OUT WITH THE BAD, IN WITH THE GOOD!

"My doctor told me to stick with things backed up by hard science" by David A. Steenblock,

As an integrative medicine expert with over forty years of practice under my belt, I cannot begin to count the times a patient came into my office and said, "I almost didn't come in to see you, Dr. Steenblock, mainly because my regular doctor said what you do is not backed up by hard science (MORE LIKELY HE HAS NO A CLUE ABOUT ANYTHING I DO). He also emphasized that I should stick with doctors whose practices are hard science based like his." There is a perverse, persuasive logic to this "we have it, they don't" line of reasoning. The fact is though that conventional medicine's claim that almost all of the things they do is indisputably predicated on hard science is a fallacy. I knew this forty years ago -- spoke of it often down through the ensuing years -- and am still doing so albeit with one difference: There is now a chorus of voices from within the world of standard medicine and science saying the same thing. One fairly recent example: In 2011 an article titled Health Care Myth Busters: Is There a High Degree of Scientific Certainty in Modern Medicine? appeared in Scientific American in which the authors, Sanjaya Kumar, MD, MSc, MPH and David B. Nash, MD, MBA, stated: We could accurately say, "Half of what physicians do is wrong," or "Less than 20 percent of what physicians do has solid research to support it." Although these claims sound absurd, they are solidly supported by research that is largely agreed upon by experts. Yet these claims are rarely discussed publicly. It would be political suicide for our public leaders to admit these truths and risk being branded as reactionary or radical. Most Americans wouldn't believe them anyway. When one considers the number of dogmatic skeptics who attack integrative methods and treatments on the ground that they lack scientific validation (as in producing statistically significant results in numerous randomized controlled studies), and then weigh this against the fact "less than 20 percent of what physicians do has solid research to support it", you can't but wonder if the skeptics and mainstreamers are remotely aware that this is blatant hypocrisy. One thought that often runs through my mind is: How many suffering people dismissed or ignored what integrative physicians have to offer because they were told (or assumed) their traditional MD or DO has "hard science" to back up what they do and advocate? After all, if the mainstream physician uses methods and procedures backed up by "hard science", why bother with an integrative medicine doc who presumably has little or no hard science to back up their clinical work? I cannot, of course, speak for the majority of integrative doctors (MD, DO). In general, most do a lot of conventional medicine along with non-mainstream modalities, methods and procedures that have varying degrees of scientific validation. Every doctor is different and the differences can be great, just as they are with respect to patients! The REAL PROBLEM with our health care system is the fact that PEOPLE are the PATIENTS! In general, each person wants the same thing and that is a quick, easy, cheap, and immediate solution to their problem(s). Most don’t want to have to learn anything or to change their lifestyle. And, contrary to what most people believe, the enemy at the heart of our health care system is not just the diseases, conditions, accidents, aging and financial problems that we all focus on, it is the lack of health care knowledge that the average person has. In other words, often people don’t even know the difference between a stroke and a heart attack. They don’t know how to take their temperature, their blood pressure, etc. and don’t have a clue as to how to find good, reliable health care information on the Internet. And, mind you, the people I am referring to are not just the very poor or those in the middle class, but also the prosperous and very rich. They to a man and woman suffer from…. HEALTH KNOWLEDGE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME! Most of my patients have been to other doctors and have either not gotten better or have complications or else have good reason to suspect they will develop complications from their conventional doctor’s ministrations. Which is to say, these patients’ mainstream physicians ably applied “standard of care” medicine where the science is abundant but with results that are conflicted or carry onerous side or adverse effects. Consider this: advanced pancreatic cancer patients are often told that surgery is an option, even when the tumor is the size of a softball and the patient has lost a great amount of weight and is very fragile. Surgery at this point is almost a surefire guarantee for an early demise. The same story is played out in other advanced cancer cases: Though the odds of seeing a “cure” using conventional means is almost zero, surgeons will proceed to remove tissue and sometimes whole organs, radiation oncologists will use radiotherapies that often can do little but afford minor pain relief, and chemotherapy docs will administer drugs that do little to halt progression but do diminish quality of life. Oddly and perhaps perversely, some cancer patients are cured in the sense they die but at autopsy the pathologist can’t find any signs of their malignancy! (The disease was cured but the patient did not survive) The public is not stupid but they are oftentimes gullible. How many times has a patient been seduced by a physician’s self-ego-gratifying assurances that they can pull off what their colleague cannot? People need to shake off the almost mystical spell cast by “know it all” docs. And the antidote? Patients need to ferret out all reasonable therapeutic options and then speak to a SCIENCE-BASED & GROUNDED INTEGRATIVE PHYSICIAN. And what makes for a good science-based & grounded integrative doctor? For the most part, the good ones possess a medical degree (MD or DO) and licensure, and also hold an earned Master of Science (MS) degree or PhD in the biological sciences. In my case, my BS was earned with majors in chemistry and zoology, after which I earned an MS in biochemistry, then my DO degree, followed by a rotating internship in a 600 bed MD hospital (Providence in Seattle), an oncology externship at the Mayo clinic, an externship at the University of Washington in hematology, a residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at Case Western Reserve University, and one year of clinical pathology at the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center. Of course, skeptics who portray themselves as the champions of “science based medicine” are often quick to say "There is only proved and unproved. Anything proved becomes mainstream and things unproved are to be questioned if not eschewed". However, if "less than 20 percent of what physicians do has solid research to support it", then conventional medicine will wind up gutted if the unproved is excised. Once upon a time I thought that PATHOLOGY was the ultimate medical science but my four years in that field