The other side of the fence.

I work as a "fill in doctor" with Alexian Brothers to supplement paying the bills but more importantly to still stay connected to the mood of a traditional medicine practice. I dont want it to sound like I am out of touch from my "perch" of healing with integrative medicine but sometimes I find myself surroundied by healers with positive energy, ideas, and a common intent to serve others. I learned from The Chopra Center that service to others is everyones true dharma or purpose in life. It is a difficult concept to swallow at first but when you step away from childhood mentality of; everything that you do in life is for your benefit, you work hard to buy yourself things, you pay people to service your needs, you get the picture at some point that it is more rewarding to see someone else benefit. You work hard to shelter your kids, you produce a product for the benefit of others, you spend the extra time to educate to empower others, you visit grandma so she smiles. So it is hard to break away from the "me attitude" but when in the company of the like minded, it is easy to continue on and blossom new and better ideas to serve for the benefit of the whole group. Having a constant bombardment of random acts of kindness, I will sometimes forget how the dynamic of suffering feels. I dont mean how people suffer with disease; I am seeing more cancer, chronic pain, obesity, and autoimmune disease than ever before in my office. I mean I sometimes will forget how people are so frustrated with not being able to get a response from their doctor, not being able to ask questions about how they are supposed to heal, not being able to spend time with patients, not being able to get tests scheduled for weeks, not being able to get therapy because it was denied.....

I worked a 13 hour shift yesterday at a busy immediate care center, the first thing I heard when I got in was "yesterday was terrible, we worked 15 hours!!!" It's ok to vent but as my friend John says "I dont like to lament on things that have past" -I didnt let yesterdays news effect my attitude today. Obviously people suffered with a long shift but cant let that change my excitement to change some lives for the better. So I felt it was my duty to help the staff get through the day effortlessly, I used aromatherapy (frankinsense) in all the rooms, I helped call back patients, I opened the blinds and let the sun in to flood the Immediate Care with natural light, at lunchtime, I reminded them that 4 hours just went by and now we are working a regular 9-5 shift "piece of cake!". Then the first challenging patient came in, a dad who was waiting in the room for 30 minutes and counting the minutes. He burst out of the room and said "we have been waiting for 45 minutes and those other patients (whom I was caring for before he even registered) werent here when I came in, how come you are seeing them first?!". Of course I didnt accept his gift of anger and told him I am almost finished with the chart I was writing on and will be there asap. As he reentered his room where his daughter was waiting, he said outloud to her, "if we have to wait anylonger, we'll just leave!" Addressing the staff I immediately said "take a deeep breath" and gave a smile and walked into the next room in line. What kind of leader would I be if I let "a few fight or flight words" control my destiny to heal others. By the time I got into his room, I politely revealed to him the time stamps of arrival for all patients and reassured him I care and want to make his daughter healthy. He actually left happy and appologized to me several times. It seems has has had bad experiences with "the system" in the past and is very frustrated. I gave him some "Dr Saguil Approaches" of how a well informed dad can manuver within the health insurance industry and comeout healthy with little effort and frustratio. I forgot how complicated it is for a dad/parent/patient to get someone to be an advocate for their health and wellness. I forgot how unpleasant a feeling it is to get little time with a doctor, little help from the medical community, and little information to empower oneself to make an informed decision on the wellbeing of themselves or loved ones. I remember escorting a patient to a well known cancer doctor and waiting about 2-3 hours and we didnt even get to see him....saw all his support staff and got good knowledge but didnt get to meet the star doc. Little frustrating "and they know I was the refering doctor!" but in the end, my patient received great hope on her disease. I cant imagine how she would have done if by herself and without hope of life just because she didnt know where to go or what information to trust. Then I receive a text from my beloved sister that a doctor said Ryan (my nephew) has a short achilles tendon and needs some stretching exercises. I am thinking, who in the world would tell my sister/a mom of 2 that her son has a physical abnormality and just end it with "have him do some stretching exercises" as if the average mom knows the ins and outs of pediatric physical therapy. (Even regular physical therapist don't know the dynamics of therapy applied to a pediatric athlete) I gave her some good inforamtion and guidance on how to look for the right avenues of rehab.

The whole day at the Immediate Care was filled with challenging attitudes the "poorly informed mom" or like the "angry dad" but I didn't let the pervasive attitudes of helplessness with our "disease-care system" effect the way I provided healing. People are hurting with their labels of disease and the difficulty with caring for the disease alone, I don't take this personally. I am thankful for the experience since it allows me to know first hand, how people are not only suffering with symptoms of illness but stress from utilizing the system that is supposed to make them healthy but in the end is making people more diseased! I still rather live on my side of the fence but cant stop caring for my neighbors.

