What is Allopathic Medicine aka Western Medicine?

It is the science of diagnosing, treating or preventing disease and other damage to the body or mind.  It is a method of treating disease with remedies and protocols that produce effects different from those caused by the disease itself.  The cause of the disease is not used in the cure of the disease.  It is primarily the treatment of signs and symptoms that a patient presents to a doctor or to the ER with.  Allopathic medicine is designed to intervene when all natural measures to improve health or to self heal have failed. 

Remember doctors are in business to earn a living.  And doctors only get paid for the diagnosis that they make and treat.  Your physical and psychological conditions must be converted into a medical, psychological or psychiatric diagnosis.  Insurance companies will not pay doctors if they do not give your "symptoms" a diagnostic label.  Doctors practice on patients with what are called syndromes of failing health.  This is when the human body is stalled in the healing process.  The body is trying on its own effort to heal but it isn't working fast enough due to poor nutritional and a lack of mental and spiritual support.  So your signs and symptoms then get worse and doctors must take over to relieve your ongoing discomfort with drugs and or surgery.  Doctors make a very good living identifying and treating the symptoms of the syndromes that they spend years learning to diagnose. 

Example, (PLEASE NOTE: This example is not an indication that all skin irritation or rash conditions are explained in this manner.  This example is to explain how and why a diagnosis is necessary to treat patients by allopathic practitioners).  

You developed a skin rash from a new soap that you recently tried.  You saw it advertised on TV as "the soap of all soaps" and decided to try it.  You liked the soap after trying it.  So now you use it regularly.  You don't know that it's the new soap causing your rash, because it slowly developed over time.  You just know that you've developed this pesky, itchy, reddish, flaky rash that won't go away.  You tried a few over the counter remedies, but they didn't work. 

So you go to your doctor.  To see your doctor there will be a $100+ fee per visit ($20 - $30 co pay deductible if you have insurance) just to talk with him/her, a brief review of your history, current blood pressure reading and your current reason for this doctor visit.  After talking with you, the doctor must then label your "CONDITION" to "TREAT" it.  It may be labeled as an allergy, dermatitis, contact dermatitis or something else that my require further testing.  Which then gives the doctor medical authority to suggest further testing and/or to give you a prescription for a pill and/or skin cream to stop to itching, redness and discomfort, which will cost you more money at your local pharmacy. 

What happens when you have a condition that may be more serious.  And if you have a condition that doctors have to keep searching to find or create a label for.  What happens when doctors scratch their heads and don't really know what's causing the problem?  They then begin their analytical search for answers that fit into their canned treatment protocols.  Initially there is not much thought about an under lying cause related to your episodic event, a possible past or present exposure to some invisible environmental factor. 

Their primary focus is your discomfort relief and on the treatment of your current medical event.  If the doctor can prescribe something that will stop your discomfort, their job is done.  You then get your prescription and they will see you the next time when you have another problem or event.

Many medical events can have there origins in 3 possible areas within the human anatomy (the body), the mind (mental illness) and physiology (biological body functions).  It could potentially be 1 of or all 3 of these issues that doctors are use to treating with medications such as, systemic (through out your body) yeast, fungus and/or intestinal dysbiosis (altered bowel/intestinal flora).  The signs and symptoms that slowly begin and can ultimately blossom into a major illness if not caught early and understood by the practitioner.  Signs and symptoms that cause patients to start self medicating with OTC's (Over The Counter medications), show up for continued doctor visits or at its progressive worse, go to the emergency room for immediate primary care.

Doctors are taught that they have to do something to you, not something for you.  Doctors are initially trained in acute care, crisis intervention treatments and protocols (heart attacks, trauma, auto accidents, crisis stabilization etc.).  This is where they truly shine.  Their unique life saving skills are very needed.  So there is definitely a place for allopathic practitioners in the overall picture of health care.  But once the acute episode or the crisis has been managed, an alternative or holistic protocol should be sought to resolve the root cause of the crisis or to assist with rapid natural healing through diet, nutrients, exercise and holistic support. 

Remember, the sicker you are, the more time a doctor will spend with you using protocols to prolong your life.  There are times when the attempted cure per the assigned protocol can be just as lethal than the illness itself. 

