What is Integrative Medicine?
It seems to be a substitute for "Alternative Medicine" which excludes Western standard care as a primary approach to use with some Complementary Care like meditation, yoga, deep breathing, massage
“Integrative Medicine” seems to be a repackaging of standard health care to be more advertising friendly — Look patients! We do care about you as individual too! You don’t need “Alternatives” to our standard health care! You can do both!
Except that health doesn’t work that way - you can’t radiate or poison a body and then give it a massage and some soothing words to help balance out the negatives of the radiation or poison. Or random beeping noises, bustling staff, bright lights, constant EMF exposure and lack of sleep due to being woken up randomly by staff or noise or a hospital roommate. The chaos varies depending on the type of unit - ICU is busier than a standard patient room.
*The other free course is on Environmental Health and if taken before January 2024 nurses and physicians can get continuing education credits for it, Environmental Health: An Integrative Approach (2022-2024) (integrativemedicine.arizona.edu).
From a free Introduction to What is Integrative Medicine? course we see that the US healthcare system is overpriced and underperforming compared to that of other developed nations. Free registration, the iHELP introductory course is the source of the excerpts included in this post. (integrativemedicine.arizona.edu/ihelp_ihcoaching.html)
“Although the US spends more for healthcare than any other nation, compared to other developed countries, it ranks poorly when looking at some health parameters. In 2020 and 2021, the US had higher rates of all-cause and COVID related mortality compared to 20 other peer countries (Bilinski, 2022). The US has the highest maternal mortality than any other high-income country and disproportionally impact non-hispanic blacks, with maternal death rates more than double compared to non-hispanic whites (span class="redText">Normal ref: CDC.gov accessed 12-22-22 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/maternal-mortality/2020/maternal-mortality-rates-2020.htm). And the US has higher infant mortality than other peer countries (Chen, 2016). In 2020, although the US spent more on cancer care than 21 other high-income countries, age-standardized cancer-mortality rates were similar (Chow, 2022).”
And the definition and main principles for Integrative Medicine are provided:
“Defining Principles of Integrative Medicine
From the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine (AWCIM):
The Center defines integrative medicine (IM) as healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person, including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship between practitioner and patient, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapies (AWCIM).
AWCIM defines the principles of integrative medicine as follows:
Patient and practitioner are partners in the healing process.
All factors that influence health, wellness, and disease are taken into consideration, including mind, spirit, and community, as well as the body.
Appropriate use of both conventional and alternative methods facilitates the body's innate healing response.
Effective interventions that are natural and less invasive should be used whenever possible.
Integrative medicine neither rejects conventional medicine nor accepts alternative therapies uncritically.
Good medicine is based in good science. It is inquiry-driven and open to new paradigms.
Alongside the concept of treatment, the broader concepts of health promotion and the prevention of illness are paramount.
Practitioners of integrative medicine should exemplify its principles and commit themselves to self-exploration and self-development.
What is CAM?
An important distinction is that Integrative Medicine is not Complementary nor Alternative Medicine, but recognizes approaches that fall under these categories as potential avenues towards health and healing. Below are clear definitions from NCCIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health:
Complementary
— generally refers to using a non-mainstream approach together with conventional medicine.Alternative
— refers to using a non-mainstream approach in place of conventional medicine. This is considered outdated terminology which you may still encounter, especially in association with complementary medicine due the popular acronym CAM.Integrative
— combines complementary and conventional approaches together in a coordinated fashion.(NIH: Complementary, Alternative, or Integrative Health: What's In a Name?) (Introduction to Integrative Medicine)
The opening paragraph was about the wonderful advances made with CRSPR gene editing technology and the mRNA ‘vaccine’ techniques. Combining a bioweapon with alternative health approaches is still using a bioweapon and that is likely going to have negative health impacts on many people.
I am an Alternative nutritionist, to be blunt. While some standard care methods may also be appropriate, I would be highly selective regarding which I would want to use in a coordinated fashion with functional nutrition therapy.
