Whole Health Healing

I was only slightly surprised that some speakers at integrative medical conferences, and some writers of whole-body healing, had their start in the chiropractic profession. After all, their skills are often viewed as “alternative” (especially by orthopedic surgeons, in my experience. Admittedly, to me, I was very glad to have such an “alternative” to the back surgery my orthopedist insisted was absolutely necessary!).

People who manipulate the body, whether by an Osteopath (DO—similar to an MD) or a Chiropractor, are immersed in the body’s own ability to heal itself.

Readers of my book and blog know very well that my family uses Integrative medicine for both managing chronic ailments, and natural techniques (such as diet changes, sleep hygiene, exercise, and supplements) for healing. We helped the “mind” by helping the body.

Coming from the chiropractic profession, we have a guest writer who would like to share his view on the use of natural remedies: Dr. Tom Potisk—author of the book “Whole Health Healing” and owner of the website of the same name: Whole Health Healing.

Healing Young Brains - Take Home Points from a 2011 Medical Conference

What better way to end the year, than to look back at the awesome 3-day medical conference I recently attended, titled “Healing Young Brains.” It was hosted by the nonprofit Midway Foundation for Integrative Medicine headed by James Roach, MD. I was pleased to see doctors from all over the country, but unfortunately not many psychiatrists (there were some, though!) I was also approached by two people who had actually read my book. That was a pleasant surprise!

Looking Beyond the Symptoms – An Integrative Approach

The book, It's Not Mental: finding innovative support and medical treatment for a child diagnosed with a severe mental illness takes the reader on our journey from puzzlement over our gentle younger daughter’s bizarre mood and schizophrenic symptoms, to despair, through grief and anger, and into a future better than we had hoped. Along the way, we were helped by family, doctors, nurses, therapists, and friends. Once we had her “fixed,” readers of this website know we could then address the older daughter’s “bipolar disorder” in a more integrated fashion—one which looked beyond the symptoms themselves.

One of the innovative, integrative medical doctors who helped my younger daughter heal is Dr. James Roach (Dr. Jim, as some of his patients affectionately call him). He was recently featured in our local newspaper: Midway physician takes an integrative approach to help his patients. (This link may not stay around long).

Getting Better – Part 1 - Overview (Bipolar and Off Her Meds Part 2)

Over a year ago, I wrote of an unexpected event in our lives, “Bipolar and Off Her Meds (and doing well),” about my older daughter. I promised to eventually provide more information. Fortunately, my children are far from unique in their experience of recovery from the  epidemic of mental illness.

It is, perhaps, ironic, that my older daughter’s former psychiatrist wanted information from her—research he could hand out to patients—on how she got better. The research is not new. It has been available for over thirty years.

Asking the Right Doctor the Right Question

There's a lot of medicinal wisdom doctors don't share with their patients. I assumed that was because the doctors are not keeping abreast of current research.

Often, that is true, but there's another reason that some doctors, even if they KNOW about something, won't tell us.

If he/she works in a group, such as at a clinic or hospital, the doctor may be prohibited from divulging any information that is not considered "mainstream." They also must be careful not to outright contradict other doctors.

In this latter case, we might be able to get better answers from doctors just by changing the way we ask the questions. We need to give them a way to give us uncensored advice without violating their job protocols.

Managing Symptoms Vs Treating Illness

Ever hear doctors claim labels for severe mental illnesses--like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc.-- are "wastebasket diagnoses"? Have you ever stopped to think why some say this and what that means about our treatment of patients with these diagnoses?

Listening to some Continuing Medical Education (CME) about mental illness can be quite thought-provoking… revealing the huge gap between research and practice, and between medical and “mental.”

In this psychiatric medical discussion about schizoaffective versus schizophrenia[1] they boldly used the term "wastebasket diagnosis" for the DSM diagnosis of schizoaffective when talking about its diagnosis and treatment. But let's take this conclusion about this one diagnosis (and treatment) a step further.

Important Links, Books, & Resources to Help Our Children

Perhaps your child is already diagnosed with a non-psychological condition affecting his or her brain (such as clinical depression, pediatric-onset bipolar, autistic-spectrum, hormonal issues, migraines, psychosis-nos, lyme disease, narcolepsy, Kleine-Levin syndrome, thyroid issues, or childhood-onset schizophrenia).

Or, you may still be in the early stages of thinking, “Something is distressing my child. The screaming, horrific nightmares, spacing out, acting like perhaps he/she is hearing voices, not sleeping or sleeping too much, and tantrums indicate that something is wrong.”). In either case, in addition to treating the more salient symptoms of the condition, we need resources to help the child’s underlying biology.