At times the medical profession needs to really get shaking up.

An African-American lady weighing 350 pounds, age 55, with an acute Crohn's flare up came to see us today in the clinic. Her pain was intense. Her rectal bleeding was profuse - so much so that she bled a constant stream of blood before a bowel movement.

She called her MD 10 x or more to no avail. Finally she called the nurse station and they said her doctor was on leave so he could not see her. No referral. No go to the emergency room. She was just left to keep bleeding and in immense pain.

She decided to come to our clinic in hopes we could stop the bleeding and pain.

Yes Ma'am. But we need you to go the hospital and be seen by your MD.

She broke down in tears and said her physician would not see her. We phoned this physician and found out he was not on leave and that he was still seeing patients.

She was right.

We called another clinic for her to go and get emergent care. They would not see her as it was not their patient. They said she had to go to the clinic where her routine physician was.

We got pissed.

We told the patient this and she reported no way in hell was she going back to that hospital. She reported that the gastroenterologists said that they could not help her in any way. She could not tolerate Remicade (a drug for Crohns) nor could she tolerate steroids.

Only thing left was to remove her diseased section of colon and have her poo in a bag the rest of her life. But the surgeons would not do that as she was too overweight. So the docs said that she had so much fat she could live 6 months without eating anything and then they could do the surgery.

How shameful is that???

With that said, we phoned the best gastro clinic in town and told them they were going to see her and they were going to see her soon. They agreed and booked an appointment for her within 2 days.

She was happy.

Meanwhile, as naturopathic physicians, our job was still not done. We prescribed some strong herbs which stop bleeding and also an herb, slippery elm, which soothes the digestive tract and helps it heal. She was quite pleased about this.

We also told her to avoid all the offending foods that she knew of and to come back and see us for long term care in a week once the bleeding had stopped. Cabbage juice and steamed cabbage is also useful.

We also recommended that she make oatmeal or rice but double the amount of water she usually adds. Cook it. Then strain the water out and drink that while discarding the solids. This water helps heal as well.

We will prescribe some very potent supplements for her as well but she had no money. The herbs we gave her and lifestyle support cost her only $12.00

We will successfully treat her as we have done many other Crohn's patients.

Her father died of colon cancer - from Crohn's disease. It is a shame.

If you suffer from Crohn's disease or Celiac or any other digestive disorder, please please make an appointment with a licensed naturopathic physician in your area.

We can help you. We may be even able to restore your health completely.

Visit www.naturopathic.org to locate a licensed physician.

Don't let doctors run your life. It is your life. If the doctor you are seeing is not listening to you, find one who will.

I listen.

I know many other doctors who listen.

Be careful out there. Doctors are not gods even though some think they are.

In health,
Ben

Labels: bad doctor, celiac disease, crohns disease, digestive problem, pain, patient doctor relationship, rectal bleeding