Stop Blaming Your MD

You know I am big on personal responsibility…radical responsibility even, as I sometimes refer to it.  To me, this means finding some area in all issues that you face, where you can take full responsibility for as opposed to being a victim.  So, fair warning, this post might hurt a little…but I promise, it’s because I love you!

There is a place for conventional medicine, especially when it comes to emergencies and certain diagnostics.  But most people are going to their medical doctor way too often for things they have very little training or expertise in and then leave frustrated.

Stop going to your medical doctor for health advice, especially for symptoms that are caused by a poor lifestyle (this is at the root of at least 90% of disease).  That’s not what they do.  You wouldn’t call a painter to fix your car…or an interior designer to work on your computer.  

It’s not their fault.  They don’t study health and nutrition in medical school.  They study drugs and disease.  This is a sad reality.¹

Too often people go to their medical doctor for health advice and then leave frustrated because they walked out with no answers or answers that they recognized as bandages for symptoms, such as medications and other procedures, rather than an understanding of the root cause.

This is a list of things that medical doctors have said to my clients…and this is just a few of them…along with some comments to perhaps shape your thinking a bit.

• To a client with unexplained rashes all over her skin: “It’s all in your head!”  You can easily observe the rash with the naked eye.  By the time she came to me, she had been dealing with this rash for over 2 months!  These types of comments are some of the saddest to me.  They seem to be extremely ego-driven.  In other words, the doctor didn’t know what it was or couldn’t give it an insurance code, so rather than referring out, running additional tests, consulting with a mentor or colleague or just admitting he wasn’t sure what to do, he chose to make my client feel like she was crazy.

• To a client with blood in her urine and right flank pain:  After doing some testing and finding cysts on her kidneys.  “Cysts on the kidneys are normal at your age.”  Sorry, but wrong again.  Poor health is not normal at any age.  Cysts on the kidneys may be “normal” but they are not healthy and are not there for no reason.

• To a client whose cholesterol just went way up despite a primarily healthy whole food diet: She asked the doctor (per my prompting) if she thought extreme stress could increase her cholesterol.  She quickly responded, “No, stress has nothing to do with cholesterol.”  There are TONS of studies indicating the contrary.²  Although no doctor can know all of these studies, with stress being such a big issue for people, it would be prudent for them to have a general idea of what stress does in the body, especially for things like high cholesterol that impacts so many people.  But more importantly, if you don’t know, just say so…don’t give out wrong information!

• To a healthy client who just went in to meet with a new doctor, he shared with him how his health had improved so much since working with me, in terms of weight, skin, sleep and energy.  He showed the doctor the list of supplements he’s been taking.  The response, “There’s no research on supplements.”  Seriously?  There are studies about CoQ10 healing with anti-aging and disease prevention³, Turmeric helping with inflammation and cancer⁴, chromium helping with diabetes and depression⁵, I could go on and on.  Again, there’s a condescending tone here that my client is doing something wrong or is ill informed…unfortunately, the opposite is true.

• To a client with every symptom of vitamin D deficiency (which the doctor may not have an understanding of), including bone loss.  She had been taking 6000 IUs/day.  To give you a frame of reference, 10,000 IUs is technically the tolerable upper limit but clinical doses go up to 20,000 IUs.  Mind you, again, she’s taking 6000. “You’re taking too much vitamin D.”  You get more than that from spending 30 minutes in the sun.⁶  Plus, shortly after that we ran her micronutrient test, only to find that she was completely deficient in vitamin D, as expected.  

Can I rest my case that the healthcare system is broken?  I have countless examples like these.

Please hear me here…my point is not to blame doctors.  They are constantly being asked to work out of their scope of practice by people who often aren’t willing to take responsibility for their health (they’d rather take a pill).

Some things to keep in mind:

• Doctors are typically great people who go into medicine because they want to help others.  We just need to go to them for what they know.  If you want to make little to no changes in your lifestyle and prefer a “bandage for each symptom” approach, this is the route you’d want.  (I know most of my readers aren’t in that category but it’s worth stating).
• Good doctors exist!  I had a P.A. seek me out several years ago because she recognized that medication should be a last resort.  Especially for those who desire to make changes and actually become more healthy rather than just temporarily stop a symptom.
• In fairness, in many cases, the broken healthcare system is to blame.  Doctors’ decisions are often driven by insurance companies and hospital or group quotas.  They commonly don’t have adequate time to spend with patients.  This drives mistakes and hasty consultations.  Plus, they don’t choose their own curriculum in college.
• Many health care providers have gotten SO sick of the broken system that in the past few years (with Covid), it estimated that at least 20% of them have completely left the field.  Of course, some of this was driven by forced V* A X I N E _s and required masking.  But even those things are symptoms of the broken system.

I am not opposed to medical doctors.  I am thankful to have them when we need them.  But before you schedule with one, be honest with yourself as you consider a few questions:

1. What is my goal of this appointment?  What do I want help with and what kind of help am I seeking?
2. What am I willing to take responsibility for and change?
3. Am I prepared to speak boldly if I am spoken to in a condescending way?
4. Do I plan to do what the MD says?  (for example, if you’re consulting with a medical doctor about high blood pressure, almost always they will prescribe you medication…if you aren’t planning to take it, consider an alternative).

This issue is a double-edged sword for sure.  On the one hand, the medical system in the U.S. is beyond broken (click here for more info on that).  But at the same time, my health is MY responsibility, no one else’s.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t consult with various members of your health care team, but ultimately, you are still responsible.  

Sick of the medical game?  Ready to seek root causes and know for sure you’re on the right track?  If you are excited at the thought of getting your health and your life back by improving your health in a sustainable but powerful way, I’d love to help.

Call the clinic at 269-204-6525 to schedule your consultation today!

References:

1. Blunt SB, Kafatos A. Clinical nutrition education of doctors and medical students: Solving the Catch 22. Adv Nutr. 2019. doi:10.1093/advances/nmy082

2. Catalina Romero C, Sainz JC, Cabrera M, et al. The relationship between job stress and dyslipidemia. Scand J Public Health. 2013. doi:10.1177/1403494812470400

3. Arenas-Jal M, Suñé-Negre JM, García-Montoya E. Coenzyme Q10 supplementation: Efficacy, safety, and formulation challenges. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf. 2020. doi:10.1111/1541-4337.12539

4. Sharifi-Rad J, Rayess Y El, Rizk AA, et al. Turmeric and Its Major Compound Curcumin on Health: Bioactive Effects and Safety Profiles for Food, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnological and Medicinal Applications. Front Pharmacol. 2020. doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.01021

5. Khodavirdipour A, Haddadi F, Keshavarzi S. Chromium Supplementation; Negotiation with Diabetes Mellitus, Hyperlipidemia and Depression. J Diabetes Metab Disord. 2020. doi:10.1007/s40200-020-00501-8

6. Cicarma E, Porojnicu AC, Lagunova Z, Dahlback A, Juzeniene A, Moan J. Sun and sun beds: Inducers of vitamin D and skin cancer. In: Anticancer Research. ; 2009.

Nothing said or implied in this post is intended to treat, cure, diagnose or prevent any disease.  It does not take the place of a qualified health care practitioner and is intended for educational purposes only.