Pharmaceutical Colonization of Naturopathy! (and my "origin story")
If I have to say it a million times I will: The Symptom is NOT the disease!
In my last article I mentioned that pharmaceuticals for the main part supress symptoms without treating underlying dysfunction. I am not saying they are never necessary - I am just of the radical belief that they should be used to comfort the patient while the underlying cause it addressed.
Unfortunately, the “treat-the-symptom” attitude is endemic in the general population as well as among the medical establishment. Some of my friends who are mainstream doctors tell me they have patients who come in demanding very specific medications, and when they are advised on the likelihood of damaging side effects, they pay no heed and are simply insistent of their right to the drug. When they come back with exactly the result predicted, they want another medication for the side effect. They take Bisoprolol for high blood pressure and that causes insomnia, which is treated with lorazepam which causes depression, and is then treated with citalopram; but citalopram causes dysmenorrhea, and that has to be treated with a combined pill which gives them a big headache, which they will no doubt treat with a bog-standard Ibuprofen that gives them GERD. Back to the doctor for a proton pump inhibitor! Well damn!
Even when people go to alternative practitioners, they are usually looking for symptom relief because they are already very sick. They are not there to learn how their system works so they can maintain their health and prevent disease.
Another problem we have is that many alternative practitioners now practice naturopathy the same way as mainstream doctors practice medicine, but instead of knocking out a symptom with a drug they just use a herb. They don’t understand disease etiology. They also think the symptom is the disease. That’s not how they’re meant to practice. They are meant to address the underlying cause of disease and treat the patient as a whole.
I repeat myself: Once you know health is found on a spectrum, you think of things differently. You try to prevent disease where possible and only treat it when necessary. You recognize symptoms as signals of underlying dysfunction in the body and treat the body as a whole. You support the digestive system, or the immune system, or the nervous system; you rehabilitate the liver and the kidneys; you reduce stress and tend to emotional disturbances; you rehydrate; you rid the body of elements that are harmful or might cause blockages to the piping system: the arteries, lungs, and digestive tract; you ensure the cells are receiving all of the proper nutritional elements that required by the body as building blocks to make healthy tissues. Once the underlying condition of the body improves at cellular level, you begin to regenerate. All outward manifestations of illness improve, and many symptoms will simply disappear. “You cannot heal selectively,” as Charlotte Gerson used to say, “If you truly heal – everything heals.”
You may be interested in my own “origin” story and how I got into this stuff. Well, I first got an inkling of the “systems” approach to treating disease when I was in my early twenties. For my whole life I had suffered from skin conditions ranging from eczema to unsightly blotching on my chest, mild psoriasis on my scalp, and infections on my toes. The best the mainstream doctors could do was to offer me creams that would make the symptoms go away for a while – but they’d always come back because the treatments were just symptom-suppressants. Once I asked my doctor why they came back and he shrugged as in “who knows” then said: “Poor luck…?” taking a while to pause, and then added, “Poor care…?” patronizingly - blaming me for the unknown? I wish I had the presence of mind to say “What exactly do you mean by that, doctor? What have I done that qualifies as neglect in your eyes and how exactly do I fix it so it doesn’t happen again?” I’m sure he would have been at a loss.
Based on a recommendation I went to see Dr. Mike Lambert at The Shen Clinic on the Isle of Wight, England. He practiced many different modes of healing including traditional Chinese medicine. He also had some interesting contraptions which he plugged me into. His view was that all my symptoms – not just my skin conditions, but lack of energy, low moods, and a tendency to cough up mucous – were all of them caused by poor digestion. He sent me away with probiotics, prebiotics, digestive enzymes, and some other potions.
Over the course of the next few weeks, everything improved dramatically. I had an inkling that something was going wrong in the mainstream medical system before but this solidified it. For example, as a young adult, I went to see my family doctor whom I thought was a good guy as a kid. He which he replied sarcastically “Ok then, doctor.” I was under the naive notion that he would be pleased that I was taking an active interest - but no, he was in the cult of authority. I gladly report those are not the reactions I have had from mainstream doctors 15+/- years later they ususally are very open to educating me and take my quesitons seriously, and they are strangely deadpan when I talk about medicine, showing neither signs of feeling undermined or impressed by my knowledge. I guess they get a few know-it-alls these days, as we have entered the information age because they just seem to take it for granted as normal that I know stuff and talk to me on an even footing, filling in any gaps in my knowledge.
Mike Lambert proved to me that alternative exist. I’ve learned a lot since then and realize that his approach was also quite cosmetic, but at least he put me on the right track. Since then, I’ve gone to all sorts of lengths to rejuvenate myself and restore health to my body and mind. It’s been an amazing journey of learning, and there’s always another element to it. The economics of healthcare, the politics of it. My whole aim is to bring it all together; to give a ‘holistic’ view – if you like.
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