Natural vs. Conventional Medicine? What are the Advantages?

When my father started at Tulane Medical School he was 32 and his classmates were in their early twenties. They were the last of the true “fix it; and then you are done doctors”. Alton Oschner and Michael DeBakey were in his class. Oschner taught surgery, my Dad taught anatomy and physiology. Michael DeBakey specialized in heart surgery and later he was known world wide when he went to Russia to perform Boris Yelson’s heart operation.

During the 1940s war effort, my Dad was in the Naval Reserves and specialized in treating tropical diseases like malaria - a parasite that destroys the liver. He trained the Marine and Navy medics about first aid and protocol for treating diarrhea, hepatitis and malaria before they were deployed to the Pacific theater of the war. In those days Oschner made a big name for himself when said “cigarettes were bad for your health and could lead to cancer.” Those were times when it was “macho” to smoke and inhale like all the movie stars; so publicly announcing that cigarettes were dangerous, Oschner definitely went against the status quo trend. Big tobacco and the AMA did not like it. They colluded and tried unsuccessfully to publicly smear his reputation. Soon Oschner worked hard to successfully petition the Surgeon General to put a warning label on all tobacco products. Because of this, the medical field got polarized and political in New Orleans in the late 1940s after the war. This was also the time when my Dad got physician of the year and Oschner wanted him as his partner to start a clinic.

During that same time while my Dad was vacationing in Northwest Florida in 1949, the US Military wanted a doctor in the area. A city consul contingency with

a group of military brass approached my father to be locally available for any medical emergency dealing with their pilots and government personnel. He accepted and moved to the area in 1950.

This was a good option with his internship already done and he would be moving away from the politics in New Orleans. My father was highly trained in diseases, surgery and internal medicine. He stood shoulder to should with the most gifted physicians of that day and was the “right stuff” for what the military wanted.

In early 1950s rural Florida there were no hospitals; there were just military bases and small fishing fleets. My Dad had his black bag and made house calls, whether it was on the military base or on a local fishing boat. So anytime a President like Eisenhower, Kennedy or Johnson came to one of the military bases in Northwest Florida my Dad was notified to be on high alert and on call 24/7. He was the go to doctor for the local fisherman and the military in the area, including Eglin Air Force Base and the Pensacola Naval Air Station.

My Dad’s reputation grew. In town he was the old fashion family doctor practicing what he and his classmates believed - the Hippocratic Oath - that they all took at graduation. “Do no harm; let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” They strongly believed and practiced that. It became part of their DNA core as physician healers. Their first regiment was good nutrition, exercise and practical solutions; these were all part of their health protocols with surgery and meds administered only when needed; usually second or third in the diagnostic consideration process. Oschner and my father knew the key to sound function was good liver health and the key to healthy structure was staying fit. So to this day the Oschner Clinic has the best record for liver transplants compared to the rest of health care industry in the whole nation. Why? Well one reason why is Oschner like my Dad pushed the holistic philosophy that they call complementary medicine today. They followed all surgeries and treatments with extensive rehabilitation and adjunct treatments including massage, exercise and nutrition programs. The result is their patients live longer and feel better. At his clinic in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, my Dad practiced this too. Some of the most important aspects of liver function I learned from my Dad, wisdom gained only from experience and not in any books.

In 1995, I drove my father over to New Orleans to his 50 year Class Reunion at Tulane - see us pictured above. But this article is more than just bragging about my father’s legacy, I am bringing up all his background for a very specific and important reason. That reason is to tell you what my father said the night he quit medical practice.

It happened 1972 when my Dad came home and he was stinking mad. He said very loudly coming in the house after he slammed the door, “Now the county medical board has got some Baltimore Bureaucrat running things up there telling me what I am suppose to do in surgery. He has never been med school! My mother said; “Oh Bob calm down.” And my Dad said; “NO.” This jerk bureaucrat is telling me what drugs I am suppose to prescribe, he has never had any courses in pharmacology; I helped build the county medical board where he works, but he doesn’t know his fanny from first base. Now they are raising my malpractice insurance premiums: WHY? Why are they doing that? I have never been sued. Who is getting all that money - just a bunch of bureaucrats - all they ever learn is to grab money and tell people what to do, thats all they know. They don’t care

about people’s health!!!! If I can’t practice good medicine, I am not practicing at all; I quit, this is not medicine, Johnny is right, its a racket.” And at 62 years old he retired. The very next morning I went with him down to the clinic and helped him pack up his office.

