Holistic Health Care (HHC). What is it? I can tell you what it isn’t. It’s not chiropractic, acupuncture, or nutrition. It’s not alternative or traditional medicine. And it’s definitely not seeing a specialist.
HHC is about assessing the principles that comprise good health and addressing whatever needs attention. Isn’t that what doctors are supposedly doing anyway when you get your annual physical? Or when a health emergency requires a battery of tests? In a word, no!
For me, HHC includes, but is not limited to the following: 1) Nutritional needs, 2) infections and imbalances of the gut flora (bacteria), 3) allergies and sensitivities, 4) toxins and 5) stress.
Do you think you can be healthy if you subsist on coffee and doughnuts or soda and Twinkies? If you get limited sleep or live with chronic pain and stress? Has your doctor asked you about these things or really gotten to know you?
Dr. Bach, MD, said decades ago that by ignoring the personal aspect of health care, medicine was driving health problems deeper. Now we know according to the CDC last year that avoidable medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the USA! This is not an indictment of medicine, but a call to arms for mainstream and non-traditional health care providers to begin looking at what’s important and to be open to each other.
A number of years ago a friend of mine responded to an ad from a medical doctor promoting “holistic” health care. After reading the patient’s history, the doctor said, “You don’t seem to have any complaints. What is it that you want?” My friend then explained she was interested in holistic health care as mentioned in the ad. The doctor then hesitantly responded, “Well, we could do a blood test for allergies that will cost $1,000.”
The story above illustrates two points. First, HHC should apply equally well to sick and healthy (“non-symptomatic”) individuals. It’s great for picking up early signs of illness and preventing it. Secondly, combining traditional and alternative methods is the best means of testing. Too often traditional methods are not sensitive enough or else are too time consuming and not covered by insurance.
For example, the standard test for gluten sensitivity has been estimated to miss 80% of the cases involved. A much better saliva test exists out-of-state but is not available in New York State due to the usual red tape.
About 15 years ago, a mother and her young daughter were seeing me as patients. I informed them that they were both sensitive to gluten and I recommended a book called “Dangerous Grains.” (Sounds like a book for insomniacs, lol). They decided to check this out with their primary care doctor and had blood tests. They then reported to me that the tests were negative for gluten sensitivity. They also had not noticed a difference since they had avoided gluten in the diet. (The primary source is wheat).
I didn’t see them for a while until a couple months later they returned and reported that while vacationing in Texas they saw a medical doctor that was mentioned in the book I recommended and who did a different test to measure antibodies to gluten in the stool. I cringed a little inside preparing to be told I was wrong. Instead , the doctor told them I was right. Furthermore, they could both feel the difference with a gluten free diet having given it more time.
I don’t mean to suggest that gluten is everyone’s problem, but I can readily think of two more cases that escaped standard medical tests. One is mentioned in the testimonial section of my web page so you can read that one. The other predates the mother/daughter story I just told which I will mention next.
Can you imagine your child in constant pain and the doctors telling you they have no explanation and no more tests? This woman could and it was her young granddaughter in pain. This is before I had developed more sensitive indicators of gluten sensitivity. About the 2nd or 3rd visit I suggested avoiding gluten. The woman later called me to say that her granddaughter said it was as if someone had turned the lights off on the pain.
The point of these gluten stories is to point out that often non-traditional tests are beneficial and even necessary. I could write at length about the effects of environmental toxins, hidden allergies and infections, imbalances in the glut flora, how a well-rounded diet is no guarantee of avoiding deficiencies and how stress impacts us all and can be effectively decreased. But I won’t because that would take too long.
The techniques of assessment I use are more difficult to describe without being face-to-face with you. In other words, an appointment so I can actually demonstrate how they work. Of course, neuromuscular response testing is central to most of my testing (muscle testing for short). This is what I did with a pediatric neurologist who visited my office last year. Couldn’t understand fully why it worked but couldn’t deny it either.
Yesterday, I was treating one of my very open-minded patients and found several muscle weaknesses. (I will always find some weakness since muscles reflect underlying imbalances in the health). We decided in the spirit of adventure to try reducing the effects of stress on the body and see what happens. Using only NeuroEmotional Technique (NET), all muscles were restored to normal strength.
NET is a wonderful technique for reducing stress, decreasing pain, improving performance and better interpersonal relationships. I would rave about this technique if I had a soap box to stand on.
However, my point today is that engaging in holistic health care requires being open-minded as well as a bit adventurous because it likely is new. So, what can you do now? Two things. You can schedule an appointment for a holistic evaluation. And you can let me know as soon as possible if you might be interested in one of our group classes and demonstrations. I guarantee it will be informative and fun.
If you are interested in learning more about our office and the therapies I use, call today at 585-425-3626