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Six months into practising medicine Dr David Brownstein had a revelation: Conventional medicine and the medication used to treat patients was not an effective model.
He came to realise there was a better way to manage the root cause of diseases commonly seen in people in the modern world.
Holistic medicine became his passion and he has become a world leader, lecturing to physicians around the world about his success with using natural hormones and nutritional therapies in his practice.
Dr David Brownstein’s transition from conventional medicine to holistic medicine
The story of how David decided to take the leap from conventional medicine to holistic medicine is one that resonates with a lot of people, not just doctors. David joined a medical practice after graduating from Medical School and consulted with patients the way he was taught. The average consultation was five minutes long and the patient left with a prescription to treat his or her symptoms.
One day David met with a chiropractor, Dr Robert Radtke, who handed him a book, “Healing with Nutrition” by Jonathan Wright. The chapter that struck a chord for David was the one on cardiovascular disease. His father had been battling with heart troubles since having his first heart attack at the age of forty. After reading the chapter twice, David asked his dad to visit him at his practice the next day to run some blood tests.
At this point David’s father was not well at all; he had very little energy, he was pale and his skin looked grey. David drew two blood tests that had never been done before as part of the management of his father’s cardiovascular disease: a full thyroid panel to measure not only his TH level, but also T4 and T3, and a testosterone level test.
The results showed that David’s father’s thyroid levels were in the lower part of the reference range and his testosterone was below detectable limits. At this point, he was taking twelve different medications to manage his cholesterol, hypertension, chest pain and diabetes. Based on the blood test results David put him on natural desiccated thyroid hormone and topical natural testosterone.
Within a week of the new natural treatment plan David’s father was feeling better and he had his first day in a long time without experiencing chest pain. Over the next three weeks he started looking and feeling even better and began doing things around the house again. When David retested his father’s blood, he found that his cholesterol levels had dropped significantly.
It was then that David knew he needed to make a career change. He left his practice and started reading and attending conferences to educate himself in his new chosen path. He began by focusing on the hormonal system and restoring the balance in all of the patients he sees. He pulled out his biochemistry textbook and learned how to optimise human physiology and biochemistry instead of using drugs that degrade enzymes and block receptors. When referring to his medical school training David said:
“You never learn about health. You don’t learn what health is, how to optimise it, or even how to just help it improve. You’re learning about pathology and how to manage diseases.”
Now David is having a lot more fun at work figuring out the root cause of his patients’ issues and developing effective treatment plans for them that don’t involve poisonous drugs. He tells people they don’t have a deficiency of statin drugs or antihypertensive drugs in their system. Their problem more likely stems from a magnesium deficiency or a thyroid hormone deficiency, for example.
Practical Advice From Dr David Brownstein
On what doctors learn about health and nutrition in medical school:
“You never learn about health. You don’t learn what health is, how to optimise it, or even how to just help it improve. You’re learning about pathology and how to manage diseases.”
For people to benefit from thyroid hormone treatment, their test levels do not need to be below the recommended reference range. David says,
“When you put people on thyroid hormone for low thyroid, they feel better, their arthritis gets better, their brain gets better, they find it easier to lose weight, their hair gets better. You know, many things get better with thyroid since it affects every single cell in the body.”
On iodine supplementation:
“Iodine is a single nutrient that helps more people. It’s inexpensive, every cell in the body needs it. And, it helps so many different biochemical and physiologic pathways.”
Read more on the definition of holistic medicine and embracing it’s treatment opportunities.
