by Dr. Connie Hernandez, ND
Most of the patients we see in the clinic express frustration with the care they’ve received from conventional medicine.
Many conventional physicians are frustrated, too, as their historical role as healers has devolved until they now find themselves working as anonymous skilled employees for gigantic health care corporations.
Our primary care physician, with whom we have enjoyed an excellent relationship over the years, recently took a sabbatical from which she may not return, owing to her frustration with the present system.
In my 75 years, I’ve had few opportunities to interface with conventional medicine, since I’ve been blessed with wonderful vitality and wellness for most of my life. When things went south, I’ve looked to naturopathic remedies, with a satisfying degree of success. Recently, however, I’ve had to reach out to the world of traditional medicine for my care.
I wasn’t terribly surprised to find that conventional medicine was not prepared to give me all that I wanted, hoped for, and expected for the treatment of my condition.
I don’t mean to deny the value of conventional care. I am acutely aware that emergency medicine saves countless lives daily. My son or I would not be alive today without an emergency C-section that disrupted my carefully laid plans for a home birth. And I would be legally blind, without glasses and optical laser surgery. Dr. Marcel and I are grateful for the emergency care and surgeries that have repaired various physical conditions.
The flip side is that America’s vast financial investment in modern medicine has produced the most expensive and least effective “healthcare” in the developed world.
Conventional medicine is no longer a health care system. It is a medical management system that saves lives, but too often ignores the prevention and root causes of disease in favor of eradicating symptoms by means that too often create worse symptoms.
In this system, insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, and financial management regulate the doctors’ decisions. In consequence, many doctors are openly expressing their dissatisfaction with a dehumanizing system that stresses them to the point of burnout and effectively ties their hands.
Our patients tell us that they are looking for something different – they hope for a more personalized, empathetic approach to their care, from doctors who are free to explore effective options, with an openness to complementary treatments and affordable, evidence-backed lifestyle changes that have been shown to prevent and treat disease.
Here’s a small personal example.
I had a painful shoulder injury that required an appointment with my primary care physician for referral to an orthopedist. Because my doctor had taken a leave of absence, I was funneled to a physician’s assistant who gave me the referral.
The orthopedic doctor examined my shoulder, declined to order imaging, and told me that I would be fine in three to 12 months.
Not satisfied with his advice, I obtained an MRI which confirmed that, indeed, I had the frozen shoulder he had diagnosed, but that I had also torn my supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles.
When I asked the orthopedist what I should do, he opined that physical therapy, home exercises, chiropractic, acupuncture, and medical massage would not change the course of the condition, unless I believed in them blindly, and then only “maybe.”
His sole suggestion was a cortisone shot to stop the pain, as he had no interest or knowledge about treatments that might foster an actual healing.
Unfortunately, cortisone shots weaken the tissues, cannot be repeated, and may contribute to further injury as the pain signals are dulled, leading to activity that can cause further damage.
As to the source of the problem, he remarked offhandedly, “You’re getting older, you know.” To which I replied, “So is my other shoulder, and it isn’t damaged.”
What can we do, when we find ourselves trapped in an enclosed, self-justifying and self-satisfied medical system?
If you are presently receiving excellent care that respects your questions and wishes, from a doctor with whom you resonate –by all means, carry on.
There are wonderful, compassionate medical doctors. Even so, it’s important to be involved in our health care, with a view to emphasizing prevention and health optimization, rather than treating symptoms.
My strong suggestion is that you build a team that will truly help you. Be curious about your health, and open to new solutions.
Fortunately, there are lots of online resources that can point you in helpful directions.
AI can be useful – with some caveats. The medical AI databases lean heavily on conventional knowledge. You must learn to ask the right questions, and dig deeper as you explore your options.
It may save you time to team with an experienced, evidence-based practitioner of alternative medicine for testing, feedback, and expert counsel.
A mistake many people make while researching their issues online is to go down the wrong track entirely, because they assume they know what’s wrong. AI won’t correct you if you ask the wrong questions, or assume you know the right diagnosis. If you ask about thyroid treatments, and the problem is with your adrenals, you’ll waste time and money without improving your health.
Examine your options. If your goal is to find a medical professional who’ll treat your symptoms with surgery or quick-acting drugs, conventional medicine may be a good choice.
- If you prefer to look more deeply at your options, you might want to consult an alternative practitioner.
- If you feel bound to consider only FDA-approved options, and if you feel the other options are too risky – again, go with conventional medicine. But if you’re willing to look outside the box, you might want to consult with unconventional providers.
- If you choose the latter path, of taking an active role in your care, you should aware that it will require more effort than simply making an appointment and doing what the conventional or alternative practitioner says.
Are you eager and ready to invest the time to educate yourself about your condition and accept options that may include making lifestyle changes?
You should also evaluate your financial ability to follow treatments that might not be covered by medical insurance. On the other hand, you might want to consider whether the money you spend now will help you avoid consequences that will require conventional care later.
As naturopathic doctors, we are trained in both heath care and medical care, although our methods differ from conventional medicine.
We are trained to refer you to conventional practitioners when our experience tells us that our treatments will not be adequate to meet your needs.
Alternative medicine and conventional medicine are complementary – both are needed to provide you with a full spectrum of options. What is now termed “alternative medicine” was conventional until the early 1900s, when pharmaceutical medicine took over the “official” role of providing medical care.
However, both approaches continue to complement each other. As naturopathic alternative medicine providers, we believe that health care is the primary and uppermost consideration, and that since this is how naturopathic medicine has always approached patient care, conventional medicine must be considered the complementary side of the partnership.