Help a neighbor today!!!!

Serendipity

This last two years has been a fantastic exercise in letting go for me. Let me explain. Rewind back to 2005, the hospital establishment says you are not making money compared to other docs around the US so we have to change something (paycheck of course). I don't blame them, hospitals are a business and they have to produce revenue. I decided after 10 years, this is not the way I wanted to care for people. Stepped away for 18 months (shhh.....restrictive covenant!) Moved the FL closer to Cristina's (the love of my life) mom and decided to try life in a different region and temperature. Two of the best things that came out of the Florida experience was, winter time and being on the roof to hang xmas lights is awesome! ...and due to lack of many doctors, alternative medicine practitioners are flourishing. I learned herbal medicine working with 2 herbalists. Coming back to IL, I was ready to take on hospital medicine but whoops....I didnt have the deep pockets they have and it was painful to save the money to buy the malpractice, office space, advertising....it even costs money to be able to have a charge account to bill patients. Slowly my wife and I got off the ground.

It was during this time I started to listen to my heart. I started with a trip to Harvard to learn from Herb Benson about the "Relaxation Respone". Taught me not to fight the circumstances that present themselves to me...just make a choice and let the results occur. Being in medicine, we are told the being obsessive compulsive gets things done in an organized fashion. (It also gives ulcers, acne, hemarrhoids, sleepless nights and the need to indulge in one of the drugs in the valium family). Then I get wind of Deepak Chopra coming to Chicago for the first time ever to teach doctors.....to coincidental!!!!! I take the course and more of this universe of "alternative thinking" is revealed. No where in the DSM books of psychiatry or text books of neurology does it state there is a "universe" out there. Everything is a series of electrical impulses and chemical secreations. I this thing called mindful medtation and low and behold!!!!......, my sleep is better, my blood pressure is going down and sex....(well my daughter may read this to nevermind)..I was able to hug mommy without a blue pill without a prescription medicine. In my meditations, it felt good to get up early, change my diet, run daily. I went on to sign up for my first Chicago Marathon, started practicing yoga and eating less processed food. As I let go of my old ways of thinking powerlifting and martial arts are the way to go for "tough guys", I found myself wanting to go daily to yoga. I began thinking about different poses in my sleep. (BTW....just to defend my testosterone...we are talking poses that my old friends at Cirque Du Soleil and some olympian gymnasts would crank out, not just down dog for you naysayers) As I let go of all I thought was "guy stuff", these opportunities began to present themselves without effort.

I have always postponed joining Andrew Weil at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine for a whole bunch of reasons.....they actually sent me an application at the time I was asking myself "how else can I increase my footprint to this community and let them know I am not a regular doctor". Of course I got in the fellowship. Then trajedy struck and mom came down with pancreatic cancer.........

But I thought this was perfect, although her docs gave her only weeks to live, I had been introduced to a network of doctors that were world famous for healing patients other doctors give no hope to. Again I saw this as my "dharma" or purpose in life. Perfect timing, in the back of my mind I thought, when I save mom, this will be the ultimate statement that when you listen to the universe, answers come. Unfortunately, my training wasn't in time to reverse her cancer. But it was perfect timeing to help me heal my dad, my daughter my wife and myself from the repercussions of the disease. And those who know me personally can attest to the vigor which I give hope to anyone I meet that has the word cancer in their family. I realize this is what I have to do to serve my community. A question came up with my wife, how can we afford the tuition. I said,"I don't know" and left it at that. Deep inside I thought of of a Jedi movie where Qui Gon Jinn was asked the same question of how will they get off the planet with no money. His reply: "a solution will present itself". How deep that George Lucas thinks in creating Star Wars movies!!!!! So I had to sign up or lose my spot in the fellowship. I took the chance after several weeks of self debate (didnt want to worry my wife) and the day I signed up and filled out the fellowship bio, I clicked over to the career tab at the university website just to see what great minds were starting other fellowships....UCLA,- cool, New York -cool, Arizona -cool....and then at the bottom of the page right as I was to click off- there it was; an advertisement for Arlington Heights Illinois. I looked around the room to see if anyone was close by to tell me I may be dreaming! Long story short, I called them up and although First Health Associates was looking for a graduate of the program, my time with the director from handshake on has been something I feel that was planned for a long time.
Its almost like the first time I saw my wife. She was in the dental school, I was in the medical school. The two places were separated by a common area and I would see her walking with her friends all the time. It sounds romantic but the first time I saw her, I felt, this woman is going to be the one I have kids with and grow old. Even though I was in my testosterone driven hunting age to see as many women as possible, she still banished any thought of seeing anyone else again. I kinda questioned myself then thinking why am I feeling like this but in the end, I am glad I followed my heart and listened to the universe.
Serendipity, The Law of Attraction, Postive Thinking, Fate, Gods Way.....what ever you call it, answers are always provided even to the most difficult questions. Just have to turn off the crap around and quiet the mind you to hear them.

