03/16/2023
✔️✔️Treat the cause...✔️✔️
I had an old car once that had all sorts of dashboard warning lights on. Allllll the time. I was in and out of the mechanic on the regular to make sure it wouldn't blow up on me. One day, sort of exasperated, he looked me straight in the eye, shrugged his shoulders and said "It's got some issues... do you want me to just cut off their electrical connection so they don't keep turning on?"
I know you think I'm making this up for the sake of a sick metaphor...but this actually happened.
Making patients feel better when symptoms make things challenging is important. Meds, herbs, supplements are sometimes exactly what's initially required to kill a pathogen and prevent an even worse infection from taking root. Helping temporarily ease physical or emotional pain so that patients can restart the activities that keep pain at bay to begin with is good medicine.
What's not, however, is failing to address the *why* of your state of dis-ease. Why is your cholesterol high, for example? Why is your body in a state of putting out fires? Why are you so tired or wired or stiff or in pain that you need the Rx at all? Why is your immune system so imbalanced that it's attacking what's self or not attacking what's foreign? Why are our nervous systems (so epidemically) on overdrive?
I see my role as an ND as that of an investigator and guide. When patients are in my care, I'm constantly watching and listening for clues. They lead me down this or that path, and, gradually, we uncover what's really going on under the surface. And when we do, I guide them as to how to simply but surely treat that cause. Diet and lifestyle, as I've repeated too many times to count, are always going to be the tools that make the biggest impact on your state of health.
I want my patients to feel better in the short AND long term.
How about we make the changes to ensure the warning light turns off on its own because the engine isn't actually on fire anymore. Now that would be real peace of mind.