Beyond the Told

by Dr. David M Robertson

Beware of Some Medical Doctors

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Let me say that I believe that there are some great medical doctors in the world today. Some doctors seem to go out of their way to help their patients and are fully committed to their mission as a doctor. Some expand on their current knowledge by seeking new ideas and concepts regarding medicine. Some even create new procedures and practices that advance medicine altogether. I want to celebrate these brave men and women who advance the human condition to a better place.

Unfortunately, these kinds of doctors are few and far between anymore.

To me, nothing is worse than an ignorant doctor who refuses to refine their knowledge or skill set. Except for maybe when a patient can call them out as being ignorant. Let’s face it; Western Medicine can be dangerous and darn near medieval at times; doctors are only human, after all. And think about this: some barely graduated. In fact, fifty percent of those who graduated did so at the bottom half of their class. The point is that it can be scary when you go to a doctor only to find that you are more educated on the matter than the person you are seeking medical advice from. This seems to be my experience with Western Medicine for many years now.

Let me provide you with an example of what I am talking about. Several years ago, I discovered a small laceration between my nasal vestibule and my inferior turbinate. For those not medically savvy, this is a small piece of skin connected to the septum. It is a very sensitive spot in the nose. I speculate that I developed this after blowing my nose a million times during a sinus infection that I had recently acquired during a cold snap. The interior of my nose was more than likely chapped, and the excessive and repeated blowing probably caused the cut.

So I went about healing it like I do any other wound. Antibiotic ointment for the first three to four days, followed by a mixture of honey and Aquaphor for the next three to four days, ensuring the wound stays moist. However, since this wound was basically set in cartilage, the lack of blood to the location substantially impacted healing time.

I was also a little concerned about the recent sinus infection and did not want that infection to get into the wound. This is because it can become problematic at times. So, I thought I would do the “right thing” and just have it double-checked to ensure that I had not fallen victim to some kind of secondary infection that I could not see. After all, one should never mess around with infections in the head. So I set an appointment with an Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor.

To truly understand what happened next, I need to provide a little context. Back in 1999, I had an appendectomy. The appendix is actually a highly misunderstood organ, but vital all the same (Koerth-Baker, 2016). Here’s an interesting article if you’re interested in learning more. This organ harbors concentrations of bacteria necessary to recolonize the intestine after some kind of purge. If you do not have this organ, taking antibiotics can sometimes become a dangerous endeavor (Dunn, 2016). I know this because I found out the hard way… twice. This is not exactly common knowledge, though, and older doctors do not seem to know this yet, hence the problem.

The point is that many types of broad-spectrum antibiotics can be extremely problematic for people without an appendix. True, they can cause issues for people with an appendix as well, but the point is that without the appendix, it becomes dangerous. The side effects are usually brutal and long-lasting and can include some of the hardest fungal infections to treat in the human body. This is because the body does not have an appendix that harbors the bacteria necessary to fight off the fungus.

So let me get back to the story. I made an appointment with an ENT Specialist. He looked at the cut and said it was not too bad but that I had some inflammation there (which is good, by the way, because it shows blood flow to the area of concern). Then he said what older doctors usually say in this situation: “Well, I’m going to prescribe an antibiotic…” and then told me why and how it would help.

As he began writing, he asked me directly… “You don’t have any allergies do you?” Never mind that I had already written down on his visit questionnaire that I have reactions to certain antibiotics – that was literally right in front of him –  my retort was, “Yes!” Then he asked me what those reactions were.

I told him that I did not have an appendix and that broad-spectrum antibiotics such as those from the tetracycline group, Azithromycin, or really any type of azalide or even macrolide antibiotics could be detrimental to my internal ecosystem. I told him that I would imagine that “really ANY kind of synthetic antibiotic wouldn’t be good either,” but that I was not entirely sure yet because I had not researched too much beyond what I had already told him.

Everything I said was met with a blank stare. Then he said, “Well, what happens when you take them?” I said, “Well, I’d lose about 50 pounds, I can’t digest food, I develop fungal infections that take years to get over, a loss of vision, liver issues, kidney problems, brain fog, etc. Pretty much everything that a doctor can’t fix. It gets worse each time because as the drugs get stronger, the effects are greater, and most doctors simply don’t know much about it all.” He just stared at me as though he were processing what I was trying to convey.

I told him I was not interested in a fecal matter transplant at that point, but mainly because I did not have access to a healthy donor at that time. Again, I got a blank look. However, you could see he clearly understood that I knew exactly what I was talking about but that he was unaware of what I was saying. A few seconds later, he responded with, “Jesus!! Well, we don’t want that, do we?” I responded simply with, “Nope!”

He took a deep breath and said, “Well, then I’ll just prescribe you Doxycycline. It’s an ancient antibiotic, but it’s good for all kinds of stuff, including MRSA… just in case you end up with that. It should be okay for you. And, if you experience any of the symptoms you talked about, stop taking it immediately, call us, and we’ll get you into an infectious disease doctor right away.”

I was floored. This doctor, despite having heard what I had just told him, was willing to write me a prescription of death and send me on my way over a tiny cut in my nose. Of course, you are probably thinking, “Death, David? Really?” Yes, really, but let me explain.

