Is our medical system nearing the health care cliff?
Today, I would like to share with you a few thoughts on a topic that is serious and one not many of my colleagues dare to talk about. It is also very close to my heart because, whether I like it or not, I am a doctor too.
For many years, one of the main goals in my practice has been to reduce the use of pharmaceutical drugs and replace them with healing techniques that are natural and less toxic. I embarked on this path more than 15-years-ago and now I see clearly what is happening in veterinary and human medicine. What I write here is just an opinion. My intention is to provoke a discussion about how we handle the gift of health and what we can do better.
What would nature do?
There is nothing in nature that doesn’t have a purpose or that is not a closed cycle. We come from the land and we go back to the land and so do animals, plants, trees and all that is living. We have a general sense that 'natural' is good and artificial or synthetic is not optimal. However, the human civilization has never been further away from nature as it is today. The majority of our population lives in cities surrounded by artificial structures and materials that are toxic to us and to the environment.
In veterinary or human medicine, we have reached a point where we are starting to question how anyone can become healthier by taking prescription drugs – complex artificial substances that interact with each other on a level that nobody, even doctors, understands.
Yes, some drugs are necessary for immediate survival in an emergency, or when the body loses the ability to produce some hormones and life-essential substances, such as insulin. However, I'd like to pay attention to the other side of the spectrum, where many patients are gradually poisoned due to the side effects of drugs, which can often be replaced by less harmful, yet effective, natural alternatives.
It's not unusual to see a senior person or a dog, taking anywhere between five to 10 different prescription drugs. Dogs are commonly put on drugs for arthritis and mobility issues that cause liver disease or kidney failure. I'm convinced most dogs could live a better and longer life without these drugs by using holistic and natural approaches instead.
Many patients are gradually poisoned due to the side effects of drugs that often can be replaced by less harmful, yet effective natural alternatives.
Most doctors spend years at school because they want to help and make a difference. It's not my intention today to blame MDs and DVMs. I am simply asking honestly why is it that doctors are the third leading cause of death in the US?
You may expect that I'm going to blame drug companies that, as we all know, care primarily about their bottom line and shareholders. But, the truth is, if our society didn’t use their drug-based medicine, they would cease to exist. The reality is you and I can change the landscape of our medical system, put irresponsible drug companies out of business and make sure our medical research focuses on what is good for our health and not what is the most profitable treatment.
Our overburdened and well-meaning doctors will continue to unintentionally cause harm and sometimes death until we change our mindset about medicine. We need to start making health and a functional healthcare system the most important and valuable asset of our society and make our governments listen. The western drug-based approach to medicine is the only way they have been taught and that is what they are expected to practice because if they don’t, they can lose their license.
For more than 20 years, I have rarely needed any care from my conventional family doctor. I use my chiropractor, homeopath, physiotherapist, osteopath, naturopath and massage therapist, coach and yoga to keep myself healthy. I pay for all this myself while the Canadian public medical insurance system would happily pay for me being sick. It is a paradox that because I am healthy, I have to pay for disease prevention from my own pocket.
I believe that many doctors know what is happening but they are not equipped with knowledge about natural treatments. They usually don't confess that many of them are afraid to go against what the books say.
I believe many doctors know what is happening, but they're not equipped with knowledge about natural treatments. They usually don't confess that many of them are afraid to go against what the books say.
This is a very hard topic for me to talk about because, in the course of the last seven years, I lost my brother and my brother-in-law to brain tumors. When their lives were coming to an end, I saw their medicine cabinets exploding with prescription drugs that made them suffer from countless side effects, which possibly caused more suffering than the disease itself.
These effects are often impossible to distinguish from the disease symptoms and so it happens that doctors prescribe one drug on top of another in a sincere effort to help and things get worse.
What is the solution?
I encourage you to learn as much about disease prevention as possible. For starters, you can watch this video about the natural healing cycle.
If your dog ends up in a critical, emergency situation, ask what medication the doctor is planning to use, then do your own research about the side effects. Ask if the treatment, procedure or drug is truly needed and what the alternatives are.
I also suggest for you to make connections with holistically minded, out-of-the-box thinking practitioners before you are faced with critical medical issues because it is much easier to prevent a disease than it is to treat it.
If we want to transform the medical system, you and I need to vote for politicians who understand that investing in unbiased, government-funded medical research, disease prevention and holistic health care is very important.
In my opinion, it is the only way we can make the medical system more effective at a lower cost.
THE FUTURE IS IN OUR HANDS.
© Dr. Peter Dobias, DVM
