A Comprehensive Approach to Natural Medicine
An Interview with Kurt Woeller, D.O.
Please enjoy part two of our conversation with Dr. Kurt Woeller of Stillpoint Center for Integrative Medicine in Temecula….
HT: How do you approach the treatment of disease in your practice?
Kurt Woeller: First of all our goal is not to treat an individual’s disease, but instead provide them with the information they need to be well. All of us have the potential to be healthy. For many people it is a mind set that keeps them sick. They believe they are the disease. People have bought into the medical concept of disease and associate everything about their life as their particular disease. It doesn’t matter if someone has cancer, arthritis, migraine headaches or chronic fatigue. If they wake up in the morning and think negatively about themselves and attach themselves to the imbalances in their body they have already lost the battle for the day. Attitude is everything!
Our goal is to help someone optimize their potential – whatever potential that may be. I have no idea whether a particular person will be totally cured of their illness. How could I know? Instead we attempt to implement things that we have seen work with other people in similar circumstances. Medicine as a traditional practice or as a more complimentary approach is based on clinical experience from previous successes. Does this mean everyone is going to be cured of their illness – no! But if you incorporate the basic foundation of natural healing, ie. organic whole foods, exercise, sleep and the disciplines of good digestion and elimination you have significantly increased your odds of getting well.
As practitioners of holistic medicine we incorporate many aspects of medicine. One is highly specific diagnostic tests. Some individuals have so much pathology in their body that we need to take a look to find out what is the driving mechanism behind their illness. Stool, urine, hair, saliva and blood testing is necessary to evaluate the various body systems which are weak and imbalanced. Based on these findings more targeted therapy can be implemented to promote healing.
One example is parasitic infections. Parasites such as giardia and cryptosporidium are much more common than people realize. We have seen women who have been unsuccessful at maintaining a normal menstrual cycle because their body was affected by parasites, or the person who was suffering with a progressive neurological condition that turned out to be heavy metal toxicity from mercury. Simply saying that a patient does not have a specific disorder because they have no known exposure is foolish. We have found in many people undiagnosed Lyme’s disease or mold toxicity even though they report never being bitten by a tick or noticing any mold damage in their home. If you do not look at the body diagnostically many times you will not find the problem.
As doctor’s dedicated to natural and complimentary medicine we look at all the other factors that are going on in that person's life. The foods they eat, the environment they live in, the attitude they have about themselves, and of course the function of their organ systems. This is not always an easy process, and the people who are not willing to take these steps many times will not get the full benefit of the natural medicine approach. One thing we see and an important approach we implement is proper detoxification function of the body. This is simply improving function of the liver, kidney and bowels to eliminate toxic waste from our bodies.
You would be amazed at how many people who suffer with everything from tension headaches and migraines, digestive disorders, fatigue, body aches and pain to more serious conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease and cancer can be helped by simple measures of good bowel elimination, liver and gall bladder cleansing and kidney cleansing….all done many times with things that you can buy at the local health food store. Doing a simple liver flush with olive oil and grapefruit juice, garlic, and cayenne, followed by some herbal teas can be god send for people.
My partner’s, Drs. Tranchitella and McFadzean, have for years helped women with all sorts of hormonal issues, including irregular cycles, menstrual cramps, PMS, menopausal symptoms by doing a 4 week liver/gallbladder and bowel cleanse while removing mucus and allergy causing foods such as wheat and dairy. Simple measures taken seriously and done consistently can make tremendous impacts on our health. And in the case of many of their patients it does.
Getting healthy and being well doesn't have to be complicated. There are always going to be certain complicated health conditions that need more targeted therapies such as detoxification formulas, individualized herbal remedies, medications, antibiotics or even other medications. However, even with complicated health conditions the basic principles of diet, nutrition, exercise, sleep and a positive mental attitude are critical.
This information is nothing new, but the problem with the American health system and many people in general who suffer with ill health is diet. So many of our chronic illnesses in this country are directly tied to the food that people eat. It is that simple. People have to change their mind set about the types of foods they eat. Being healthy and staying healthy is a constant pursuit. You have to pursue it diligently because there are too many temptations in our society today to fall off the health wagon. I often tell people that we don't live to eat…we eat to live. This is a very important concept to understand.
HT: It is such a mindset because you'd think that something so complicated - or even something so horrific - as a serious disease…you just don't think, “Well, it's my diet. It's the food I eat.” I think most people don't make that link, they tend to think they need something serious, a serious drug or whatever to cure it because they don't understand how they got that way in the first place.
Kurt Woeller: There is no natural healing program or any kind of nutritional supplement you can take that will overcome a bad diet. I do not care if it is the most organic, wild-crafted herb or purified fish oil product on the market…You will not get well if you continue to poison yourself with toxic food. Mike, to be honest with you this is probably the hardest thing to get across to people, and it's the most basic principle people want to bypass with respect to their health program. Unfortunately, it is also one of things that many doctors overlook as well, particularly in the traditional medical community.
The bottom line is people need to take responsibility for their health. No doctor or other health practitioner can do it all for them. One of the failings of traditional medicine is that it commonly does not recognize lifestyle and diet as a strong enough indicator of health potential (fortunately this in changing). It also tends to focus on a magical bullet approach to health through pharmaceutical drugs. One of the common failings of natural medicine is relying on only a few items, i.e. supplements or low potency herbs to do the trick.
Natural medicine has always had a better appreciation than traditional medicine with regards to diet and health, but many times it fails because people do not do enough things simultaneously to make a difference. Many times it is not just one thing you do that makes the difference (ie. supplements) between health and disease, but multiple things done simultaneously (ie., supplements, dietary changes, detoxification and cleansing programs, high dose herbs, meditation, consistent exercise) with increased intensity that will overcome a disease state. As I mentioned in the past there are no incurable diseases, but there are incurable patients.
Our focus at Stillpoint Center for Integrative Medicine is to empower people to take action for their health and to provide the tools to do this. All anyone has to do is step on the path of wellness and start going to work.
