WHY I (OFTEN) DON’T LOVE WESTERN MEDICINE

Part 2 of a Series

For Part 1 of this series see https://chriscaja.substack.com/p/i-love-western-medicine?r=2xntp

In the late summer of 2022, my then 17-year old younger son AJ---after suffering from on-going digestive issues for several months--- was diagnosed with Crohn’s, an autoimmune and chronic bowel disease that causes inflammation and irritation in the digestive tract.

Causes, according to Western Medicine? Unknown.

The western medicine “solution” that we were given by his gastroenterologist? A lifetime sentence of prescription drugs, and possible surgery.

Well, that just wasn’t acceptable to AJ’s mom or to me, especially given all I had learned on my pancreatic cancer journey.

What really caused AJ’s Crohn’s? There had to be some possible reasons.

Weren’t there any other options for treatment or a cure? Why no investigation—-or even questions—-about root causes?

Did we just have to roll over and accept whatever the doctor told us? Did we really have to adhere to the well-worn (and I believe very outdated) phrase “just listen to your doctor”?

From talking to a close friend Josh, I learned that his son had been diagnosed with Crohn’s a couple of years before AJ. Josh’s son Alex had also been told by his doctor to take prescription drugs for life, and that pretty much summed up his going forward plan.

But here was Josh’s warning to me: “Long-term, those drugs are known to potentially cause cancer.”

WTF? The doctors want us to give our son cancer-causing drugs just to manage a disease for which they don’t even know (or even care about) its cause?

None of this made sense to me.

Thankfully, my ex-wife Carmen had the presence of mind to research alternatives and to examine options. Neither one of us---nor AJ for that matter---could envision our son on a lifetime of taking drugs just to “manage” symptoms. And we were both convinced there were identifiable factors that could be causes of his illness.

It didn’t make sense that this was inherited. People aren’t genetically disposed to Crohn’s.

Spoiler alert: like most illnesses and diseases, I believe that Crohn’s is mostly caused by our modern lifestyle: some combination of eating processed and ultra-processed foods, not enough exercise, too much stress, traumas, exposure to toxins and microplastics, and traumas in one’s life, just to name a few possible factors.

Carmen wanted to go deeper and do some research, and so she did. What she found for treatment and a possible cure was for AJ to go on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). SCD is a diet that allows some carbohydrates and prohibits others based on how difficult they are to digest. It's largely based in part on the idea that carbohydrate intolerance is central to Crohn's disease.

Eating healthier and lowering carb intake! What a concept!

Figuring we could always have pivot to the drugs the doctor wanted AJ to take, we had AJ try SCD for a few months. Carmen was great at helping AJ prepare meals, and AJ bought in completely and helped with the cooking.

After a few weeks, he started feeling better.

Less diarrhea. Fewer trips to the bathroom. An overall lessening of his symptoms.

Before the next visit to the same gastroenterologist, AJ had to get his blood panel re-taken.

Lo and behold----his blood work results showed vast improvement! Not only was AJ feeling better, the test results verified that by changing his diet---a lot of work to be sure---it was resulting in significant and positive changes.

No drugs. No surgery.

Just eating healthier.

I couldn’t wait for the next visit with the gastroenterologist to discuss what had occurred. AJ and I logged into the Zoom room.

“AJ, how are you feeling?”, asked the doctor.

“Really good”, replied AJ.

“Well, your blood work is really amazing. Everything is moving in a very positive direction. This is all good. What have you been doing?”

“My mom had me try the Sustainable Carbohydrate Diet.”

In that split second before she started talking, I was wondering what the doctor would say.

“That’s great, I’m glad that approach worked for you.”

Um, what?

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I had to jump in.

“You know about this diet?” I asked as politely as I could, while trying not to show my internal disdain.

“Of course, yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about it before?”

I was starting to show my anger.

“Because we don’t think patients will want to do the work.”

They don’t think patients will want to do the work.

Let that sink in like the stinky and stale fart in a crowded elevator that it is.

To recap: We weren’t told about the SCD, even though the gastroenterologist knew about it. We weren’t told about a way to treat Crohn’s without surgery, without a lifetime of potentially cancer-causing drug taking.

We weren’t told that a healthy diet and a change of eating habits had a good chance of working.

We weren’t told.

And I’m guessing most people---not just with this doctor---aren’t told there are alternatives to Western Medicine/standard of care for chronic illnesses.

Stay tuned for Part 3.