My Approach to Healthcare Disease is caused by an interaction between your genes, your environment, and a bit of luck. My understanding of the medical research on a large number of diseases is that your environment has a dramatic and often overwhelming effect. I am not satisfied with merely treating disease with medications if there is a possibility of removing the disease by changing your environment. My definition of environment is broad. It includes all the food you both do and don't consume. It includes exercise, movement, stress, sleep, sunlight, and a thousand things that have a potential impact on your health. I still use prescription medications when necessary. However, I have a healthy respect for them. Nearly every medication I prescribe is a toxin to the body on some level. This is why it is a prescription medication. These medications should be used only when the benefit is judged to be greater than the potential toxicity. If this is unclear, then it is best to step back and take another look at the situation. My goal with every patient encounter is to seek to reduce or eliminate unnecessary medication. If there is a reasonable non-medication approach that could address the root cause of the disease and is safe, then I will likely suggest it. I will work with patients to customize their medical care based on their desires. If they do not want to hear about dietary or lifestyle changes, then we'll discuss prescription medication alternatives. How I Look at the Medical Research I have spent many hours reading through the scientific literature on alternative and complementary approaches to disease treatment. On the Internet, I can find an overwhelming avalanche of opinions about the causes and treatments of disease. I have tried to apply the following criteria to my investigations: 1) Is there peer-reviewed scientific literature on the subject? What is the quality of the scientific studies? Are they high quality, placebo-controlled studies or merely a collection of case reports/testimonials? 2) If good scientific studies are lacking, is there a good theoretical basis for this approach to be successful? Common sense, or armchair logic, is not sufficient. It must have a good grounding in science. 3) While it may not be clearly effective, the treatment must not be harmful. I do not like to suggest treatments that are helpful for one disease, but increase your risk of another disease. If we cannot say that the treatment will be effective for treatment of a particular disease, will it be helpful in improving your overall health? For instance, you may have changed your diet to gain control of your headaches. The diet may be less successful than you hoped, but on the other hand, you lowered your cholesterol, you were able to stop one of your blood pressure medications, and you lost 15 pounds. I am open to hearing from my patients about new or overlooked treatments. If I have time, I will do some research on the subject and report back.

My Approach to Healthcare

Disease is caused by an interaction between your genes, your environment, and a bit of luck. My understanding of the medical research on a large number of diseases is that your environment has a dramatic and often overwhelming effect. I am not satisfied with merely treating disease with medications if there is a possibility of removing the disease by changing your environment. My definition of environment is broad. It includes all the food you both do and don't consume. It includes exercise, movement, stress, sleep, sunlight, and a thousand things that have a potential impact on your health.

I still use prescription medications when necessary. However, I have a healthy respect for them. Nearly every medication I prescribe is a toxin to the body on some level. This is why it is a prescription medication. These medications should be used only when the benefit is judged to be greater than the potential toxicity. If this is unclear, then it is best to step back and take another look at the situation.

My goal with every patient encounter is to seek to reduce or eliminate unnecessary medication. If there is a reasonable non-medication approach that could address the root cause of the disease and is safe, then I will likely suggest it.

I will work with patients to customize their medical care based on their desires. If they do not want to hear about dietary or lifestyle changes, then we'll discuss prescription medication alternatives.

How I Look at the Medical Research

I have spent many hours reading through the scientific literature on alternative and complementary approaches to disease treatment. On the Internet, I can find an overwhelming avalanche of opinions about the causes and treatments of disease. I have tried to apply the following criteria to my investigations:

1) Is there peer-reviewed scientific literature on the subject? What is the quality of the scientific studies? Are they high quality, placebo-controlled studies or merely a collection of case reports/testimonials?

2) If good scientific studies are lacking, is there a good theoretical basis for this approach to be successful? Common sense, or armchair logic, is not sufficient. It must have a good grounding in science.

3) While it may not be clearly effective, the treatment must not be harmful. I do not like to suggest treatments that are helpful for one disease, but increase your risk of another disease. If we cannot say that the treatment will be effective for treatment of a particular disease, will it be helpful in improving your overall health? For instance, you may have changed your diet to gain control of your headaches. The diet may be less successful than you hoped, but on the other hand, you lowered your cholesterol, you were able to stop one of your blood pressure medications, and you lost 15 pounds.

I am open to hearing from my patients about new or overlooked treatments. If I have time, I will do some research on the subject and report back.