21st Century Medicine – Bandaids or True Healing?

The other day I saw an ad depicting Larry the Cable Guy trying to sell Prilosec.  “Suffering from heartburn day after day is as unnecessary as wearing sleeves,” he says.  It might be catchy, and it obviously sells a lot of drug, but it makes no more sense to take a drug to cover up heartburn than it does to cover up a skin cancer with a fresh Bandaid every day.

Unfortunately, this has been the approach physicians have taken toward a host of health problems for over 100 years.  Instead of making the effort to determine the cause of an individual’s heartburn, for example, we are content to suppress it with drugs that reduce stomach acid.  As long as the patient feels better now, never mind the fact that excess stomach acid may have nothing to do with the problem.  Never mind, either, that long-term acid suppression has some very serious consequences.  When the heartburn continues or worsens, we increase the dose of stomach acid-reducing medicine until the maximum dosage is reached.  When that no longer works, patients are offered the next drug on the list or even advised to go under the knife in the hope of fixing the problem. 

By contrast, at the Grand County Wellness Center, our interest is not in merely finding the magic pill that temporarily suppresses or controls every symptom.  Instead, we search for potential causes and make every effort to help patients rebalance their physiology.  Our approach is simple:  Give the body what it needs; remove what it doesn't need; treat causes, not symptoms.  The body has a remarkable ability to heal itself if we give it the right fuel, remove the obstacles to health, and utilize an ever-growing array of tools to support the body’s repair.  The more we learn, the more we discover that nobody has all the answers and that no single treatment is the definitive answer to a given condition.

Fortunately, people are becoming increasingly aware that covering up each symptom with a drug doesn't necessarily solve their problems.  As a result, they are demanding more effective, less risky (think of all the side effects and complications rattled off at the end of the commercials), and more personalized care.  They even ignore national expert committee opinions and specialty society consensus guidelines that seek to reduce human beings to numbers and medical professionals to technicians in an assembly line.  Fortunately too, when doctors run lab tests and say "there is nothing wrong with you, just take this pill," patients are no longer content.  They keep looking.

At the Grand County Wellness Center, we do not pretend to have all the answers.  But we are always learning.  Thanks to weekly continuing medical education from experts across the country, we do not practice the same medicine today as we did even one month ago.  And we are never satisfied to just control symptoms.  If you are driving and notice your steering wheel tugging toward one side, you wouldn’t just grip the steering wheel harder.  Before too long, you would check your tire pressures and then your alignment.  We feel the same way about dis-eases that arise in the human body – It makes much more sense to step back and take a look at what might be causing them than to merely compensate for or try to cover them up.  When routine lab tests come back normal (or are simply not relevant in the first place), we are fortunate to be able to draw upon the resources of multiple specialty labs that enable us to get to the bottom of perplexing problems.  A small sampling of the common problems for which we have uncommon solutions includes fatigue, depression, irritable bowel, constipation, muscle weakness, insomnia, sinus congestion, and yes, heartburn.  Whether you have been dealing with issues like these for a week or decades, you might want to schedule an appointment.  If we don’t have the answer today, chances are we might have it next week.  On the other hand, if you feel fine now but want to prevent diseases for which you are or think you might be at risk, you will find refreshing our focus on true disease prevention, not just early detection.

Health and Wellness

Everybody kept telling me I needed to see ‘that hormone doctor’ in Moab. I'm sure glad I did. Finally I’ve found a doctor who cares enough to listen to me and figure out what is going wrong instead of just prescribing an antidepressant that I don’t need." Men and women from all over Utah—as well as from New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, and even Alaska—echo this statement as they meet with staff in the Grand County Wellness Center. Although patients are initially drawn here in search of a sensible and effective approach to the hormonal imbalances that plague much of our population, young and older alike, many come to discover that there is a lot more to the Wellness Center than bio-identical hormone replacement. In fact, some learn—to their surprise—that sex hormone deficiencies are not their problem after all, or at least not their main problem.

Although Dr. Andrew was trained in the traditional Western medical approach to disease, and continues to use that training in the everyday practice of family medicine, it became clear to him early on in practice that something was lacking. "Every time we go to the doctor, we are conditioned to expect to receive a drug—or undergo surgery—for each symptom that ails us. It’s no wonder we are getting sicker as a people and bankrupting our health care system. I believe there is a role for drugs. I prescribe them every day. However, every drug has its side effects and long-term complications, many of which are unknown. Who would have thought a few years ago that the most common cholesterol drugs would contribute to diabetes, depression, hormone deficiencies, and heart failure? These facts are not taught in medical school and the drug companies would rather us not think about them as we dutifully fill our expensive prescriptions every month for the rest of our lives. Making matters worse, an alarming number of Americans are taking 5, 10, or even 15 prescription drugs a month, often at a cost of over $100 a piece. If the multiple side effects and drug interactions don't kill us, the gutting of our life savings will."

Rather than merely "manage" (i.e. perpetuate) disease, Dr. Andrew decided to focus on helping patients enhance their health and prevent disease. As a result of this decision, he regularly attends conferences and lectures by national experts in all areas of medicine. The emphasis of this advanced training is to help patients return, as much as possible, to optimal health. Sometimes this requires the use of certain drugs, at least temporarily. In other circumstances it involves vitamins, minerals, herbs, or hormones, alone or in combination. At the same time, Dr. Andrew is quick to point out that many of the illnesses from which we suffer stem from things that we do to ourselves. Lifestyle, environment, and attitude are inseparably connected with our health. Unfortunately, no combination of drugs can overcome the effects of some of the poisons we put in and on our bodies, some knowingly and others unknowingly. 

What gratifies Dr. Andrew most is being able to help patients return to health and wellness by removing from the body things that don't belong there and putting back things that do. "It's exciting to me when I can treat in a matter of weeks or months a myriad of symptoms for which only 10 years ago I would have written 5 or more potentially lifelong prescriptions. It's a lot of work for doctor and patient alike, but many agree it is more than worth it. We're going through a huge culture shift right now. Just as some people will never embrace computers, some would rather not take the active role in their health that is required for wellness. Fortunately, ever-increasing numbers of people are becoming more educated about their health and are no longer satisfied with statements like 'It's all in your head,' 'You're just getting older,' and ‘You just need to eat less and exercise more.’” For the first time, many patients are realizing they have options. Thanks to the recent addition of Physician Assistant Keely Fitzgerald, the Wellness Center and the Family Practice office are able to accommodate more of both types of patients than ever.