I'm feeling spicy today. Buckle up.

As a former ICU nurse, I feel like I have a pretty good leg to stand on when I say:::

Medical doctors are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to our life, health, and survival as a society.

We NEED them when we break a leg.

We NEED them when we have a blood vessel bust in our brain.

We NEED them when we have a cancerous tumor that needs to be removed from our abdomen.

We NEED them when we have complete placenta previa and cannot safely deliver our baby vaginally.

We NEED them when a patient needs a kidney or liver or lung transplant.

We NEED them when a growth or mass needs to be biopsied.

We NEED them when we have an internal bleed that needs coiling.

We NEED them when a central line needs to be placed to deliver life-saving medications intravenously.

And on and on we go. 

I have personally experienced western medicine at its finest during my dad's Acute Myeloid Leukemia diagnosis when he required the atomic bomb of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant from a stranger in Iowa. He is alive, well, and thriving today because of the incredible advances of modern medicine that were absolutely necessary to save his life. I will ALWAYS be grateful to his medical team, for their knowledge, their expertise, for their mission to save his life. God Bless every single one of them.

Let me make this explicitly clear:: I believe medical doctors do incredible work, especially in the realm of emergency medicine, lifesaving surgeries, and true dire need when loss of life and limb is on the line.

However.

It is my belief that doctors know a LOT about helping someone in a life and death crisis, and very LITTLE about how to help a patient maintain health through means like nutrition, lifestyle, stress reduction, and PREVENTION.

I'm writing this today because I just had a conversation with one of my best friends, and she was updating me on some of the health challenges she has been having lately.

She has been having some runs of PVCs and irregularity in her heart rhythm the last few weeks. PVCs are premature ventricular contractions that can happen out of the blue for no reason at all, and many of us do not feel them when they happen. They can happen when we sneeze, when we startle, when we are dehydrated, etc. They are usually benign and aren't a big deal for most people.

She has been having multiple of these PVCs in a row, which CAN be major cause for concern. She is doing everything right -- she sought the support of a cardiologist, and is getting appropriate tests like an ECHO and stress test as well as blood work to see whats going on.

She is a wise woman. She is intuitive and she is very aware of her body. She told me that she wants to get a second opinion because her cardiologist recommends a drug called metoprolol, to be taken whenever she has these PVCs, indefinitely, without doing any more investigation into the possible causes of this heart irregularity.

Oh yeah, she is 36 years old.

With no family history of cardiovascular disease, no personal history of ever having any cardiac issues. And he prescribed this drug without a single lab, a single ECHO result, without the results of a stress test.

So we are talking the other day, and I started to ask her some questions about this current health challenge.

I asked her:::

How is stress these days? Her answer --> high: 7-9/10 most days.

How is she nourishing these days? Her answer --> some days pretty well, but there are days where she has no appetite and barely eats, and then a few days later she will have an insatiable appetite and just eat a bunch in one day.

How is her sleep? Her answer --> she wakes up every night around 3am to pee.

How is her digestion? Her answer --> she's constipated, very unsatisfying bowel movements, hard to pass and pebbly. She has also heartburn.

How is her skin? Her answer --> she is puffy in the face. This is not normal for her.

How is her body weight? Her answer --> she has gained weight and its not coming off.

How is her metabolic health? Her answer --> she has cold hands and feet, she has no libido, she is losing a large amount of hair, her eyebrows are thinning, her period was a mess before getting her IUD put in, and her energy is sluggish.

Anything else unusual? Her answer --> she has randomly started lactating out of the blue, even though she is 6+ months out from breastfeeding.

Anything else of note? Her answer --> she gets debilitating migraines twice per week.

Any big events / life changes / major stressors leading up to this weird heart arrythmia? Her answer --> some recent stressors related to her oldest child and feeling the stress and angst with that.

(other pertinent notes: she is postpartum x2 babies in 4 years, breastfeeding / pumping for 6+ months with both kids, without intentional mineral replenishment following both pregnancies)

As you can see from these questions and subsequent answers -- there is A LOT MORE to her picture than what her 10 minute appointment with her physician yielded.

Now, I'm not a physician, and I have zero labs, zero test results, and zero diagnostics to go on. But it is PLAIN AS FREAKING DAY that there is much more going on here. Her doctor's answer is metoprolol. Sure, she could take the metoprolol. She could pop one every time she feels the irregular heartbeat. She can medicate it away for ease of feeling better during her day. But know this -- It is 100000000% a bandaid approach. The PVCs are a SYMPTOM. And her cardiologist's answer is to medicate her rather than dig deeper into the ROOT CAUSE of her problem.

In the world of minerals, we look at medical problems and diagnoses through the lens of what is available to the cells to carry out their metabolic processes so that YOU -- the human being of 100 trillion specialized cells -- can live, breathe, see, create new blood cells, exchange oxygen, think, procreate, climb mountains, heal, and thrive in this human experience on Earth.

In the words of the great sage Morley Robbins, my mentor and founder of The Root  Cause Protocol:::

"THERE IS NO MEDICAL DISEASE. THERE IS ONLY METABOLIC DYSFUNCTION AS A RESULT OF MINERAL DEFICIENCY."

