An aging population turns to natural alternatives for relief after losing confidence in Big Pharma.
To infinity and beyond? Francine Mays of Castro Valley was dumfounded when her doctor said that’s how long a staph infection caused by a bad spider bite on her stomach would be present in her body. Expect to have regular flare-ups, he warned, as the antibiotics she’d been taking repeatedly would eventually stop working. Then he handed her a prescription. You guessed it—for the same antibiotic. Mays felt panicky as she left the doctor’s office with little direction and even less hope.
“We’re conditioned to trust our medical doctor’s expertise,” says Mays, “to take their word as gospel, but this was hard to accept. I felt like he was handing me a slow death sentence.”
That bleak prognosis prompted Mays to search for an alternative solution. She combed the Internet for options, looking up homeopathic remedies and querying people she knew. Today she suffers no indications of staph present in her body, thanks, she claims, to a one-week topical regimen of hydrogen peroxide and garlic. It was recommended to her by a friend as endorsed on an episode of The Dr. Oz Show with the television physician who daily creates public awareness about alternatives to traditional medicine. Mays’ affected area healed completely in short time, and she’s not had a recurrence since. That was four years ago.
Today, when something ails her, Mays looks for solutions in natural medicine or naturopathy, the field that uses nutritional therapy like vitamins and minerals, amino acids, homeopathic remedies, botanical applications, and standard herbal extracts instead of the allopathic answer: drugs.
“I now prefer getting to the root cause of and even curing conditions and illnesses instead of just masking their symptoms,” says Mays, who has adopted a more holistic, or whole body, approach to healing—like people used to long ago.
“After that and other similar episodes with doctors not always having answers,” says Mays, “I just don’t run to them anymore for every little thing. I’ve found taking my health into my own hands is entirely possible and extremely empowering.”
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In a country where medical costs are skyrocketing, prescription drug commercials list more frightening side-effects than benefits, and chronic diseases seem epidemic, it’s no wonder attitudes are slowly shifting. Thanks in part to public health gurus such as Andrew Weil, M.D., a leader in the field of integrative medicine (which mixes naturopathic and Western approaches), and Dr. Oz encouraging folks to be more proactive about their health, millions of Baby Boomers are embracing the idea of incorporating alternative medicine in their lives, treating everything from a cold to cancer either on their own or complementing conventional treatments. Many find that naturopathic approaches to health tend to be more preventative, side-effect free, gentle on the body, less expensive, and offer more cure than quick fixes. No one’s saying fire your doctor. But with the natural industry gaining more and more credibility as anecdotal evidence mounts, it makes sense to know the options as millions successfully engage in natural practices.
A 2010 study conducted by AARP, the American Association of Retired People, and NCCAM, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine—the federal government’s lead agency for scientific research on non-conventional, diverse medical and health-care systems, practices, and products—surveyed more than 1,000 people aged 50 and older. More than half reported already using complementary and alternative medicine, and more than a third were taking some type of herbal product or dietary supplement. Interestingly, only a third of all respondents and a little more than half of complementary and alternative medicine users, or CAM users, admitted telling their doctor, though they should to avoid any conflicts in treatments. While the NCCAM highly recommends they do so, the reality remains. Many conventional doctors, holistic followers suggest, don’t want to hear it.
“My doctor just wouldn’t acknowledge the efficacy of any natural product or therapy I told him about that wasn’t FDA approved,” says Ashley Gulizia, an employee of nine years in the Whole Body section at Whole Foods in Fremont, a leading organic grocery store chain offering a large selection of vitamins, herbs, and homeopathic remedies. “He was so closed-minded; I stopped telling him about it. Now I think twice about even going,” she admitted. Working in the vitamin and supplement section of the store, she says, has personally alleviated her need to run to the doctor. “I truly feel I know more about what my body needs to be healed than he does.” With years of experience referring people to remedies and receiving their feedback, Gulizia confidently treats herself in conjunction with other holistic practices for healthy mind and body.