How taking care of yourself leads to less illness.

As spring rolls around, another season change with its associated coughs and colds has started. I am getting alot of requests for antibiotics to "get rid of this infection fast". The concept of infection has to be explained. The majority of infections are the bodies usual defensed getting over worked and consquently allowing the build up of bad bacteria in our gut, respiratory tract, throats or sinuses. Soon with summer we will see invasion into our skin of bacteria, allergic rash, sun damage and the dreaded staph (MRSA). Its all around us and hard to avoid but the human genome has been battered by small pox, rubella, HIV, bird flu, swine flu and still surviving. We have a very intelligent built in mechanism that defeats and keeps at bay many diseases....that is unless we mistreat our bodies.

Here is the rub. Most of us can "push the envelope" with little sleep, limited attention for nutrition, limited group interaction and essentially the absence of spirituality. Since the 70's, the American culture has improved exercise with the intro of running, then in the 80's cardio, in the 90's more running (triathalons and marathons), in the millenium yoga. The idea of nutrition is also blossoming into an exact science of knowing details of carbohydrate breakdown, hormone influence and food properties with Pritikin, Atkin, Southbeach, Weight watcher, Jenny Craig, Paleolithic, Glycemic Index, Ph, Blood type.......just look at the diet book section of your local book store! But guess what, the obesity rate in the US is at its highest with many states reporting 1 in 3 adults. Its not just funny to look at big guts....these people develop diabetes and heart disease to be treated by medicine and doctor visits that are paid for you your taxes. Yes, the taxes that come out of your paycheck, that you will probably be paying for in the next week.

So the next time you see someone with a weight problem indulging in bad behavior by eating without regret, think, you are paying for that. This is not to point the finger but it is to bring to the forefront, wellness is all of our responsibilities.

How does this relate to a common cold? I believe if we are eating healthy and hydrated, taking our multivitamin supplements, getting good sleep, all of us should be able to "shake" the symtoms of a cold with time. Most of us dont want to wait and demand a short cut, like antibiotics to prevent the spread to the little ones or with the kids already symptomatic to get them back in shool fast so as to not have to stay home from work and babysit, or for the big kids (men) to not have to miss work by just "resting at home and wasting time". Problem is the antibiotics just kill off an amount of bacteria, good and bad. You may decrease the amount of colonies of strept or staph or ecoli but if the immune system, the respiratory system, the neurologic system and digestive system (that happens to depend on having a large amount of good bacteria) are not pampered and nourished and rested, you will only feel better temporarily and another problem will surface in about 2-4 weeks. Body aches, poor sleep, achey joints and muscles, allergies, rash, heartburn, loose or constipated stools........and then another trip to docs office for more meds (with more side effects). I will use meds if I have to but my patients get a burst information on what to eat for the next 10 days, increase fluids, cut down exercise, take herbal supplements, stay home from work or just avoid contact with the baby. I highly suggest this even before using antibiotics and usually it works, just have to have knowledge of how long to wait.

My kids are now getting better with their symptoms and I had to tie my prescribing hands together to not write an antibiotic for them. Some collegues would say "you just waited long enough and they would have been better anyway". And naysayers can think that, I try to remove myself from the judgement of others and know in my heart this is the right way so I practice what I feel is true. In the end, I dont get into the cycle of treating everything with a prescription and listen to what the body is saying it needs. Andy Weil's words always reverberate with me in making decisions for others......."how would nature do it?" I dont think unhealthy, stressed obese animals survive in the wild too long.

Storm Warning

One of my yoga guru's taught me a great lesson today. She explained that while on vacation in Orlando, a few storms passed through. The usual warnings are to watch for the calm before the storm so you know when to seek shelter. It does help prepare but it also insights fear of what is coming even without actually experiencing the event. In the last decade or two, the calm before the storm is a standard sign meant to save lives but it usually does more damage than good. It was only one year that was the biggest year in a long time that several hurricanes came through and caused damage and loss of life. The loss of life was mostly with people that were indoors anyway (mobile homes) so even without warning, damage would have occurred.

