What I Need to Know
There is no debate that medical care is expensive. All of the costs of medical paraphernalia, as well as the expertise and work of multiple doctors, will cost a patient a lot of money, even if they have insurance. And for those who don't have insurance, the costs could be even more. I remember a time when my father had to get a root canal because one of his teeth was in a bad shape. He didn't have medical insurance, and the cost here was too expensive, so he actually flew out to India and got his root canal there. I've always thought that was a bit extreme, and that maybe there was another way to help his tooth. Now, at my internship, my mentor once talked to me about trying to help the patient as a whole by addressing the underlying problems that they have. I found out that this kind of thinking was called holistic medicine. I I believe that holistic medicine is the best path to take. This alternative approach to medicine was apparently better, faster, cheaper, and safer than conventional medicine, based on some preliminary readings. When I read about this, I knew that I had to learn more about the intricacies of holistic medicine. I thought that this approach to healthcare could easily help people with a variety of problems. This could be a cheaper alternative to people who need financial assistance or to people with no insurance, like my father. With this in mind, I wanted to find out how I could incorporate holistic medicine into my future career as a doctor.
What I Know or Assume
At first, before I started my internship, I had never even heard of holistic medicine. When my mentor told me about it, that's when I heard about it and started to research it. I knew that holistic medicine doesn't just look at what symptoms the patient has. Instead, it looks at why the symptoms have occurred in the first place. Once the doctor has identified the underlying root cause, he or she provides some supplements and some other tips, but that's pretty much all I know about holistic medicine. I don't know what exactly they look for, or what techniques they employ, or even what their philosophy is. All I know is that they look at the person as a whole, not just the parts. With this lack of knowledge, I knew I needed to some researching.
The Search
My internship is at a simple clinic with a primary care physician, so she did not have extensive knowledge about holistic medicine or its background. If I wanted to learn about the basics of holistic medicine, I had to look elsewhere. To begin, I started conducting my research online and looked for some scientific journals about the background and the merits of holistic research, which led me to find the articles that I have listed in the Annotated Bibliographies section of this website. I have thoroughly read through them and annotated them in order to fully understand holistic medicine. Seeing as how they are from accredited doctors, I assumed that what they wrote in their article was factual and heavily supported by evidence. I have also accessed the website of the American Holistic Health Association in order to gain more information. Since the organization is comprised of doctors who are specialized in the practice of holistic medicine, I believe that the information found on this website is carefully written out with the full expertise of the doctors themselves. Next, I have consulted other websites, making sure to check the credibility of the websites. Through that, I believe that I have learned much about holistic medicine. Next, I consulted a book I have at home called Best Remedies. While it primarily describes and provides home remedies for numerous conditions and chronic diseases, there is a section in the beginning of the book that talks about the underpinnings of holistic medicine, what it is exactly, and how the patient can utilize this new type of medicine. However, the epitome of my research comes from my interview that I had with Dr. Campbell, a doctor that specializes in holistic medicine at Campbell Family Medicine. The following links are videos to the interview that I conducted.
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Part 1: https://youtu.be/o82_10eN6Gs
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Part 2: https://youtu.be/IQgaxRHhKJ8
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Part 3: https://youtu.be/HisQg6mu7o8
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Part 4: https://youtu.be/nlSNe-Hu8I8
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Part 5: https://youtu.be/MxlpZSBuU4w
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Short version of the Interview:
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Question 1: How long have you been working in the medical profession?
Answer: Over 25 years. For 13 years I've been doing exclusively natural medicine.
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Question 2: In your own words, how would you describe holistic medicine?
Answer: Holistic medicine mean taking a whole person look. It means taking a holistic view of the symptom complex and why it started, and getting to the root cause of what that problem might originate from, and it could be something that is completely different from the obvious.
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Question 3: What made you specialize in holistic medicine instead of other areas?
Answer: It didn't work. For 13 years in my traditional practice, I followed the best evidence-based guidelines for treating patients. However, the longer I followed the guidelines, the more prescription drugs they were on. The more I prescribed, the more nutrient depleted they became because prescription drugs weren't authentic. We had the wrong paradigm, so I went back to what did work: honoring the wisdom of traditional healing practices and getting to the root cause of the problems.
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Question 4: What kind of education did you receive in order to become specialized in holistic medicine?
Answer: In my day, I went to continued medical education courses offered by various people and do apprenticeship and on-the-job training after my residency training was completed. However, there are programs and residencies now that specialize in holistic and integrative medicine.
