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Our Healing Philosophy
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We realized many years ago that conventional medicine (that which is taught in American medical schools and practiced by most doctors today) does not achieve very good results when it comes to treating chronic conditions.
There are many reasons for this. One is that most conventionally trained doctors have not learned of the techniques that we use while in medical school or in the course of their work. Another reason is that they cannot, or choose not to, spend the time necessary to use our method of treatment. Doctors who are under contract with health insurers are closely monitored by the insurance companies to ensure that visits are kept short. This leads to a neglect of chronic conditions and a lack of the practice of preventive medicine.
We practice holistic medicine. This style is vastly different than what you have experienced when treating with other doctors. This method involves taking a lot of time to find out the root cause or causes of your problem. Most chronic conditions are very complicated and it takes time to figure out the ?pieces of the puzzle?. We use this style for one reason only- because it works in reversing chronic ailments. When treating chronic conditions, most conventional doctors are only left with the option of covering up symptoms with pharmaceutical drugs. As we all know, drugs can have negative side effects and long term results with this method are typically not good. We are not satisfied with only covering up symptoms.
The basic ideas behind our philosophy are: 1) to get the body into as healthy a state as possible to allow it to heal itself and 2) to find and fix any hidden causes responsible for your condition.
Our expertise in these two areas is what makes us different than most doctors.
Every thing we do is science and/ or logic based. The conventional medical system has not yet caught on to many of the methods that we use. Like any big institution, they are slow to change even if better methods are available and valid. This coupled with the insurance issues (time constraints) involved are the main reasons why many of our methods have not been adopted by the mainstream.
Any medicine has its risks. However, we choose techniques that have the least likelihood of negative side effects and we closely monitor all of our patients to keep any risks at an absolute minimum.
Our treatment protocols are very thorough and, of course, require a time commitment by both the doctor and the patient. Depending on the type and severity of your condition, we may not need to address all of the following areas to get you better. Rest assured that we strive to make it as easy as possible for you to follow our treatment plans. We will construct a personalized written treatment plan just for you. It is simply up to you to follow the plan. The results are well worth the time invested.
Our healing philosophy is comprised of 6 components:
Proper Diet
Correction of Sleep Problems
Detoxification
Correction of Hormonal Imbalances
Identification of Hidden Infections
Appropriate Exercise
From this basic philosophy we formulate a specific treatment plan for each of the conditions that we treat and for each patient individually. (See our additional patient education hand-outs for condition specific information and protocols)
Let?s talk a little bit about each of these components:
PROPER DIET is a critical part of achieving optimal health. In our practice the cornerstone of our diet plan is the Whole Foods Diet. In summary, eating a whole foods diet simply means to eat foods as they are in nature. We stress to our patients to avoid refined/processed foods, especially refined sweeteners such as white sugar and high fructose corn syrup. We have other adjunct diets and vitamin and mineral supplements that we recommend depending on the patient?s particular condition. We feel that maintaining a proper diet is big step in achieving optimal health.
SLEEP PROBLEMS have reached almost epidemic proportions in our modern society. The vast majority of patients who come to see us have some sort of sleep issue. It is almost impossible to achieve optimal health without getting a good night?s sleep on a regular basis. We have many techniques to solve sleep issues without resorting to prescription sleep medications. We use herbal sleep aid preparations and stress a sleep ?hygiene? program to all of our patients. Many times sleep problems will be corrected when we correct other components of our treatment plan. Along with proper eating habits, proper sleep is a critical part to any health plan.
DETOXIFICATION is an area that is often overlooked by conventional medicine. It is our philosophy that toxins from our polluted environment accumulate in our bodies and cause havoc on many systems within the body. We have found that some of the biggest culprits are heavy metals. These include lead, arsenic and especially mercury.
These are toxic substances which are contained in our water, food, air, household products, and in the case of mercury, in silver dental fillings. Our bodies absorb these toxins throughout the years until, in some people, the toxic burden becomes large enough to cause problems. We use accurate tests to measure the amounts of these metals in the body. If the amounts are elevated, we then have safe methods to rid the body of these poisons.
We also focus on detoxifying the intestinal system. Most people do not know that the intestines contain large amounts of micro-organisms. Some of these micro-organisms are beneficial and crucial to good health and others are not. Beneficial micro-organisms include acidophilus bacteria (found in yogurt), and bifidobacterium. These ?good guys? are needed in the intestines to properly break down certain food and to perform other useful functions.
The most common harmful micro-organism is a yeast called Candida Albicans. This fungus is normally present in very small amounts and kept in check by the beneficial micro-organisms. Bad diet, stress, and especially the overuse of anti-biotics can wipe out the beneficial micro-organisms and allow Candida Albicans to grow out of control. This over growth can lead to many problems within the body. We have a test which can determine if this is a problem. If an overgrowth is found, we have several techniques to safely resolve this issue.
HORMONAL BALANCING is a special area of interest for us. Hormonal imbalances can diminish a person?s quality of life immensely. This applies to men as well as women. Symptoms of hormonal imbalances include: decreased concentration and memory, depression, mood swings, irritability, weight gain, fatigue, low sex drive and sleep difficulties. The list of symptoms for women includes hot flashes, hair loss, urinary infections and P.M.S. We analyze the whole endocrine system, including the pituitary gland, the thyroid gland and the adrenal glands as well as the sex glands. We often catch hormonal deficiencies that other doctors miss.
Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy is our treatment of choice for hormonal deficiencies. Bio-identical hormones, unlike the harmful synthetic hormones that most doctors use, are derived from plant sources and made to have the identical structure of the hormones the body naturally produces. In addition to alleviating the above mentioned symptoms, these hormones actually offer protection against heart disease, endometrial cancer and osteoporosis.
IDENTIFICATION OF HIDDEN INFECTIONS is critical in some cases for the patient to reach maximum improvement. Often, a low lying bacterial, viral, or fungal infection is at the root of a undiagnosed chronic medical problem. These infections can go undiagnosed for years. We have special testing methods designed to find these hidden infections as well as proven techniques for getting rid of the infection and building your immune system.
APPROPRIATE EXERCISE is another crucial piece to any plan for optimal health. The key word is appropriate. Many of our patients are unable to exercise properly when they first see us. However, after we advance them on the road to optimal health, they are then able to partake in a regular exercise program. We are careful to recommend an exercise program that fits the needs and condition of each patient.
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