“I’ve seen the increase over the years in people who are fed up and want to take control of their health issues by either resolving things on their own or complementing what their doctor can do for them,” Gulizia says. Some of the most common ailments people look to treat, she says, are sleep problems, stress management, digestion issues, and pain, to name a few. While she cannot recommend specific products, she can guide shoppers in the right direction. “Many people come in complaining of their prescription drugs, hoping to wean off them and escape dangerous side effects,” Gulizia says.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. national public health institute, Americans spent nearly $300 billion on prescription drugs in 2013 with nearly a third of all adults using two or more per month.
Certainly drugs can save lives, but, according to Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D., author of the book Real Cause, Real Cure, and a Kona, Hawaii-based internist, entering into the enticing Alice In Wonderland of prescriptions drugs can more often mean temporary fixes instead of getting to the root of health issues.
“There are natural therapies available that are much safer, often more effective, and cost much less,” Teitelbaum says. “Of course, you should never start, change, or stop taking medications without first talking to your doctor.”
But many Boomers from their own personal experience feel their Western doctors, who rarely speak of root cause, prevention, or cure, and are quick to prescribe drugs, don’t seem motivated to deviate from their standard protocols. As a result, some Boomers will self-treat when possible.
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Gina Miranda, 54, of Millbrae sometimes feels like she is falling apart. Although active all her life, recent injuries and sports-related surgeries have caused chronic pain. Despite the efforts of, in her words, her “pusher-man doctor” who recently suggested she take the highly addictive opiate Morphine for a wrist injury, she stays relatively true to what she has always known is best.
“I was raised with ‘ancestral’ knowledge,” says Miranda, “that has educated me to use mostly natural remedies to resolve/prevent medical problems and avoid quick-solution magic pills to solve everything. As I get older and am able to read about the medical basis for natural remedies, I’m even more driven to avoid pharmaceuticals, with their side-effects, and possible addiction. There seems a very high cost for Bandaid solutions in the long term, financially, physically, and mentally.”
The potential of drug addiction from prescription drugs can be especially problematic for those with addictive tendencies. When Ray Ysaguirre, a 52-year-old San Francisco teamster, hurt his neck and shoulder on the job, he was convinced to have surgery with a 50-50 chance of success. The pain worsened after surgery, and before he knew it, he was dependent upon prescription pain meds and Prozac to treat the depression he developed. Unfortunately for him, the 11 years of drug sobriety he had earned were squelched when he found he couldn’t live without the highly addictive pain reliever Codeine. Only by entering a drug program was he able to shake the new addiction.
“Never once was I asked by my doctor if I had a history of drug use,” says Ysaguirre. “Only my pain level, from 1 to 10. It’s like doctors are out of touch with reality sometimes.”
It does raise a valid question for many. Why does it seem most Western doctors focus on prescribing meds?
Andrei Volhontseff, nutritional scientist and owner of the Valley Health Mill, a natural food store in Pleasanton for 13 years, says it’s unfortunately the nature of the business of Western medicine.
“The fact is there’s a triangle between medicine, the drug companies, and the government which runs the drug industry,” Volhontseff says. “Most medical schools are funded by drug companies, which gives the industry a lot of control, or at least influence over, what is taught in med school. There are also many drug company lobbyists on Capitol Hill who contribute to election campaigns, etc.”
Consequently most conventional doctors will be more apt to prescribe drugs, since their training primarily consists of administering pharmaceuticals to treat, and in some cases, simply manage already existing health conditions, naturopaths say.
In March 2014, an investigative report on CBS Morning News exposed a link between Western doctors and Big Pharma, the term commonly used for the pharmaceutical industry. Reporter Charles Ornstein says he found not only are doctors often involved in the development of new meds, but also that many receive kickbacks from 10s to 100s of thousands of dollars to promote the drugs.
“It isn’t in theirs [the doctors], or the industry’s, best interest to find cures, or to even prevent conditions,” Volhontseff says. “In some ways, their very livelihood may have come to depend on people being chronically sick.”