The question is, if we are constantly kept in a state of panic and fear, does holding this primitive, reactive sense of fight or flight benefit us? It's great for protection from danger. How many truely dangerous situations do we encounter daily? perhaps a highschool kid getting bullied daily, a wife being beaten daily, a soldier going to the frontline daily, a police officer on beat. This isnt the norm for the majority. Most people have issues like, that car didn't let me switch lanes, that lady at check out just butt infront of me, I can't eat my lunch in peace, I dont get reception in this building! So, secretion of epinephrine adrenaline and cortisol will get us fired up for battle so we can ride the bumper of that car or yell at the lady in front of you at check out, or toss your food out thinking the whole lunch is wasted or throw the phone at the ground (so you can teach that phone to get better reception next time!).

Sandra said instead of calling it the calm before the storm, how bout thinking of it as the calm within the storm. That does change the dynamic of it completely. Every storm has its calm center, a respite, harbor, window of peace to regather. Also once you reach center, you are half way done! Sometimes just changing the concept of how you see an event, changes how you react to it. Reacting in fear or fight mode will make you react with the brainstem which is reactive, instinctual, rapid.....but not usually thought out. Reacting with a calmness will be mostly forebrain, where thoughts can be conceptualized, reflected upon and articulated better usually resulting in a much better outcome. Imagine a doctor performing major surgery on your brain, runs into a bleeding vessel and starts to panic then cuts something bigger! A general who hears of a country enmassing forces at a boarder, declares war immediately. A police officer checks for speeding and hears a loud noise so pulls his gun out and shoots the driver.

There will always be storms, people who cut in line, drivers in a hurry, people who see things a different way than you do. You can't control them or the event or what has already transpired but you can control your reaction to it. Deepak says: this is truely the only thing in life you have control over. You can either react; 1- peacefully or 2-angrily to all events in life, in most cases, both ways will result in the same outcome for the individual. The only difference is choose to be insulted, deprived of choice or be the victim while making a decision and you will insight a whole storm of angry reactive energy around you that may erupt in another stressor. If you choose a calm, nurturing, mutually beneficial attitude, the emotion of peace and empowerment will be felt by all to not only decide on a path to take for the individual but also for the others involved in the storm

The "L" word

It is so amazing to finish a spiritual retreat and feel so uplifted. I think it is how some people feel when they increase their dose of prozac, zoloft or paxil. Those meds are used for depression and work by stopping the body from digesting/breaking down serotonin. This hormone is usually lacking in many of us and when levels are low, the body reacts with giving feelings of sorrow, gut doesnt work, love is not in your vocabulary and stress is poorly tolerated. My family sees me as happy and I eagerly get to my meditation pillow as often as possible to maintain the feeling. Imagine, the only thing that starts this amazing cascade of hormones in me is listening to a week of lectures by very inspiring and charismatic healer/ teachers and eating healthy.

In contrast, not practicing meditation, lacking time in the day to exercise, surrendering to the call of processed food, can make one feel short tempered with an altered interpretation of surroundings. Events in life are "to offend me", theres "not enough time" in 24 hours for me, slow traffic is getting in "my way", "my internet" has crashed. Ego based living is kind of what we reinforce from childhood. It is ok to teach a child about him/her being individual and separate from everyone else. The concept of social boundaries is good in younger years so development of other more complex social skills like love and devotion can happen. I believe the problem is when an individual stays in the concept of social separation and the idea that this world is put in place to serve me even into college and married life. I see this with alot of men, we don't allow ourselves to emotionally express joy and love. It is taught in tough guy (high) school, using phrases like "I love you" or "you inspire me" or "I feel great joy and bliss" are things you dont say for fear of being labelled as "gay" or "fag". Even now, many of the guys I know will use those phrases but have to "soften" them by adding "brother" or "dude" or "man".....(ie "love you man" or "love you brother") And that is ok. I love the way women are so connected and share feelings with words of expression without worrying about misinterpretation (amongst themselves)....say these words to a guy and and suddenly you are a stalker or "she wants me" comes up. My daughter has a gift of this, she will end conversations with "love you". These two words punctuated at the end of a telephone call will change the way another person feels. A simple discussion with friends ends with the friend being surprised and sometimes politely encouraged to answer the same. Even if the "L" word is gently forced out of someone to respond to your "L" word, the dynamic of that person is changed even for a millisecond by saying it. (Then one goes back into stress living after they hang up)

Interesting study Wayne Dyer talks of when scientists wanted to find out how much giving an act of kindness affected someone. They measured serotonin levels of the person getting the kindness and levels were elevated as hypothesized. Then they measured the levels in the blood of the person giving the kindness and they were elevated! Then they measured the persons blood levels that were just witnessing the act being performed....they were elevated!!! It is too bad that being comfortable with one's self and not being afraid to share or express emotion usually comes with the price of taking expensive courses or just getting into retirement age and finding all those boundaries earlier in life didn't make a difference in the end. More importantly, dropping the word "love and caring" shouldnt just be shared behind closed doors or in the bedroom or on Christmas Eve. Imagine how your world would be if there were just free expression with no remorse of misinterpretation!!!! (It seems to be just the opposite now, free expression of violence/hatred with no remorse or thought to consequence)......Don't be afraid to tell someone you love them today!

