Doctors, the Medical Profession, and Diet

As I mentioned in Biscuits - Cookies for the "No Grains" Diet I spent over 20 years trying to get a diagnosis of my systemic candida condition - originally caused by the administration of antibiotics. 26 years to be precise. In that time I consulted numerous doctors and was put through a heap of tests : a thyroid test (fatigue), barium meal tests, barium enema tests, liver and gallbladder tests, a bilharzia test (yes! - fatigue again).

I had pain in my stomach, so finally I nearly had an endoscopy. That was aborted by the specialist at the last minute, complete with an abusive "dress-down" standing in a hospital corridor, to boot. In effect, the medical profession told me it was all in my head - insult on top of injury.

In all that time, I kept asking the doctors if there were any foods I should avoid, mainly because my own self-experimentation was leading me to believe that some foods affected me worse than others. And in all that time, the standard answer was, "Nah, as long as you are getting an all-round diet, that's fine."

I had pretty much given up on the medical profession, and was researching and experimenting with dietary restrictions forced on me by the realities of my condition - whatever it might be.

Then by chance as Regional Solicitor for the ACC in Hamilton, I conducted a review hearing about a lady denied cover for an illness contracted while picking a bed of asparagus contaminated with an endectocide spray. I was impressed by the knowledge and open-minded approach of the doctor who gave evidence on her behalf.

The result was the candida diagnosis, and the discovery that I was allergic to 35 different foods (about which, more later) - no doubt because my condition had persisted so long. The doctor told me I could be very close to having ME, and gave me some reading materials on that health problem, too.

At least candida is now recognized by the medical profession generally, and in some cases it's being recognized that one of the causes is the use of antibiotics. About time too.

But in all those years of struggle and search, not one doctor had anything to offer on the issue of diet and food, which as I'll explain later, is a crucial plank in getting rid of any candida infection, be it oral, vaginal or systemic.

That to me is a travesty when you remember that the original father of medicine, the Greek physician Hippocrates (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC) said “Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food “.

Wikipedia has this to say about Hippocrates :

Hippocrates is credited with being the first person to believe that diseases were caused naturally and not as a result of superstition, and gods. Hippocrates was credited by the disciples of Pythagoras with allying philosophy and medicine. He separated the discipline of medicine from religion, believing and arguing that disease was not a punishment inflicted by the gods but rather the product of environmental factors, diet, and living habits. [my emphasis]

Well, how far have we come? Western medicine is only one medical discipline that would say it doesn't believe in superstition and 'gods'. But for years now it has been following the equally deadly gods of the pharmaceutical industry.

We're in a Dark Age of science and medicine when more emphasis is placed on administering drugs than on looking to Hippocrates' wisdom.

But this is also the Information Age, when people with internet access can do their own research and make their own informed decisions.  This needs to happen, and the word needs to get out to those who don't have the internet, and probably need it most. 

That to me (and I'm not an American) is why Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" and other health initiatives are so important.

Patricia