so much to dicsuss

[Guest guest]

Hello, one and all,

 

....take a few days off and WOW...!

 

Julie, two points: when treating a patient for whatever condition, be it

tooth pain or cancer, it is often best to go in blind, feel the pulses, get

a feel for the person, ignore the patterns and recommended suggestions and

do your thing. It is not unlike playing jazz piano. You spend years

studying scales, and scales and more scales, harmony and theory, till you

finally find yourself on stage, and then the weights are lifted and you fly

like a butterfly. Reason is good training; medicine is an Art.

 

Regarding integrative medicine, whether in- or out- patient, the goals of

allopathic and non-allopathic medical procedures have differed radically

since the advent of penicillin and especially after world war II. Research

is currently motivated by profit. That which can not be patented is

" quackery " , whether it comes from the fields of aromatherapy, TCM, Reiki, or

homeopathy, etc....

 

I spent over a year in an integrative medical clinic and found it to be

enormously frustrating! Many of these initiatives are founded with profit

in mind (welcome to corporate America!). Some corporate genius decides to

incorporate " non-traditional " therapies into the program because he/she has

read that 1/3 of Americans seek health care outside beyond that offered by

their allopathic doctors. He/she sees dollar signs and so the token massage

therapist, nutritionist, acupuncturist is added to the " complementary "

health care process.

 

[isn't it about time that we insist that our methods are " traditional " and

that it is allopathic post-Fleming medicine that is alternative?]

 

In a truly mind-expanding work, entitled _Medical Aromatherapy; Healing with

Essential Oils_, Kurt Schnaubelt examines the issues of medicine and

corporate profit and furthermore how these motivations effect research and

what is and is not accepted....

 

This is the reality of corporate-sponsored medicine in the USA. Funding for

research comes from, and therefore is directed by those with vested

(financial) interests. The bottom line is " that which generates maximum

profit for share-holders is gold " and therfore pursued....

 

My advice to anyone wanting to practise in an allopathic setting is to " do

it " . The experience is invaluable. It has become a litmus test of sorts.

My experience is that true healers walk away....

 

The human body is " not " a machine.

 

I have a cartoon depiction on my door. It shows an insurance agent giving

his (and in this case, it is a " he " , rather than " she " , as Western Medicine

is ultimately male-dominated) analysis of what is or is not medically

necessary.

 

One of my MD friends was reprimanded because he was spending more than 12.5

minutes per patient....

 

 

My degree is that of a doctor [OMD]. But my practise director at AWH,Inc.

had no pangs of conscience when he told me to run out and get lunch.... To

him, my place was equvalent to that of an errand boy....

 

 

Until we can respect ourselves as true doctors, and perhaps this requires a

deeper education, (in my case, this is 14 years of post-secondary education

including, yes, ...sorry..., physics, and biochemistry, microbiology,

genetics, physiology, etc...), we will be relegated to that oblique realm of

other practitioners....

 

We live and practise in the United States of America and not in China. Our

diets are different. Our life-styles are different. My practise is

thriving because I have realized this reality and perhaps because I have

moved away from the relic of corporate misunderstandings.

 

Challenge makes adults of us all. The predominant question is not one of

what is legal but what is right!

 

Back to the question at hand, in a (Western) medical setting, we,

acupuctuncturists, massage therapists, herbalists, practitioners of

bioenergy fall outside the profit margins. Insurance companies, often

working along side pharmaceutical companies, predominantly decline

reimbursement for non-allopathic treatments. Allopathic physicians are

often understanding but impotent in this regard. They are facing the same

inhumane and profit motivated economic forces.

 

I suppose its a question of attitude, intention, and attention...

 

 

God(s) save us all!

 

 

Health and happiness,

 

luke