It ain't my job to heal the world anymore!

I feel there is truely Joy in Service to others. My motto of empowering others to heal themselves willl resonate from deep inside me until I am old and gray. As some naysayers state; "living in the real world" will place countless obstacles in your path. I think whether you think in spiritual or concrete terms, events will happen on the way to finding a purpose in life. One can think of the experience as a trauma that we should be offended by and why did that trauma happen to me, what will other people think of me....or...that event happened and is over, I am thankful it has passed. I tend to choose the latter but with people who are greatly suffering, an infectious mood can be very tempting to react to with anger for anger. I witnessed great poise yesterday, a new mom who was being pushed to the limit with stressful reactions was very unhappy with service she was getting. It was interesting to note a spreading "defensive guard" attitude to all those she was encountering. I used to see this in the ER when those folks typicallly labelled "drug seekers" start to throw emotional reaction to all those they come in contact with. Before they have finished registering with the greeter at the ER entrance, word has already spread like fire on gasoline about the offensive attitude (this is called countertransferance). People know they elicit this response but even if wrong to society standards of courtesy, respect and boundaries....these tactics usually get them what they are demanding so streetwise attitude says continue with what works.

The problem is during the majority of fantastic encounters with appreciative people, one or two folks will elicit a wave of offensiveness that can make the healer with good intention to also become spiteful to the universe and bring up the attitiude of "living in the real world". I was taught by one of my healer friends from the Chopra Center, when doing my life's work, be careful to always wash off (physically and spiritually) the encounters from the day that are draining. If we take these energy zapping events home or even let them linger in our minds, we too have become infected with the disease of hatred and ego based reaction. If everyone lives this way, the Mayan calendar is going to come to fruition. Service to a greater good, saving the planet, doing things for others, creating a legacy for your family all are things that will keep humanity going. Sometimes, as strong as the ego is to make you think and ruminate on an encounter, letting go of it is the better thing to do. I remember a story about the Buddha saying;

If someone offers you a gift, and you do not accept the gift, to whom does the gift belong? If someone were to have swine flu, why in the world would you want to take any of it for yourself? We wash it away before we procede on to caring for the next person or going home to our loved ones because this is what we were born to do. (Then meditate like Deepak Chopra the next few days!)

Are we dying from our food?

While at the "meca" of indoor water parks in the midwest (Wisconsin Dells), I noticed in all the pictures we took that the background images showed alot of overweight and obese people. When in line to get a salad (which was packaged in the smallest plastic container in the lunch place) there were some very large people loading up on french fries, pizza, icecream and hamburgers. As I stood in line, I noticed that most were kids! ( It brought back an image from childhood of the movie Yellow Submarine by The Beetle, those characters called the Snapping Turks.) I was standing next to kids that were about 2-3 times my size! My analytical brain kicked in and thought, my weight loss clinic is going to be very busy in the next 20 years, I better hire more healthcare providers. Then I thought, it's not just the engorgement of food volume that will make these young adults add to the growing number of "adult onset diabetes", it is also the poisonous reactions that are happening to kids. Wheat, gluten and dairy allergies are just growing every year in the US. As my god-daughter was running around our room, mom was always close by to make sure she wasnt getting into anything with milk or peanuts. She had a good question as to why do kids develop allergies to foods that are supposed to be harmless. Foods that humans cultivate are supposed to serve humanity and sustain life. How to the foods we grow turn around and kill us. I remember there was a "classroom lock down/hazmat situation" when a peanut was found in an elementary classroom. Because of one childs peanut allergy, the whole room of children could never eat anything with peanuts in it for lunch (from kinder to 8th grade). Anaphylatic shock has been reported more frequently to these little vegetables in the last two decades. If terrorist wanted to really scare the US, just drop peanuts, dairy, gluten into our water supply and you can wipe out a significant portion of the US population. In an attempt to explain to my sister in law about food allergies, I contemplated how I can get this information to my patients. Of course the universe answered and an herbalist that taught me the ropes on natural healing sent me this presentation. I reviewed it and her work.....very solid studies and in a format easy to understand. Enjoy and learn.... Robyn Obrien and The Unhealthy Truth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rixyrCNVVGA