If I had a recipe for birthday cake that came out right only once every five or six times I made it, I would try to find a new recipe.
That’s why I decided to try to find a new master “recipe” for my patients whose thyroid function came out too low or too high (or somewhere in between, with fluctuating symptoms of dysfunction). When I started out, all of the medical professionals in my area seemed to think that the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) test was a great evaluator of thyroid function.
But, I had to wonder … if it was such a great diagnostic tool, why did it fail to deliver useful information more than half of the time? Surely this pointed to a need for a better approach to a widespread problem. Too many people needed help, right now. I couldn’t ignore them.
I decided to disagree with the experts. Some might think that sounds cocky, but I call it stupid to keep following formulas that only work every now and then.
I am not a research-based practitioner. Of course, I read up on what people are trying and what they say is valid. But most of the time, I put it through my “God filter” before I decide what to do. If it makes sense to me and I have a peace about it, and if it points back to God’s original plan for the human body, then I will try it out on some patients.
I generally do not believe in tricking the body with workarounds, jerry-rigging natural bodily functions, or providing for the body what it should be making on its own. I believe in supporting the body. My healing philosophy is to find out what is in the body that shouldn’t be there (allergies/sensitivities, toxins, infections, excesses and so forth) and come up with ways to remove it. At the same time, I look for what seems to be missing in the body (the deficiencies) and try to find ways to supply what each unique human body needs for healthy performance.
If what I am doing doesn’t work, I stop doing it. If it does work, I have no need to prove to scientists by means of burdensome studies that what I am doing is working. I just need to remember what I did, learn from the results, and believe that it makes sense to try it again (if it proved successful). My philosophy of treatment and my techniques for applying it free me up. I can treat people as individuals who come with unique life situations. Sometimes I may need to create an unusual solution—and I’m free to do that.
People vary so much. Each individual comes with a different body type and different strengths and weaknesses. The challenge for me as a doctor is to spend enough time with each of my patients to “get” them. I need to assimilate what they have indicated on their history forms. I also need to observe, through interactions, each person’s personality type. I cannot design an effective protocol for treatment unless I understand how my patient’s attributes affect the way he or she tends to attack the challenges and issues of life.
Taking People Seriously
Many times my patients tell me stories of prior visits to a doctor. They report what the doctor said when they explained their symptoms. In essence, “That can’t happen.”
A woman recounts: “It seems as though every time I talk on my cell phone, I get a headache. Is it possible that I have an issue with my cell phone?”
Doctor’s response: “No. There have been many studies, and there is no correlation with brain issues and cell phone usage.”
Really? This patient is trying to link things together, and the doctor shuts her down based on abstracts of studies? On this same premise, some doctors put their patients on antidepressants or anti-anxiety pills once they do a few tests and nothing shows up, essentially saying, “Since I know everything there is to know about the body, if I run some tests and can’t find the problem, it must be that the patient is psychologically causing the problem.” To me, that seems pretty arrogant.
Refusing to Play the Blame Game
True enough, patients can get it wrong. People like to play the victim card. “This awful, terrible thing has happened to me. How unfair. How terrible. None of it is my fault. I couldn’t have done anything to stop this from happening to me.” This conveniently deflects blame and judgment, and it also exempts the person from making any changes.
The medical system doesn’t help when it blames your gene pool. “You have depression; you can’t help it.” “Your cholesterol is elevated, and you inherited that tendency.”
True, none of that may be “fair.” But I tell my patients, “This is the hand you’ve been dealt. Play it out to the best of your ability. You can whine about it—or you can try to make the best of it. I will help you, if you want me to.
Controversies abound. Even if it’s after the fact for you, you need to come to informed conclusions about the relative risks of health procedures that are common in the United States.
My goal in this book has been to help you to become the expert on yourself, with the help of doctors, books, websites and other resources, and most of all with the help of the Holy Spirit, who can help you tell the difference between truth and falsehood. Keep learning as much as you can, and then make up your own mind what to do. I endorse and applaud your efforts.
Note: The preceding is an excerpt from Michael Berglund’s book, Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired.
Michael Berglund, DC, is in private practice at Berglund Health & Wellness Center in Kenosha, Wis. He is a board-eligible chiropractic internist with a doctor of chiropractic degree from National University of Health Sciences and a degree in medical technology (laboratory medicine) from Michigan Technological University.
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