Wow, since I last blogged in March I have recovered physically (never will emotionally) from my 21 days in Haiti, packed up yet again (4 times in 5 months is too much), moved back to my awesome tiny home in Nashville, started my new job at the most amazing office (Cool Springs Family Medicine), and moved my first born back into the nest with us again!! Not to mention the many other happenings in our otherwise gypsy life! As I sit here during the most amazingly beautiful day I believe this year, I started reflecting on the enormous responsibility of my new life as a nurse practitioner.
My new job and one that incredibly enough I found on Craigslist of all places is ideal for me. I have landed a sweet deal in the most balanced mixture of traditional and integrative medicine of any place I have ever known! Cool Springs Family Medicine is a family medicine practice that Dr. Dan Kalb owns and runs as a wellness center. Daily I go to him and voice how stupid I feel when these patients arrive and want to treat some illness with herbs, supplements or one of many natural remedies that have been used for centuries! I am learning daily that our bodies are chronically depleted of the vital nutrients and vitamins we need to live the life that God created us to live!!
Following is a fraction of what I have learned in the 3 short months of practicing a balance of traditional/integrative medicine:
1. Garlic oil, oil of oregano and colloidal silver is an amazing cure for an otherwise not severe ear infection!! Who knew? Not me and apparently not my high priced school that educated me for 3 years!
2. Candida is the root of all evil in our gut! Get rid of the candida, get rid of the symptoms!!
3. 99.9% if not 100% of our diseases (illnesses) we have stem from the gut....leaky gut is fixable and the difference I have seen in patients lives with a GOOD Pro-biotic (at least 20 billion flora) and digestive enzymes is mind blowing!
4. Food sensitivity testing is a sure fire way to get people to realize that what they are eating is sure enough causing their symptoms of bloating, headaches, eczema, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, heartburn and the list goes on and on and on!!
5. Adrenal Fatigue is a term that even though never once mentioned in NP school (and apparently MD school as well), is a very real thing and most likely the cause of many peoples thyroid problems....fix the adrenal glands (the glands that make cortisol) and the symptoms of hypothyroidism lessen if not resolve completely.
6. It takes longer than 20 minutes to start to find the "root" of the symptoms, just treating the symptoms has never and will never "cure" the problem! Most issues dont'need a pill to fix, they need a LIFESTYLE CHANGE and determination from the patient (and practitioner) to regain their health and vitality!!
7. One can instantly be humbled (and the reality of our job realized in an instant) when a brand new patient I referred to ENT, because "something just didn't look right" for a swollen left tonsil x one month: and the ENT calls and faxes the report over after having just removed an "invasive squamous cell carcinoma" of the tonsil! A 6 cm cancer!! The need to find an oncologist was not on my list of differentials nor the patient's when they came to see me for answers! I didn't know what was wrong, I simply thank God knew that I didn't need to be messing around with antibiotics (or alternative treatments) for months at a time....God covered me! I am still rattled over this case daily!!
8. Coconut oil is good for just about any skin rash....as an anti-fungal it helps with candida as well!
9. Vitamin D deficiency is a chronic problem.....
10. Dr. Ward was right when he would tell me "you can't afford NOT to Dani" when I would complain in years past that I "can't afford to take .....supplements, vitamins".....oh the beauty of hindsight!!
11. Lymes Disease is real and a booger to diagnose and treat!!
12. Hormones, hormones, hormones are constantly changing and constantly needing to be tweaked!! But Bio-Identical Hormones are the cure for most women and men!
13. When the doctors in the ER fired me on the spot and told me I was taking too long to learn the ER.....that was in reality a blessing God handed me!! Who knew at the time? Not me that's for sure! But I sure do now, and thank God everyday for getting me out of that ER when he did and into a place that is 100x harder to learn, but actually making a difference in people lives everyday!!
I am blessed beyond belief to find my niche in life! Not once, but twice in my life!! God is good, even when I haven't been that's for darn sure!
Onward~ Dani
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