Where have all the generalist gone, long time passing.  When will they ever learn?  There are over two hundred specialties in the AMA master list of medical professionals. The question becomes, how can a specialist function with a chaotic physiology?  When the worldview of the medical specialist suggests that just one thing will heal a disease, has he considered the side effects of his remedy?  It does not matter if there is a drug, a vitamin, a mineral, or a medical procedure; they all must interact with human physiology in complex ways. 

This idea of promoting one thing for health or even just one thing for repairing a malady of the body is less than desirable. The vitamin D community that is promoting health through just one purposeful necessity is a huge error.  This has been the mistake in the understanding of vitamins and minerals for healing of disease. Think of the confusion brought about by Linus Pauling in promoting vitamin C, or the legal battles fought over magnesium deficiency. Now, we have the Vitamin D Revolution.  All are needed, none should be left out.  The interactions of vitamins and minerals is very important to wellness.

Don’t get me wrong. vitamin D3 is a master prohormone that is necessary for a healthy life. This necessity has developed through our relationship with the sun.  As we have moved indoors out of the sunshine, the argument has become not that we need vitamin D3, but how much and from what source.  If we raise the level of vitamin D in our body, the need for other vitamins and minerals will show itself in other side effects.  For example, if you don’t have an adequate amount of magnesium with increased vitamin D, you may have heart arrhythmias.  This problem becomes even worse when applying drugs to a disease.  In particular for drugs that are analogs of what the body expects.  Think about how many times the physician prescribes one drug and then many others for the side effects. The problem then becomes do we apply drugs or nutrition first for chronic disease?  The body normally is deficient in nutrition and not deficient in drugs.  The money–is in medical procedures, drugs, and medical insurance.

There is some hope as we have moved in the direction of nutrition for the treatment of chronic disease.  Consider the number of facilities that now offer integrative medicine. Integrative medicine is where conventional Western medicine is combined with nutrition, exercise, and other medical arts.  You cannot define the human body with one illness, thus separating its wholeness.  This reminds me of the movie where Jack Palance tells Billy Crystal that the secret of life is just one thing.  Jack then tells Billy he will need to figure it out.  Does Billy need to find a specialist? We have spent inexpressible amounts of money and effort to find this one thing for one disease.  It does not exist unless you point toward God, or whatever reality you wish to define in our superhuman existence.

It’s time for the world of medicine to accept the fact that complexity cannot be resolved through specialty.   It takes both specialist and generalist to reach healthy solutions for healing disease.  There should be more generalist than specialist.  M. Scott Peck wrote about how specialties lead to evil.  Think of an institution where the individuals it serves are not given any empathy and only the survival of the institution is the important thing.  Peck’s “People of the Lie” is an important read in understanding of how evil presents itself through specialization. 

Just in the last two weeks, I’ve had three different people tell me how much better they have felt by replacing drugs with nutrition and exercise.  One lady who was taking twelve different drugs has replaced all but one. Now, she is looking for what is missing in her life experience to eliminate the last drug.  Why does an individual have to spend the effort of doing their own research when solutions could be delivered by the medical profession?  What has happened to the consultant who suggest a drug for a short term solution and nutrition required for a long term solution? We seem to have the drugs and surgery worked out.  A man with a hammer will always look for nails.  When will they ever learn?  –Pandemic Survivor