Many doctors open their "PRACTICE" after finishing medical school and pass their state board exam with great hopes of making a contribution through their own unique understanding of what they have spent years learning.  But to the contrary, western medicine has become very depersonalized.  Doctors tend to see more and more patients in less and less time, due to the pressures of time and the amount of money that it takes to maintain a practice in spite of their 6 and 7 figure incomes.  Remember, doctors are in business too.  

The medical profession today is overpopulated and compartmentalized with specialties.  Thus rendering allopathic medicine as overspecialized and un-unified in their approach to theory and patient treatments.  Managed care is another area that does not provide the best out comes for most people who rely upon the health care system today.  That is why many patients are advised to obtain a second or even a third opinion prior to a medically invasive procedure. 

Most allopathic practitioners, due to the cerebral constraints of their profession are rather curt in their approach to individual patient care.  Doctors are there to assist you with your complaints, aliments and treatments, but patients soon understand that during their brief office visit, they must get to the point and leave the small talk out so the doctor can get busy and solve the problem.  But healing involves feelings, and many doctors are trained to focus on patient complaints because they don't have time in their practice to indulge the feelings of their patients.  The mind is the specialty of psychiatry.

Doctors learn everything they need to know about the human body in an attempt to heal it, but know little about the human soul which really facilitates the healing process.  The human body and soul are one.  Doctors are not taught to be healers.  They are taught to be analytical problem solvers.  As one is taught to assess the patients illness, doctors ask mostly short questions that evoke a "YES" or "NO" response.  Healing comes from the intimate knowledge of the mind body experience, not from analysis and trouble shooting.

A medical diagnosis is like an art form.  The doctor (the artist) must take the patients clinical picture per the assessment (the Q & A session) , the lab / test results and their experience as a doctor with these types of cases to determine an accurate medical diagnosis.  Where their experience is lacking, the doctor will consult with their peers who have more experience, such as a diagnostician or an internist.  Once a diagnosis has been arrived at, a treatment protocol is then determined to treat the primary and secondary issues, the signs, symptoms and the anticipated side effects of the treatment.  Remember, doctors don't treat to cure your illnesses, they treat to stop (not cure) or manage the ongoing signs and symptoms of the illnesses that you came to them with.  Doctors want to treat to cure, but they are not trained to treat to cure.

Doctors have learned to use their diagnostic tools like pigeon holes to manage complex illness settings that patients present with.  Allopathic professionals have their illness assessment skill down to a science.  The problem comes when the patient doesn't fit into a specific pigeon hole or some canned treatment modality when they know that the assigned protocol has a poor prognostic outcome.  Then a new least invasive option must be determined to address the unknown.  Now here is where the skills of the doctors experience come into play. 

The practitioner must have refined his/her ability to further assess and reassess by way of extensive experience in his/her area of expertise, to determine what can be done with minimal trauma to the patient.  A new or hybrid protocol is then selected and used to begin treatment of the patient.  And if the patient is not responding as anticipated, the doctor then goes back to the drawing board for another opinion on another treatment option. 

This analytical trouble shooting continues until something begins to work or until they have exhausted their knowledge.  The practitioner may then inform the patient and family that they can do no more and it is time to get your personal affairs in order.  At some point in an illness crisis, finding out the root cause of the problem is key.  But doctors are not trained to do this.  That is why patients are encourages to get second and even third opinion regarding their illness.  But even with that said, the doctors skill sets in crisis intervention and related area are still very necessary when it comes to the survival of critically ill patients.  

Today most protocols used by doctors do apply for many of the illnesses that patients present to practitioners with.  Why?  Because most of the illnesses are degenerative long term diet and nutrient deficiency states that start slow and become worse over time.  The problem comes when pharmaceuticals are used to treat the problem, because once again it's an attempt at a quick fix for pain, symptom relief and abrupt disease cessation, but it's not a cure.

Medical doctors are not big risk takers when it comes to alternative therapies.  Doctors are taught to think in a vacuum and not outside of the box.  Many medical professionals upon graduating and receiving their MD degrees, find themselves as part of a unique elite group of professionals who have been protected from the realities of their profession until they gain personal experience through their own practice of medicine.  Doctors are sheltered while in medical school, they then emerge with an idealistic view of what their "practice" will hold.  Doctors are paid very well to practice medicine once they graduate. 

