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Can’t Afford Natural Care And Treatments – So What To Do?

Written by Wellness Club on February 3, 2008 – 4:30 pm -

We encounter this same problem, the same requests, over and over and over. The problem is that natural, holistic medical care and therapies and treatments are not generally covered by most "insurance" plans, and because of this many people do without natural care since they simply refuse to pay for it out of their own pockets. How sad. These people will subject themselves to all sorts of toxic, risky conventional Big Pharma drugs and treatments simply because they can have them without having to shell out much of their own hard-earned cash.

Recently a woman called here for advice – reassurance actually, that the nuclear scan that she was scheduled to undergo would be as harmless as her conventional doctor and the technicians were telling her. This woman is concerned, and rightly so – regular readers of HealthBeat are aware that neither Dr. Myatt nor I are big fans of willy-nilly x-rays, scans, and other radiological examinations that use ionizing radiation.

Kathy called here in the late afternoon of a busy day wanting extensive advise – I told her I would discuss her situation with Dr. Myatt and get back to her by email later that evening. She then emailed an hour or two later to take me to task for not emailing sooner and left messages on our answering service expressing her disappointment at my failure to email more promptly – here is part of the exchange:

Hi,
I spoke earlier to someone about my thyroid concerns. I have nodules in in both thyroids and am scheduled for a pill tomorrow [for a nuclear scan of the thyroid] at 9am. I spoke to someone about this earlier and was told I would get info in my mail this eve but have not. I have other pressing health concerns and am taking loads of tests. I don’t have much money but I am in desperate need of advice. The problem is conventional medicine is limited and natural medicine is expensive and doesn’t take my insurance, so I suffer. I am so terribly upset and anxious.
thank you, Kathy

Dr. Myatt and I did eventually discuss Kathy – over a late working supper here in the office – and this was my answer to her late that same evening:

Hi Kathy,

Sorry for the delay in sending this email – our patient day ran late, and then Dr. Myatt and I had considerable conferencing and debriefing to do with regard to the day’s patient’s. This is the first opportunity we’ve had to discuss your call.

Nodules / cysts / lumps / bumps in the thyroid and in other organs are very common in persons who are deficient in iodine. Thyroid problems can also occur in persons who consume too much iodine, though in North America this is a rarity. Please see our webpage where we discuss iodine: http://www.drmyattswellnessclub.com/Iodine.htm The thyroid is a very important gland – and perhaps less prone to "cancer" than conventional medicine would have us believe. Please see our page discussing the thyroid here: http://www.drmyattswellnessclub.com/hypothyroid.htm

Your nuclear scan that you have scheduled for tomorrow morning is unlikely to reveal much beyond what you know already from the ultrasound examination that you described to me over the phone. The most likely result of this test will be a recommendation that you undergo a biopsy. Our recommendation might be (in such an instance) that you could consider having a Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy performed under Ultrasound Guidance. Many nodules, cysts, lumps, and bumps on the thyroid resolve quickly when a person is given optimal supplementation with natural forms of iodine.

An iodine test (see: http://www.drmyattswellnessclub.com/medicaltests.htm#IODINE) will quickly and inexpensively provide some definitive information in this regard and allow guided recommendations to be made for optimal supplementation. Surprisingly, a great many other physical complaints may be found to improve with optimal intake of iodine as well.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,
Nurse Mark

I followed up with Kathy, in reply to her telephone calls, to offer her the opportunity for a very brief (and inexpensive – ie: at reduced cost) consultation with Dr. Myatt on her lunch hour. It became quite clear that Kathy was not willing to spend any of her own money but rather wanted a free consultation and reassurance that the scan that her conventional doctor was promoting and that her conventional medical insurance was willing to pay for would be entirely harmless and safe.

My final advise to Kathy? Have the conventional scan; for it is clear that while she claims to want alternatives, she does not want them badly enough to find the money to pay for them. Conventional medicine will provide her with conventional drugs that will cause conventional side effects, conventional scans and x-rays with conventional risks, and conventional surgical treatments with conventional outcomes – all paid for by conventional insurance. Is this the very best health care? Not in our opinion – but at least it’s covered by conventional "disease insurance" and for people like Kathy that is what really matters.

As Dr. Myatt and I talked about Kathy’s situation she recalled a similar situation that she encountered a few years ago: A attractive, active woman in her 30′s came to see Dr. Myatt in her clinic. She was seeking help with her very severe colitis – so severe that her conventional doctors wanted to remove her colon and leave her with a permanent colostomy. Now, in conventional medicine colitis is a very difficult disease to deal with – but for us, with natural, holistic approaches, it is usually able to be controlled and resolved – even (dare I say it?) cured fairly quickly. The surgical removal of the colon is not something we would considered to be a humane or ethical option. This woman listened to Dr. Myatts explanation of what treatment would entail, and then asked the fateful question: "Will this be covered by my insurance?" The answer of course was "No." That was all this attractive, active young woman needed to hear – for her natural treatment was now no longer an option, and she would return forthwith to her conventional doctor to have a barbaric surgery committed and to spend the rest of her life defecating into a plastic bag glued to the side of her abdomen. All because "insurance will pay for it!" How sad.

"I’ve been sick", "I’m on disability ’cause I can’t work", "I have no money because I’m sick, on disability, and can’t work" – we hear this refrain daily. My answer? Gee, sorry – my heart goes out to you. But let’s be honest: i
f you really want to be well, get back to work, and get back to earning money, you’ll do whatever it takes to achieve that – even if it means finding the money from your own pocket for natural, non-insurance-paid health care, maybe even if it means taking a loan from family to pay.

After all, if your car broke down you would find the money to fix it, right? So that you could use it to visit your doctor for that insurance-paid conventional treatment… Or find the money for a taxi, or the bus…

See also: The Shaman’s Lesson Of Worth

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