Over the twenty years that I have been treating patients, I have been asked many times why I went into alternative medicine. Although the term Complementary and Alternative Medicine had yet to be coined, I began treating patients holistically after I saw first hand the impact alternative care could have on a person’s life.
When I was a resident at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, we frequently saw children suffering from chronic asthma. One particular boy was admitted almost every month. And every month we would offer him the same treatment: steroids. Although we were helping control his asthma, the treatment we were giving him was stunting his growth and adversely impacting his life.
Then, one day, he stopped coming to the emergency room. No one knew why, and due to our hectic schedules, no one followed up on his status. Two, three, then six months passed- and we still hadn’t seen this patient.
Until I accidentally encountered his mother in the street one day. When I asked about her son, she told me he was doing much better, and that he had been seeing a holistic doctor who was treating him with dietary changes, vitamins and herbs.