This is the pharmaceutical industry’s response to the CBS report allegations: “The discovery of new and improved medicines is dependent on research collaborations between physicians and biopharmaceutical companies. Clinical trials sponsored by biopharmaceutical companies have led to breakthroughs for people suffering from cancer and other life-threatening diseases,” says Matthew Bennett, senior vice president, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
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Volhontseff, who is not a medical doctor, takes pride in what his particular health food store has to offer the public. Not only can customers get the latest in natural applications, but they also have knowledgeable service available to them. Both he and his staff have degrees in the fields of nutrition and naturopathy and stay very much on the cutting-edge of new research and findings. They will gladly give advice but without making medical claims or diagnoses. Two things he is comfortable regularly advising customers to do are to take CoQ10 supplements, an essential enzyme for the health of all cells, and to have their Vitamin D levels checked, as most people are severely deficient.
“We can help customers who are looking to not use drugs for their issues,” says Volhontseff, adding, “and we can help those who are looking to enhance what they are already doing traditionally—people who may feel they need to do more or get better results.”
If you are looking to begin incorporating a more natural approach to your health, Volhontseff recommends a visit to a reputable health food store where knowledgeable help is available, or even Whole Foods, where one can search homeopathic remedies based on their symptoms by inputting them into a kiosk that produces suggestions. If you prefer to surf the web, Volhontseff recommends sticking with the larger, reputable websites for information such as NaturalMedicine.com, Naturaldatabase.com, or HolisticMedicine.org. These sites can also be good resources for locating naturopathic physicians. Word of mouth from reliable sources might be good as well, meaning trusted people who have had genuine success with certain applications. Sometimes just regular folk have answers.
Miranda has seen good results with her pain relief from an herb called arnica in lieu of meds. In the Miranda household, natural remedies for minor conditions are a no-brainer. Most favored are cinnamon bark tea, vapor rub, and a hot bath at the first signs of feeling under the weather.
Margie Martinez, 50, of San Francisco uses snippets from her aloe vera plant for minor burns, steeps mint tea leaves for upset stomach, and takes whiffs of lavender oil to help achieve restful sleep.
Ysaguirre recently ventured into a Chinese herb shop on Ninth Street in Oakland looking for something to treat a persistent rash on his leg he’d had for more than a year. No prior prescription had made any headway. He walked out with a eucalyptus-smelling cream he swears is a miracle worker as the rash began to dissipate practically immediately. Bitter melon powder from a Chinese herb shop once alleviated his strep throat when he had no medical insurance, he said. Chinese medicine, around for thousands of years, is another viable branch of alternative treatments.
Sergio Colina, 56, from San Francisco builds his immunity and prevents illness by living a more holistic lifestyle, which involves being active, eating well, getting plenty of sunlight, drinking green and black teas, and having a healthy protein smoothie every day. He feels everyone would be slim and content if they lived like him and wouldn’t have much need to see a doctor.
While it’s difficult for anyone to predict whether Western medicine will ever truly embrace a holistic approach, Volhontseff believes any change that does occur will come from a grassroots movement.
“As patients express more of an interest in natural remedies or ways to improve their health through a more natural lifestyle,” says Volhontseff, “physicians will be forced to become more educated in these areas and in the branch of integrative medicine. “
Shelly Adler, director of integrative medicine education at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, says this is already happening to some extent. “Though traditional study of drugs and surgery still dwarfs classroom discussion of alternative medicine,” Adler says, “students want to add complementary methods to their black bags, because they know their future patients are going to be using them.”
Till then, people will continue to become advocates for their own health, says Volhontseff. They will be doing their own research and development, he suggests, especially if they’re at that point where the thought of seeing their symptom-treating, pill-prescribing doctors is literally making them sick. That, perhaps, can be likened to how Volhontseff says he feels whenever he thinks of an unforgettable quote he once heard by a senior vice president of a major pharmaceutical company: “In our industry, there are two tragedies. When someone dies and when someone is cured.”
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Brenda Cruz is a freelance writer who lives in Pleasanton and has previously written for The Monthly.