Treat yourself -- to some sound medicine, for a change…. No M.D. who ever swore to the Hippocratic oath could in good conscience tell people NOT to go to a doctor if they're sick… Right? Despite this, the fact remains that iatrogenic (doctor-caused) reasons account for more deaths in this country than all other causes -- except heart disease and cancer. And within this humbling (and terrifying) truth lies an interesting dilemma: Should people try to diagnose and treat themselves for illnesses? On the one hand, people who lack a medical education might do themselves real harm (or miss disease a doctor would discover) by engaging in do-it-yourself medicine. But on the other, they may just be saving their own lives! Hmmm. No easy answer to this one…. Which brings me to my point -- an idea that's gotten lost in the mainstream's idea of medicine: Personal accountability. What drove me to consider this is a recent study of 45,000 men and women concluding that people might be taking dietary supplements in an attempt to treat or prevent illness. Imagine! The horror of people taking charge of their own health… My question is this: Why SHOULDN'T people try to educate themselves about safe, natural substances that can protect them from disease -- or even cure them? Isn't this better in some ways than putting themselves blindly into the hands of the pill-and-scalpel quacks that are the third-leading cause of death in our country? As an M.D., I can't tell you that dietary supplements are a substitute for regular doctor visits -- or that every disease can be treated or cured with vitamins, minerals, nutrients and the like… But I have discovered natural wonders in my lifetime -- and I write about them every day. And I do believe that, in many cases, they're superior to drugs and surgery. I also believe that people have an uncanny knack for knowing when something is wrong with their health -- and that the failure of many doctors to simply listen to their patients is what makes modem medicine
so dangerous… But I can't legally or ethically tell you that without also saying this:
Always check with your doctor before taking any "natural" substances to prevent or treat any illness. And if he (or she) won't listen to you, find another doctor who will. I'm all for taking charge of your own health and going against the big-brother mainstream -- but I'd never encourage you to play at being your own doctor. The stakes are just too high. Always learning and never pretending,
William Campbell Douglass, II, M.D.
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