I realized the other day that I haven’t been using my blog and I have been accumulating various random thoughts that are clogging my precious file space, so it is time to put it in writing and refill my gray matter with more ruminations.
People constantly ask me health questions because they know I have a keen interest in health related subjects and research topics regularly. As a result I have learned that most people really don’t get adequate care at their local medical clinic. I have a very personal case in point that I would like to share and I hope no one will feel violated as this is within my nuclear family as I would never discuss in this forum any of my clients health matters. I would especially like to appeal to the doubters among you.
Let’s call this patient Surrey (because it is fun to name characters when you are writing). Surrey cannot get pregnant and it is clearly her problem, so she recently went to her local medical clinic and was seen by a very “compassionate” and “thorough” health care professional. Surrey had the normal exams that every woman endures and she was sent to the lab for routine blood tests because she had some specific concerns that she and I had discussed, so she specifically requested that some issues be checked.
The tests came back and she was told all was normal, normal as defined by the AMA or some other esteemed group of people like the employees of your insurance company. As I mentioned Surrey is infertile and heartbroken, so rather than pursue the normal prohibitively expensive infertility treatments I asked her to see a functional medicine doctor, Dr. Rob Bruley, in Linden Hills Minnesota to see if he could do anything to just get her body working on its own.
Dr. Bruley requested more blood work. These are not weird or unnecessary blood tests but tests that should be run on each and every one of us but unless you request it or see someone more responsible like a functional medicine doctor you will never have these tests done despite their lifesaving qualities. She had thyroid tests run again, Vitamin D3 tests to check her Vitamin D levels, she had a fasting insulin and a non fasting insulin test and a more complete test of her blood cells even Celiacs disease was on the lengthy list. None of these tests were earth shattering but the news that followed certainly rocked Surrey’s world.
Remember now that she had been told her thyroid was fine just a few weeks prior to this time but after a more careful examination was complete she was found to not just have an underproductive thyroid but she has autoimmune thyroiditis sometimes called Hashimoto’s Disease. Even Dr. Bruley was taken aback by this discovery. It is unfortunately a major contributor to infertility in females.
She was also found to be very insulin resistant which is a precursor to Diabetes 2. Insulin resistance is being looked at as a number 1 contributor to infertility in young women not to mention a plethora of other health issues that plague our population at the moment. The previous blood tests had revealed no hint of this rather major health issue.
Lastly, she was diagnosed as being anemic. As I understand it her red blood cells are not readily absorbing available iron for some reason. Again this is a big problem for women who want to have offspring as it interferes with a woman’s ability to be fertile.
What is that saying to do with baseball, three strikes and you are out? Well I would say our public health care is out, out of touch, out of treatments that don’t involve a pharmaceutical product, out of the business of taking care of people’s health. And if that doesn’t scare you Minnesota’s health care has a reputation for being some of the best in the country.
Surrey still isn’t pregnant and her biological clock is ticking so loud I can hear it and I am 30 miles away. She may pursue conventional infertility treatments and I can’t blame her for that but the care she received in the office of a doctor that calls himself a functional medicine doctor (Google the word) may have extended her life. Whether she spends those extra years with children or not only time will tell.
If you still doubt the message I am trying to share on this blog site I guess I can say no more than “doubter beware” and you are in my prayers.
