I have been in the healing space for 16 years and working with women through my practice and membership so they can achieve healing from chronic symptoms now for 7 years and have noticed 6 traps not to fall into with functional doctors when it comes to spending time, money and emotion with them.
These 6 traps can happen even with practitioners and naturopaths, as well as functional doctors. I don’t want you to fall into these traps because they contribute to a lack of healing, stressful results, frustration, draining of finances and hopelessness. None of which will help your body get back into homeostasis. So I wanted to educate you about them so you can be aware.
Trap 1: Starting off Strong Then Lack of Attention to Detail | Groundhog Day
You initially meet with your doctor for 90-120 minutes. They look at all your history, suggest testing and supplements and come up with a plan. Upon your follow-up (which is usually shorter and less thorough) you do the same thing but quicker and most of the plan laid out initially is not revisited. It’s just more testing and more supplements.
This process repeats itself and with each appointment, you are spending more and more money on appointments, testing and supplements but never really making any progress toward remitting your symptoms.
Problem: the root cause and nutrition and lifestyle are not being addressed – the doctor is just chasing symptoms and diagnosis. It becomes much like conventional “sick care.”
Trap 2: Not Analyzing Supplements at EVERY Appointment
While in the Groundhog Day situation, I mentioned above, usually the doctor will add supplements but not revisit the other supplements you are already taking. They need to know:
- What you’re taking
- Is what they are adding contraindicated with the ones you’re already taking
- If it’s time to stop a certain supplement because you’ve taken it long enough (like glandular or single vitamins/minerals)
- The total %’s of vitamins and minerals added up across ALL of the supplements you’re taking (ex- how much TOTAL zinc or iron is in all the supplements you’re taking)
This takes a lot of time and I have never had a doctor (in the 25+ that I have had) actually be detailed when it comes to supplements. I’ve had to do it all myself at home by tracking (and educating myself). It’s dangerous and can cause harm to the body and in my opinion, can be deemed malpractice – even in the functional world. Supplements taken incorrectly can do almost as much harm as pharmaceuticals taken incorrectly.
Problem: they are putting you in danger by not utilizing their knowledge of supplements and staying on top of what you are taking and what you need to stop taking.
Trap 3: No Plan or Not Sticking to a Plan
Doctors who don’t have a plan for each individual patient are planning to fail. The doctor may start out your first long appointment with a plan, but they don’t refer back to it ever again in follow-up appointments.
They are too spread thin to study your case file before they meet with you again to see what your plan was and be able to follow up thoroughly with how the plan went for the months or weeks that you did it, and then tweak it accordingly with a new timeline.
For instance – say you are doing an Epstein Barr protocol for 3 months. When you come back for the follow-up on that, the doctor should spend an ample amount of time discovering the results of your work in that plan for the last 3 months. They should then, make any changes and/or determine if you still need to be following that plan. They may even do follow-up testing to be sure that good results have been achieved.
Problem: not following a plan, means that measuring results is very hard and achieving a goal becomes non-existent.
Trap 4: Testing Willy Nilly and not Being Methodical
If your doctor wants to run a new test each time you meet with them, ask them the following questions:
- What data will it give me?
- Can you interpret the data?
- How will we use this data?
- Will anything change in our treatment plan with these results?
If the doctor can’t answer each of these questions with a valid answer, then choose to save your time, money and emotion on more testing.
Problem: many doctors will run tests for more information but then don’t utilize those tests for treatment. Additionally, many doctors will run testing, have the patient do a protocol and then never do a follow-up test to see if the protocol was effective.
Trap 5: Not Supporting the Patient’s Body During a Protocol
The doctor should be discussing drainage pathways, nutritional support, lifestyle support and the use of binders during a prescribed protocol. The protocol could be for killing EBV or Candida or healing from increased intestinal permeability or even just detoxifying the body.
All of these types of plans/protocols need ongoing support (like binders etc.) throughout the entire protocol. If they have not set you up with that support from the beginning, then you are not well-equipped to participate in the protocol and achieve success with it.
Problem: if your doctor does not offer support during a protocol, you might feel worse during the protocol, rather than better and you likely won’t be successful with the protocol.
Trap 6: Doctor Never Discusses Nutrition (including hydration) and Lifestyle
A doctor who understands the body and what it needs will know that nutrition, hydration and lifestyle are very important factors to understand about the patient. They will know that what the patient is doing in these areas will either enhance the healing treatment the doctor is offering or block it.
Even if the doctor is not formally trained in these areas, having other staff in their office who are that the doc can have the patient see, works. The bottom line is the doctor needs to know this information about the patient and make changes where it is needed. He/She is your partner in health you have hired to oversee your success and healing. Managing health always factors in nutrition, hydration and lifestyle.
Problem: nutrition, hydration and lifestyle will either help or hinder healing treatments and when the doctor does not know this part of their patient’s life, they are missing a HUGE piece to the puzzle.
The Solutions to Not Falling Into These 6 Traps
First, be your own advocate. It is critical that you learn as much as you can about your body and your diagnosis or symptoms so that you go into appointments confident and with understanding.
Second, you need to have realistic expectations. Unfortunately, there is no perfect doctor that will do all the aforementioned things perfectly. That’s why you also need to be your own advocate. If you notice your doctor doesn’t manage your supplements well, then you need to either educate yourself in regard to this or hire someone that can help you in this area in addition to working with your doctor.
Third, ask questions. Remember, YOU hired the doctor/practitioner to serve you and partner with your healing. You should be able to ask all the questions with no pushback as well as get the answers you need. Asking questions helps you to decipher and make better decisions for your healing plan.
Fourth, join my Wellspring™ membership program to supplement and increase your knowledge so you learn nutrition and lifestyle components of wellness in your healing journey and be armed and empowered for when you meet with your doctor.
Fifth, fire the doctor if you feel like you are stressed out, anxious and/or on a financial, or emotional hamster wheel every time you meet with them. There are better doctors out there who will be a better fit and contribute to healing rather than hinder it.
Concluding Thoughts
Remember, you are hiring the doctor to serve you. It’s not the other way around. From personal experience, I can tell you that it’s worth the time hunting to find a doctor that is a great fit. It contributes to healing in physical and emotional ways and allows a third party who actually cares about you (not just the paycheck) and will want the best for you.
Conversely, don’t waste your time, money or emotion on doctors who operate in these trapping ways because it will not help you heal.
Choose wisely and persevere. Good doctors/practitioners ARE out there!
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