[MUSIC] The traditional ways is, one pill for one ill, and that is if you've got a problem, they can give you a pill for it, but they don't see how it all fits together. In fact that's my biggest job is helping people see how everything fits together. And that's what I like to do.
It's more like forensics, it's like putting something together so you can figure out, so that it makes sense, and that's a great it's a fun practice in medicine. The holistic approach to help me is thinking about the whole person, not just an organ, it's not just about their brain or their liver or their heart, it's about them, and that is how do they live? How do they eat? How do move? How do they, what do they do? Where did they grow up? Who do they live with? What's their relationships? That's what holistic health is about because those are so important for health.
The stress that you're under, how your relationship is, if you're married, you're not a person, you're one of a couple, you have to take that into consideration. And by the way, that takes some time, to think about health holistically it's not a 10 minute office visit. You have to sit down with someone and get to know them, and listen, and that's the key.
Most doctors don't have time and they don't have time to listen. But if you listen, your patients are going to give you the answers, they may not know it, but for example if somebody came into my office and they have high blood pressure, and their cholesterol is up, and maybe their blood is not good, maybe their blood sugar is high and you know I'll talk to them about the results, and they'll tell me, I bet that will all get better if I just lost 10 pounds.
Well, they told me the answer. Yes, I think you're right, how are we going to do that? Do you think you could loose 10 pounds? And they'll say, I think I could. Great, how? You know what, I got to cut down on drinking, because that's really what's been putting on the extra pound.
They just told you two of the answers, right? Lose their weight, cut down on the drinking. You just got to listen, I want to know what my patients wants, what would they like? What's their goal? How can I help them to reach that goal? And if they tell me what they want, that's the first step to making those changes to get where they want to be.
So, I listen first to hear, what is the desire, what are we looking for, what's our goal, and if we can hear what the goal is and it's clear, then we just give a road map for how to get there. I don't have to tell someone you have to change. They already know they want to change and how, because they want to reach this goal.
I really don't think it's alternative medicine because alternatively, you're looking for something else not the standard treatment. I used the standard treatment if that's what's required, but there might be something else that's better for that person because I know them better.
[MUSIC].