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Question 5: What similarities and differences are there between a primary care physician and a physician specializing in holistic medicine.
Answer: Primary care physicians specialize in early detection. When you come to an integrative doctor, we use other methods. These tools can identify warning signs of diseases, and changes can be made to deter the disease.
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Question 6: What would you say are the advantages of choosing holistic medicine over general medicine as a patient?
Answer: The patient will achieve a better state of health, well-being, and a reducing chances of chronic diseases. Looking towards general medicine can result in very frequent office visits, very frequent prescription refills, hundreds to thousands of dollars of prescription medication expenses, as well as chronic long-term depletion of micro-nutrients. People that choose integrative medicine have a higher rate of vitality.
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Question 7: Do you work with other doctors and recommend patients to other specialists like what a general practitioner does?
Answer: Absolutely. In certain situations, I will recommend patients to specialists. I am called an interdisciplinary collaboration specialist. I collaborate and coordinate with other doctors so that patients can get the maximum benefit from all of those doctors. I have a larger repertoire of people that I can refer to.
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Question 8: When meeting with a patient, what kind of question do you ask them, and what kind of information do you look for?
Answer: We ask anything that we think might be relevant to their healthcare. We ask them a lot of questions that are very personal in order to have a good idea of who the patient really is.
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Question 9: What type of treatments do you give to your patients after talking to them and discussing their ailments?
Answer: The top 3 areas to treat are diet, sleep, and exercise. Having a diet change in order to receive the right diet can be immensely helpful in reducing the risk of certain chronic illnesses. Increasing the amount of sleep can increase the optimal working ability of people. Exercising at least 30 minutes a day can help people loose weight, sleep better, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, reduce joint pain, resolve depression, and improve quality of life. Other treatments include herbal remedies, and even prescription drugs if needed.
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Question 10: Are there any risks associated with the treatments?
Answer: The only risk is not adequately acquiring the recommended treatments. Other than that, there are no major risks associated with the treatments.
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Question 11: How applicable is holistic medicine to doctors who don't specialize in it?
Answer: Very much so. You can dabble in holistic medicine even if you don't specialize in it. Providing vitamins and probiotics is one way to do so.
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I found my interview with Dr. Campbell to be very enlightening and resourceful. She was very knowledgeable about the topic of holistic medicine, and her education, as well as the lengthy, detailed responses that she gave to my questions, support that fact.
What I Discovered
All of this research has been very helpful in answering my essential question. I found that holistic medicine isn't as much a specific branch of medicine as it is a way of thinking about medicine itself a different way and providing your expertise based on the philosophy that holistic medicine is grounded in. In fact, "naturopathic medicine is defined by its philosophical underpinnings rather then methods or treatment modalities." One key principle is to not be heavy on prescribing the man-made drugs and medications that are so frequently used. Instead, doctor should try to give more natural remedies, such as natural supplements or meditation. Once the doctors investigate almost every aspect of the patients life, the doctor first advises the patients on their lifestyle habits and how to alter them in order to help the symptoms and the underlying condition that they have. Lifestyle is a very big part of the prescriptions and order that holistic doctors provide with the patients. Small changes to lifestyle habits, especially diet, sleep, and exercise, can drastically reduce the chances of having a chronic condition or illness. Another aspect of holistic medicine that is considered to be important is the relationship between the doctor and the patient. The doctor does not view the patient as a thing with a problem that must be fixed. The doctor instead views the patient as a person with a condition that must be helped. This change in mentality can alter the relationship, and even the attitudes, between both parties. This closer relationship helps to bridge the gap between the doctor and the patient, and the improved connection between the two can result in a greater recovery period for the patient. After analyzing all of this evidence, I can see that even if I do not specialize in holistic medicine, I can take some simple steps in order to follow the principles set out by holistic medicine. First, I shouldn't simply ask about the symptoms that a patient is having: I should also try to ask about the lifestyle of the patient: are they getting enough sleep, what kind of food do they eat, are they exercising, how are the conditions at home, any trouble with work or with relationships, etc. Based on that, I should try to advise them to tweak certain habits while also prescribing some medication for relief at the current moment. Also, I should look at the patient as a person, not a thing. I should be empathetic towards their conditions and be a friend towards them in these troubling times instead of just listening to what is happening to them, writing down prescriptions, and ushering them out of the door. By utilizing these suggestions, I believe that I can easily follow the core principle set out by holistic medicine and, in turn, greatly help the lives and relieve the condition of any patient that walks through my doors.