The Biggest Mistake Patients Make
The biggest mistake I have seen patients make is trying to run their own case if they have a chronic, complex condition. I am all for people taking control of their own health but there is a world of difference between taking responsibility for improving your health and random treatment choices based on guesswork or Dr. Google.
Nowadays people can get an abundance of information from the internet but they don’t always remember that internet health advice is general and never specific to their case. Just like a horoscope, general advice can never apply to everybody who reads it.
In Functional Medicine, we want to rise above this ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach and look at the biochemistry and individual needs of the patient. We get this information from their lab results and how they respond to clinical interventions.
When patients first come and see me, they are often on a marathon research quest to find out what is making them sick. When we find this out from lab results, they enter a new phase of discovery about their condition with a plan to address the findings. We then embark upon a new voyage of discovery to find out if the strategy will work or if we need to go back and tweak something.
Some people, however, cannot stop researching and seeking new solutions from the internet. This is despite the fact that we have already discovered what is making them sick. With chronic complex conditions, I use the analogy of the ditch and the field to tell my patients that the goal is to move them as far away from the ditch as possible.To do this we need to employ an immune roadmap gleaned from their lab results. When patients can’t let go of the research habit, they come back with lots of questions about weird and wonderful treatments that have nothing to do with the programme they have been given. If they ditch the plan for these other treatments, they can easily derail their case and find themselves back in the ditch.
Diet: This is an area where people can get it spectacularly wrong. There is a confusing array of diets promoted on the internet - paleo-ketogenic, Mediterranean, carnivore, vegan, GAPS etc. Some people choose their diet for the wrong reasons - politics, peer pressure, doing what a friend recommended etc. As with most other health choices, there is no one-size-fits-all diet. The right diet is the right diet for you. How do we find what it is? By looking at your test results, and how you respond to dietary interventions. Having said that, there are some clear guidelines which apply to all diets - eat real nutritious foods instead of processed chemical foods and reduce the carbs and sugars that fuel the modern diabetic crisis.
Fasting: Fasting has become a real buzz word in recent times. Lots of people are trying it due to the benefits of autophagy (cleaning out of damaged cells), weight loss and better glucose control. However, should everyone be doing it? And can you make your health worse if you get it wrong? Yes, to both questions. Firstly, some people should not be fasting - the pregnant, children, those with hypothyroidism and the severely nutrient deficient. Secondly, if you are going to fast, you need to have a clear idea of the goal you want to achieve by doing so. You need to start off gently and tailor the right type of fasting to your clinical requirements, whether this is Walter Longo’s fasting mimicking diet (which puts less stress on the body than a normal fast) or time restricted eating. Always listen to your body’s response to any fast. Be extra careful if on medications. If you are doing time restricted eating, I suggest that you might face better to keep breakfast in place and restrict food at the end of the day. Work under the guidance of your practitioner and be prepared to take their advice. Never take fasting to extremes, especially if you have a chronic condition. Extreme fasting can lead someone into starvation and back into the ditch.
Exercise: If you overdo exercise, you can run into trouble. Excessive exercise will drive people into a more inflamed state. I have seen it tip people into an autoimmune condition where the immune system attacks its own body tissues. I have also seen some people overexercise as a form of bulemia. Exercise should never be done to the point of exhaustion, especially in people with existing conditions. Like food or fasting, it should be tailored to the physical needs of the individual and their ability to recycle energy.
Supplements: This is another minefield where a little knowledge can be dangerous. Supplements are needed because of the lack of nutrients in foods due to modern farming methods. However, not all supplements are created equal. Some are life enhancing, some are totally worthless and some are downright dangerous. The quality and nature of supplements is all important as well as knowledge of biochemical pathways they affect and how they interact with each other. Your practitioner will have the biochemistry knowledge to prescribe the most appropriate supplement support to influence your particular health challenges and this is what you pay them for. Sometimes people arrive with a shopping basket full of supplements all self-prescribed using guesswork. The problem is that many of these will not be absorbed and will simply overload the body.
Another example of unintelligent self-prescribing is taking iron tablets for fatigue without testing whether iron deficiency is the problem first. You also need to find out why you are iron deficient in the first place rather than shoving in more iron pills that can make the body more inflamed. So, the message is random self prescribing can easily land you back in the ditch.
If you would like professional guidance to support your health, please contact the Good health Clinic to make an appointment. Please email the Good Health Clinic on goodhealthclinic@outlook.com or ring on 07836 552936.