In order to share with you the full extent of what’s going on in the world of medicine, I have done quite a bit of research that will continue to be posted on this website in upcoming months. I’m taking a disease condition, describing it by its symptoms, and then giving you two philosophies to compare: the way that standard traditional western medicine treats it, and the complementary alternative method of treatment as I practice it.

I’m starting with a common ailment: acid reflux, or gastroesophageal reflux, as we call it in medical lingo. So I can do that, I have to give you some background information. If you can wade through the statistics, it is well worth your time to realize what is happening. If you can’t, forge on ahead to the paragraph beginning with “Gastroesophageal…”

Gary Null, PhD and others have brought together the finest summary of cost and mortality statistics of traditional western medicine interventions that I have seen. Here are some of the stats that are astonishing:

If we use Leape’s data of Adverse drug reactions and medical error numbers of:

More data taken from western medicine literature on annual unnecessary medical events statistics include:

Here are the risks of entering a hospital:

These statistics do not address the following:

1. Only 5-20% of iatrogenic events are reported
2. Medication by-products pollute the water supply
3. Proven lack of efficacy (yet used as if proven) for certain drugs not included in unnecessary category, like chemotherapy, antibiotics, anti-depressants
4. Controversial surgeries that are not counted as unnecessary, like C-section, appendectomy, hysterectomy, breast implants, back surgeries, angiography, endarterectomy
5. The effect good nutrition and supplements and toxin removal and avoidance could have on the whole funnel drawing people into a sick care program.

With this as a background, let’s look at a common disorder, and compare how traditional western medicine treats it, and how complementary alternative medicine treats it.

Gastroesophageal reflux (disease), abbreviated as GERD, takes place when the gastric juice contents ‘reflux’ up the esophagus. There is a sphincter at the junction of the stomach and the esophagus that is not supposed to permit ‘reflux’ to take place. It should only relax when liquid contents are coming down the esophagus when food is swallowed from the mouth. The stomach is the only organ that can tolerate the degree of acidity present in the stomach, so this causes ‘heartburn’, or midline chest pain, especially after meals. Over time the lining of the esophagus changes, eventually becoming what is called Barrett’s esophagus, which are cancer precursor cells.

TRADITIONAL WESTERN MEDICINE TREATMENT (19)

1. Elevate head of bed, avoid food and drink for 3 hours before bedtime, decrease fat in diet, avoid cigarettes and alcohol, weight loss
2. Gastric acid alkalinizers, like TUMS (unfortunately, many of them have aluminum in them)
3. Gastric acid production inhibitors, like Prilosec
4. Surgery called a Nissen fundoplication, where they surround the lower esophagus with stomach muscle

COMPLEMENTARY ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

1. Decrease carbohydrate intake (I’m amazed how successful this one simple measure is in the vast majority of reflux)
2. Vitamin E oil to coat the esophagus for protection against acid damage
3. Deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) if peptic ulcer is present. When peptic ulcers are present, DGL is more effective than Tagamet or Zantac for the short term treatment or long term maintenance. (20), (21)
4. If there is low stomach acid (which is a not uncommon cause of reflux), then add Betaine HCl, which will stimulate acid production (and stop the reflux). If there are low pancreatic enzymes (another cause of reflux), add pancreatic enzymes. Stomach acid content and pancreatic enzyme release can be measured by swallowing a pH transmitter and recording the pH in the stomach and its neutralization in the small intestine.

If you have acid reflux, you might want to give the safe, effective alternative treatment options a try.If you do, please let me know how the complementary alternative treatment option works for you.I’d love to hear.

(1) Lazarou J, Pomeranz B, Corey P. Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients. JAMA. 1998:279:1200-1205.

(2) Suh DC, Woodall BS, Shin SK, Hermes-De Santis ER. Clinical and economic impact of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients. Ann Pharmacother. 2000 Dec;34(12):1373-9.

(3) Thomas et al., 1000; Thomas et al., 1999. Institute of Medicine.

(4) Leape LL. Error in Medicine. JAMA. 1994 Dec 21;272(23):1851-7.

