Call an Integrative Physician
· “We’ve done everything we can” is the response you get when you’ve tested, had some treatments, and still no further ahead in your quest for vitality. Many of us start chalking our problems up to ‘getting older’ but old age is no diagnosis! I think we all may set realistic goals that we may never be twenty years old again, but there is always something to do in the vast array of tools in the integrative toolbox.
· “You’re doing better than most people your age” is certainly reassuring, but you now have been cast aside as the best you’ll ever get, and not even considered for further work up or evaluations.
· “Don’t worry about side effects” is the canned speech after you may be reticent to start a medication or ask questions about future downsides to a condition you may treat with traditional pharmacy. Medication may be what is needed to fix your problem, but without consideration for your total health, to fix one problem may not be the most satisfying experience you need from your treating team.
· “That is not FDA-approved” is your answer when asking about repurposed medications such as ivermectin, LDN, or bio-identical hormones, to name a few. The physician licensure is well within the law to use sound clinical judgment and use existing safe medications in a re-purposed or unique fashion to help your conditions. Truth told, many physicians are already doing this and do not even realize their use hasn’t been FDA approved for those conditions!
· “That is not evidence based” is your reply after you have asked about your chiropractor or naturopath’s recommendations. Evidence comes from many other sources and studies other than the New England Journal of Medicine or JAMA. Not all evidences are fashioned in a double-blinded placebo-controlled study. And some of those that are may have been cut short and unblinded, as in the case of pushing emergency use products through. No one may argue about allopathic approaches to diseases, but paths to wellness and prevention come in all shapes and sizes.
· “Just trust me” is the comeback when you may ask a few questions or a ‘why’ query you may have about a treatment you are about to undertake. This cop out is an uneducated and flippant dismissive response.
· “Insurance will never pay for that” is something I have had to educate patients about, however, payment for a service shall never be the guide as to whether a test should be run. The standard of care and proper evaluation shall always be offered, and the patient can opt in or opt out when fully informed. This is also where creative ideas for treatment may allow a wider breadth of options when using an integrative look at medical solutions.
· “It’s your genetics” becomes a credo in the difficult patient who has exhausted the traditional team. Genetics is NOT 100% of the patient’s wellness destiny. Epigenetics and lifestyle approaches are at the heart of the integrative approach. Movement, purpose, diet, sleep, psychology, spirituality, environment, clean air and water, and community are extremely important to the mind and body. I view all facets to improve the total health package.
· “You’ll have to live with it” is yet another trivializing reply that you get while you are dealing with a difficult, and possibly painful condition. While the malady may be chronic, there are many ways to ‘live with it’ comfortably. The integrative approach will certainly keep trying to search for energetic, orthomolecular, and lifestyle daily strategies to get the body and mind to so that aging is just adding on years and not diseases.
· “I don’t have time to answer these questions” is certainly a place that I have come from while working for health systems. Their idea of your health may be markedly different than your idea of health. If your philosophies differ and you have questions to allow infusion of your integrative pieces to traditional care, and you have no ability to ask your physician (your team leader), you are essentially left alone.
Go private. Pick a physician who understands all facets to well-being. Get all your questions addressed.
