Prior to becoming involved in the alternative medical field, I was an emergency room doctor for two decades – and before that I spent seven years as a pharmacist.

As an ER physician, I saw people with all kinds of hardships … people who had been shot, stabbed, had heart attacks or strokes, been in car accidents … you name it, I’ve probably seen it. If you are in an urgent or life-threatening position, then the emergency room certainly is the place to go.

However, if you are not in a life-or-death situation, exposure to alternative medicine is often a real eye-opening experience to my patients. It’s different in many ways, but here is the fundamental root reason why: The “regular” doctor is trained to prescribe drugs for almost everything, which in effect often only treats the symptoms rather than the actual root of the problem. The alternative medicine physician goes into greater detail and, wherever possible, finds other ways to effectively treat the cause of the issue.

Both my parents are classic examples. When my father complained of digestive problems, his doctor told him to take both over-the-counter and prescription-strength antacids. Just before he was finally correctly diagnosed with laryngeal cancer, he was given a very strong acid blocker, which only made the situation worse. In the case of my mother, a well-known neurologist diagnosed her with ALS and told her she had less than a year to live. Fortunately, I’d already begun my Alternative Medicine practice, so I knew the value of what it could do. I took her to an alternative neurologist in Naples, FL, who correctly discovered she had a magnesium deficiency. With the use of magnesium supplements and other treatments, my mother went on to live another five years – despite a lot of damage already being done (because a great deal of time passed before she was being treated correctly).

Perhaps now you can better understand why I am so passionate about what I do, and as I said in my last blog, why I take such great care with every patient I see.