FEATURED STORY: The approach of Whole Health, a movement led by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, is “let me understand who you are as a person, … what matters to you as opposed to what’s the matter with you,” says Dr. Michelle Dossett. “I think eventually it’s going to transform what we do in conventional medicine in this country more broadly.”
Have you ever gone to the doctor with some mysterious ache or ailment, been passed around to specialists, undergone a battery of tests and been told that pain meds are your only option or, worse still, that it’s all in your head?
I know a few too many people who have experienced this, only to find out, after much suffering, that the scan they underwent a year ago missed something significant, or that their strange symptoms cleared up only when they decided to try an elimination diet.
In all of these cases, the favorable outcomes have arisen from patients advocating for themselves and refusing to accept a medical professional’s verdict that there’s nothing that can be done, persisting through trial and error to find their own solution.
And yet patients are not the most objective or knowledgeable practitioners — it’s a doctor’s job to diagnose and prescribe treatment.
So why does our system so often fail at this?
Western medicine is evidence-based. It’s how medical advancements like vaccines, antibiotics and general anesthetic were developed and implemented to save lives, and it’s how technology and treatments are continually evolving to help people with conditions that were recently untreatable.
In practice, though, this model yields specialization, and specialists are trained to treat the problem, not the individual. Just because Treatment A helped 76% of patients with your condition does not mean Treatment A will help you, and if it doesn’t, you may be out of luck from a conventional medical perspective.
The medical community is aware of this, and there’s a growing movement toward adopting a more holistic approach, inspired by Eastern medicine. And in the Capital Region, more people are moving toward wellness by adopting science-backed, healthful habits.
Some of these we can implement this Thanksgiving, like meditating on gratitude, staying hydrated, taking a long walk after eating and not discussing politics.
However you choose to spend it, Happy Thanksgiving from Comstock’s!
- Dakota Morlan, Managing Editor
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Judy: I do some volunteer work writing blogs for the Orangevale-Fair Oaks Food Bank. I stopped by Tuesday morning during their annual Thanksgiving dinner giveaway and was humbled. There were two rows of cars lined up down the street as far as you could see. Organizers told me they had 500 families sign up this year compared to 400 last year. And food bank statistics showed a 30 percent increase in visitors this year due to the high cost of groceries. But what was really heartwarming was all the teenagers and young people who volunteered to help out, handing out boxes all day in the drizzling rain with big, friendly smiles on their faces. Small communities step in to help their struggling neighbors.
Jennifer: It’s finally rainy season in the valley, and I’ve happily pulled out my rain gear collected over years living in wetter places. As I watch people struggle with folding umbrellas or tuck their heads futilely into the hoods of their cotton sweatshirts, I wonder: Why don’t more people wear rain hats? There are many models, from the strictly utilitarian (and very effective) Sou’wester to more stylish versions that won’t make you look like you’re fresh off a cod boat (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I know we only get a couple weeks of rain around here, but if you had a rain hat I assure you you’d be grateful for it all through those couple of weeks.
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