Saving Patients Money

I once had a patient who came to me for lifelong hay fever, or allergic rhinitis, as it's known in the medical world. No matter what one calls it, allergic rhinitis is highly unpleasant at best and at worst is severely disruptive to one's life. It includes not only an allergy to pollen, but crossover reactions to foods, temperature changes, and mold.

After the consultation and physical examination, I decided that the first step would be to treat the patient's Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) so as to prepare his body for natural allergy elimination and ensure his body was in sync. This was on a Friday. I went ahead and penciled him for the following Monday, since the pollen season had just started and I knew it would take six to eight sessions to help him.

When the patient called on Monday morning to cancel his appointment, I figured he had a scheduling conflict. So I was surprised when he said, "I don't know what you did, but I'm symptom free." I hadn't even treated him for the pollen allergy yet! That is the power of the autonomic nervous system.

The ANS is that part of our nervous system that controls all bodily functions that operate without our conscious awareness, including heart rate or regulation, breathing, digestion and sexual arousal. It can be the underlying cause of the young man's difficulty getting an erection, or the woman's panic attacks or rapid heart rate. The ANS is also involved in the stress response known as "fight or flight."

The ANS also impacts more serious medical issues. Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez, a top cancer specialist, who worked at the world-renown Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan was discouraged by the dismal survival rate of his cancer patients. Gonzalez, a former journalist, turned to outside-the-box research. He found a Texas dentist who was getting good results with cancer patients by changing their diet. However, these changes were not about following a vegan, vegetarian, Mediterranean or Paleo regimen, but about balancing the ANS. Gonzalez began using this method with his patients, with amazing results. Patients that are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer typically live only a few years after their diagnosis; for example, Patrick Swayze and Steve Jobs. Dr. Gonzalez's terminal patients, however, live an average of fifteen to thirty years after diagnosis! Balancing the ANS has the power to extend the life of a cancer patient and possibly even prevent cancer in the first place.

Just about every patient I see benefits from having their ANS adjusted; some have dysautonomia, diabetes, neuropathy, auto-immune disorders or epilepsy - others are just really stressed out. There is even a computer program that measures heart rate variability (HRV), which indicates how the ANS is functioning. Reduced HRV has been shown to be a predictor of mortality after myocardial infarction, although it has clinical significance in congestive heart failure, diabetic neuropathy, depression, post-cardiac transplant, susceptibility to SIDS and poor survival in premature babies.

If a patient suffers from dysautonomia, the medical treatment consists of medications to address the symptoms. If that doesn't work, surgery is an option to perform an incision in the ANS. This procedure usually costs $30,000.

Correcting the ANS holistically and naturally can also help the 70 million Americans that suffer from digestive disturbances, like IBS, colitis, constipation, diarrhea, and acid reflux by literally reducing their symptoms in half. Do you suffer from one of the ailments discussed here? If so, consider having your ANS evaluated. It will not only facilitate the healing process - it will save you time (i.e. hours spent in doctors' offices or lost hours from work), not to mention money you normally spend on medical care and prescriptions. It will make you and your wallet a whole lot healthier.