I want to share with you briefly a little bit of information about the first visit and also my approach/ perspective on chronic illness.

 

You may be seeing me either in person or virtually for the first visit. Normally the first visit is 60- 120’ depending on various circumstances. On this first visit there is a lot of information gathering, some of which is done through the paperwork you will fill out prior to the first visit.

 

The reason for all the information gathering is so I can start to put together some of the missing pieces that have derailed your health. Based upon my clinical suspicion of underlying causes, I may recommend certain tests to be performed to shed additional light on causative factors for your health struggles.

 

In addition, evaluating and discussing with you any exposures listed on the Environmental Health Questionnaire (EHQ) is usually carried out during the first visit. This is a very important foundational intervention. The EHQ screens for numerous potential toxin/toxicant exposures. Minimizing these exposures is an essential starting point to allow your body to heal.

 

The reason that screening for toxins/toxicants is foundational is that, even though we all have some level of toxin burden, people with chronic illness have a higher total body burden. It is this total body burden that causes inflammation and disturbs proper immune function to set up your body to develop a chronic illness.

 

With us working together, it is important for you to know 2 basic tenets upon which I base my practice. As eloquently said by one of my mentors, Dr. Mike Bauerschmidt, MD, the 2 tenets are:

1. The diagnosis is not the disease

Meaning: the diagnosis, any diagnosis, is just a label. It does not explain why you are sick.

   2.  It is about everything

Meaning: it is not just about the “straw that broke camel’s back”, it is also about all the straws that accumulated on the back prior to the last straw “breaking the back”.

 

To elucidate further about tenet #2: I know many people who have had multiple tick bites and do not have Lyme; or are living in a moldy home and they have no symptoms while their spouse is very sick from mold. Why is that? Those people simply do not have the accumulated toxin load, meaning they do not have enough straws that have accumulated to break the camel’s back.

 

For those who do get sick, many of those straws are comprised of toxins (metals, plastics, chemicals, pesticides, flame retardants, volatile organic chemicals, glyphosate, EMFs, Bisphenols, etc.); and all of these need to be addressed, not just the last straw that broke the back. Hence, this is why addressing findings on the EHQ is not a last step, it is a first step towards regaining your health.

 

To say this another way…Yes, I am concerned if a person has Lyme disease or Mold Illness and will treat these issues; but I am MORE concerned with what caused the immune system to not function properly when they had exposures and their body was not able to clear the exposure. Why did their body not clear it? The answer inherently is the total body burden of toxins.

 

Thus, in working together we will go on a journey of removing all the straws on the camel’s back to enable your body to heal and recover.