Hidden options in health care - Part 2

Mommin

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

The body knows more than we do, about what it needs. There was a day, not unlike today, slightly gray, still, Fall in the air.. It was 2003 and I was pregnant and craving something, staring at the fridge.  Scanning shelf by shelf, considering the taste.. my body passed so many things over.. nope…nope…nope.. and then, oddly.. YES!  Yes to the dry wheat germ jar I had leftover from my last batch of muffins.  I opened it up, ate a spoonful, and my eyes lit up. Yes yes yes!!  I poured a mugful, went back to our comfy couch, snuggled up with a blanket to read a book.  Spoon by spoon, I ate that dry wheat germ, which tasted like heaven, not grated cardboard, somehow. After some time, I got up, went to the fridge and poured another mugful and relished every bite of that one, too.

Spring of the next year I delivered a healthy baby girl, and it was not until years later, after a series of frustrating miscarriages and my OB recommending extra folate that I made the connection.  Wheat germ is an excellent source of folate. 9 Amazing Benefits of Wheat Germ | Organic Facts

My first daughter was healthy, mostly.. she was not yet a year old when we experienced her first allergic reaction.  It’s still stressful to think about.. so let me skip to what’s relevant for this story.  I don’t remember why she took antibiotics, maybe for one of her skin rashes.. what I do remember is that afterwards she had diarrhea for 21 days.  Our childcare provider was concerned and we took her to the pediatric gastroenterologist at the local children’s hospital.  His recommendation: diagnostic surgery.  At this point she was 9-10 months old, below average weight and soooo fragile and delicate.  I had recurring nightmares that she did not come back after they put her under for the procedure.  I sought advice from a mentor at work who was an experienced dad - he suggested I speak with a friend of his who was also a gastroenterologist.  It didn’t feel right.  I ended up chatting with my new neighbor in the front yard - a more experienced mom whose youngest of 3 was the same age as my baby girl.  She told me to follow my instincts, and with her encouragement, I did.  Then, talking with another longtime friend who had just had her first baby, she said her (known to be a hippie) mom thought I should try probiotics for my daughter’s digestive issues.  So we asked our pediatrician about probiotics. She said, “it won’t hurt and might help”. A few days later, our daughter’s digestion was back to normal.  Surgery avoided.

Lessons learned.. mainstream medicine:

-is eager to use technology

-was not well-versed in the microbiome, or probiotics (as of 2004)

-did not appear to prioritize low intervention options as a first step (though to be fair this applies to the pediatric gastro but not my awesome OB)

-was not as effective in solving this particular health issue as my friend’s mom (who was not trained in medicine, just understood nutrition and health enough to suggest the right solution)

I know.. still not a full explanation. There’s more. Stay tuned..