convinced me that when it comes to the causes of chronic diseases there is plenty of room for doubt (Something that undoubtedly contributes to the many false diagnoses being made by physicians). A great example came my way while I was cutting surgical specimens for processing into slides. I came across this mottled, irregularly shaped, blotchy blue, black blob taken from someone’s body. Boy, it was ugly! Anyway, I processed it and then started to study it to determine what kind of tissue or tumor this ugly blob was. Well, I just could not zero in on what it was. So, I took my slides around to all of the pathology professors who did this for a living and also teach this science in the Department of Pathology at Case Western Reserve University (which is one of the best pathology departments in existence). Well, guess what? Not one of those esteemed pathologists could figure it out either! In fact, I got 20+ different diagnoses all the way from benign to malignant! This was hardly definitive science, but more of a guessing game! At this point I gave up on becoming the sort of “true” medical scientist my professors and mentors envisioned (Clones of themselves)! Medicine just has too many variables, something we should all accept. In light of this, it is silly to think that any doctor a patient might see will quickly determine all of his or her medical problems and come up with the answers needed to fix them. Patients need to learn to take responsibility for finding answers or at least team up with those docs who know how to do this! Indeed, we as Americans need to become more aware of how our own bodies work and how to take care of them. Ask yourself this: When was the last time you were invited to a social or fraternal club meeting that involved teaching you how to check your blood pressure? Yet this is one of the most important tests that ALL OF US should know how to do and do often (especially with the onset of a headache or swishing in the ears or lightheadedness). The older you get the more often this test should be done, even daily or 3-4 times per day especially when one is trying to adjust blood pressure medications. The failure to do this correctly can and often does result in a STROKE! A good example of what not to do but is fairly typical of the average patient concerns a young man that I saw many years ago for a variety of minor but troubling problems like low blood sugar, digestive issues, fatigue and muscle aches and stiffness. After listening to him and examining him I gave him a list of 14 things to do on a daily basis and told him to come back if he did not respond what I prescribed. Well, six weeks later he stomped into my office and in a loud voice told me, “I want my money back!” I asked why and his response was “I am not better at all. You did not help me!” Well, this was unusual so I looked over his chart and saw the list of instructions I’d given him and asked a calm voice,” Well, how many of these suggestions and directions did you do?” He exclaimed, “NONE OF THEM!” When I asked why, he had no answer nor could explain why he was so angry. So, I made a copy of my original instructions and told him to follow them and if he did and did not get better I would be happy to return his money. He left and I never heard from him again. The point of this story is that a patient can be told exactly what to do but if they do not do what is prescribed, then they tend to get worse. This begs a point: We have to develop public policies that encourage the utilization of good reliable health care information. One problem with this is the nonsensical and even harmful advice put out by too many people including doctors, lawyers, nutritionists, naturopaths, physical trainers, etc. In our day and age, it is truly BUYER BEWARE! On top of this, we have the pharmaceutical industry heavily influencing the FDA and also channeling money to various so called “quack busters” and professional skeptics who distort or otherwise misrepresent the truth about alternative doctors and practices. I myself have been victimized by articles and posts on the Internet filled with cherry picked and even distorted information, though because these dark press souls technically avoid committing libel they dodge being sued out of existence. Sadly, every false, cherry picked, distorted or out-of-context detail marshalled against any healthcare professional (and just about everyone else) becomes an indelible digital stain or scarlet letter that cannot be set right. In my own practice, I do a lot of in-office small clinical trials for patients that have no other options. That is, I try various FDA approved drugs, hyperbaric oxygen and other treatments in off-label ways (when appropriate and indicated), and also carefully employ various safe, detoxification methods (in both oral and IV forms), and more. What I learned from this body of experimentation can be summed up in the form of a motto that, if embraced by physicians, will better insure they get uniformly good clinical responses: Take out all of the bad and put in the good that is missing. To do this requires identifying the bad players in an individual such as chronic infections and toxins. What I have found is that certain toxins are surprisingly much more common than most people and conventional physicians realize. And, after having done thousands of bone marrow-based, wholly legal stem cell treatments since 2005, I have come to realize that almost any excess mercury or lead in a person’s body prevents the proper growth of and repair of tissues by stem cells. Quite simply, tissues that are undergoing repair or are growing are very sensitive to toxins, in some ways not unlike what happens when one plants seed in contaminated soil. Why do most conventional MDs and DOs (and skeptics and naysayers as well) miss the linkage between these toxins and various health problems? Mainly because the tests for many toxins are often not covered by insurance companies since the cause and effect relationship between these toxins and the person’s health problems are not absolutely clear (at this time) and thus “provable” in the narrow scientific sense. As you can see, there are good reasons for an “out with the bad and in with the good!” approach to healthcare. With this in mind, go find a doctor who has a solid hard science background and a track record of getting positive results in people with your particular medical issues, then learn and religiously apply all his proffered advice. Sooner or later you will thank yourself! If you or a relative, friend, business associate, colleague or such is struggling with a major health challenge and has been told to "stick with things backed by hard science", email them a link to this article or run off a copy and hand it, snail mail or Fax it to them. Maybe it will save them years of suffering or even the prospect of being shoveled into an early grave.

? 2017 by David A. Steenblock, D.O., Inc. All rights reserved.

Personalized Regenerative Medicine Clinic, 187 La Pata, San Clemente, CA 92673. Phone 949-229-8551 , toll free 1-800-300-1063

Website address: https://personalized-regenerative-medicine.com/