So the motivation to retrain to use new questionable alternative therapies initially is not very important to them.  Doctors also have ongoing concerns about being rejected or reprimanded by their peers and the established medical community if they attempt to operate out side of the perimeters of their academic training and the scope of their medical practice.  They have been educated to follow the rudiments of a defined medical model.  Although today there are more doctors who after practicing traditional medicine, are willing and ready to take some risks, and do seek additional training in proven acceptable alternative therapies to better service the patients of their practice.  

Both doctors and scientists know that the medical breakthrough's in successful health treatments come from those who take risks to move beyond their traditional training experience.  Those who are willing to think and act out side of the medical paradigm that indoctrinated them onto a perceived tried and tested path.  These medical detectives consciously veer of the straight and narrow path of traditional medicine to seek a more holistic alternative, because they are willing to take the risk to help their patients. 

It takes about 20 years before new researched information is placed into the textbooks of medical schools for students to learn and for the new knowledge to make its way into the public as a standard of care used by new doctors starting their practice.  Example, diet.  As recent as 25 years ago there was little discussion about diet when you visited your doctor.  What you ate rarely was discussed in your doctors office.  Why? 

Because doctors were taught as little as 3 hour of nutrition in all of their years in medical school.  So it just wasn't important.  They just couldn't connect the dots between how their patients felt and what they ate.  But today it's different, the research is finding it's way into your doctors vocabulary even if he/she didn't get it in school.  Why?  Because they must stay current with their CME's, continuing medical education, so it is slowly making the new researched information available into today's medical practice.

Because traditional medicine follows a fairly straight and narrow path.  It is known that there are no absolutes in medicine and doctors will not give false hope to their patients as it relates to their practice.  Doctors feel safe when following the accepted treatments and protocols within their traditional medical model.  Doctors also have a lot to loose if they attempt to operate outside of that traditional medical paradigm. 

The bottom line, doctors can be sued, so they are extremely reluctant to take risks, because alternative protocols were not part of their initial medical training.  However, today many doctors are opting not to go into private practice because the cost of malpractice insurance is prohibitive and setting up a practice is very costly.

So many doctors themselves are now looking for alternate employment opportunities with a good benefit package outside of setting up their own private practice.  And with the advent of the managed care system introduced by the Regan administration, which controls medicare payouts, and is still being somewhat debated, doctors too want employment security.

Doctors are however slowly coming to the realization that helping their patients stay well instead of "PRACTICING" to bring them back to good health with allopathic protocols is becoming an accepted and wise method of treatment.  They are beginning to utilize the safer alternative protocols that many alternative practitioners have perfected.  Why? because they did learn holistic treatments and protocols in their academic programs. 

Today medical doctors can and many are advancing their practice by seeking alternative education opportunities through established alternative credentialed education programs such as Bastyr University and Clayton College of Natural Health.  For more information on advanced degrees in holistic health designed for allopathic practitioners, visit Bastyr University, one of the world's leading academic centers for advancing knowledge in the natural health sciences, and Clayton College of Natural Health where leaders in natural health are educated, which is where I am a currently enrolled.

Allopathic physicians receive an MD degree.  They are then licensed to practice in their respective state to use allopathic treatments and protocols in managing the health care of their patients.  Their responsibilities vary and relate to the on going systematic maintenance of health problems, including chronic, acute care and prevention by treatment primarily with pharmaceuticals, radiation and surgery.  Allopathic physicians can choose to practice in a number of different specialty areas, as well as build a career in teaching or research.

Education - Medical school is four years in length. Typically, the first two years concentrate on didactic learning of the basic sciences and the second two years focus on clinical training and practice of defined protocols in the hospital setting with patients. This is the initial practice period for doctors.  There is however some cross over and integration of the two across the four years.  After completion of medical school, physicians will generally enter residency training programs that range from 3 – 8 years which will depend on their area of interest.

Specialty Areas - After medical school, all medical physicians are required to complete further training.  It is at this time that they will choose the clinical area of practice which they hope to pursue in more depth.  A physician may choose from a number of different specialty, including (but not limited to) the following:

These specialties will vary in terms of the number of years of post-graduate training required.

Practice Areas - Physicians practice in a number of different settings including private practice, group practice, academics, research, HMOs, clinics, industry, military or government.