What happens when your doctor doesn’t know…?

Have you, a family member or friend suffered because a doctor (or multiple doctors) were unable to figure out what was going on?  It happens a lot.  In fact, a portion of my clients come to me because they have nowhere else to turn–and the doctors have given up on them.  I’ve been there:  for three years the doctors and specialists tried to diagnose what became debilitating fatigue and after every test they could think of (including a radioactive thyroid scan), they told me it was in my head.  A few years later, the true problem was found quite accidentally by a new ob/gyn who happened to have recently attended a conference where the issue was discussed (as it could affect fertility in older patients).  Once diagnosed, the problem was handled.  But I (and my family) suffered for years.  I personally suffered for 17 years with other problems that nobody ever tied to this condition.  Nobody.  Based on my family history–those problems appeared to be genetic.  In fact, they weren’t.

It is not an insult to doctors to say that they don’t know everything.  The insult is to the patients when doctors either truly believe they DO know and/or insist that anything you have to offer is uneducated nonsense.

Unfortunately, doctors are not trained in nutrition.  As a result, they are often doling out eating guidelines that are, in fact, exacerbating the health problems they truly believe they are trying to help–because they have not kept up on the related research.  This is true for specialists including cardiologists.  Dr. Arthur Agatston (author of the South Beach Diet) is/was a cardiologist who realized just how little he knew and how the advice he and his colleagues gave daily was profoundly damaging to their patients cardiovascular health.  In a lecture I viewed by him, he noted that he truly believed that what he was telling them was the best information; but that he hadn’t kept up with changing information.  In reality, how many doctors are seeking out updates?  As a culture, we believe that “big discoveries” make the 10pm news.  It doesn’t always.

Traditional Registered Dietitians (RDs) are most often subscribing to the USDA’s model of eating, which originated not as a health program but as a means of creating business for the agricultural indus
But it’s a new world we are entering.  A world where people are very much sick and tired (literally) of a healthcare system that is clearly not helping them to live fully and freely.  A world where we are being convinced and subtly brainwashed to believe that each ache and pain has a pill to aid you, and the doctors are quick to give you that band aid.try of the U.S. (which is their job–to keep U.S. farmers in business).  In fact, Harvard Medical has criticized the USDA model for being out of touch with current research on health and nutrition.  The certifying body for RDs (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics–formerly the American Dietetic Association) now has search parameters that include finding a holistic nutrition RD, they have yet to recognize any accredited Holistic Nutrition degree program.

And a world where holistic and alternative health practitioners are growing in large numbers and fighting to be recognized–supported by the people they are healing.

Advocate for yourself.  Learn for yourself.  Trust yourself.  And have an open mind about what might be possible if you are willing to step out of the mainstream.  I knew something was wrong with me and that medicating me for my symptoms because they couldn’t find the answers was wrong.  I knew when they diagnosed me (inaccurately) with a condition that none of the medications truly resolved (they made me functional, but not “whole”) that something bigger was wrong–even if I had no clue what that was.  And I was right.