 20 to 30 years later.

This could be compounding or epigenetics at play. Then even more importantly a group of experts need to investigate the chemistry of food on the body.

“Alternative” medicine has a distinct role to play if positioned correctly in determining root cause and prevention.

While allopathic medicine or modern medicine deals with controlling disease though medication and surgery. There is a long line of health needs that need to be addressed and there is a distinct need for all forms of medicine.

If I were to rename “alternative” medicine I would refer to it as preventative and supportive medicine. It seems to paint a more well rounded and encompassing picture to what it actually does.

It should be incorporated into family medicine to keep patients from ever getting sick.

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