Dr. Brian Bailey’s review of “A Doctor’s Guide To Alternative Medicine”

Posted with permission of the General Practice Psychotherapy Association.

A Doctor’s Guide To A Doctor’s Guide
by Brian C. Bailey M.D.

“The next time somebody calls you a pain in the neck, tell them to go get acupuncture and stop needling you.” (P. 112)

There, now you know for sure that Mel Borins has a sense of humor. It’s refreshing to know that as you open A Doctor’s Guide To Alternative Medicine, which discusses “from stem to gudgeon” the sometimes controversial topic of alternative and complementary medicine. Research can be a dry subject, Mel admits; “I may not be able to give thrilling scenes of sex and car chases, but I do include historical background, curious folklore, and patients anecdotal reports which will provide some entertainment as you become increasingly familiarized and comfortable with the language and methods of science”.

Yes, he does!

I chose to review Mel’s book because I had the impression that taking a mineral supplement had perhaps saved my life. True to his word, giving an interesting treatment to an otherwise dull subject –making research, while not the most exciting topic – very informative to the practitioner and patients alike. And, to that end, he’s done so in a very far-reaching, comprehensive way, discussing it all in just the way he promises.

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Now how much time has it saved me to read that passage? Maybe an hour! And if I didn’t have Page 154 would I be doing the research myself? Well, in these days of “googling”, perhaps but perhaps not. And there are other EMDR studies recorded too. In the early days of my practice, like Mel, I found myself with a patient in the ER from a distant city, St. Elsewheres, who’d been brought in by ambulance from his cottage on the Rideau and couldn’t stand up. I’m alone in a busy ER. He told me it had happened several times, and that he’d been to all manner of specialists, but the only treatment that worked had been pressing on the spot in his back the size of a quarter. I tried to argue him out of his (irrational) belief, but eventually I gave in, pressed on the spot he showed me, heard a click and saw him blithely get up off the stretcher, restored to normal. I was on my way to learning that not all good therapeutics are taught in medical school.

Mel says a third of our patients rely an alternative methods but statistics say (Unatzer, 2000) it’s more like 70% of Canadians, so this book should be well received. It’s a great reference book to have on one’s desk, and you soon see that Mel’s been at this his whole professional life. It immediately multiplied what I know about the subject by a factor of ten – and I’m no neophyte myself. Conventional physicians tend to be annoyingly gleeful upon hearing the latest research that suggests, for instance, that glucosamine doesn’t work, but, just ask your patient who heard the news, stopped her glucosamine, and ended up in abject pain. That’s on Page 223. Here we see things in perspective. We are warned not to reject the least dangerous approach out of hand. Mel provides both sides of the argument in a balanced way and more often than not
sides with the alternative provider.

Mel, pretty clearly, has years of study of the subject under his belt. That’s reassuring. His anecdotes are particularly reassuring, because they show he’s not a “true believer,” but not nearly as reassuring as the plethora of research evidence he presents. But who really should be making the decisions about alternative methods? While we could give our patients the guide (and I will to selected patients) I still need, and I suspect Mel does to, most of the time to admit that our clinical experience will still be valuable in this age of patients “googling” the answer to every problem. Patients should also be told (I don’t know why they don’t realize) that most doctors are slightly insecure and won’t appreciate their googling.

The descendants of snake oil salesmen are still alive and thriving. It is a mix of good and bad information out there. This book will help some patients not to get carried away, but it will not replace the value of medical perspective. I as a physician have to make such decisions with one out of every two patients I see (I only see people with long lasting problems) so the book will come in very handy to me. Mel has done my work for me. Like the CPSO says about alternative and complementary medicine, “no physician should be expected to know everything about every such treatment.” Pausing, I had to ask “Why not?” We’re expected to know a great deal about conventional treatment and every new drug that hits the street. It is not is it not time to have a segment in medical school that deals with this area?

Buy Mel’s book. Buy a second copy for your waiting room. It will save you and your patients a ton of time while expanding your competency exponentially.

Bibliography : Unatzer J. et al. AM. Jour. Psychiatry; 2000Nov. 157 (11); 1851-7