Tuesday, April 29, 2003

Larry Dossey, MD, has a personal story about patients who choose their own healthcare options. This is taken from the wonderful book Five Steps to Selecting the Best Alternative Medicine by Mary and Michael Morton (New World Library, 1996): I had a patient who had an enlarged ovary and needed surgery because we were very concerned it might be cancerous. This woman had a very sophisticated, complex view of the world that I really admired and shared. As I was sorting through all the gynecologists who I could refer her to, the question in my mind was, "Who in the world am I going to ask to operate on this woman?" My patient strongly believed in the power of music, of hypnosis, of pyramids and that only positive things be said to her while she was under anesthesia. I thought of one woman gynecologist who I thought would be open to working within the belief systems of this woman. So I asked the physician, "Can you honor this patient's beliefs about healing even though they may be very different than your own?" The doctor felt she could. Then I asked the same question of the anesthesiologist and the nursing staff. Everyone said that they would cooperate. When my patient arrived at her room at the hospital, she set up a sound system and played music she felt would help her heal. She made other changes to the room, including hanging art work from her home so she could have the kind of visual input in a sterile room that she felt was important to her. She had the surgery as scheduled and it went very well. The most impressive result was that she was released about three days ahead of prediction. Also worthy of note: The gynecologist and the entire staff learned a tremendous amount about how these things can really help a patient! 9:40:25 PM     Holistic health, as defined by the American Holistic Medical Association, is a healing practice that follows these principles. I find these statements refreshing and hopeful. 1. Holistic physicians embrace a variety of safe, effective options in diagnosis and treatment, including a) education for lifestyle changes and self-care, b) complementary alternatives and c) conventional drugs and surgery. (Note the order.) 2. Searching for the underlying causes of disease is preferable to treating symptoms alone. 3. Holistic physicians expend as much effort in establishing what kind of patient has a disease as they do in establishing what kind of disease a patient has. 4. Prevention is preferable to treatment and is usually more cost-effective. The most cost-effective approach evokes the patient's own innate healing capabilities. 5. Illness is viewed as a manifestation of a dysfunction of the whole person, not as an isolated event. 6. A major determinant of healing outcomes is the quality of the relationship established between physician and patient, in which patient autonomy is encouraged. 7. The ideal physician-patient relationship considers the needs, desires, awareness and insight of the patient as well as those of the physician. 8. Physicians significantly influence patients by their example. 9. Illness, pain and the dying process can be learning opportunities for patients and physicians. 10. Holistic physicians encourage patients to evoke the healing power of love, hope, humor and enthusiasm, and to release the toxic consequences of hostility, shame, greed, depression and prolonged fear, anger and grief. 11. Unconditional love is life's most powerful medicine. Physicians strive to adopt an attitude of unconditional love for patients, themselves and other practitioners. 12. Optimal health is much more than the absence of sickness. It is the conscious pursuit of the highest qualities of the physical, environmental, mental, emotional, spiritual and social aspects of the human experience. 9:28:44 PM     This is a blog about holistic health, alternative medicine, complementary medicine, integrative medicine, whatever. 9:07:49 PM

© Copyright 2003 Daryl Kulak. Last update: 5/2/03; 5:05:53 PM.