Doc Moe: Medical doctors are trained in a totally different manner. They aren’t trained to look at it in a functional manner. When you look at something functionally, the people should know that when you get a blood lab done, that there’s a curve. You’re in a group of millions of people, and there’s a bell curve. If you’re at the very bottom of that curve at either end, you’re not going to get flagged. So, like okay, “Here’s your flag, you’re not ready for a … There’s something there, but you’re not ready for a drug yet.” When that flag shows up, then that’s the big red flag that you need a drug, or whatever it is that they’re going to do to help you.
Phil Faris: Because I like concrete examples. Can you give me an example of what you might point out to someone that would say, “Okay, here’s the red flag that says you’re not ready for a drug yet, but here’s some issues that may be causing some of the symptoms, let’s address them.” Could you give me a specific example?
Doc Moe: If you just take a red blood cell count, or there are different counts on blood work. Just take a red blood cell count. If that’s not in the range where it shows up as anemia, it could mean that you’re dehydrated, it could mean that you’re iron deficient, it could mean many things that are already starting, but it hasn’t shown up that you have a full-blown anemia.
Phil Faris: If it doesn’t show up as a full-blown anemia, a doctor’s not going to take any action, because there’s no red flag.
Doc Moe: Right. I recently had a really interesting case where someone had a full-blown anemia, and they were getting ready to tell her she needed a bone marrow biopsy to see what was causing this. Her anemia was going on for a year and a half. Now, a bone marrow biopsy is a real scary test. I mean, if I had to have a bone marrow biopsy, I’d be very concerned. They stick this big needle in, and they get your bone marrow out. After looking through her chart and seeing there wasn’t much else there, and she was a person that took care of herself, it turned out that a diuretic she’d been taking for a year and a half could be causing her anemia. And her hematologist didn’t even know this, Phil. These are the kind of things that are happening millions of times a day.
Phil Faris: That’s why your focus is on identifying the underlying cause of the issue, rather than just the symptom. Is that right?
Doc Moe: Right. Being a chiropractor, that’s subculture, but I’m also a person who’s very versed in medicine. So, when someone over 50 is sitting across from me, or I’m talking to them on the phone, I want to know what medicine’s they’re on because that’s the first thing you rule out as to why they might be having a problem.
Phil Faris: Can you give me another example how medicines can cause symptoms that can lead doctors to give patients more medications or more treatments?
Doc Moe: Sure. Someone could be taking a statin that has been giving them muscle pain and fatigue. Instead of working with removing the statin or helping them with their lifestyle so they could get off the statin, they’ll be given a drug for pain and fatigue. This will then cause another problem, which will then lead to another drug. The average person over 50’s is on five different medications.
Phil Faris: That’s a lot.
Doc Moe: The scary thing is nobody knows the real impact multiple drugs can have. After one or two medications, Phil, nobody knows what’s happening.
Phil Faris: Because of drug interactions. How drugs interact with each other and with your body.
Doc Moe: And every person is different. One drug may affect somebody one way; another one may affect someone another way. Then, when you put five in there, nobody knows what’s happening.
Phil Faris: We put doctors on a pedestal because we assume they’ll know the exact equation. But I know from working with my doctors, that’s not the case. I’ll ask, “Which one’s going to work? The doctors say, “We don’t know. We’ll try this and see how you respond.” If you don’t die from it or have an adverse reaction, that’s good. Sometimes there are bad reactions, and they’ll say, “OK, cross that one off the list. We can’t use that because of this side effect …” As you work with doctors, you start realizing there’s a lot more art to adjusting medications than we’d like to expect as a patient. We’d like to feel that the doctor knows everything. Unfortunately, he just knows what’s been going on with other people statistically.
Doc Moe: Yes, and nobody knows everything, Phil. And I see what’s happening in the industry, in the medical industry. There are doctors who would love to consider additional things and see what’s best but, they don’t have the time. They’re seeing a patient every six minutes. You can’t help somebody in six minutes. That’s driven by what all the insurance companies are going to pay the doctors to make a living. It’s very disconcerting, to say the least.
Phil Faris: Let me go back to how you work with clients. Once you find an underlying cause, how do you help people address it?
