Treating the Sensitive Patient: An Integrative Approach
An increasing number of people are seeking care for complex chronic illnesses, often associated with environmental factors. Many debilitating symptoms and diseases are now being attributed to exposure to:
- Mold/Sick Building Syndrome
- Lyme disease, COVID, parasites (micro and macro)
- EMFs
- Environmental toxins like heavy metals, pesticides, BPA, and other plastics and plastic ingredients
- Workplace environmental hazards such as fire retardants
- Medically introduced chemicals like vinyls and gadolinium
Accordingly, an increasing number of medically trained professionals are becoming more aware of these issues and their effects on patients. It is now becoming necessary to develop a new standard of care to address these conditions. Simultaneously, we are recognizing that many of the patients who present with environmentally induced illnesses often have preexisting circumstances that predispose them to developing them in the first place. Enter, the sensitive patient.
Often self-identified simply as Sensitives, this growing population of people are pushing the boundaries of medicine, making waves, and space, for new practices and innovations. They also face a lot of challenges based on mainstream medical ignorance, creating stigma (i.e. being labeled as “crazy”) and hence are often hurt or dismissed entirely in the HMO clinic and hospital setting.
All sensitive patients tend to have genetic issues with the natural detoxification pathways. These show up as:
1. Porphyria, or borderline positive tests for porphyria
2. Trouble handling urea, a natural breakdown by-product of metabolism
3. Trouble with oxalates
4. Chemical sensitivities
5. Early autoimmune disease development
6. Chronic Lyme disease/ Long COVID
7. Metal retention
8. Other environmental waste retention (like glyphosate and BPA)
9. EMF sensitivity
10. Mast Cell Activation Syndrome
The sensitive patient also often falls into a particular demographic. Women appear to be more affected than men. More specifically, peri- and post-menopausal women seem to suffer the most. Additionally, sensitive patients tend to have a history of major traumas that have caused protracted emotional stress – such as abuse, sudden losses, accidents, etc. This often causes confounding circumstances in a clinic setting, as medical professionals will struggle to figure out what symptoms are caused by chronic depression and PTSD, versus Lyme infection or heavy metal toxicity.
For doctors/medical professionals:
It is important for the medical professional to recognize that many sensitive patients do in fact have physical illnesses. Many professionals fail to understand that the standard testing (i.e. labs and imaging) offered in mainstream HMO-style clinics are very limited and will not accurately detect these pathologies. They are not taught in Western medical schools to recognize stand-alone ill symptoms as disease processes. Many patients present before and during the development of definable disease, before it reaches that stage. They fail to recognize that the main blood tests regularly used look at only a few dozen metabolic and organ functions, while there are hundreds of thousands more that are at play that are not tested. This causes doctors to turn patients away, tell them that there is nothing wrong with them, hence furthering injury and worsening disease burden. Western medicine is very myopic. It takes a truly humble medical professional to recognize this.
For patients:
In the same breath, it is equally important that the sensitive patient recognize their own complexity, which will always include their emotional state. As highlighted above, statistically, mental/emotional and energetic challenges are in play here. Sensitive patients can have a tendency to largely ignore this, or fail to recognize it altogether, usually hyper-focusing on their physical state. As a Sensitive, one must embrace and address these aspects. It means recognizing that a number of symptoms one suffers from may be emotionally based. This does not mean it is “in their heads”, meaning the symptoms are made up. Somaticization of feelings, literally: “I am sad and therefore I hurt”, is a real thing. Also, we have scientifically proven that protracted emotional stress generates ongoing oxidative stress in the body, damaging cellular structures and functions, specifically mitochondria.
Hence, the first steps in treating sensitive patients MUST be regulating the nervous system and generating a better mental and emotional interior. Failing to address this at the first will cause all other therapy modalities to either not work well, work only for a short period of time, or fail to work altogether. The patient MUST be open to psychotherapies, energy work, even traditional antidepressants if depression is debilitating to the point where lifestyle changes cannot be enacted.
As we enter this new frontier in the treatment of The Sensitive Patient, we find numerous approaches being practiced around the world. I believe that we are moving towards a working algorithm to establish a standard of care for these patients.
