Be Your Own Doctor
How to challenge your beliefs about healthcare and think for yourself.
When I was in college, in the early 70’s, everyone told me I was unique.
I could be anything I wanted. My thoughts dictated the direction of my life. Yet when I arrived on campus I found myself with hundreds of other "unique" individuals, all wearing identical bell-bottom jeans and T-shirts.
So much for nonconformity. But it left me wondering about my supposed ‘unique’ perspective, and those of my fellows. Where exactly did we get our unique thoughts?
Fast forward a few decades to my late 50s. I took a class about worldview – or, for those of us who like to sound fancy, ‘Weltanschauung.’ (That’s German for “worldview,” believe it or not.) A worldview is a cohesive picture of the world and how it works, sort of a philosophy of life. I like to call it a “well-view” – because it's quite the eye-opener when you learn how you experience the world. And during that class, I discovered that there are three main things that shape our worldview, and therefore direct our lives:
Education… what we’re told and taught.
Experience… what we have personally lived through
Intuition… the “wild card” category of instinct and gut feelings. (There’s also some synthesis and creativity thrown in, for good measure.)
Learning that there were commonalities to how we all experience the world and develop our beliefs was like finding out that I wasn’t the original thinker I thought I was. Since then I’ve come to terms with not being “original.” But it does raise the question… where do you get your ideas?
If it’s something other than the big three, you’re either a genius or living in a parallel universe. For us mere mortals, our parents, culture, and teachers mold us like Play-Doh in a preschool. Nowadays, you may hear people say, “Look inside yourselves, and you will find the answer.” How about, “Look inside yourself, and you’ll probably find a lot of confusion.”
What does worldview have to do with today’s medical world? First off, let’s have a peek at the state of things:
Q. Who supposedly have all the answers?
A. The guys in the white coats.
Q. Who’s doing all this “cutting-edge” research to cure cancer?
A. The guys in the white coats.
Q. Who keeps saying, “Send money for research”?
A. The guys in the white coats.
Q. And who sends the guys in white coats our money, with about as much accountability as a teenager with a credit card?
A. The folks in fine suits from Washington, D.C.
Think I’m being too cynical? Buckle up.
Richard Harris, a long-time science reporter for National Public Radio, published a book in 2017 entitled Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope, and Wastes Billions. (If that doesn’t raise your blood pressure, I don’t know what will.)
According to Harris, out of 53 groundbreaking drug studies at AMGEN, only 11% could be replicated. That's like betting your life savings on a horse race and finding out the horses are all imaginary. Harris estimates that half of the U.S. government’s $30 billion annual investment in biomedical research results in seriously flawed outcomes.
What does that mean for us? Well, when you hear, “A new medical study says…” just remember, it might be as reliable as a politician’s promise. At a recent medical conference, one renowned speaker said that over 50% of today's medical studies would be overturned or shown “false” within five years. In my opinion, that’s the optimistic view.
Are these the opinions that are shaping your worldview on medicine?
Obviously, common sense dictates that we would want a worldview with a better accuracy rate than 50%. So, what’s a layman or patient to do?
I’ve laid out a few things to consider when approaching today’s medical status-quo. Before you establish your wellness worldview, keep these things in mind!
Think for yourself. Don’t just go with the crowd. It’s your life, your experiences, and your own research that may lead to better health. If you can’t do the research yourself due to lack of skill or emotional distress, find a friend with those skills who can.
Realize that most prescription drugs and medical procedures are a big business. They are designed to manage symptoms, not necessarily to make you healthier overall. In a sense, we don’t have a health care system; we have a disease maintenance system. It’s like hiring an exterminator who keeps the pests just comfortable enough so they never leave, ensuring you’ll need his services forever.
Find an “alternative” physician. They may use terms to describe themselves like integrative, functional, or regenerative practitioners. Here’s a good test: do they take out-of-pocket pay, rather than insurance? The doctors who do have decided to break away from the herd. They are more likely to want to find the root causes of your problems. They won’t just run a few tests and send you off to a specialist, or put you on a lifetime supply of pills.
Act on what you find to be beneficial to your health. If you don’t want to exercise with some intensity and consistency, and eat right, then when you end up with diabetes and/or are overweight with heart problems, just be honest and say, “This is the bed I have made, and now I’m sleeping in it… and it’s sagging in the middle.”
There’s so much more to dive into, but I hope these brief comments have given you some food for thought. I’m a researcher with over 25 years of experience in the health and wellness space, and my goal with this blog is to help expand your world (and worldview) into fewer drugs and better health. I hope this information empowers you to take more charge of your life.
Blessings,
The Medical Maverick