Is Our Current Approach to Medicine Insane? Part I

Have We Settled for Ineffective Treatments and Poor Quality Care in the United States Healthcare System?

I just submitted an article to Natural Path on the potency of essential oils verses supplements and herbs. While we are waiting for that to “go to print,” I wanted to share with you my latest two-part series. This series explored the possibility that we may just be victims of an insane medical system. This week’s blog will feature excerpts and the links to the full articles.

 

Is Our Current Approach to Medicine Insane? Part I

A fact that many naturopathic, functional, and integrative practitioners have been well-aware of, and frankly alarmed by, is the ineffectiveness of our current healthcare model to effect meaningful and lasting positive changes in our society’s wellness outcomes. In fact, many doctors, regardless of specialty, are discouraged that even if their patients reach target values in lab test ranges or achieve stable imaging results,1 they still seem to lack “physical and mental well-being,” the definition of health by the American Medical Association (AMA).2

In this blog, I’m going to review some sad statistics of our current medical care system and provide some explanations for why these dreary outcomes continue. Finally, I’ll discuss that unless we change our current approach, we won’t be able to achieve the healthy nation that we all desire.

Read more here.

Is Our Current Approach to Medicine Insane? Part II

Is Our Current Approach to Medicine Insane? Part II

Now, it’s time to discuss the big elephant in the room. It’s based on the fact that the treatment, which uses the potential biased lab markers and imaging could be contributing to harm. Most treatments today aim to suppress symptoms or manipulate the body to make markers appear “normal.” We aren’t necessarily sick because we aren’t getting “proper treatment.” According to the Center for Disease Control website:

  • Percent of persons using at least one prescription drug in the past 30 days: 48.7% (2009-2012)
  • Percent of persons using three or more prescription drugs in the past 30 days: 21.8% (2009-2012)
  • Percent of persons using five or more prescription drugs in the past 30 days: 10.7% (2009-2012) 18

Translation: In 2012, 81.2% of the population was on at least one prescription drug in the past 30 days.

Furthermore, according to the 38th report on the health status of the nation, “the use of prescription cholesterol-lowering drugs was 54%higher among 55- to 64-year-olds in 2009–2012 (31.8%) compared with 1999–2002 (20.6%).”1

So, if the issue isn’t receiving the “standard of care,” what is it?

Read more here.

Antidepressants in Pregnancy Tied to Autism Risk

I also wrote a comment on the latest research on Antidepressant in Pregnancy Tied to Autism Risk.

The Study

A recent Canadian study sought to examine if there was an associated risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children whose mothers used antidepressants during pregnancy.1-3 The researchers identified 145,456 singleton full-term infants from an ongoing population-based cohort that took place from 1998-2009, the Québec Pregnancy/Children Cohort. Antidepressant exposure was defined by trimester and antidepressant class.1 Assessment of medication use was based on mothers who had at least one prescription filled during their second or third trimester, a time of critical brain development.One thousand fifty-four children were identified with ASD based on at least 1 diagnosis between their date of birth and the last follow up. Boys outnumbered girls in diagnosis by 4:1.1

Read more here.

 

In case you’ve missed my latest webinar on the three precious gifts of the season, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, you can find the link here. This 18-minute webinar explains the science and immune supporting properties behind these biblical essential oils.