(5) Calculations detailed in Unnecessary Surgery section, from two sources: (13) http://hcup.ahrq.gov/HCUPnet.asp and (71) US Congressional House Subcommittee Oversight Investigation. Cost and Quality of Health Care: Unnecessary Surgery. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. 1976.

(6) HCUPnet, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. http://www.ahrq.gov/data/hcup/hcupnet.htm, http://hcup.ahrq.gov/HCUPnet.asp, http://hcup.ahrq.gov/HCUPnet.asp

(7) Xakellis, G.C., R. Frantz and A. Lewis. Cost of Pressure Ulcer Prevention in Long Term Care, JAGX, 43-5, May 1995.

(8) Barczak, C.A., R.I. Barnett, E.J. Childs, L.M. Bosley, “Fourth National Pressure Ulcer Prevalence Survey”, Advances in Wound Care,10-4, Jul/Aug 1997.

(9) Weinstein RA. Nosocomial Infection Update. Special Issue. Emerging Infectious Diseases. Vol. 4 No. 3, July Sept 1998.

(10) Fourth Decennial International Conference on Nosocomial and Healthcare-Associated Infections, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), February 25, 1000, Vol. 49, No. 7, p. 138.

(11) Green Burger S, Kayser-Jones J, Prince Bell J. Malnutrition and Dehydration in Nursing Homes: Key Issues in Prevention and treatment. National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform. June 2000. http://www.cmwf.org/programs/elders/burger_mal_386.asp.

(12) Starfield B. Is US health really the best in the world? JAMA. 2000 Jul 26;284(4):483-5, Starfield B. Deficiencies in US medical care. JAMA 2000 Nov 1;284(17):2184-5.

(13) Weingart SN, McL Wilson R, Gibberd RW, Harrison B. Epidemiology of medical error. West J Med. 2000 Jun;172(6):390-3.

(14) Tunis SR, Gelband G. Health Care Technology and its Assessment in Eight Countries. Health Care Technology in the United States. Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) 1995.

(15) Calculations from four sources, see Unnecessary Hospitalization section: (13) http://hcup.ahrq.gov/HCUPnet.asp and (93) Siu AL, Sonnenberg FA, Manning WG, Goldberg GA, Bloomfield ES, Newhouse JP, Brook RH. Inappropriate use of hospitals in a randomized trial of health insurance plans. NEJM. 1986 Nov 13;315(20):1259-66. and (94) Siu AL, Manning WG, Benjamin B. Patient, provider and hospital characteristics associated with inappropriate hospitalization. Am J Public Health. 1990 Oct;80(10):1253-6 and (95) Eriksen BO, Kristiansen IS, Nord E, Pape JF, Almdahl SM, Hensrud A, Jaeger S. The cost of inappropriate admissions: a study of health benefits and resource utilization in a department of internal medicine. J Intern Med. 1999 Oct;246(4):379-87.

(16) Leape LL. Error in Medicine. JAMA. 1994 Dec 21;272(23):1851-7.

(17) Calculations detailed in Unnecessary Surgery section, from two sources: (13) http://hcup.ahrq.gov/HCUPnet.asp and (71) US Congressional House Subcommittee Oversight Investigation. Cost and Quality of Health Care: Unnecessary Surgery. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. 1976.

(18) Forster AJ, Murff HJ, Peterson JF, Gandhi TK, Bates DW. The incidence and severity of adverse events affecting patients after discharge from the hospital. Ann Intern Med. 2003 Feb 4;138(3):161-7.

(19) Cecil, Textbook of Medicine, 19th Edition, pp. 642-43.

(20) Morgan AG, Pascoo C, McAdam WA. Maintenance therapy. A two-year comparison between Caved-S and cimetidine treatment in the prevention of symptomatic gastric ulcer. Gut 1985;26:599-602.

(21) Morgan AG et al. Comparison between cimetidine and Caved-S in the treatment of gastric ulceration, and subsequent maintenance therapy. Gut 1982;23:545-551.