I will never forget that night and the following morning as long as I live. This was 1972 and each year since, doctors in the U.S. are coerced more and more, one way or another into prescribing more drugs. Later in the 1980s when I was managing Davenport Laboratories in North Dallas with over 350 customers who were medical doctors. I learned further from them about where the allopathic medical practice was heading and found out my Dad was right. Many of those doctors revealed to me that they were told to sell more drugs. This came from the AMA, pharmaceutical salesman, the county medical board and from insurance company directives. Later after seeing the results of their patient’s hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA), I found out that many of the drugs prescribed were dangerous for your health. Sometimes complications developed to the point of being fatal.

Yes, with drugs, there are complications and side effects.This trend has exponentially gotten worse each and every year to the point of numerous fatalities. But please understand, I am not here to bash the conventional medical treatment like so many holistic practitioners do, on the contrary; with some things, I believe in conventional therapy 100%. But to make an observation and opinion about today’s drug industry one needs to look no further than the statistics.

For example, in 2009 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that for the first time ever in the U.S. more people are killed by prescription drugs and their dangerous side effects than deaths from motor vehicle accidents. Further, they reported that drug fatalities more than doubled among teens and young adults between 2000 and 2008, and more than tripled among people aged 50  to

69. Each year the fatality rate keeps going up. Now it is an established fact at the CDC and even from the medical industry’s admission that prescription drugs and their complications are the number one killer in America. One could easily conclude that the disadvantages of conventional medical therapy are the horrible side effects of prescription drugs. Because of the profit motivation, this industry continues  largely  unchecked,  because  many  drugs  are  approved  before  fully

getting tested for safety.

Speaking about making big profits it is interesting to note that in 2016 when our then President Elect Donald Trump was reviewing the outrageously high price tag of Air Force One with Boeing his first reaction was “Cancel the Order! I want you to make money but not that much money.” This was the same reaction he had with the pharmaceutical industry when he became President and saw the prescription drug cost of the US government (Pharma’s biggest customer) was way over budget, presently about $1.2 billion. This is robbery when people can buy the same drugs from Canada for half the price or even much cheaper. As President Trump said this has to stop. But, Big Pharma will not back down quickly or quietly. They did not for Oschner when he pointed out the dangers of cigarette smoking and they certainly will not rapidly cooperate with President Trump in lowering their prices of drugs. As of this writing it is still under review.

For me the dark part of the prescription drug industry is the big disadvantage of conventional medicine. Some drugs are very helpful but not all drugs. But most of them have negative side effects. Since they are chemicals unfamiliar to the body. It is my opinion that long term use can be devastating; even fatal. So what are the advantages of conventional medical therapy ? Well one advantage is when drugs are used therapeutically, they can put you instantly to sleep, take away all your pain or make you feel invincible, capable of sharp cognitive abilities with prolonged focus and clarity. Some of these effects on the patient under surgery and other treatments, can be lifesaving and definitely give the edge for over all recovery in healing when used for short periods of time. Once you get everything rapidly done you then follow up with sound rehabilitation. So, yes, the surgical procedure with the help of specific drug therapy is a huge advantage and benefit of conventional medicine.

For example if you get hurt in a car wreck, break bones skiing or unfortunately take a bullet there is no better place to go in the world than the Emergency Room of your nearest United States hospital. If you are a victim of these types of circumstances go to the E.R. immediately or call 911, this is the best treatment in the world for maladies to the anatomy or structure of the body.

However, functional and physiological internal medicine treated with pharmaceutical drugs on a longer duration of time, sometimes for life, in my

opinion is not such a good idea. In some cases legal prescription drugs with continuous use are very addictive; like pain killers. These and other prescription drugs are the number one killers in the U.S. population today. So short term use of targeted pharmaceutical drugs with lifesaving surgery is excellent. Long term use of drugs with routine maintenance surgery to me is not good, How does this all contrast with natural medicine? Lets look again at the statistics.