So. Is the answer to her problems ONLY in correcting her mineral imbalances? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say ... Maybe!

If minerals are how all of our cells "pay" for their metabolic processes, doesn't it make sense that repleting, replenishing, and balancing those minerals will yield better cellular function? Dare I say that intentional focused mineral repletion and balancing will give her cardiac cells what they need to behave appropriately? Again ... I think its entirely possible and probable.

We are going to get an HTMA to get a look at her minerals, her toxic metals, her level of stress, and her mineral ratios that show us how individual glands and organs are functioning. She is going to work on her stress, and she is going to focus on nourishing enough and frequently enough during the day. That's literally it. That is IT for right now. And as we get more information through her lab work and her other test results, we will course correct as necessary and create a more catered protocol specific to her needs.

But notice how I asked about 50 questions that were *seemingly unrelated to her cardiac issue. What does digestion and her poop have to do with her heart? In a word: everything. The entire body is connected. There is not one organ system that is not constantly communing with the others.

In my personal opinion, the way doctors practice is lazy medicine. They have a checklist, a protocol, a list of things to do first, then second, then third, and they do the same thing for every patient WITHOUT considering the whole story.

I think there is major room for improvement on the part of allopathic medicine. Although I do know that this is largely the focus of western medicine -- medication, medication, surgery, medication. They don't talk about nutrition, stress, lifestyle, etc because simply put -- they are not trained to. 

(and personally, I wouldn't take nutrition advice from a medical doctor. Nutrition is not a requirement for them in doctor school. Just like I wouldn't want someone to come to me with their broken bone, I wouldn't want my nutrition advice to come from a physician who doesn't know what he's talking about on the subject.)

Yes, we need our doctors.

But they are not the experts when it comes to how to be healthy, how to maintain health, how to prevent medical problems from arising. They have limited tools in their toolboxes, namely drugs and surgery.

Signs You Have A Drug Dealer For A Doctor

They prescribe pharmaceuticals without asking questions about your lifestyle.

They don't ask you about your nutrition.

They don't ask you about your stress levels.

They don't ask you about stressors or circumstances leading up to the condition in which you are seeking help with.

They utilize a one size fits all approach without considering your unique lifestyle and circumstances.

They don't give you a plan for getting OFF said medication.

They don't explain in detail the RISKS and BENEFITS of taking the medication they are prescribing.

They don't go over in detail the side effects that could potentially happen with the medication they are prescribing.

They don't attempt to get to the root cause of your health condition.

They poopoo the importance of lifestyle and diet.

They tell you there's nothing that can help you beyond the medication they recommend.

They tell you supplements aren't "FDA approved".

They make you feel inferior or subordinate when you ask questions about alternatives to their drug.

They make you feel inferior or subordinate when you come in with your own research regarding the recommended drug and ask for further clarification.

They say things like "don't confuse your Google search with my medical degree."

They don't provide thorough informed consent on the treatment they are prescribing (this includes all risks, all benefits, potential side effects, the alternatives, and the option to do nothing)

It has never been more important to be our own advocate when it comes to our health. Doctors, while they are very important and I respect many of them greatly, are limited in what they can do for people outside of drugs and surgery. The sad reality is that there is not a lot of money in healthy people. There is not a lot of incentive for them to know about diet and lifestyle, because there are no returns on these things. Healthcare is a business. And business needs customers. And customers in healthcare are patients.

It is my personal belief that we need to have MULTIPLE people in our circle to achieve the most optimal status of health.

We NEED to have a physician we can call on when medical emergencies happen.

We NEED to have physicians in our corner for important tests like annual pap smears, annual bloodwork, etc.

We NEED to know how to eat appropriately to support health every single day in our homes -- so maybe this means having a nutritionist in your corner for support, or maybe it means learning about diet and nutrition on our own to know how to do this.

We NEED to have other practitioners in our circle to help us maintain optimal health -- people like chiropractors, acupuncturists, massage therapists, regular therapists, and other specialized practices.

I guess my message today is that its important to look at your health through multiple different lenses, through the eyes of more than just meds for our ailments, through the body as a WHOLE instead of as an isolated machine where the heart doesn't talk to the thyroid doesn't talk to the gut etc. There is wisdom to our symptoms. There is innate intelligence when things to awry in our body. There is often much more to the story than simply "just take this medication to solve your problems". I wish doctors would ask better questions. I wish they could give more time to their patients. But I understand that the system is not set up this way. Its hard to take a thorough history when you can only bill insurance for a 10 minute office visit.

We need our doctors, yes. But we aren't deficient in pharmaceuticals. No one is going to advocate for our health and wellbeing more than we are. So its important that we become informed on all facets of health -- diet, lifestyle, stress, minerals, and yes, medications for when they are necessary (because I do believe there are certain scenarios in which they are necessary).

I pray for a world where medical doctors can see beyond merely drugs and surgery.

I pray for a world where the root cause of our health challenges is truly what is sought, and not simply a bandaid approach.

I pray for a world where medicine and nutrition can marry and provide the ultimate healing experience for patients everywhere.

Yours In Abundant Health,

xoxo,

Emily