John Dee’s Almanac adds the icing to the cake. He breaks down the statistics behind the faked Covid ‘pandemic’ based on the manipulation of data by WHO and miscoding by medical professionals who were incentivized to do so by big dollar bonuses from the government. “What really happened was a bad flu season and some of the chimeric spike CoV. “One thing we can be certain of is that COVID killed evidence-based medicine back in 2020. And now I see that we’ve got nose only masks…”
And a propaganda Christmas ad shows that the lying liars are still pushing the Covid lies and are still pushing that we all should get wonderful CoV injections for Christmas! Or Santa might die! News flash, Santa is a spirit, the spirit of generosity and love and that cannot die, unless we stop being generous and loving. Or if we accept bioweapon jabs which kill us and our generosity and physical ability to love this Christmas season. Peace be with you this ongoing Scamdemicky Christmas.
As a personal example, my “lymphedema”, my problem with leg swelling, I had associated with the salicylate excess of earlier summer - but then I managed to write 22 pages on the topic of “lymphedema” without refinding a more complete salicylate symptom list. When I did see that again and I started relooking at when I seemed to get worse symptoms, I realized that I had missed the impact of my sprinkling Nutritional Yeast Flakes on salads or soup - along with a sprinkle of salt. It wasn’t just the salt. The yeast is a significant source and it turns out my Gumbo file is too. Sassafras leaves are the source of powdered Gumbo file which thickens Creole gumbo chowder. I use Gumbo file as an egg replacer in baked goods too, so I was getting a hidden source there.
If I hadn’t found a more thorough salicylate article, I might still be puffy and not know why. I am still salt sensitive but can use a small amount. that does suggest though some kidney changes have occurred over the years. Venous insufficiency or outright vasculitis has been a long term struggle for me. My genetic reduction in Dimethylglycine leave me more at risk for salicylate sensitivity and for bad vessel structure. Making it tasty is a bit of a chore. I prefer it in a tangy drink than mixed in food as it tends to make the food taste bad.
Conventional lymphedema care that I am using - the bamboo compression socks - and that is actually unconventional in that the conventional ones are all polyester and would suffocate the skin. Random aside - latex fetishes have died from spending too long in a full latex body suit. Plastic overheats us and doesn’t allow the skin to sweat and cool off normally. Drugs and heat were stated as cause of death in this example: (TheGuardian).
Too many “standards” of standard care are not life supporting - that is the biggest problem with the standard Western medical approach. The treatments are offensive, attacking the body to fight off an invading germ - instead of recognizing that humans are symbionts and we need our germs to be in good balance with each other as they support our health in many ways, when they are in balance.
Elimination Diets are another topic.
“Elimination Diets” are tricky because food contains so many ingredients and some aren’t required to be listed on a processed food label because they are at under 2% of the total - that includes the excitotoxin Neotame. I recently received a free ebook/pdf with a weeks menu and recipe examples for eliminating the si most common food intolerances.
IFNA 6 Food Elimination Diet https://online.fliphtml5.com/mzywd/nahq/ very nice booklet from the Integrative and Functional Nutrition Academy. It is printable but not downloadable.
One of my favorite songs via Demi Pietchell’s daily channeling post - part of her paid subscription service. I copied two passages from today’s post:
Forgive yourself for past actions. Self-judgment and regret weigh you down without providing clarity. Instead, focus on good faith efforts at self-improvement. Patience and understanding build resilience.
Analysis paralysis, risk aversion, add more work to uphold status quo and stifle potential. Check in on motivation and push past comfort zones. Believe completely in your capacity for growth. The impossible may reveal itself to those remaining steadfastly open and optimistic.
- Demi Pietchell, 12/17/23
“The impossible may reveal itself to those remaining steadfastly open and optimistic.”
