When I first became interested in becoming a doctor I was old enough to know to apply one of life’s more valuable lessons - “Do What Works”.
That is my personal philosophy at the deepest level. Pay attention to what works. Know how to tell the difference between what works and what does not work. Learn and learn well how to do and use what works, and then do that. The decision-making that I use for every patient is based on this principle - “Do What Works”.
As I grew into the profession of medicine I saw that indeed a small portion of what was being taught to me really worked. Most of it however did not work well at all. Mainly there were a lot of attempts at management of disease and treating symptoms - and not really making a difference in the health or quality of life of the people being treated.
But things were about to change. Just before graduating as a D.O. I experienced a medical miracle through a family member. My stepfather was literally at death’s door. He had advanced illness and was constantly weak, gray, and pale. He could not go up three steps to the front door without stopping to catch his breath. Walking from the bedroom to the kitchen was an effort. He was taking a handful of medicines three times a day and was continually getting worse. Both of us knew it would be easier if he would just breathe his last and call it quits.
He had already gone through two major surgeries in 10 years with a “patch-up” repair job in between. At that point I knew enough about medicine to know everything that could be done had been done. There was nothing else I knew of to help my step-dad.
Then during their very last two weeks of my training I found myself in a doctor’s office who was doing Chelation Therapy. He invited me to talk some of the patients in his office. I could not believe what they were telling me - they were recovering from advanced degenerative diseases of several kinds. Because I was (nearly) a doctor I knew enough to know that this had to be medically impossible. It could not happen - at least it was not supposed to happen. People should not be able to improve so much from these kinds of advanced conditions. But it was true, so they told me. And I had to accept that I saw it for myself.
The doctor was gracious and began to give Chelation Therapy treatments to my stepfather. In just 15 sessions he had turned pink again, and had an energy and zest for living that we both thought he had lost. “Dad” worked with me for another five years in the office before his condition finally did catch up with him. His favorite thing was talking to patients in my office and sharing his experience as they would be receiving similar therapies.
“Now here is something that works!” I said to myself. I am going to learn to do this.
There is another medical miracle in my family - my mother cured herself of cancer many years ago. She had been diagnosed with a very serious form of lymphoma with melanoma and was given three months to live. That was 30 years ago.
Upon her diagnosis she refused to have chemotherapy but did have surgery to remove the bulk of the tumor mass. The doctors were polite but the prognosis was grim. She had the support of her mother and her sister - they moved in with her and basically “force-fed” her for several months using organic vegetables, large amounts of home-squeezed juices daily and an all-around healthy diet.
She tells me that when she would go back to see the doctor she would try to tell him what she was doing but he did not pay much attention. A year later he finally said “You should not be alive - what are you doing?” Now she had his attention. She told him what she had done and of course he could not believe what he was hearing.
Her doctor has long since moved on and her medical records are so old as to be no longer available. She is alive and well today and living in southern California - 76 years young, taking no prescription medications and sharing her story with anybody that will listen.
“There is something that works!” I said to myself. I am going to learn about this.
Pursuing training in Chelation Therapy led me to earning an additional medical license in Homeopathic Medicine and that became the beginning of an entirely new education. I found that homeopathy worked very well. It helps reduce the toxic burdens and restore and rebalance our natural energies.
This was followed by learning to use whole foods and herbal medicines to help restore the body’s ability to heal itself. Hippocrates is credited with saying - “let your medicine be your food and your food be your medicine”.
Again, here is something that works very well. I am still learning about this.
Over the years I have accumulated several means of objectively measuring one state of health. It is as if we are able to open a window and a peek inside to see what is actually happening in the body. Now we have organized these sensitive instruments into a comprehensive Functional Health Profile. The Profile forms a picture of one’s state of health and vitality from heartbeat to heartbeat - a living picture of what is happening. This additional insight allows us to design treatment plans directed specifically toward one’s individual needs.
For over a decade I have found that the combination of whole food nutrition, herbal medicines and homeopathy has worked very, very well. My lovely wife is a natural healer and is bringing energy medicine therapies to our office.
By now I am not surprised to find that energy medicine works very well. My wife is learning about this.
Today it is my firm belief that using several forms of therapies that work well together as individualized treatment plans is an absolutely unbeatable combination in helping our patients recover from - or successfully live with - some of the most serious and severe of chronic diseases of our time.