In 2015 there were several reports showing there was not one death from using natural supplements like vitamins, herbs, minerals, amino acids or homeopathics. According to Andrew Saul, editor of the Orthomolecular Medical News, there were zero deaths from vitamins and there were also zero deaths from any nutritional supplements. The most recent (2015) information collected by the U.S. National Poison Data System and published in the Journal of Clinical Toxicology - shows no deaths whatsoever from any dietary supplements. This is an interesting contrast to allopathic prescription medicine especially when you consider the Hippocratic Oath - Do No Harm! So these results from nutritional supplements are more in line with the oath, holistic thinking and natural health.

Many practitioners in natural health will follow criteria laid down in certain traditions from herbalogical folklore, homeopathic medicine or from practices from some of the more famous American Naturopaths like John Harvey Kellogg. This is all fine because some of these therapies date back thousands of years and there is literally hundreds of years refining all of these techniques and protocols. However growing up in my father’s clinic and working in the lab, I take a more of an empirical approach in my practice compared to other Naturopathic Doctors. I start out with the hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA), which gives me a more accurate baseline of biochemical activity in the client’s body. Then I know what I dealing with in their physiology and mineral levels, plus any possible heavy toxic metals that are present.

Therefore, moving forward when the client and I proceed with their new diet and supplement regime, it is specifically based on their unique biological needs. As a result they respond faster to their personal natural healing regiment. Hippocrates said; let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food, do no harm. At my Dad’s reunion and meeting all of his classmates I am proud to say that they all agreed with me that what I was practicing using the diet from the HTMA was sound and many said it was more in line with the Hippocratic Oath that they took.

Some told me that this is not what modern medicine turned out to be.

So which is better? Natural or conventional medicine? I believe that for physical injury of the anatomy or structure of the body that the conventional allopathic practice (in the E.R.) is king and trumps all other existing treatments for mending bones, internal injuries, treating wounds from attacks or automobile accidents or any other damage to the structure of the body. As far as physiology or function of the body when chronic conditions linger; natural health therapies should not be over looked as a major consideration. Sometimes even chronic conditions might be better treated with the right natural therapy.

For example, when my hepatitis c viral load was so high at 12 million and 96% of my liver was consumed by scar tissue in 1992, the doctor’s protocol was a liver transplant and interferon drug therapy. I considered this very carefully, but decided not to go through with it because at the time transplant recipients did not live longer than 5 or 6 years. Certain death in less than a decade was not an option for me. Plus, the side effects of the interferon were many, including suicidal thoughts. Therefore, I opted out of both the liver transplant and the interferon and felt that healing my liver naturally was the best course of action to take. The doctors did not agree with me and said I was not thinking right and further diagnosed me as being delirious. According to them, my mind and liver were both gone and they gave me less than 6 months to live. I walked away from the university hospital and pursued natural healing therapy for my liver. More than 20 years later, I am glad I did. For me, it is better to keep all of my own organs, stay off drugs and restore the function of the body and mind in a natural way.

Have you ever looked at the Periodic Table of Elements? These elements make up everything in the universe! Everything; including us. In fact, we are the microcosm of the macrocosm. In Biblical terms, we are made in God’s image. In chemistry, we are composed mostly of about 40 elements on the Periodic Table. Our make up is essentially the combination of elements made flesh, with the spark of spirit that gives us life.

In the Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA), the biological activity of 37 Elements is measured. They are: 15 important Nutritional Elements, 8 Toxic Heavy Metals, 14 Trace Elements. With the information of the HTMA, we now know what is available and being used in the body or what is lacking. Health begins to deteriorate when cell metabolism does not have the right foods and elements it needs. A mineral imbalance follows. Over time, function goes down and structure begins to lose its integrity. With the right foods and a balance of elements on a daily basis the body’s cells will repair and reverse aging.

The HTMA will show:

• How to avoid disease states
• Any toxic or heavy metal overload
• A complete profile of 37 different elements
• The correct diet schedule based on your biochemistry

Contact Johnny to order your HTMA today - $226 USD

Best Selling author Johnny Delirious worked with one of the first pioneers to use the scientific modality - Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA), to get the right diet and supplements to experience life free of disease. The guessing game to achieve good health is over. Today he gives his expert advice with over 40 years of experience as a professional in the health industry.