My practice has many Sensitives. As mentioned above, these patients can be far more challenging to diagnose and treat. However, it has been my experience that, at the end of the day, their basic needs and requirements do not differ from those of any of my other patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension or even heart failure or cancer. They almost always all lack healthy, supportive daily lifestyles. In fact, being a Sensitive means that they have the least amount of tolerance to deviations from supportive lifestyles. This is why establishing a solid, healthy, daily routine as a foundation of therapy and care is essential. If diet is wrong, if excellent sleep/wake cycles are absent, if there is no daily exercise, then there will be no medication, no therapy, that will ultimately work. Until we establish a baseline of healthy daily living as a CORE THERAPY all other decisions will be guess work. We must take the ill effects of dysfunctional living out of the equation. Once I know a patient is practicing “right living” we can then move forward to build other treatments and make decisions about advanced testing.
So, what does this look like in action?
1. Get to know the unique you. We do this by obtaining specific knowledge about your individual biology with advanced testing overlaid on Ayurvedic wisdom. I recommend all new patients have updated blood work done. I specifically request we obtain a Genova NutrEval test to look as baseline metabolism and any potential nutrient deficiencies, as well as screening for basic toxicities. If there is any particular concern, such as glyphosate or gadolinium retention for example, then we can test for these as well.
2. Stabilize your system. The first thing I address is your diet and lifestyle. There is an Ayurvedic saying that goes something like: “When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is right, medicine is of no need”. The word diet, when translated through the Ayurvedic lens, means all things consumed. So, we are talking about everything you do, encounter, take in and get rid of everyday. The most simple changes will globally alter your physiology, especially in Sensitives. Staying up until the early morning hours is deleterious for you, even if you get a solid 8 hours sleep. Eating too late into the evening is equally toxic, even if the food is healthy. Most gross aspects of the American culture of daily living are incorrect to the point of being disease forming. And these are just daily habits, this is not counting chemicals, metals, parasites and EMFs! This is often the biggest challenge for patients – relearning many core things you were taught and have practiced for decades.
3. Start mobilizing stuck substances. First, a disclaimer: At this time, I do not provide IV chelation therapy. If you are sufficiently ill to the point where you believe you need these treatments right away, my clinic is not for you. That being said, even the more sensitive body has the ability to get rid of substances naturally. We can usually use simple supplements (herbs and nutraceuticals) to support the improved baseline detoxification we develop through right diet and lifestyle. Once established, I guide my patients through an at-home Ayurvedic cleanse. It is simple and safe for just about everyone. The first cleanse process takes about a week, then you return to a normal routine for at least 40 days. We repeat this process, the frequency based on your individual needs. We may repeat blood work at some point after cleansing. Again, certain supplements may be used during or after cleanses, again, based on individual need. Specific post-cleanse diets may also be used.
4. Address underlying issues. As mentioned above, many Sensitives deal with a large mental, emotional and energetic burden. As a medical doctor, my job is to address the physical aspect of my patients. Nonetheless, I readily recognize the inseparable nature of the emotional and energetic body from the physical. While I can perform a lot of “triage” in these arenas, I am not a counselor, bodyworker, or energy medicine specialist. It will almost always be necessary for my patients to see other people in their healing journey. All people accumulate trauma in their lifetimes. All people must find ways to release and let go of bad past experiences. The most important tool in being able to do so is having a purpose greater than oneself in life.
Final Thought
In closing, I want to point out the fact that I never use the term “healer” when referring to doctors and the like. To quote Neal Nathan, “I don’t heal people, G-d does. I just work here.” As a physician with now nearly two decades of direct patient experience and a wide range of post-graduate medical education, I can confidently say I have never healed anyone. If you meet a doctor, or other professional who claims to have done this, they are lying – either to you, or worse, to themselves. Ultimately, it is the individual that heals themselves. This is not to take the onus off the doctor, we have a tremendous influence over our patients. We guide and support our patients on their healing journeys, but we are never the sole source of cure. The other side of that coin is that we have a great power to hurt our patients. It is essential that doctors humble themselves in the care of their patients. Simultaneously, it is crucial that patients understand that the responsibility for their health, ultimately, lies solely on themselves. It takes a village to raise a child. That same village is required to maintain the health of that child into adulthood, through their entire lives to the end. I have been, and continue to be, deeply honored to be a part of the village of so many.
May we all find our way to truly vibrant health.
Shalom.
Namaste.
Peace.
