A NOT SO UNUSUAL CASE

March 2, 2004

I was recently reading a case study in one of my professional journals, which discussed a scenario that is all too common. The review described a set of complaints that is not unusual and often mismanaged. This case study involved a 35 year old women with the following complaints; burping and flatulence, abdominal bloating, fatigue, generalized muscle pain, allergies, memory and concentration difficulties.

As is appropriate, she consulted her family doctor, who performed some diagnostic testing and sent her to a gastroenterologist as well. After some lab work, a barium swallow, barium enema, and endoscopy which all were within normal limits, she was told to take some antacids. This did not provide any relief and there were no other diagnostic tests or treatments that were suggested which she felt confident in following.

Out of frustration she decided to make an appointment with a chiropractor with postgraduate training in nutrition, dietary counseling and functional medicine approaches. Further testing with more functional types of testing procedures led to the following treatment plan: eliminating foods that may have been causing possible allergic or sensitivity reactions, eating only fresh non-processed foods, a multiple vitamin-mineral, digestive enzymes, HCL and pepsin, acidophilus and other nutrients that assist in repair and increase absorption of foods such as L-glutamine.

After a 4 and 8-week follow-up the patient was doing much better overall. Although this is an overview of one case, it represents a common scenario that required additional diagnostics and care not part of conventional medicine. It must also be acknowledged that the initial presentation and appropriate standard medical evaluations were of utmost importance to rule out more serious conditions that needed to be investigated before these above options were explored. Working within this framework ensures patient safety and provides the confidence the family doctor needs in order to support patients as they explore additional avenues of treatment. As our lifestyles become more stressful and our diets do not support us with the nutrition needed to stay healthy, more of these chronic types of functional illnesses are developing and becoming more common.