When we mindfully set an intention or plan, then our Reticular Activating System (RAS) in the brain is tuned in to pay closer attention to the things related to that plan or thought. We may not be seeing more of those things in our daily life, but we are very likely paying more attention to them when we do see them - so it seems like all of a sudden that thing is everywhere! Why hadn’t we noticed it before? Because we hadn’t focused our mind on it before. Example would be a new favorite sports car - suddenly you are now seeing that model everywhere and now you really want one! Your own interest led to your RAS paying more attention to car models. The cars were likely always there, but now your awareness is tuned in to quickly recognizing the curve of the hood or headlights as unique to that model and having the feeling of “Oh, there is yet another one! I love those!”
What we think about, is what our RAS notices. During my past health issues, I had elevated hormone D, the activated 1, 25-D form. It is a steroid based hormone and can cause steroid like “roid rage” - a very cranky mood. I noticed that I was extremely irritable while on a splurge vacation going to fancy restaurants, staying at a upscale urban hotel. Why was I so edgy though? The clinking of silverware in an expensive restaurant was sending me over the edge, internally. I could not enjoy the meal - and it was unusual for me to be so edgy. What had I done differently? I had lost weight and started using a sun-tanning booth to get the very first all over body tan in may life.
I was thin, tan, on summer vacation, and yet I wanted to snap at waiters about how noisy the silverware was on the other diner’s plates (I didn’t do that.) The sun-tanning had elevated my already elevated active hormone D levels. I was “roid raging” without realizing it. I started the Marshall Protocol shortly after figuring that out and it helped resolve a severe migraine problem I had had for over a decade.
[The Marshall Protocol was developed by Trevor Marshall to cure/treat his own sarcoidosis and he then found it helped rebalance other conditions that had imbalance/chronic overactivity of the Th1/Th2 T helper immune cells. It worked for me, took about one and half years on low dose antibiotics every other day and olmesartan three times everyday - goal, 24 hour coverage of the medication that is used for blood pressure but higher doses don’t make the blood pressure drop too low.]
The problem with an “Integrative” approach to using Alternative health care, is that we may be blinded to seeing the alternative care that is truly needed, because we are still too focused on the “standard of care”. The Western “standards” for health care are too bad for health in my personal and professional opinion to be able to use them as a starting point. Start with a toxin to the body and then nothing else is going to help as much as stopping use of the toxin - and repairing the damage it caused.
The course on Contemplative Care was very good. I do recommend it, but it made me a little sad because a lot of the guidance was focused on helping medical doctors cope with the death of their patients who had cancer. It took me a while to see that it was me doing much of my life ‘wrong’ or in ways that weren’t supporting my mental and physical and social wellness — it is past time for Western medical practitioners to recognize that if all their patients or many of them are dying, then maybe the ‘care’ that they are providing is not helping their patients as much as it is literally harming them.
The ancient code of medical ethics is to “First do no harm.” The attitude within cancer “treatment” is that cancer is SOOOOOOOOOOO deadly, that giving a patient poisonous treatments is okay because the patient is going to die anyway so we should try any and everything! Including causing their hair to fall out and to have really hideous nausea and vomiting! Because the patient is just going to die anyway! So it doesn’t matter if they die more quickly and in greater pain and discomfort! And unable to enjoy their food anymore! WIN! WIN! More WINNING! Daily reminder that it is pomegranate peel season and with pomegranate peel you can prevent cancer metastasis and improve gut microbiome health and mitochondrial function and reduce senescent cells and stop CoV spike issues.
Nutrition support and other care can help someone get through the ordeal of standard cancer treatment but it wouldn’t be enough to mitigate the damage on the body and it tends to accelerate the dysfunction that leads to cancerous growth. The person has to want to change and be part of figuring out how to reduce their body’s overall inflammatory burden.
Disclaimer: This information is being provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use and is not intended to provide individual health care guidance.
inflammation.
Disclaimer: This information is being provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use and is not intended to provide individual health care guidance.
JD - Excellent post. The body is the temple of the soul.