If you recall, Biotic means of, relating to or resulting from living things, esp. in their ecological relations. In other words, “LIFE!” So by definition alone, we must understand that antibiotic literally means “Anti-Life.” It is rather ironic in the grand scheme of things.

What is important for you to understand is that Doxycycline is an antibiotic of the tetracycline group, which I literally just told him I should probably avoid. As with all broad-spectrum antibiotics, Doxycycline suppresses (kills) certain bacteria normally found in the gut. For people such as me (people who have had surgery on their stomach or have a history of yeast infections), this can lead to an overgrowth of other bacteria and yeast, which in turn can lead to severe and sometimes fatal outcomes (Smarty, 2016).

Through the same mechanism of bacterial suppression, Doxycycline (or almost any antibiotic) can lead to the overgrowth of fungus and yeast infections. This is because the number of good bacteria is no longer present to suppress the yeast and fungal growth within the intestine. Of course, this does not include the other antibiotic-resistant bugs that would enjoy the space as well, not to mention the suppression of my immune system to fight off other invaders (Saey, 2016). 

The point is that this “remedy” seemed like an amazing amount of risk for a small cut that my body would more than likely take care of on its own. Now, imagine for a second that I was not someone who decided to take their health into their own hands. In under ten days, I may have been in the hospital for the very same side effects I told him I would have much rather avoided. In a month, I may not have been able to digest a meal. Within that same time period, I may have developed a fungal infection that, at my age, might have invaded my organs to the point that it could have killed me.

My point in writing this article is to convey that even though we are patients, we are still ultimately responsible for the things we put into our bodies. We are responsible for knowing and understanding what our bodies require. You could say or even believe that your doctor is responsible, but even if that were the case, it would be of little consolation if you end up chronically ill or even dead.

Furthermore, it is important to remember that even the best doctors do not know everything. Sometimes they make horrible mistakes (like the one this doctor made that day). In fact, when you think about health-related deaths, it might interest you to know that depending on which statistics you want to review, iatrogenic death (death caused by doctors and/or medical treatments) is a leading cause of death in the United States; competing with both heart disease and cancer (Null, Dean, Feldman, Rasio & Smith, 2016). – UPDATE: These numbers have been revised down a bit but it’s still exceptionally high.

The kicker is this: there would have been no recourse worth the agony I would have gone through having taken the prescribed drug. He could have ruined my life with the stroke of a pen had I only listened. So my advice in this article is simple; do not blindly follow anything – even my work. If you would simply follow a doctor’s words without question, I would like to provide two important words for your consideration: “Second Opinion.” Of course, this goes for anyone who feels as though the first opinion you received did not sit well with you.

Finally, they call it an opinion because that is what it is without definitive tests. Even then, in some cases, it is an interpretation of the test results, which can sometimes be skewed for any number of reasons. And when we talk about drugs, many doctors simply do not know the longer-term (or even short-term) issues that come along with the newest/latest/greatest drugs. They simply take the manufacturer’s word for it, and in many cases, so does the FDA. Understand that sometimes medical journals or pharmaceutical companies that sponsor research on a certain drug will only report the “positive” results, leaving out the negative findings when a new drug may have proved a bit more harmful than helpful (drugwatch, 2016). And on that note, understand that a great deal of the information you can find on sites like Wikipedia is often highly inaccurate.

Now, I am not saying doctors are bad. I am also not bashing the medical community. I am just saying; you take some responsibility for your health and beware of the ignorant doctor. Seek out a doctor who adheres to logic and reason and is willing to listen to their patients.

My ultimate advice only mirrors that of Hippocrates. Hippocrates was an ancient Greek physician during the Age of Pericles and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. In fact, he is someone you might hear about at least a few more times throughout my writings. Two quotes from him stick out the most for me: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” and “all disease begins in the gut.”

It’s crazy to think about how accurate he was when we now know that so much of our immune system is found in our gut. Something to note here: if all disease begins in the gut, eating the proper food could help you avoid disease. Beneficial bacteria are vital for digestion and disease suppression. Taking antibiotics that suppress and kill the bacteria necessary for digestion will hinder that bacteria from being able to utilize the food necessary to be your medicine. This can often result in disease.

Food is information. Input great information… get great results.

So what did I decide to do for treatment? I decided to perform sinus rinses using povidone Iodine, salt, and water three times a day. Not much povidone, just enough to tolerate. Then, after the rinse, I would swab a little povidone into both nostrils, just in case of a bacterial infection of some type. I also took 1500 mg of Olive leaf extract via two pills thrice a day for ten days. Within a few days, the cut was gone, and I was breathing again without pain. Ironically enough, I have not had a single sinus infection since.


Did you enjoy this article? You might also like my article titled: “Your Choice in Water Matters.


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This article was originally published as a chapter in the book Natural Health Made Easy: The Briobiotic Protocol (2016)

Dr. Robertson is a health researcher and educator, not a physician. The information provided here is not medical advice, a professional diagnosis, opinion, treatment, or service to you or any other individual. The information provided is for educational and anecdotal purposes only and is not a substitute for medical or professional care. You should not use the information in place of a visit, call consultation, or the advice of your physician or other healthcare providers. Dr. Robertson is not liable or responsible for any advice, course of treatment, diagnosis, or additional information, services, or product you obtain or utilize. IF YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY CALL 911 OR YOUR PHYSICIAN.

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